The Portland daily press., 1873-04-07
THE ATLANTIC.
The Government Investi-
cation.
Examination of Capt. williams.

| ed by the DOMINION government into The Atlan
| tic disaster, commenced to-day, in the Custom
House building, before the Collector, E. M. Nc
Donald Captain Mckenzie, shipmaster. sal
as associate with Mcdonald Hon. 8. L. Chan
men, c. c., and Fl. Blanchard. O. c., appeared
for the captain.
Captain james A. Williams was called,
| sworn, and read q statment.
In reply to questions of his counsel he added
| Il was ON the bridge up to twenty minutes pas
twelve. Up to midnight it was brilliant star
light; after that, occasional sight of the stars
| When left the bridge went into the chart
room, thirty feet abaft the bridge, on the upper
deck, within easy call of the officer of the deck
1 got up at two o'clock, looked into the wheel
house and then lay down for an alarm.
| In making calculations, estimated her speed
| to be eleven knots; she had increased gradually
| from seven and a half to twelve knots; the
third officer reported that she had run 122 miles
at twelve o'clock; that agreed with my calcula,
| ton; expected the ship at three o clock would
| be eighteen or twenty miles south of Sambro,
| and to lay by till daylight. l had not my
clothes off at all. I had every reason to put
confidence in the second officer: he had made
Swo voyages in the ship; always found him a
steady, sober man
Cross-examined by Mr. Blanchard-I had the
latitude by observation an by chronometer
when bore up for Halifax. The charts have
all been lost The ship increased her go |
after 1 bore up for Halifax, because we were
not then anxious to economize COAL The speed
dU lW6lNb U ClOCk was dUUut bWelV0 kIObSs
reckoned then we were for y-eight miles from
Sambro, then bea ing due east. l did not
| slack the speed. l did not shift the course l
considered we would pass five miles east of
| Samhro Ledoe. had never before brought
| ships into Halifax or been on this coast. The
third officer had been in the harbor twice. None
of the other officers had ever been here did
not use the lead at all.
did not sound because the night was clear,
and Sambro Light should be seen twenty-o
,1D.. o11
fifteen miles. knew 1 was approaching the
shore; the clearness of the night and the GER
tainty of seeing the light were my only reasons
for not sounding; am now satisfied that when
| Went into the chart room was mistaken in
the locality of the ship; she must have been fur
ther northward and westward than thought
| knew the coast was an irOn-bound and dam
gerous one. though had never been on it,
I should have % stop the ship if 1 had been
sounding regularly from twelve o'clock to three
O'clock would have been on deck and the
ship ould have gone ashore. 1t was my sec
ond voyage to America on chat ship; when the
| ship struck there was considerable swell on;
there was no sort of warning; she was going
between nine and ten knots at the time; in
some of the statements in the press it is said
that left the ship when about fifteen persons
had been taken off the rigging; what 1 said
was that when left all but about fifteen had
left; when | left was SO benumbed ard cold,
that could be of no assistance; had had my
L W
asleep when the ship struck
Cross-examned by the commissioner left
word to be called at three; had been called at
sharp three, 1 think would have seen the land
in time to have averted the calamity; from the
state of the weather when l came OF deck L
think the white snow line of the shore would be
visible at dist 'nce of from two to three miles,
The officers on duty, had they been energetic
might, think, have seen that there was some
thing ahead, and if the orders had been given
TO- nIrrtnf how
been averted. I have always made it rule to
make all my officers participate in the naviga-
tion of the ship, so that each and all are equal
ly conversaut with myself in the position of the
ship and the deviation of the courses steered by
compass.
The White Star steamers are supplied with
printed orders for the guidance of commanders;
those orders were that we are to take all posi-
BILE precautions against fire, collisions and
wreck; there are no special instructions as to
precautionary steps in approaching the shore
that IS left entirely to the judgment of the COM
manders; the officers in charge have full pow
er to change the course or stop the ship if nee
essary, without consulting the captain; there
are no special instructions as to soundings.
This ended the captains evidence. Once
during his statement he was much affected.
The court adjourned for one hour.
Testimony of Daniel Kinare.
Daniel Kinare, cabin passenger, next testi-
fled. The main facts of the loss of the Allan
tic have been many times repeated. Of the
captain and officers he says:
The captain and officers were attentive to
their duty. One of the cabin passengers spoke
to me about the captains temperate habits. He
refused wine at dinner; l never saw him drink
anything stronger than lemonade 1t was day
light before the passengers commenced to land
do not know whether the steerage passengers
were prevented from coming on deck or not. I
have no reason to suppose they were.
j. Spencer jones' Testimony.
J. Spencer Jones, a cabin passenger testified:
was up till after II o'clock on Monday
night, and then went to bed. l was aroused by
the shock Of the vessel striking. I went on
deck and found everything ia confusion.
have had much experience with ships, being
connected with the shipping house in Liver
pool. The discipline of the Atlantic was ex-
cellent. The conduct of the captain and off,
GERS towards the passengers was all that could
be desired They were gentlemen in every
sense Of the word They were always atten-
tive to their duty. l know of nothing that
could have been done to save more lives than
were saved.
Nicholas Brandt's Testimony.
have been to sea great deal. This was
my sixth voyage in the White Star line. The
conduct of the officers, and the discipline of
the crew was very good. The officers were al
ways energetic in the performance of their du-
ties. Nothing could been done to save life af-
ter the ship struck beyond what was DONE The
steerage matches were open; there was also a
passage from the steerage to the cabin. When
was on the wheel-house the time was Is or 10
minutes past o'clock; the ship had then keel
ed over. Captain Williams stood on the side
of the vessel below me encouraging the passen-
gers to keep moving about, and for six hours
remained getting passengers into the boats.
Charles w. Aliens Statement.
Charles W.. Allen testified I was a cabin
passenger and the first one on deck; my exps-
rience was much the same as that of others: I
thn IL
my opinion that god many more lives would
have been saved if the ship had been manned
by efficient seamen. The captain could not
get any number of men to do duty efficiently
One boat remained sound as much as three
hours after the ship struck. That was number
one boat. My impression from the beginning
of the voyage was that the ship was not well
manned. There may have been large enough
crew but they were not efficient men. The cap
tain and officers, after the vessel struck seemed
to exert themselves as much as they could.
considered the captain and the officers compe-
tent to perform their duty. / noticed that one
of the rules was to exercise the crew at the
boats once week; that was not done. I be-
lieve that all steamers have that rule, but few
obey it, There would have been difficulty
in getting the boat into the water, but believe
it could have been accomplished. l heard of
acts of insubordination among the crew the
second day after, but do not know of any.
The Chief Oficer's Statement.
John VIM Firths, chief officer OF the Atlan-
tic, testifed-At1 IL o'clock noon, Monday, lthe
captain and took observations by separate
chronometers and agreed very closely; the lon
gitude was 6365, latitude Al 39; consultation
Of the officers was held as to the propriety OF
turning round to Halifax for coal, and we
unanimously agreed to do so as being the safest
proceeding. At one o'clock the ship was head
ed for Halifax, the course being north "a east;
the speed was then about nine knots; 1 then
went below. At four o'clock returned to the
deck; my watch was from four to six; no al
teraton was made in the course; was below
from six to eight; at eight there had been a
change of weather and several showers Of rain
remained on deck till twelve. This course
had not been changed; there had been dark
clouds but they had passed and it was then
told me the speed was 12 knots. . '''
At ten minutes to twelve the captain came on
Il. i Cor fho