Q.—Would the wooden awning help to bring the Alert’s head round in a gale? A.—By putting up a sail aft to the wind, you can always bring a vessel up. The wooden awning might have that effect, but in my opinion it would do more harm than good.
Q.—Suppose during a six hours’ gale, keeping a certain course, the Alert never shipped a sea, would you consider that a proof of her sea-worthiness? A.—Not altogether. The moment she altered her course she might ship a sea and go down. If I were on board, and found in a violent gale that by pursuing a certain course I was safe, I would not alter that course.
Q.—Supposing your alleyways were full of water, and the bunkers had the covers on, how could the water get the covers off? A.—It is very different with a vessel turning over and jumping. The sea would make you jump off your feet sometimes.
Q.—Have you seen the Excelsior steamer? A.—I have, but I have not travelled in her. She is fine in her lines, but she is only a river boat. No man with any experience would build a vessel like the Alert to go to sea.
Q.—How much cargo would it take to make the Alert sea-worthy? A.—It could not have been done anyhow. No amount of cargo would make her sea-worthy. She might be better in a gale if she were heavily laden. She should have had about 100 tons of cargo; it would put her more on an even keel. If the forty-four tons of cargo had been put in the forehold, a difference would have been made.
Q.—Which would make the more stable cargo, 100 tons of feather beds, or 100 tons of pig-iron? A.—They would both be the same weight, but the feather beds would be more lively than the pig-iron. (Loud laughter.) They would, however, be the very worst cargo a vessel could possibly take, for the one would be all too high, and the other all too low. There is a medium in everything.
Re-examined by Mr. Smyth: A vessel coming out here as a barque, or schooner, would have square, as well as fore and aft canvas, and would be in proper trim. She would not require water in her boiler, and when sailing the funnel would be unshipped and put down below. The Alert had two boilers, but when the alterations were made, one boiler as large as the previous two was put in. This boiler was in her when she was lost. It stood about four feet above the level of the main deck. The old boilers did not come above the deck. A light cargo would make the ship more lively, and would affect her stability. She did not have enough. If the vessel were on her course standing out to seaward, and there was no apprehension of danger, there would be nothing to prevent me, as a seaman, from altering her course. It was good seamanship to make for the Heads. I knew the late Captain Mathieson. He was a first-rate seaman, understood his business, was sober and attentive, and quite fit for the position. The greater the head of water outside the pantry window, the greater the pressure, and the more quickly the water would be forced through.
Q.—We are told by Mr. Ponting that the vessel was lying over, and that the water was over the whole of that aperture, coming up to the break of the poop; and there is that body of water constantly coming in from the sea. That is as far as we can give you the pressure of the water outside. Can you make a calculation of the quantity of water that would go through that aperture per minute, and the weight of it? A.—Assuming the water is two feet higher than the aperture, I make it 2,820 gallons, and 28,200 lbs. in a minute. There are 2,240 lbs. to the ton, that would give between twelve and thirteen tons.
Q.—Supposing the water is only one foot above the aperture, what difference would it make? A.—It would be a third less, and that would be eight or ten tons. If the water were flush with the top of the aperture, the discharge through would be a little less than I have stated, and if fifty or sixty tons of water were down that aperture, a small sea would smother the vessel, and she would go right down stern first.
To His Honour.—If the forty-four tons of cargo had been placed further foreward, it certainly would have helped the ship a bit by giving her a more even trim.