Q.—You appear to think that Captain Mathieson and his crew were a pack of lunatics to go outside with the Alert? A.—I don’t think I ever said so. I said no sane man would send such a ship outside the Heads.
Q.—That is pretty well the same thing. What would be the greatest risk you would have taken in the Alert. Albert Park Lagoon, or the upper Yarra? A.—She was more fit for the Lagoon if the water were deep enough. Even in the Upper Yarra she would not have been safe if she encountered the wash of a big steamer. (Laughter).
Q.—Where would you have put another mast? A.—I would have put it just aft of the house on deck, and fitted it with a trysail and gaff. I am not prepared to say what size the sail should be.
William White, examined by Mr. Williams, said: I am a shipbuilder, and have been engaged as such for fifty years. I carried on business at Williamstown for forty years, during which time I built many ships. I knew the Alert. The whole weight of the engines being aft, she sat very low in the water. Her bow was up. Stability at sea is gained in two ways, first by breadth and shallowness, requiring very little ballast, or by being deep and narrow. I should say that the Alert required a good deal of ballast to make her stable. Forty-four tons of cargo in the main hatch would not give her sufficient stability. She would not be sea-worthy in my opinion with it. Forty-four tons in the forehold would help to lift her stern out of the water and put the bow down.
The Alert had only one mast. In trying to bring the ship to the wind, it would be almost impossible to do so on account of the height of the bow out of the water, and any sail that could be set would be so much foreward that it would be next to impossible to keep her end on to the sea. A sail aft would keep her bow to the wind. The best thing a ship can do in a gale of wind is to lie to. She had a wooden awning, and that would be a very great hindrance to the sea-worthiness of the ship. It was a very bad thing, because it would hold a great deal of wind, and could not be taken away. In the Bay wooden awnings are used, and it appears this vessel was allowed to go outside with one. It would help to blow her over and keep her in that position. As to the pantry window, I did not see it, but I say it would be extremely dangerous placed where it is said to have been. Every sea that came on board would rush aft, and tend to break everything that was not sufficiently strong to resist its force. The set of the ship in the water, being so high foreward, would naturally throw the water aft, and it would rush aft of its own accord. The grating over the engine room and stoke-hole should have been covered with tarpaulins held in cleats and battened down.
Cross-examined by Mr. Mitchell: I last went to sea as a seaman about forty years ago. I was second officer and carpenter. I have not built any large ships, because there is nothing of that sort done here, but I have built vessels larger than the Alert, and better sea-boats. The Alert was very long and lean; if she had carried a main mast with sail, she might have been more safe.
Q.—Did you ever measure the Alert? A.—No.
Q.—Then how do you know she was long and lean when you never measured her? A.—In the same way that I know you are long and lean, though I never measured you. (Laughter.)
Q.—What in your opinion was the cause of the ship foundering? A.—I always understood that—(here Mr. Mitchell complained that the witness was going away from the subject.) Witness in a firm, determined tone said, You asked for my opinion, and I am going to give it to you, or I am going to give you nothing. (Laughter.) I always understood that the ship was blown round broadside on, and was wallowing in the sea. She became unmanageable in the trough, and, being top-heavy, rolled over till she filled with water and sank.
John Murray Robertson, examined by Mr. Smyth, stated: I am an engineer, employed as second engineer on the P. S. Ozone. I have been about twenty-six years at sea, and I hold a chief engineer’s certificate. I know what the dimensions of the Alert were, and I know where her machinery was. It was placed aft. She had only one mast. The grating over the stoke-hole should have had a covering on it of iron, wood, or tarpaulin. In my opinion it is not right to have a window in the front of the poop in a sea-going vessel going outside the Heads. It should be blocked up with a door, or shutter opening outwards. If below the level of the bulwarks, it was not safe to have such an aperture in a vessel like the Alert. I knew the covers for the coal bunkers. They should have been fastened down. I think a second mast would have been an advantage to the Alert.