, 1876-01-22

boats, have closed the farce ol an eN-
animation, with closed doors, upon
the causes of the loss of the Pacific.
1t was virtually a trial Of themselves
as inspectors, and of course the ver-
dict was not guilty. There are peo-
pie in this town and in Victoria quite
as competent as Capt. Waterman to
decide questions of nautical char
acter, and in one respect they are
vastly more competent as they could
give an unpreiudiced opinion. Capt.
Waterman dare not say that the Pa
cifc was rotten, although he must
have known the fact, because if he
did he would condemn himself for
giving her a certificate. The only
witnesses he possibly could have
had were the very men who first tes-
tilted here. Waterman says the
bluff Of the Pacifc's bow was stove
in. O'Henly, the quartermaster,
stated to Capt. Stratton, at Neah
Bay,when he was frstrescued by the
Wolcott, then again in this town, and
again in Victoria, that he was asleep
in the forecastle, two hunks from
the stem; that when the steamer
struck it seemed to start all the
wood ends, and a sheet of water
rushed into the forecastle the whole
height of the stem. Nothing was
stated by him at any time here, or to
any body, about hole being knock
ed in the bluff of the steamers bow.
O'Henly stated that the water squirt
ed in at the stem like waterfall and
before he could get out of his berth
his Jacket, which was on the floor,
was so wet that. he did not pick it
up. Nothing appears from Capt.
Waterman's secret examination about
a very significant fact which was
sworn to here by the captain, officers
and a portion of the crew of the Or
pheus, which was, that the morning
after the collision, the iron warping
ohock Of the Pacific was found en-
tangled in the mizzen chains of the
Orpheus, and that in that warping
chock were four iron bolts four feet
long, which were as black as ifthey
had been pulled out of dock mud.
If that fact does not tend to show
that something was "Eptten in Den
mark" it does show that there was
rotten wood about the bow of the
Pacific.
A recent San Francisco paper says
of Messrs. Waterman s Hillman:
The character of the steamship is
main factor in the problem. If she
were unfit to go to sea, the govern
ment officers whose duty it is to in
spect the hulls and boilers are the
guilty parties. If they are remiss in
relation to the Pacific, they will be
equally remiss as to other vessels,
and there will be no security for
those who take passage on coasting
steamers. These functionaries are
now conducting an investigation of
the disaster with closed doors. They
are, in a sense, trying themselves,
and doing it in secret manner. If
they do not arrive at conclusions
quite different in some respects from
those of the Victoria jury, it will be
one of the strangest cases on record.
Yet the steamer which foundered in
a collision with a sailing vessel could
not have been a very staunch craft.
The general rule in nearly all acci-
dents of such nature is that the
ship which is struck goes down, and
not the striking steamer. But even
if the officers making the investiga-
ton were not themselves interested,
it would be very strange thing to
have so grave matter as the loss of
two hundred lives made the subject
of private inquiry. The public
have right not only to know all
that is going on, but to be placed in
position to Judge of the good faith
and honesty Of the process.
We fully agree with the above,
that even if Waterman and Rillman
were not themselves interested, it
would be a very strange thing to
have so grave a matter as the loss Of
two hundred lives made the subject
of private inquiry.
The verdict of the Victoria jury
was in accordance with facts sworn
to before them by the same parties
who swore to the same facts in this
town. We cannot believe that
O'Henly and Jelly, the only two sur
vivors of the Pacific, swore to a diff
ferent statement before the q. S.
Inspectors, and if they did not how
could Capt. Waterman, as an honest
man, and nautical man, have arriv-
ed at any different conclusion than
that of the experts here and in Vic
toria, who heard the same witnesses
he did, and are as competent as he
is to Judge. Capt. Waterman's state
ment, as made public is all bosh and
the merest twaddle. He and Hill
man are the men who should be
placed on trial for giving false