WHERRIES AND STEAM-BOATS.—A conviction Was obtained by the Watermen's Company,
at the Middlesex Sessions, on Tuesday, against the Captain of the Glasgow steam-boat, for causing a wherry to fill with water, on the 12th August last. The chief witness was a Mr. Thomas Lennard, managing clerk to Mr. Graham, a solicitor in the Temple, who deposed as follows— On the afternoon of the 12th of August last, lie, accompanied by two friends, a Mr. Lyses and a Mr. Molyneux, engaged a wherry at Billingsgate Stairs, with a view to go on the River. The party entered the boat, accompanied by the waterman, Benjamin Rogers, who was directed t.o row towards Greenwich. They proceeded along the Bermondsey, or Surry; side of the River, as far as Mill Stairs, when the Glasgow steam-trader between London and Dundee, coming up the River, passed the witness and his party. Of this vessel the de- fendant was the captain. The Glasgow passed about thirty yards distant flora the boat; and in consequence of the very rapid rate at which she was coining up the River (running as she did in-shore, in order to round a number of vessels which were lying abreast), the water, which had before been perfectly smooth, became very rough ; and a perfect sea was created by the rapid course of the steamer, running with waves front three to four feet high ! In consequence of the vessels moored in the River, the party in the wherry did not observe the ap- proach of the Glasgow until close upon her; and the effect of her ping at the rapid course she was then running, swamped and sunk the wherry, capsizing the waterman and passengers, of whom only one could swim.
Nobody was drowned. It did not appear that the boat or those in her were seen by the people of the steam-boat. The pilot of the steam- boat, and others, proved that the steam-boat was not proceeding above four miles an hour; that the swamping of the wherry arose entirely from the waterman's stupidity; and that other wherries were rowing at the time within twenty feet of the vessel unharmed. The Jury, not- withstanding, returned an instant verdict of Guilty : the four-feet wave seemed to have completely gone over them. No judgment was pro- nounced; but the Captain was bound himself in 100/. and two sureties in 50/. each to appear when called on, with a caution, that if he offended in a like manner again, his recognizances would be estreated,—that is, if ever he run a steam-boat at the rate of four miles an hour again, one mile slower than Wood's bill required, he should lose 2001.! The names of these Jurymen and their descriptions ought to be pasted up in every steam-boat on the River, and none of them permitted to travel by such a conveyance as long as he lived.
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