The really important portion of the inquest on the victims
of the Thames catastrophe commenced on Monday last, the pre- ceding meetings of coroner and jury having been devoted entirely to the identification of the dead. The evidence at present has been that of witnesses who were sailors or passengers on board the ' Princess Alice,' or who were produced by the London Steamboat Company. The general drift of their testimony is that the accident was caused by a sudden porting of her helm by the ' Bywell Castle.' The non-nautical witnesses represent the Princess Alice' as keeping to the south shore of the river, and having only the green and white lights of the Bywell Castle' visible on her starboard bow for some time, till just before the collision the red or port light also came into view. One witness, who was on a barge near Beckton Pier when the accident happened, caused some sensation in court when he gave in evidence that he heard the order, " Port, port !' given on board the Bywell Castle,' just be- fore she ran into the other vessel. The cross-examination of the witnesses who have been called seems to be based on the theory that the ' Princess Alice' was endeavouring to cross under the bows of the Bywell Castle' to the north shore of the river, but the concurrence of testimony as to the direction of the helm of the former vessel, and as to the appearance of the lights on the Bywell Castle,' as seen from her, is strong. It came out during the inquiry that the helm of the ' Princess Alice ' at the time of the collision was in charge of a man who had volunteered as a substitute, and had never steered a passenger steamboat before, and did not " know the Thames so well as he ought to do." At the conclusion of his evidence, the coroner remarked, with some naivete, that " the question would arise whether the captain was justified in permitting him to steer the Princess Alice ' on the occasion in question." We shall hear a great deal more about the details of the case yet if, as was hinted by one of the legal representatives employed, the inquiry is to last another month or five weeks.
Previous page
