MR. GORSTasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether his attention has been called to the following Report of Captain Fairfax, as to the behaviour of Her Majesty's ship "Volage," under his command, on a voyage from the Cape to Kerguelen Island:—
All the poop cabins were deeply flooded, and on several occasions the depth of water on the lee side of the quarter-deck was such as to cover the guns, and two men were carried off their logs, washed over the guns, and nearly over the netting. The freeing ports under the gun-ports relieved the ship very soon of the water; without them such an immense weight of water, accumulating each roll and rushing from side to side, would have been most serious. As neither I nor any officer in this ship had seen a vessel ship water in this way, perhaps you may think fit to draw their Lordships' attention to it;and, who was the designer of the "Volage," and how many other ships in Her Majesty's Navy, whether composite or ironclad, are built upon the same scientific plan?
§ MR. HUNTSir, I have read the letter from Captain Fairfax to which my hon. Friend refers. The designer of the Volage was the late Chief Constructor of the Navy (Mr. E. J. Reed), whom I have the pleasure of seeing opposite. There is another ship in the service, the Active, which is similar to the Volage. I have to state, however, that my hon. Friend has not read out that part of the Report of Captain Fairfax in which he describes the seas in which the ship was in as exceptionally heavy. I have to inform my hon. Friend that this ship was built for great speed, and that ships built for speed cannot be expected to keep as dry as other ships. I believe that Captain Fairfax has never been in a ship of that kind before. I have special means of knowing something about the Volage, because the gallant officer who acts as my private Secretary (Captain M. C. Seymour) commanded her some time 1613 back; and he reports to me that he considered her a perfectly safe and sound ship. The Volage served one commission in the detached squadron, and both captain and admiral reported extremely well of her.
§ MR. GOSCHENasked in what Report the statement was made?
§ MR. HUNTsaid, Captain Fairfax had been engaged to conduct an observation of the Transit of Venus, and had furnished to the Admiralty an official Report of his proceedings in that service. The subject was of so much interest that it was deemed advisable to send copies of his Report to the newspapers.