QUESTION. (Hansard, 17 February 1857)

§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON
asked the First Lord of the Admiralty what was the cause of the detention of the Megæra troop 741 ship at Portsmouth after the time fixed for her sailing for the Mauritius with troops? Whether it was true, that shortly after she sailed she sprang a dangerous leak, which would probably have caused the loss of the ship, had the accident occurred at a greater distance from land? Whether the repairs which the Megæra is now again undergoing at Plymouth are such as will enable the Admiralty to feel confident that she will be in a fit state to convey 400 or 500 of Her Majesty's troops to so distant a part of the world?

§ SIR CHARLES WOOD
I have to state, in reply to the first question of my right hon. Friend, that the cause of the detention of the ship was, that the officer who commanded her had miscalculated the time which would be required in order to clean her up after she had come out of the dockyard. The time occupied in that duty was longer than had been expected, in consequence of the state of the weather, and he had reported that she would have been ready for the embarkation of troops sooner than had actually been the case. When Sir George Seymour inspected her, he found that she was not fit for that service without exposing the troops to unnecessary discomfort, and he therefore thought it advisable to defer the day of her sailing. In answer to the second question of my right hon. Friend, I have to state, that it is not true that the Megæra sprang a leak. It merely turned out that two small screws in the bottom of the ship had not been fixed in their places, and there were consequently two small holes in the bottom of the vessel about seven feet under water. Of course, the water came through them, but it was only in such a small quantity, that with the use of a common hand-bucket she might have gone round the world with perfect safety. In reply to the third question, I beg leave to say, that I have not the slightest doubt that the holes having been caulked, the Megæra is now in a condition to perform the duty assigned to her of going to the Mauritius in a satisfactory manner.

LORD ADOLPHUS VANE TEMPEST
said, he wished to put a question to the right hon. Gentleman upon the same subject. He begged leave to ask him, whether a similar accident had not occurred to that very ship upon a former occasion, when she had been employed to take out the first battalion of the Rifle Brigade a second time to the Cape? He had himself received a statement from a relative of one 742 of the officers on board the Megæra, on the occasion to which a reference had just been made by the right hon. Gentleman (Sir John Pakington), which gave so totally different a description of the occurrence from that given by the right hon. Gentleman, that he begged leave to read it to the House. He believed he could read it without violating the rules of the House, if he were to move that they should then adjourn; and he would accordingly move that the House do now adjourn. The letter occupied only about ten lines, and, after he should have read it, the House, he thought, would agree with him that he had been justified in so doing. The letter was—"My relative left Portsmouth in the Megæra transport, on Sunday last, and had to return to port on Tuesday; it was as much as ever they could do to keep the water from rising more than three feet in the lower cabin." This did not agree with the "little holes" described by the First Lord of the Admiralty. "She was just out of dock, and is now gone in for large repairs; meantime, 500 men are gone on board a hulk ship—a precious waste of public money from bad management." That was the statement he had received from a relative of one of the officers on board the ship; and he begged leave to ask the right hon. Baronet the First Lord of the Admiralty, whether a similar occurrence to that which had recently taken place had not happened to the same vessel upon a former occasion? With a view to place himself in order, he begged leave, in conclusion, to move the adjournment of the House.

§ SIR CHARLES WOOD
said, that the proceeding adopted by the noble Lord was not strictly in accordance with the practice of the House, and was not, in itself, a very convenient one. The ship in question had undergone considerable repairs at Portsmouth; she was brought from Portsmouth to Plymouth; and he would read to the House the report he had received on the subject of her leakage. [The right hon. Baronet then read the Report, which merely stated that two small screw-holes had been found in the bottom of the vessel, seven feet below water; that she had been since taken into dock; and that as soon as those holes were stopped she would again proceed at once to sea.]

CAPTAIN KNOX
wished to know whether 743 the right hon. Baronet was disposed to make any further inquiry into that matter? From what he had heard he had reason to believe that the water had entered through the bows of the ship, and that she was completely unfit for the service assigned to her.

§ SIR CHARLES WOOD
said, that from the report he had received, it appeared that the leakage had taken place in the hold of the ship, seven feet under water, and not in her bows.