The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-08 00:00:00

with the names of the brave fellows, and he should

happy to see them. Witness did not' see anything at all
to prevent them saving the people. Any of the ordinary
tug-boats could have done the same that the Powerful
did. All that was necessary to be done was to get to the
windward of her, and drop a boat down. Supposing that
he had lost his boat, he must have run the risk of killing
them or saving them by running the tug between the masts.
Supposing that he had been in tow of the vessel, it would
have depended upon circumstances whether he might con-
sider it dangerous, and necessary to cut the hawser. With
a strong tide running, it might have been attended with
great damage, sweeping away the funnel, &c., and of course
when her funnel went she would be disabled. The
steamer might have eased the hawser a little, but it ern -
Fipally depended upon the position she was in.—By a
juror : He thought the nearer the ship the stronger the
tide would be. Could he have known the position of
the vessel when he first heard the screams, he should have
been on the spot five minutes sooner, and might probably
have saved four or five more lives than he was enabled to do.
—By Sir George Stephen : As long as he had a line at-
tached to the boat, he thought it was safe enough for
three.—Beeiemin Felkin, watchman on the Coburg pier-
head, who was on duty at the time of the wreck, said he
heard a voice in the ship sing out that they were too near
the shore : at the same time a man on the steamer made
answer that there was plenty of water. A man then
cried from the ship that they were getting aground, and
the man from the steamer replied that they were " making
a terrible noise for nothing." His attention was called
away for a little, and when he came back to the
pierhead, he could neither see the steamer nor the ship.
—Another watchman on the pierhead was next called,
and also a dockgate-keeper, the latter of whom proved
that the Uncle Sam had entered the dock for a
boat, but could not find one; that he and the other
two gatemen, with her captain, at once manned a boat, and
proceeded to the wreck, but too late to save any of the un-
fortunate crew. They were detained at least a quarter of
an hour in the basin, looking for the " thouls," which
were not at hand. The pier-head master proved that, in
consequence of the north-west gale, the tide was at least
six or seven feet above the proper height. The sound-
ings did not vary much, except when a strong north-west
gale carried the bank further southward. The Irene
was the third or fourth vessel which had capsized
upon the bank. Captain Murphy, formerly captain
of the Liverpool life-boat, for a period of eleven years,
was called on behalf of the crew of the Uncle Sam.
Captain Cook, superintendent of the pilots, was likewise
called, and gave some evidence as to the nature of the
bank on which the Irene struck.
The jury, after consulting for a quarter of an hour,
found a verdict to the following effect :---" That the Irene
went accidentally on the bank, by means of which the
two deceased persons lost their lives ; and the jury made
the presentment that very much more assistance might
have been rendered by the Uncle Sam and the Queen
steam-tugs than was done to save the lives of those on
board the Irene."
The Irene belonged to Messrs. Ironsides and Co., of
Liverpool, and was bound to Valparaiso, with a cargo of
coals, when compelled to return by the severe N.N.W.
gale of the Wednesday previous. During the storm of
Saturday she lost her best anchor and chain cables, and
the pilot got the assistance of a steamer to prevent the
vessel driving ashore. A reward of £lO has been offered
by her owners
.for the recovery of the body of Captain
, M`Donald.