HC Deb 21 March 1871 vol 205 cc337-8
MR. M'CARTHY DOWNING

asked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether a Report has been made to his department of the wreck of the "Crescent City," a steamer of 2,400 tons burden, laden with specie and cotton, of the schooner "Cecil," and the "Joseph Sprott," all of Liverpool, in the month of February last, near the Galley Head, between the Lighthouses on the Old Head at Kinsale and the Fastnet Rock, by which many lives and property to a large extent were lost; whether representations were not previously from time to time made of the necessity for placing a light on the Galley Head, and a Report made by Captain Waulfe, R.N., to the same effect; whether since said wrecks a memorial has not been presented from a large number living in the district, asking for the erection of such a light; whether a Report has not been made on the subject to the like effect by the Harbour Board at Dublin; and, whether it is intended, in compli- ance with these several representations, memorials, and Reports, to erect a light thereon?

MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE

said, in reply, that the Cecil stranded a mile to the west of Galley Head, and the master having been reported to have steered a wrong course, an inquiry into the case had been ordered. In the case of the Joseph Sprott, the ship went on to the rocks in the midst of a thick fog and rain, she having been previously damaged at sea. The Crescent City was wrecked in the same locality, and an inquiry took place on the subject, when it was found that the wreck occurred through the master steering a wrong course. The master steered in a fog near the land, without using the lead, and his certificate has been suspended for two years, which was a very severe punishment. Representations had been made for placing a light on the Galley Head, and that matter came before Parliament in 1861. A memorial had also come from the district, together with other representations, again urging the placing of a light on the Galley Head, but those papers had only arrived at the Board of Trade from the Commissioners of Irish Lights that morning. The proper course would be for the Commissioners of Irish Lights to forward those papers, with the application for a new light, to Trinity House, when their recommendations would receive the consideration of the Elder Brethren of the Trinity House, and afterwards the full consideration of the Board of Trade.