A frightful collision occurred in the Channel on Tuesday slight,
which has led to the loss of two ships and more than a hundred lives. The 'Avalanche,' an iron clipper ship, bound to Wellington, New Zealand, being on the port tack off Portland, caane into collision with the 'Forest,' a large ship, of Windsor, Nova Scotia, which was going out in ballast and was on the star- board tack. The 'Avalanche' was in charge of a pilot, so that her commander, Captain Williams, who was drowned,—and who was esteemed by all who knew him as one of the ablest seamen they had ever seen,—was not responsible for the collision. Only twelve people were saved, three of the crew of the Avalanche ' and nine of the crew of the 'Forest,' her captain, Ephraim Lock- hart, amongst them ; while all the rest, including nearly a hundred passengers on board the 'Avalanche,' perished. It is said that the lights of the 'Avalanche' were seen from the 'Forest' for half-an-hour before the collision, but that the collision was due to the neglect of the pilot on the 'Avalanche,' who either did not keep a good look-out, or did not follow the rule of the sea lay giving way to the Forest.'
Previous page
