HC Deb 26 June 1873 vol 216 cc1416-7
MR. T. E. SMITH

asked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether it is true that the "Eleanor," one of the ships condemned as unseaworthy by the Board of Trade, has been sold to Norwegian owners, and has sailed away with British seamen on board?

MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE,

in reply, said, it was true that the ship Eleanor, which had been declared by the Board of Trade to be unseaworthy, was sold to Norwegian owners, and she either had sailed or was about to sail away under the Norwegian flag. Whether she had British sailors on board or not he did not know; but if that were the fact, it would not give the Board of Trade power to stop her now that she was in her new hands. But he had communicated with the Foreign Office for the purpose of informing the Norwegian Government as to the history of the ship.

MR. T. E. SMITH

gave Notice that he would on that day week ask the right hon. Gentleman, Whether he had considered the advisability of introducing a clause into the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Bill to prevent the recurrence of such a transaction?

MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE

That clause is already in the Bill.