Part 7

'These principles are no doubt in operation in every tolerable mode of marine architecture, but not to the degree of perfection in which the tendency to assume horizontality of position, and to receive the least possible disturbing effects from the most formidable disturbing causes in the action of rough, irregular, or heavy seas, has been attained in the modelling and building of the "Royal Charter;" and whilst similar results in kind will be found to have been obtained in very many or most of the scientifically constructed and splendid clipper and other first-class ships of this important age, I should much doubt whether in any single instance the approach to perfectness of the model of the "Royal Charter" has been exceeded, or even--in all the elements of the perfect "sea-boat," as adapted for these southern regions, proverbial for turbulent seas and boisterous weather--been equalled. The view from the poop and forecastle which my wife and some others of our ladies witnessed for considerable periods together, even in the height of the gale, was one, especially during the favourable occasions of bright sunshine, of sublime magnificence; whilst the general view of the tumultuous waters as we looked astern, as the ship was scudding before the storm, and as we marked the waves rolling perpetually onward, and overtaking in succession the swift-sailing ship, presented a picture of striking grandeur. The more threatening storm seas, as every now and then they rose high above our position, and intercepted (astern and on the quarters of the ship) every other portion of the mighty waters, could hardly be contemplated,--I ought to say, could not _rationally_ be contemplated, without awe! Nor was the action of the ship under the mighty disturbance the least impressive or least striking feature in the general picture.'

I remember that passage being quoted in the _Athenæum_, with this pleasant remark: 'Only to think of all this jollity at sea--in a voyage round the world--dainty ladies for companions instead of howling savages; fresh fish, flesh, and fowl, champagne, old port, and silver dishes, in place of remainder biscuit, salt pork, and hot grog.' Ah! _only_ to think of all the jollity! Little did Dr. Scoresby imagine, when he penned that passage--little did the reviewer think when he affixed that genial comment to it--that the ship, with its jollity, its dainty ladies, and its silver trappings, would so soon lie 'sunk in the waves!'

But the life on board the vessel has been elsewhere described. In a tiny tome of sketches lately published[E] is the following attempt at a picture:--

[E] 'Dottings of a Lounger.' By Frank Fowler.

'Our Ship looks best, I think, at night. She's by no means unworthy of being sketched in the morning when a few albatrosses are sailing round her, and a whale blowing his foamy fountain just a length or two behind. She's pretty at sunset again, when her sails flush purple, and the passengers form themselves into so many little knots, and, as the twilight thickens, watch the roseate touches dying in the west. She's brave in a storm at any time.... She shakes off a sea as a restive horse throws its rider. But she's best of all o' nights, when the dancing is going on aft, the sailors are singing "Chiliman" round the galley, and any number of proposals are being made among the "intermediates" behind the long-boat. How beautifully, at the stilly hour of eight bells, she moves through the water, and flings the phosphorescent foam about her like an Eastern queen beneath a rain of pearls. What was Cleopatra's barge in comparison, or any "Nicean barque" that ever sailed upon a "perfumed sea?"

'But the best part of Our Ship, either by day or night, isn't on deck at all. There is a snug little cockpit forward, before the jollity of which mere cuddy luxuries count as nothing. The second and third mates, one or two young middies, a guitar, plenty of grog and smoke, a good old cheese, and some biscuits, will make as jolly an evening among them as any Christian need wish to spend. On Our Ship these parties are nightly occurrences. There is a young midshipman on board with lots of money. He is always inviting his friends to meet him. He is a pleasant youth, with large, bland eyes, and a superfluous number of oaths. I never knew a lad, though, who imprecated more innocently. He evidently thinks that good swearing and good seamanship go together. He swears at a little child on board all the time he is filling its lap with candy and comfits. He is, withal, a good-tempered youth, but constantly getting into scrapes with the officers. After the breaking up of these festivities--which doesn't generally happen until an advanced hour, when not even the ghost of a _deadlight_ remains--it sometimes happens that you find it difficult to discover your right "home" amongst the long line of cabins down the side of the dimly-lighted saloon. This kind of thing, though, is by no means confined to festivities at sea.

'There is pleasant work on the R---- C---- in the evening. A select whist party takes one table, chess, draughts, and backgammon occupy another, and a jovial circle of "speculators" a third. At nine o'clock the hot water is served, when each brews his glass of toddy--baling out a wine-glass of the smoking liquor for his lady neighbour--and jollity holds sway for the remainder of the evening. Those who don't understand Hoyle--who are dummies at whist, dull at dominoes, and regularly thrown on their backs with regard to all-fours--who think draughts dry, and see no point in backgammon--generally retire to the poop after tea, to get up their little music and dancing parties, and warble and waltz gaily enough 'neath the light of the glistening stars.

'In dirty weather Our Ship is not to be altogether slighted. She rolls a good deal, I admit, but show me the vessel that doesn't. There is a polarity, too, as Mr. Emerson would say, about this rolling. See how it churns the preserved milk (there is a cow attached to Our Ship, but I think she is only a kind of stage property, for, certes, her _via lactea_ is as dry as leather), and makes a rich syllabub of the port wine. What an excuse it affords, too, for bad carving at dinner, and for becoming a sort of "shore" to the pretty young lady who sits next to you. If the lurches do empty the soup-plates occasionally in your lap, and chip the edges of the crockery until the dishes look like circular saws--if they do throw you out of your bunk at night, and land your head in the water-jug--what of that? Of course, no harm can ever come to the R---- C----, and, comforted by this conviction, all you have to do is to put up with the little annoyances for the sake of the "amenities" which, as I have shown, lurk beneath them.

'For there are some very nice girls--and with this I must conclude--journeying upon Our Ship. I like to see them in the cold morning furred up to their pretty little noses, peeping up the companion-ladders to see if the weather will admit of a walk before breakfast. I like to see them at "church" on Sundays, gathered round a pork barrel "rigged" as a pulpit, with an old Union Jack rolled up for the cushion, and hear them lifting up their voices in solemn praise across the solemn sea. It is a grand sight this last. Full service in a cathedral is nothing to it. Jack in his clean shirt, and with that same Bible in his hand which his mother gave him years ago, when his face, now hardened with brine and scarred with sleet, was the pride of the old woman's heart, is as impressive a figure to me as the finest-clad young neophyte who ever swung a censer. I know Jack sings out of tune, and ultimately swamps the Old Hundredth in the Bay of Biscay. But what matters that? Despite defects in harmony, the song of praise goes aloft in all its purity.'

Truly, a very ghastly humour plays about these descriptions as we read them now. The mirth seems like that in Holbein's 'Dance of Death.'

THE REV. CHARLES VERE HODGE.

'The rev. gentleman was appointed to the vicarage of Clareborough in 1844, and shortly afterwards his wife, from some unsettled disposition, proposed to visit some distant relation in New Zealand. Notwithstanding all the remonstrances of her husband, she proceeded to the antipodes without a guide, protector, or friend. After remaining some years there, she returned to this country, and again took up her residence with her husband and children, of whom she was the mother of ten--seven sons and three daughters. She, however, could not rest long in this country, and ultimately persuaded her husband and part of her family to accompany her to New Zealand. For this purpose the rev. gentleman applied to and obtained leave of absence from the bishop of his diocese for two years; but, at the expiration of that period, not returning, a monition was issued for his immediate return to his cure. It was in obedience to this mandate that the rev. gentleman was returning in the "Royal Charter," when he met his melancholy fate. Mr. Hodge left behind him in New Zealand his wife and three sons. Three sons and one daughter are at present in England, the others having died in infancy. Mr. Hodge's only brother, the Rev. Henry Vere Hodge, M.A., perpetual curate of Middleton, near Tamworth, is at present engaged in the melancholy duty of watching the shore in the immediate neighbourhood of the wreck, seeking to recognize the person of the deceased. Mr. Hodge was universally respected and held in high esteem by his parishioners for his deep-rooted piety and sincerity in all things.'

He died like old Gilbert--went down beneath the waters Bible in hand.

THE ADJOURNED INQUEST.

WHEN the inquest (see p. 34) was adjourned, every one imagined the inquiry would be of a most searching character. The calamity was of a nature which demanded the fullest investigation; and the public naturally expected that an officer from the Board of Trade would be despatched to Molfra to watch the proceedings. How these notions have been realized will be gathered from the following remarks which appeared in the _Manchester Guardian_ of November the 4th:--'Our readers will peruse with deep and painful interest the report we give to-day of the evidence adduced at the Llanallgo inquest. The statements of the survivors examined yesterday and the day before add but little perhaps to the information we were already in possession of as to the general features of the wreck of the "Royal Charter," but many details of a personal nature are given, and thus the several narratives are invested with a peculiar fascination. It will be observed that the statement that Captain Taylor was intoxicated at the terrible moment that his ship was drifting on to destruction is repudiated by all the witnesses who have hitherto been examined, and that they bear the highest testimony to his courageous attitude from the commencement of the storm down to the time when the vessel broke up. He was always at his post, and they express their firm conviction that everything was done which good seamanship could suggest. To their testimony is added that of one of the passengers landed at Queenstown. Mr. J. M'Envoy writes:--"Of all men I ever met, he was the most sober. I cannot recollect an occasion on the voyage when he exceeded the strictest bounds of temperance; he was always true to his duty, devoting his abilities and his attention to the safe guidance of the ship." If we may judge from the character of the proceedings so far, it is highly probable that the Llanallgo inquest will be eminently unsatisfactory. The jury is composed of Welshmen, and the evidence has first to be written down--in English of course--by the Coroner, and afterwards translated by an interpreter. This must prove a very tedious process, but it will cause less concern than the behaviour of the jurors. These gentlemen do not appear to appreciate, in the most remote degree, the serious importance of the duty they have been called upon to perform; they have to be watched like schoolboys by a policeman, and, indeed, this latter functionary seems as much inclined as his wards to steal out of the schoolroom whenever an opportunity presents itself. We do not always perhaps expect to find Coroners' Juries composed of the most intelligent men of the community; but we cannot help observing that these Welshmen have conducted themselves with a clownish levity which, in the interest of the public, we must stigmatize as utterly disgraceful.'

The tone of this is fully justified, as the reader will admit when he has perused the following:--

'The general inquiry into the cause of the wreck, and of the consequent death of her crew and passengers, was commenced in the schoolroom of Llanallgo parish at one o'clock on Tuesday, the 2nd of November, before Mr. William Jones, coroner for Anglesea. The Rev. Mr. Williams, of Tyddyn, and H. Pitchard, Esq., of Troscawan, magistrates, attended to see that a full investigation was gone into. Mr. Mellor, of Oldham, solicitor, attended for Messrs. Gibb and Brights, the owners of the "Royal Charter."

'The jury was composed of very humble-looking men--small farmers and seafaring persons.

'The Coroner asked Mr. Bright if he had got any witnesses?

'Mr. Bright replied that he had collected all the witnesses whom he thought could throw any light on the matter, and several first-class passengers were in attendance. Mr. Gapper, a second-class passenger; William Foster, the carpenter of the ship; George Suaicar, the boatswain's mate; John O'Brien, sailor; Henry Evans, sailor; and Thomas Cormick, one of the stewards, were also present.

'Coroner.--Is there any one else who wishes to give evidence on this inquiry?

'Several voices.--Mr. Russell.

'Mr. Russell then answered to his name.

'Coroner.--I believe there are other persons. Where is Mr. Bradbury?

'It was answered that he was laid up with a broken leg.

'Mr. Bright.--There is also Hughes, an apprentice, who is in bed, laid up.

'The Coroner then said he was about to commence one of the most painful investigations which it had ever been his or any other coroner's lot to conduct. He hoped the jury would discharge their duty without fear, favour, or affection, and quite uninfluenced by anything which they might have read or heard outside that room. He regretted the circumstance that some of the jury did not speak English, or understand it at all when spoken; but he had requested Mr. Robert Pritchard, auctioneer, of Bangor, to act as interpreter, and that gentleman had kindly consented to do so. He (the Coroner) was now prepared to hear any evidence that might be tendered to him, and which might throw any light on the unfortunate occurrence, the precise cause of which it would be desirable to ascertain. He had every intention that the inquiry should be a full and searching one.

'Mr. Bright said that he had taken down a statement from Mr. Morse, one of the saloon passengers, which the Coroner might avail himself of if he thought it would be of any use to him.

'The Coroner.--I shall examine the witness in the first instance myself.

'The interpreter having taken the usual oath,

'Mr. William Henry Morse, a saloon passenger, was sworn and examined by the Coroner.--I was a saloon passenger on board the "Royal Charter," from Australia. That vessel was wrecked on this coast on Wednesday morning, the 26th ult. She sailed from Melbourne on the 26th of August last. The captain's name was Taylor. The "Royal Charter" was bound to Liverpool. There were about sixty-one saloon passengers, including myself, and about three hundred second and third class. The vessel did not touch or call at any place before we were wrecked. She was said to be 3500 tons burden. I do not know what her register was. Her engines were 200 horse power. She had a full supply of coal and a full cargo. The crew consisted of one hundred and ten or one hundred and twelve persons, including officers. At no time was the vessel deficient in sailing, or in any other respect, up to the time of the wreck. We first saw land on the Monday morning. We saw the Irish coast then. That was at daybreak. We put some passengers on shore by a pilot-boat when we were off Cork--about thirteen. We passed Holyhead about four or half-past four on the evening of Tuesday, the 25th ult. No passengers were landed at Holyhead. The wind was blowing fresh off Holyhead. I do not know from what point, but it was rather ahead, and against us. We passed two or three lighthouses. The storm continued to increase, till at last it came to a perfect hurricane. She was drifting when the anchors were let go in sight of Point Lynas at about twelve at night. I cannot tell at what part of the vessel the anchors were let go, as I am not a nautical man. We had passed Point Lynas then, I believe. I do not know how far we had passed Point Lynas when the anchors were let go. I had no conversation with the captain during the hurricane, but I saw him. No one in my hearing made any remonstrance with him about turning back or going into any harbour. I saw him on deck, giving orders and directions, up to five o'clock on Tuesday evening. I was not much on deck myself after that time. There was nothing wrong that I knew of with the machinery of the vessel after the anchors were let go. There was nothing that I knew of wrong with the screw. She must have parted her first cable about two in the morning. The anchors were let down at ten or twelve o'clock. She parted her first anchor at, I think, two or three o'clock. She parted the other about an hour after. Lights and signals were "going" before we came to Point Lynas. Guns were fired and blue lights and rockets sent up, which were continued till daybreak on Wednesday morning. We struck on the rocks about three o'clock. I was below at the time. I do not know what part struck first, but I understood it to be the bow. The first shock was but a slight one. I went on deck once after that. She divided about daylight. She broke in two about seven or half-past seven o'clock. It was four or five hours from the time she first struck till she went to pieces. The hawser was out just before she went to pieces. One of the seamen took it on shore. I did not see him. I was in the saloon, and heard it. I saved myself by swimming. I was, I believe, washed on shore. I had no conversation with the captain after the vessel struck. He came down into the saloon, and spoke to some ladies. I believe I saw him in the cabin. He told the ladies there was no danger; that they would shortly be able to walk on shore. I heard him say that.

'The Coroner.--I now come to a very painful part of the inquiry. Was Captain Taylor sober then?

'Witness.--Perfectly sober.

'The Coroner.--Had you seen him intoxicated before?

'Witness.--Never at any time during the whole voyage, nor any of the officers of the ship. Everything was going on well till this accident occurred. I think the captain was aware of the part of the coast he was on; but he thought we were on a sandy beach. I did not hear him say that; I heard Captain Withers, one of the passengers, tell that to the ladies. Captain Withers was consulted by Captain Taylor, but I had no conversation with Captain Taylor after about three o'clock on the Monday.

'The Coroner.--Mr. Bright, you can now put any question you like.

'Examination by Mr. Bright.--There was a testimonial given to Captain Taylor by the passengers. All the saloon passengers except two joined in that testimonial. There was a slight difference between Captain Taylor and the second and third class passengers. This was, I believe, about their not being allowed to dance on the poop. After the anchors were let down I heard Captain Taylor speak cheeringly to the passengers. He was calm and collected while doing so. He was down two or three times after he cast the anchors, and exhibited the same calm and collected manner. He came down to cheer the ladies, and one time to order coffee. I partook of that coffee. I did not see Captain Taylor drink anything whatever that night. He was not at dinner with us on Tuesday evening. I heard him tell the ladies and other passengers in the saloon that he had been forward, and there was no strain on the cable. I do not know how far the vessel was from the rock when she struck, but the anchor was in sixteen fathoms of water.

'Examined by Mr. John W. Mellor, solicitor, of Oldham (who asked the Coroner to pardon him if he exhibited any excitement, as he had lost a brother and cousin).--The testimonial was presented to Captain Taylor either on Saturday or Monday, I cannot say which. It was in the evening. After leaving Cork we took riggers on board from a steam tug; I do not know how many. We had had no weather so rough during the voyage as we had off this coast at the time of the wreck, or on the night of Tuesday, the 25th ult. I remember a storm off the River Plate. It was not so bad there as here during the wreck. Up to the time the ship had her anchors let go the weather was not so bad as it became afterwards. I think the storm off the River Plate was as bad as that which we had here previous to the anchors being let go. I do not know where the riggers were shipped; I only know from hearsay. I saw a vessel leaving the side of ours. I do not know how long the vessel lay off Queenstown; I think about two hours. I had no means of knowing accurately. I really cannot tell the hour of the last time I was on deck before the vessel struck. I was on deck once after dark and before she struck. I cannot tell the time, for, not expecting any accident, I took no particular notice. I do not know what part of the coast the ship was at; not being a nautical man I did not pay much attention to that. I did not, to my knowledge, see the captain on deck at that time. I was on deck several times after half-past three in the afternoon, but I did not speak to the captain after that hour. I saw him about three times. This was in the saloon. He was in the saloon at the time word was sent him that she had parted her anchor. I know nothing whatever about the management of a ship.

'To the Coroner.--No one, in my hearing, asked the captain to turn to Holyhead or any other harbour, saying it would be dangerous to proceed.

'To Mr. Mellor.--It was when the first anchor parted the captain was in the saloon. He had only shortly come down. The reason the captain did not dine with us that day was that he had been up for three or four nights, and was resting. The captain did not always dine with us.

'The Coroner.--I cannot think that is material.

'Mr. Mellor.--It may become so. The witness now says the captain had been up for two or three nights before, and before he said everything had gone right up to the accident. If everything had gone right, why was the captain up for two or three nights? (Laughter.) Gentlemen, this may be a laughing matter for you; it is none for me.

'The Coroner.--The matter is not a laughing one for any one.

'To Mr. Bright.--The captain might have been on deck without my seeing him. He left the saloon as soon as it was announced that the anchor had parted.

'The Coroner.--I think it would be very convenient if the friends and relatives of parties combined and employed one solicitor to put all their questions.

'A Relative.--There is no combination amongst us.