“120 feet,” replied Captain Byrne.
“Is it all one piece?” asked the other.
“There’s not a splice in it from heel to truck,” was the reply.
“I calculate that timber was raised in Oregon,” said the American.
“No, it was not.”
“Well, do tell, where did it grow?”
“That, sir,” quoth Captain Byrne, “was raised in Cork.”
A collision occurred on the 10th July, 1866, resulting in the total loss of H.M.S. Amazon and the Cork steamship Osprey, with a number of passengers, chiefly ladies. The Osprey was outward bound from Liverpool to Antwerp, with a general cargo. She was under the command of the late Captain Bertridge, and carried a crew of 14 hands. When off Portland, at 1 o’clock in the morning, the look-out reported a steamer approaching, which proved to be H.M.S. Amazon. By a fatal error of judgment (for which he was dismissed the service) on the part of the officer in command, the Amazon crashed into the Osprey. While the vessels were locked together the crew of the Cork steamer scrambled over the bows of the man-of-war, leaving to Captain Bertridge the task of saving his family (who were on board) and passengers. These he placed in one of the boats belonging to the Osprey, cut the lashings, and had barely done so when his steamer sank, dragging the boat into the whirlpool as it sank, and drowning all in it, except the captain and one passenger. The captain’s wife had previously jumped into the sea from the boat, and was rescued and taken on board the Amazon. The latter vessel was so injured by the collision that she also sank about four hours later, but all on board took to the boats and were landed at Torquay.
About this period the question of the Company’s house-flag began to be agitated. The Cormorant, under Captain Croft, was lying at Penrose Quay, with her house-flag floating from the masthead. A section of the Channel Fleet happened to be in port at the time, and Captain Croft was surprised to receive a message from the Admiral commanding, asking why the Cormorant was flying his (the Admiral’s) flag. Captain Croft replied that the flag he carried had been his Company’s house-flag for the last twenty years, and of his Company’s predecessor for over twenty years before that. To this the Admiral very courteously replied that he personally would not interfere with the use of the flag, but that as the Government had adopted it as an Admiral’s flag, it was possible that some difficulties might arise later.
