§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONsaid, that he wished to put a question to the Secretary of the Admiralty respecting some accidents reported to have occurred to the ships of the Channel squadron. The Times of that morning contained the following paragraph:—
A letter dated Torbay, Tuesday, received at Plymouth, from one of the officers of the Channel squadron, says that off the Lizard the ships were taken all aback, and could not again form a line. The Edgar, Queen, and Donegal remained out. Besides the casualties to the Queen, Diadem, Algiers, and Mersey, already reported in The Times, the letter states that the Aboukir lost her cross-jack yard and starboard quarter-boats, the Royal Albert pitched her jib-boom under at times, and the Trafalgar lost her jib-boom; she will probably call at Plymouth before proceeding to the Tagus.He wished to know whether the Admiralty had received any account of this dispersion, as he might call it, of the fleet off the Lizard, and whether the damage which had been caused was to be considered as the inevitable result of the late gale, or whether there was reason to attribute any blame to the officers in command of the squadron. A much more important question, however, and one upon which he was still more anxious for an explanation, arose with reference to the casualties to the Queen, Diadem, Algiers, and Mersey. Was he right in believing that these casualties had arisen from these magnificent ships having on three recent occasions come into collision with each other in the open Channel? He understood that on one occasion the Diadem and Queen ran foul of each other, and that on another, the Algiers and Mersey came into collision; the fact of these great and splendid ships coming into collision in the open Channel, while sailing in open order of battle, was one of serious import, to which the attention of the Government ought to be directed, It was impossible that these collisions should take place without great danger and serious public loss. He understood from the report that in both cases the collisions occurred when the ships were sailing in two lines, and were tacking in succession. If that were the case it was impossible to escape one or two inferences—either that the sailing order under which the manœuvres were executed must be of a defective and unsafe character, or there must be a want of seamanship among the officers 2160 who were in command of those ships. He therefore asked his noble Friend to give some account of these circumstances, and he trusted that it would be in his power to give such an explanation as would remove the unpleasant feeling on the part of the public, to which the statements contained in this paragraph had given rise.