Q.—Assuming that the Alert was passed in England by Lloyd’s surveyors, would that shake your opinion as to the sea-worthiness of the ship? A.—No, it would not.
Q.—No matter how good a ship, how admirably proportioned, how safely built, there may come a time in her history when stress of weather may cause her to founder? A.—Yes.
Q.—Did you ever see a steamer on her beam ends in your life? A.—I have seen them at an angle of 45 degrees, and we usually call that pretty near “beam ends.”
Re-examined by Mr. Box: A large quantity of water in the saloon of a vessel like the Alert would make her unmanageable. Her alleyways were about forty feet long on each side, and four feet wide. They would hold at least thirty or forty tons of water, and the saloon twenty or thirty tons more. A vessel shaped like the Alert, flooded with water on one side, would have very little chance of recovering. I have been down the Bay in her with the wind blowing strong. She heeled over to starboard when hauled up to the wind, and took a lot of water in the alleyways.
Mr. Justice Williams: Q.—We have heard a lot about these seas in the Bay. What is your opinion of them? A.—They are mere teapot waves compared with what we meet outside.
His Honour: Q.—Do the seas you meet in Bass Straits outside compare in size with the seas you meet round Cape Horn? A.—No, they do not, but they are more dangerous in the Straits, because they are short, quick, and fierce.
His Honour: Q.—Would you be surprised to hear that in going round Cape Horn a sea will sometimes come over the foreyard? A.—With a loaded vessel I would not be surprised at all. A good deal depends upon where you are. With the wind more to the southward there is not so much drift.
Neil McLaughlan, examined by Mr. Williams: I am a master mariner, and have been so for twenty-seven years. I have been a coasting pilot about fourteen years on the Australian coast. I knew the steamer Alert ever since she came out here. She sat in the water very low aft, and very light foreward. That was because she had very little bearings, and had heavy machinery aft. She was not adapted for going outside the Heads. Forty-four tons of cargo would not be enough to trim her for a sea voyage. Of course if it had been placed in the forehold, it would have made some difference in giving her a better grip of the water forward. Wattle bark and furniture would be all top weight. She was a very tender boat at the best. With another sail aft, the captain would have a much better chance of bringing the ship’s head up, and keeping it up. I remember the alleyways each side of the engine room. The effect of water getting in them would be to put the ship still further down aft, and the water was bound to force its way below somewhere. I have seen the gratings on top of the stoke-hole and engine. For going outside the Heads they should have been covered with wood or iron, and I would have put a tarpaulin over that again, with cleats to fasten it at bottom. The window in front of the poop was composed of glass with a wooden frame. When seas came on board, with the trim the Alert was in, the water would press against that window very heavily. It was very improper to have such a thing there at all, but, being there, it should have been properly guarded. A couple of pieces of iron should have been riveted on to the bulks-head, forming a slide for an iron cover plate to go up and down, and the whole secured with a screw bolt as well. The window opening inwards, as it did, increased the danger very much. It was a wrong thing to have a wooden fixed awning on the Alert. She would, in a breeze of wind on the beam, be thrown over to leeward by it. I noticed that the motion of her engines drew her stern down very much.
Cross-examined by Mr. Purves: I know Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping. There are no better surveyors than those of Lloyd’s. Every ship I have commanded was registered by Lloyd’s. Still I say the Alert was not fit to go to sea. As a sea-going man of experience, I think my opinion of equal value with Lloyd’s system of underwriting. On account of her weight aft, her depth of hold, her breadth of beam, and her rig, the Alert should never have been sent to sea.
Q.—You object to the deck fittings? A.—I object to the way she was rigged. I mean the masts.