The disclosures as to the condition of the Megmra show
that the Admiralty have really been guilty' of gross negligence in -sending out that ship and pronouncing her seaworthy, in spite of all the warnings they had. The private letters from St. Paul's, where she is now beached, show that when she sprang a leak, 1,500 miles from land, her bottom was found to be full of holes, "like a tea-kettle worn from age." She had to run ten days for 1,500 miles in this condition, the steam pumps alone saving her, and that with the greatest difficulty ; and then she was run on an island where provisions were not to be had, with a not over-abundant, though it would seem a sufficient, stock. When Mr. Goscheu entered office the Megrera was already, we 'believe, at Queenstown outwardbound, and the naval authority whom he ordered to report on her condition, and who reported her perfectly seaworthy, cannot have known his
business. Mr. Goachen having only just entered office, can hardly be held fully responsible for this frightful blunder. But it certainly ought to warn him not to accept too easily this sort of certificate to seaworthiness, and never to accept again that of the special delinquent on this occasion. Of course, the bottom of the Megrera was not in holes when the report was made, but it must have been worn away to a most dangerous extent, so that any adequate judge would have known that he was risking most 'seriously the lives of the troops she was destined to transport.
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