§ ADMIRAL FIELD (Sussex, Eastbourne)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, with reference to the Phaeton at Portsmouth, and the recent several "breaks down" of her machinery, Whether he is satisfied that due caution was observed by those responsible for taking over the engines from the contractors before they were finally accepted; whether the last breaking of one of her pistons and cylinders is due to some inherent me- 1194 chanical defect in the engines themselves, and such as no caution on the part of the engineers's staff on board could foresee or guard against; whether, immediately prior to the ship being commissioned, her engine-room staff of officers and stokers were drafted off for service in other ships with the sole exception of the chief engineer, thereby necessitating the appointment of other engineers and men entirely unacquainted with the engines, and depriving the chief engineer of the assistance to which he had been accustomed; whether such action meets with his approval, and whether it may not have contributed to her break down; and, whether the other ships of Phaeton class are engined by the same firm of contractors, and whether any serious complaints have been received in respect of their machinery?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)Due caution was not observed in certain particulars by those responsible for taking over the engines of the Phaeton from the contractors. The several officers concerned have been censured by the Admiralty, and the chief engineer has been removed from the ship. The last accident, whereby one of the cylinders was injured, was caused by the breaking of a piston rod. The rod where broken shows the existence of a defect not previously apparent, but which may have existed for some time. The defect is one which it would be difficult for the engineer staff on board to foresee and guard against, but the subject is being now inquired into. With the exception of the chief engineer, and sometimes one other, there is no engine-room staff actually belonging to a ship of this size until she is put into commission. The staff necessary for the efficient maintenance of the machinery is supplied by the Steam Reserve, and when orders are received to commission the ship the men who have been employed upon her are as far as possible selected to compose her engine-room staff. In the case of the Phaeton the men who had been so employed had, from various causes, been drafted away before the order was received to commission her, with the exception of three stokers who formed part of her staff. None of the accidents that subsequently occurred in the ship can be attributed to this cause. The Leander and Arethusa are of the Phaeton class, 1195 and were built and engined by the same contractors, Messrs. Napier, of Glasgow, but no serious complaints have been received in respect of the machinery of these two ships.
§ ADMIRAL FIELDasked whether the cylinder of the Phaeton, as well as the piston, had broken?
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONsaid, there was a crack in one of the cylinders.