Mr. Gosehen on Monday defended the Government in the matter
of the loss of the Megasra. He accepted the fullest responsibility—a great deal more than he need have done, for he had no more to do with the sending of the vessel than with the building of the Captain—promised the fullest inquiry, and admitted not directly, but by implication, that it was a mistake to send her. He defended the Government from Mr. Reed's charges, upon which we have remarked elsewhere, and showed that all the regular authorities had concurred in pronouncing the Megaara seaworthy. What he left unexplained was the Admiralty's method of keeping up the biographies of its ships. How does it happen that a big book is not kept registering every inci- dent in the life of each vessel, repairs, reports against her, injuries, and changes of condition? If there is such a book, why was not a precis of Mr. Reed's report inserted in it? and if there is not,., why should not the Admiralty borrow a hint from Lloyd's ? The First Lord ought to be able to learn in five minutes everything of any importance that ever happened to any vessel, from her builder's name to her latest adventure with a sword-fish.
