The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-03-21
THE MAI 11asTER INQUIRY.
MORE WITNESSES FORWARD, FOR AND
AGAINST MAJOR HOWELL.
An Account of the Loss of the Nautilus
In 1856.

pilot, residing at South Pass, being duly
sworn, said-At o'clock in the evening, on
the second of January last, | took the Nc
Alester over the bar. The weather was fine.
The vessel handled very well. Appeared
thoroughly QUILTED and in good order. The
officers and crew seemed to discharge and
understand their duty well. / was invited to
take q pleasure trip on Ter to Sabine Pass,
but refused ON account Of too much business
I considered the McAlester in good cond-
ton when she was working last year at South
west Pass. The bar was hard at that time.
recurring very staunch vessel to dredge It,.
I know personally that the McAlester FIRE.
quently towed vessels on the bar. Pulling the
steamship Hanover, which was aground on
the bar, she parted three times heavy
hawser, and finally succeeded In pulling her
off. [ am sure the dredgebOat must have been
very strong to accomplish that task because
she tore off the steamships bits by the strain
and hers were not Injured at all. The pulling
was done broadsides, forward, backward: in
fact she put her full power to get q good and
strong towage. Ii the McAlester had been
rotten these matHuvres wonld have torn her
to pieces. On the third OF January, 1878, it
blew O 'young hurrcane;" the pilot boats
dragged their anchors, and every house on
the snore was shaking. My opinion is, that
the MeAIester foundered. In 1856 q Morgan
only few miles from Southwest Pass. She
was strong, staunch vessel, but was caught
in heavy sea probably, and went down with
all on board, except q negro who escaped,
and was picked up On q log at sea, seven DAYS
after the disaster.
The MeAlester could in all probabilities
have met her fate In similar way. II she
had sunk from springing aleak, | do not
believe boats could have been lowered the sea
was too rough and the wind blew so terribly
hard that small boats would have been blown
off to sea before they could be made to float.
j. HUGHES,
shipwright, residing in New Orleans. testified
as follows: | WAS interested with Charles
Morgan, in 1856, in the Southern Steamship
Company, Of which was director.
THE NAUTILUS WAS LOST
in West Bay, not far from Southwest Pass.
She was on her outward trip to Indianola, to
take load Of cattle did not consider that
much greater than her breadth. she was
200 feet long, 81 feet beam and 20 feet deep
in the hold She was built in Wilmington,
Del, and was two years old at the time
decked vessel perfectly stauncn and
seaworthy, except as to her proportions,
which | considered detective. The colorsd
man who was picked up was the steward; |
knew him. He stated that it was blowing
very heavy, the vessel lost her way and fell
off broadside to the wind and sea, and her
machinery was not strong enough to make
good Roadway, She had forty tons Of lead,
which she had taken at Brashear. The lead
was on the main deck, where the cattle were
leeward, which naturally shifted, this caused
the vessel to roll over completely Her
matches being opened she filled and went down
The steward was just coming out Of the
hatchway when this occurred, and in com
pany with the engineer, was plunged head
long in the sea. They both held on to large
log that was passing there at the time. For
four days without food or drink they were
tossed about; at last the engineer got frantic
from exposure and exhaustion, and died The
cOlored man, however, held on, and was
picked up half dead seven days after the
swamping of the Nautilus.
An investigation OF the loss was held by the
company. We had the colored man before
us. His testimony was considered satsfac-
tory. and freed the company from any blame
or responsibility in the premises.
l have no interest whatever in the present
| gave so much time and at
tention to IT.. only from feelings of hui
lnanity towards the sufferers. On read
ton on the thirteenth instant, considered
the testimony as one-sided. Consequently,
resolved to address a communication to this
honorable commission to afford them the tes-
tlmOny OF the men who had worked on the
McAlester in repairing her. knew nothing
about the McAlesters condition except from
and knew that these men could
testify fully in the matter. have no personal
motives to act in that way. | never promised
anything to witnesses for their attendance,
nor used any alluring arguments or intimida-
ton.
THE BOARD THEN ASKED THE WITNESS
whether he and Mr.. Gerard. Of the Marine
Dry Dock, ever tried to persuade Mr. Dolsen.
carpenter on the steamboat Pargoud, to tes-
tlfy before the board, saying that il Major
Howell was removed the widows and orphans
OF those lost on the boat would secure q
This question was propounded on the
strength Of letter written by q friend to
Major Howell. Mr.. Hughes denied ever hay
ing made such statement
My sole way OF getting witnesses, said he,
was to speak to them in the cause of humani--
ty to give a fair and true version about the
M cAlester's condition, as believed that the
testimony already taken was not impartial
Mr.. Dolsen, | was informed, knew all
about the McAlester, but he told me that he
had only seen the men working on her.
B.KELLY,
foreman Of Brady's shipyard, recalled. said;
did not examine all Of the timbers OF the
cAlester; part Of the planking was taken
out. Those | examined were generally in good
condition and sufficiently fastened. The
sheathing held well the strain it underwent in
caulking. The McAlester had no waterways.
but simple covering board. The two dredge-
boats were. as strongly built ships as ever
came into this port.
The butt-sde planking required to be
5heathed because the seams were so large that
rope would not fill them up not because the
vessel was weak, Her bulkheads were tightly
secured, and the distribution of her parts per
fectly equal and we'll planned. Capt Howell
came over one day, but | do not remember il
he examined the work.
CAPT. HOWELL
showed by his vouchers that 1876 pounds OF
Earred rope were used to repair the McAester
previous to her voyage to Sabine Pass The
witness was asked how many seams this
amount OF rope would fill up; said he could
not say.
The substance of Mr.. Kelly's testimony was
about the same as that OF the twelfth instant.
JERRY HARTNETT,
,aulker, residing in Algiers, called up, and
sworn. He said-In the early part Of 1876, |
md in March, 1877, also, / worked on the Nc
lester When first worked ON her found |