§ MR. SAMUDAsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, in reference to the collision of Her Majesty's sloop Amazon and the screw steamer Osprey, and the foundering of both vessels, to explain how it has happened that the Amazon war steamer, apparently built with the view to be used as a ram, should have caused her own destruction by striking a vessel in a smooth sea, that vessel being smaller than herself, and not built with any powers of resistance beyond those ordinarily adopted in merchant vessels; and if the Amazon was not intended to be used as a ram, to explain why the cutwater was constructed in a form only to be justified if it were intended to be so used?
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON,in reply, said, with regard to how it happened that both the steamers after their unfortunate collision sank, the hon. Gentleman was as well informed as he (Sir John Pakington) was. Probably the hon. Gentleman was aware that a court martial had been held on the officers of the Amazon, the result of which had been that the officer of the watch had been dismissed the service for a breach of well-known regulations; but the commander and all the other officers had been honourably acquitted. With regard to that part of the question which referred to the construction of the bow of the Amazon, he was informed by the Comptroller of the Navy that she never was intended to be used as a ram; and with respect to the remaining portion of the question as to why, if she was not intended to be used as a ram, the bow of the Amazon was built of the shape referred to by the hon. Gen- 1280 tleman, the explanation he had to make was that that shape was adopted with the view of giving her, in the first place, finer lines than she would otherwise have had; and, in the second place, with the view of giving her greater bouyancy in order that she might bear the weight of her bow gun.