THE LOSS of THE MONTMORENCY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 11, Issue 840, 2 April 1867, Page 2

THE LOSS of THE MONTMORENCY.

The claim for salvage advtuiced by Capt. Bendall, of theSkar"of the South, and Mr. Warnes— both of whom had incurred heavy labor and great risk — was settled ou Saturday by arbitration. The arbitrators appointed were William Lyon Esq., J.P., of Wellington, and J. G-. Kinross Esq., J.P., of this place, Evidence having been taken, they agreed that no proof of. actual abandonment had been brought before them, so as to sustain the full claim for salvage; but they awarded £50 as compensation for the trouble taken. Yesterday, an official inquiry into the cause of the loss of the ship was held in the Council Chamber, before Edward Catchpool Esq., J.P. and Collector of Customs, aud John Curling Esq., Resident Magistrate. The following evidence was adduced : — Josiah Hudson MacKenzie, on oath: — I was master of the ship Montmorency. I was appointed master by John Brodie, 21, Mark Lane, London, the managing owner, ■who owned 16-64ths or one-fourth. There were three other owners of the vessel more or less. We started from Eugland on the 11th December, 1866. The passengers were chiefly immigrants for New Zealand. My copy of the manifest of the cargo was burnt. The cargo consisted of salt, bales of drapery, spirits, oils, wires, turpentine, agricultural implements, and cases of hardware. The first mate superintended the loading of the vessel. lam certain she was insured, and the policy would expire thirty days after dropping anchor in New Zealand. They did not give me the policy. On Sunday the 24th March, 1867, 1 dropped anchor in the roads of Napier. I came on shore on Monday with a number of the immigrants. I reported my arrival at the office of Messrs. Stuarb & Co., who were the agents of the vessel. I also reported myself at the custom-house. On Monday all the passengers were landed, and in the evening I returned to the vessel and sent all the bedding belonging to the passengers on shore. On Tuesday I came on shore again and remained on shore until about 5 p.m., when I returned on board. On Wednesday the remainder of the passengers' luggage was sent on shore, and the same day I went on shore. I intended to have gone on board again, but the flood tide prevented me doing so. I went to bed at the Commercial Hotel about 10"30 p.m. I awoke about ten minutes paat 12, and at the same time persons were rushing upstairs tolling me that my ship was on fire. I procured a boat as soon as I could and went to the vessel, which was about a mile from the shore. I arrived at the vessel by about 10 minutes past 1. All the crew . were in boats with as much luggage as they could save, and the first and second mates and the boatswain were about leaving. The chief officer told me that nothing further could be done to save her. I got on board to see whether it was possible to unshackle the cables, but the ship was in a perfect blaze fore and aft, and it was impossible to get to the cables. My motive in unshackling was to let the vessel drive on to the beach. I came down from the vessel and told all the crew to lay by the ship and assist the pilot, if required, in unshackling the chain from the buoy, which was accomplished about 3 a.m. We hung by the ship until about 530, when we could do no more without assistance. She was a complete wreck, having nearly burnt to the water's edge. I went off to the ship again and remained there about two hours. The Harbour Master was then trying to get the chain cables cut, but he failed, whilst I was there, to do so. I returned to the shore about 10 a.m,, and heard that the DeputySuperintendent had engaged the Star of the South to tow the vessel clear of the moorings. The steamer went off about 11 30, but she did not, that day, succeed in getting her on the. beach. The next morning the steamer went off and succeeded in getting her in to the beach. ' She was burning at the time. Before I received the alarm I never had the least reason to suppose there was anything of a smouldering fire. My seamen are still on the articles as before, and are not paid off. On Monday all the luggage , was taken up from the lower hold and put in 'tween decks. The officers, after anchoring, had to go down into the hold, but never reported anything suspicious or dangerous to me. Joshua Fawkes, on oath, states : I was first mate of the Montmoreucy. I am not yet discharged. I was in charge of the vessel on the evening of Wednesday, the 27th March. I set the usual anchor watch from 8 to 6 o'clock the next morning, each man takes an hour alone. The last time I came on the poop was about half past ten. I saw nothing. I came up to see who had the watch. An able seaman named Beaumont had the watch and I told him to keep the lamp well trimmed and to call me at half past five next morning. I then went to bed. I was aroused from sleep by a cry of fire from a number of the crew. By the time I got on deck it was ten minutes to twelve. I was met by some of the crew who told me that the fire was in the fore hold. I went forward and found dense quantities of black smoke coming up the fore hatchway. I ordered the pumps to be rigged and the hose put down the hatchway. The sailmaker, the boatswain, and I then got down the fore hatchway, and we lifted one part of the lower fore hatch for the purpose of passing the water down, but, on lifting the hatch, the flames and smoke came up in volumes and the deck became quite hot under our feet. The smoke so suffocating that we had to get .on deck. I ordered the hatch to be closed down again, to prevent the air getting down, and ordered one part of the crew to clear away the boats and the other part to get the hose passed down the main hatch. I then fired off several signal rockets and burned blue lights for the purpose of getting assistance from the shore, but we got no answer from the shore, although we fired three sets of rockets. I then made another attempt down the main hatchway with the hose and found the smoke so suffocating that we could not get near the fire. At this time the fore part of the vessel was in a blaze, the fire having caught the spare spars on deck. I then had the main hatch p\it on again and got the boats out of the skids. By the time the boats were out, the fire was aft to the main-mast and the main rigging was on fire in different places. I then fired another, lot of rockets without any answer from the shore. It was then close upon 1^ o'clock. I ordered part of the crew into

the boats, and the other part to save what personal luggage they could. . I also ordered the carpenter alongside to scuttle the ship if possible for the purpose of fcav^ ing the ship and cargo. The fire then spread so rapidly that it had caught aft to the poop. I ordered all the crew into the boats. I then fired another set of rockets without any answer from the shore. I then threw the powder magazine overboard. I then ordered every one into the boats. The fire, at this .time, had worked nearly as far as the captain's cabin below. I then left the ship myself, and got the carpenter into the boat with me and made an attempt to scuttle the ship under the bows, which we found we could not do owing to the swell. At this time I was aware that the Harbor Master was alongside. I then climbed up over the bows with the second mate to see if we could get a purchase for lifting the chain at the buoy. Just at this moment the captain came alongside and got up over her bows but could do nothing, the whole ship being in flames fore and aft. We got into the boats. The rest is as the captain has given in his evidence. I superintended the loading of the vessel in England. I knew where every part of the cargo was stowed. The cargo in the fore hold consisted of Stockholm tar, coal tar, pitch, turpentine, resin, about a dozen casks of cook's fat, and two or three hundred boxes of candles. Nearly all the cargo in the fore hold was inflammable. The hatch was on when I went to bed, and as far as I know there was no one on deck except the seaman on watch and the Custom-house officer, who had just come. There was no other communication with the fore hold except by the hatchway. There were no spirits down this hold. There was nothing that could have originated the fire by spontaneous combustion. There was nothing that could have caught fire from the mere dropping of a lighted match. I have not the least reason to suspect that it was occasioned by any one either wilfully or carelessly. Charles Broberg, on his oath, states : — I am second mate. The whole of the evidence given by tlie captain and first mate is correct in every particular. William Henry Fordham, on oath, states : I am at present tide waiter. I was on board before the fire took place, having gone on board on Monday morniug and re"niained there until the time of the fire. At II o'clock on Wednesday night the 27th March, I went below. At that time I was the only person on deck, except the man of the watch. I turned in, and remained reading for a short time. I then blew out the light and was falling asleep, when I heard the man of the watch come to the companion-way and call down " Mr. Fawkes, the ship is on fire." lat once called out to him to rig the pumps. I then went to Mr. Fawkes and called out to him, at the door of his cabin, that the ship was on fire. I then went on deck and I found the deck in a great state of confusion. The officers and the crew were all on deck. We went to the fore hatch and lifted it, and the chief mate, sailmaker and boatswain went below. They lifted one part of the lower hatch. This, to my own knowledge, was locked before 1 o'clock p.m. by an iron bar across it and a padlock. The smoke came up in dense volumes. (Here the witness, to the Magistrate's question, whether he knows anything more or different to what has been stated by previous witnesses said that he did not.) The first mate, being recalled, stated, in answer to questions, that when he went down the fore hold and lifted part of the lower hatchway that the bar was across the hatchway but it was not locked. That he had had occasion to open the hatch about 4 or 5 o'clock that same afternoon to look for a missing box ; and that he is under the impression that he did not lock it. That the second mate was the only one with him at the time ; neither of them were smoking, and that there was not the least sign of anything connected with fire. James Parker, the third mate, on oath, states, to a question from the Magistrate : That he has nothing further to state than what has already been given in evidence. Charles Prince, boatswain ; James Anderson, carpenter ; Timothy Ryan, sailmaker; and William Beaumont, being sworn, stated that they had nothing fresh to add. William Beaumont states that he first observed the smoke coming out through the divisions of the hatch. The Court came to the conclusion that there was nothing in the evidence to shew how or in what manner the fire occurred.