INQUIRY INTO THE LOSS OF THE SHIP ALSAGER.

Dunstan Times, Issue 579, 23 May 1873, Page 1 (Supplement)

INQUIRY INTO THE LOSS OF THE SHIP ALSAGER.

The evidence relative to the loss of the ship Alsager having closed at the Auckland Police Court, his Worship Mr T. Beckham gave the following decision, founded upon the evidence brought before the Court in the late inquiry ; “ From the evidence adduced, the Alsager ran on a reef at Maiden Island. A survey was held, which reported the vessel seaworthy. The master took in 1,200 tons of guano (draught IS feet), the vessel making a small quantity of water. She left for Hamburg via Cape Horn on the sth February. When at sea a few days the leak increased seriously, which induced the master to bear for Australia, On the morning of the 3rd of March the water again increased so rapidly that the pumps could not keep it under, when it was discovered that the crew had attempted to scuttle the ship by boring three auger holes in her sides. After the auger holes had been plugged up the leak did not materially increase. Had the vessel been kept on her voyage towards Tonga, instead of being hove-to all night, she might have reached that port, The ship was abandoned on the 4th March, twenty five miles from Hie Island of Eao. There is no evidence to prove the ship sank. The boats were sold at Tonga. Taking into consideration the surrounding circumstances, and the difficult position the master was placed in, I think it is not advisable to withhold the master’s certificate. Captain Clayton, the Nautical Assessor, concurs with the decision.” Sir JCKellar applied for costs, and after the question had been fully discussed, the Court reserved its judgment on this point,

MR PLIMSOLL’S DISCLOSURES. Mr Plimsoll, in introducing his resolution for the appointment of a royal commission, fortified his position by facts which had been placed in his hands since the issue of the “Appeal.” He supported his motion with statistics showing that for the sake of a few pounds crews of twenty or thirty men were constantly devoted to ccftain death. He had had great difficulty in getting at the extent of all this mischief, the figures being hidden in so many tables of the Board of Trade returns that, though he had carefully searched them he was not satisfied lie had extracted nil. 'These at any rate were the minimum numbers of British subjects who had perished at sea during the last four years In 1868, 2,488; in 1869, 2,821; in 1870, 3,411; and in 1871, 2,2o6—making a total of 11 016, or an average of 2,754 lives per annum. Last year, according to calculations he had made with the assistance of Lloyd’s, nearly 2,000 men had already been known to have perished. He also read extracts from the letters of persons who were well acquainted with the subject. One of them, whose name, he said, would, if he mentioned it, command the respect of the House, vvrote thus :—“ Cases have occurred where delinquents have been executed for murder who deserved the gallows less than the moneyed barbarians who have sent overladen ships to sea. . . . It was proved (in one case) that the decks were so laden with bales of cotton that the crew had to stand and walk on the top of them so as to manage the ship, and Mr , a shipowner, examined for the defence, swore that the higher the bales were piled the more it conduced to safety, as if the ship went down the crew and passengers would have abetter chance of escaping.” Sir John Pakington expressed his warm appreciation of Mr PlimsolTs services to the country. He himself had made a similar motion three years ago, and from the investigations he had then made he was of opinion that the chief causes of loss were overloading and weak construction. Mr Chichester Fortescue, of the Board of Trade, questioned Mr PlimsolTs statistics, but admired his book,_ and suggested some changes in the form of his resolution.

Numerous public meetings have been held to support Mr Plimsoll. The seaports cannot withhold at least the semblance of sympathy; the inland towns are louder in their indignation. The Queen, it is understood, has written approvingly to Mr Plimsoll; and the subject is one which appeals to all classes of the community. The honorable member happened to drop in at a meeting of working men in Leeds that week. “ Every day,” he said, “ and almost every hour of every day, brought to him cases of a most heart-rending character. He had jotted down one or two cases that had been brought under his notice within the last eight days. On Saturday week he had a letter from a seaport town in the north of Scotland, in which it was stated that an old ship Lad been sailing from that port longer than anybody that lived there could tell, and that she ought to have been broken up for firewood any time during the last twenty years. It was so notoriously unseaworthy that at last the owners could not get any man to go aboard of her. The captain himself stuck to her because hi was an old man, and had a large family, and the choice for him was that or destitution. He had sailed so many years in her, and hadalways escaped, that he thought lie would risk it. The captain and owners put their heads together, and what did they do ? After they found they could not get men to sail in her they actually sent the ship to sea with a crew of young hoys, the eldest of whom was not more than seventeen, and she went to the bottom and drowned them all. {Ones of “ Shame.”) He was asked to make inquiries, and the case was now under investigation. Another case that happened during the past week was thisHe saw a gentleman driving a pair of very fine horses, with a smart groom behind him, in the Westend of London. He knew something about the gentleman, and he looked at him as he went by, and thought rather more than he would tell them just then. Tim day after that he got a letter from the north-west. What did they think it said ? It told him .that one of that man’s ships had just come to port so grossly overladen that if she had had the least heavy weather she and all her crew must have gone to the bottom. And now another instance. A ship, the name of which he had on a piece of paper he held in his hand, sailed from a port so overladen that the seamen shortly afterwards put into port and refused to work her. They were taken before the magistrates, and the magistrates sentenced each of them to six weeks’ imprisonment. Another crew was obtained, put on board the same ship, and she went to sea the day after. On the day after that she.put into Falmouth, the second crew refused to go on the voyage, and they were sent to prison, one and all, for three months. Then a third crew was mustered, and put on board, and the vessel was again sent to sea. While the first and second crews wore still in gaol the ship went down, and the third crew was drowned. ” Your readers can imagine the effect of statements of this kind. The matter has now reached a point where it cannot stay. Early in the session, one shipowner in the House, to whom no suspicion attached, called attention, in the interest of other shipowners, to the book, and raised the question of privilege, moving—“ That to accuse iu a printed book members of thus House of grievous offences, and threaten them with further exposure if they take part in its debates, is highly reprehensible and injurious to the honor and dignity of this House.” Mr Plimsoll at once offered the most ample apology, expressing his regret that iu the earnestness with which lie sought help for the helpless, coupled with his inexperience, he should have left anyone room to doubt that for the House ho entertained the very highest respect. The House instinctively showed that it did not consider the subject one fog further discussion. There was a little scene when another member arose, who thought himself personally implicated, but the resolution was withdrawn. As soon as it was known that legal proceedings would be taken, Mr Plimsoll’s friends came quickly to his help. Cheques were sent him unsolicited from various quarters, and although he protested that he was prepared to stand his ground alone, he was at last persuaded to allow a Defence Fund to be formed, but only on one condition, that he and Mrs Plimsoll should he allowed to contribute L 1,500 (the preparation and distribution of his book having already cost another LI,500), and that all the money subscribed above the necessary expenses should be divided among the orphans and widows of shipwrecked seamen. It is probable that a large sum will be raised.