, 1873-07-15

Official Investigation into the Cause
Of The Disaster.
Testimony Of Several Of the Officers
and Passengers.

HALIFAX, N. g., July 14.-The official inyesti-
cation into the cause Of the wreck Of tho City Of
9as5 Mas5hington was orencd to-day by Capt. Scott,
foyal navy. Capt. Phelps WAS the first witness.
aud testified TINT after the first two days from
Queenstown he WAS unable to take astronomical
obaeryation, and tho wind was westerly head
asn inc 9fG al pdt na. o he iGuags sn es
tho color q tho water. They wore eight days in
tho fog. Tho ship struck al 1:15 p. N. Of tile
9TH. she was not going ct full apoed, as it was
time to clear tho flros. He did not know whut
tho speed was, but supposed it WIS about nina
knots. He was on deck whom the vegsol struck,
and Immediately ordered aigrlal-guns fired.
The boats were lowered promptly, and without
c. confusion. and sent to shore in perfect order.
Tho ship was in tlrat-class order, with full com.
plomont OF mon, provisions, md coal. On leay-
The general instructions Of tho Company n1c
that tho meridian Of Capc lace is to ba paBacd
at about latitude "a. adhered to these i1struc-
tions.
Capt. ". J. Hammond, passenger, testified
th that he mover q bottor disciplined steamship.
Fig nevor aaw Oh officer touch glass Of liquor.
John shean. frat officer, noyer saw ship
steer bottor. He had no reason to suppose that
shou1a sho wSs Ssvo making doha mn more IT, thaa she
tea the proper color Of tho wator. When tho
ship grounded the engines were atoppod, Tic
lead was not hove during tho voyage. We did
Aok Aoaso tAo leadl becaubo VIC thought il
would bo useless. He never crossed tie
Atlantic whom tho weather was 30 continu-
oiBly thick. Our reckonings woro mado with
moro than usual caro-, on account OF tho thick
ness of tho weather. lily reckoning auroed with
the Captains within few miles. According to
my reckoning the ship should haEo been worry
much farther south than she Was. He attributed
this to oither nnstherly curront or all error OF
tho compass. He has been crossing in those
stoamasp FOR four years, and had always stoerod
them tho same course, Which has taken
us olehr u everything. There WAS thrce-fourtlB
Of q point difference between tho compass on
tho bridge aud the standard compass.a
A. M. Anderson, tho Third Officer. testified that
Ao had not tho slightest idea that the ship WIS
making moro northing than she would by the
course steered. He noticed no discolored water
which would lend us to believe That the ship
WAS not going right. Ny reckoning Of this
voyage wae over 100 miles out Of the way. lie
did not remember exactly what 1t waH. He at-
tributed tho largo deviation to an error in tho
compass, and the error to tho large a1nount Of
iron and steel forming part Of tho cargo. Wo
STORED so aB to 60 to the aouthward OF 42d de-
greo latitude IN passing Cape Race, AZ tho
instructions Of the company require. We took
tho temperature OF the water every two honrB.
Thomas Bruce, Engineer. testified The on
gineH wero not slowed down or stopped during
this thick weather, but WAS always ready to do
80. When tho ship struck, was ordered to stop
the engines The average steam gauge waa
81 pounds. Adjourned to tomorrow.