COLONEL KNOXsaid, he wished to ask the right hon. Baronet the First Lord of the Admiralty whether any report had been received as to the cause of the disaster 1408 on board the Medway on her passage from Southampton to Gibraltar, by which sixty-five horses were so much injured as to be obliged to be destroyed? When that vessel left Southampton she was declared by competent persons to be in an unsafe state from the manner in which she heeled over. The vessel arrived at Gibraltar a perfect wreck; and he had been informed that she had not been properly inspected before she left England.
§ SIR CHARLES WOODsaid, that the loss of the horses was entirely attributable to the very severe weather which the Medway had met with on her way to Gibraltar. As to the fittings for the horses, Captain Connell, who had surveyed her before leaving England, thus reported:—
I have to report that she has stable room for 220 horses. The boxes are well and securely built, and the ventilation is admirable. 115 of the horses hare boxes on the lower deck, which is nearly seven feet high and thoroughly ventilated. The rest are on the spar deck. The main deck is entirely set apart for the use of the men, and can berth 220.Captain Guest, the Port-Captain at Gibraltar, thus reported as to the condition of the ship on her reaching Gibraltar:—In going over the ship with the captain I was astonished at the little comparative damage done to the fittings, considering the gale which was described to me, the signs of which were evident from the way the paddle-boxes were stove in. The gale appears to have been a very severe one, and the ship to have laboured exceedingly. The horses, having become frantic from fear, plunged and kicked in a manner that must have been frightful, and so that no one could go near them.The loss of the horses, therefore, it appeared, was caused by the manner in which they had cut themselves about in kicking against the iron hasps of the boxes in which they were stalled.