Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-04-04
NO. 80.
Mistellany.
THE LOSS OF THE ONEIDA.


the Naval Court of Inquiry in the case of
the Oneida has been published. The Court
met in Yokohama, Japan, on the 9th of
January 1t consisted of five members,
as follows: John Frederick Lowder, Brit
ish Consul, President; Arthur Tinklar, r.
N, David Moore, Staff Commander, r.
N, John Gilfillan, Master Mariner. in
command of the British steamship Sultan;
VIM. Chapman, Master Mariner, in COM
mand of the British ship Rocklife.
The points of the evidence given we're
as follows:
Richard Connor, pilot on board the
Bombay and an American, said that after
he told Captain Eyre that the vessel was
turned far enough "a port to avoid the
Oneida, the captain said: '.Let us 60 a
little further At this time the two YES
sells were mile or mile and half apart.
When the Oneida turned across the bows
OF the Bombay, Captain Eyre exclaimed;
MY God, there is going to be collision :"
The witness answered: 1T cannot be
helped; we have done all we can to get
out of his way; he is in the wrong" He
then told the captain he Thought it was a
japanese by the way she acted" He
sung out, and asked them what they
meant'" The Bombay must have been
going about six knots an hour. She must
have struck the Oneida's starboard quar-
| ter.
Isaac j. Yates, master on board the
Oneida testified as follows;
When the Bombay was a short distance
from me, l can't judge how far exactly,
she put her helm to starboard; if she had
not starboarded her helm when she did,
she would have struck forward of the point
which she did strike; didn't hear any
order given on the other steamer; her
helm must have been a-starhoard; heard
no noise on the steamer, and saw no sig
mails made of any kind before or after the
collision; just as she struck some one
sung out, What the hell are you about ?"
whetherit was to some one on board the
Oneida or to some one on the Bombay, l
cannot say she struck our ship not long
after starboarcling her helm her helm was
a-starboard when she struck us.
AS soon as she struck the officers all
rushed on deck Captain Williams was
brought on deck by two men, and Mr..
Stewart. as soon as he touched the ships
deck, ran to the port side Of the deck,
jumped upon an arm chest near the rail,
and sung out in a loud tone of voice,
Steamer ahoy, you have cut us down,
remain by u.s. the Bombay was at that
time across the stern of the Oneida. but
immediately went out of sight; | only
heard MIR. Stewart shout out once, and I
heard no one else hail'the steamer; heard
no one answer from the Bombay he then
went down from the chest and said, For
Gods sake. arn't there any primers about
hereP where's Langlnan, where's the gun
ners mate?' all the primers that were aft
were carried away, together with all the
rockets that had been made up, and all
the blue lights and signals which might
have been available.
Thomas Stevenson got the primers,
believe, and Mr.. Stewart and Mr.. Adams
loaded and fired a gum it was the star
board No. /, third division gun, which
was just forward of the bridge her cal
ibre was thirty-two pound, and the charge
was six pounds; think the gun was fired
four times from the Oneida; all the shots
We're from the same gun; the sound of the
L
As the vessel was about sinking the
lieutenant wanted the gunner's mate to
get primers and powder; should Judge
the primers We're got from forward we
fired four times from the same gun, be-
cause the primers and the powder were at
that gun, and | suppose Mr.. Stewart kept
them there; only stayed there with him
until he fired that one gum none of the
guns were loaded at the time of the col
lision.
should say that thirty seconds after the
collision our whistle was blown, and that
FIVE minutes iIau elapsed before the first
gun was fired. The Oneida floated fifteen
minutes after the collision"
Arthur Loggins. chief officer of the
Bombay, testities: The Captain was
standing with the pilot, looking aft, and
said, if they want assistance they will
certainly send up rocket or two and fire
a gun he then asked the Ipilot, what do
you think | had better dop Do you think
she is much damagedp The pilot said,
, No, you can 90 back if you like, but do
not see that there is any occasion for it,
You do not know what damage is done to
your own ship, and you have the mails on
board, so you had better 60 on The
Captain then asked him, Suppose she had
|
where she could go safely p the pilot said:
Yes, she can run on the spit, which is
close to her. the Captain also asked if she
could sink thereP p the pilot said no; the
Captain then said: In that case we will
go on; did not hear any sound
or voice calling; was on the bridge till
she cleared us, and could have heard if
we had been hailed heard no guns and
saw no signals of any kind from the other
ship; was in position to have heard
and seen if there had been any;
the collision was just touch"
The finding of the Court was to the fol-
lowing effect:
I'VE find, from the evidence before us.
that on dark but starlight night, the oath
January last, the steamship Bombay.
through no fault of her commander. Mr..
Eyre, came into collision with the United
States corvette Oneida, in the close vicini-
ty of Saratoga spit, situated some 10 miles
from Yokohama. Ia
..'TEat the pffpct nf fhts collision on the