§ SIR HENRY TYLER (Great Yarmouth)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, In what condition No. 35 First Class Torpedo Boat was allowed to leave Portsmouth; whether extensive leaks manifested themselves, as stated in The Times of the 23rd of April, in the wake of the crew's living compartment, and also in the condenser and collision compartments, eight inches of water being made in one night; whether hand pumps, through defects, ceased to operate, and the steam ejector was obliged to be used, with deleterious results to the boilers; whether, if these statements are correct, he can give any explanation as to who was responsible for such a state of affairs, and what steps will be taken to prevent their occurrence in the future; and, whether similar weakness exists in other service torpedo boats unfitting them to withstand the strains of their engines and the force of the sea?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)No. 35 Torpedo Boat was perfectly sound when she left England. She had been carefully examined on the slip before launching, and neither on launching, or during the steam trials to which she was subjected before leaving, did she show any signs of leaking or any weakness. Two days after leaving Devonport she developed a leak, and it was ascertained that one rivet had gone, and that 11 others were leaking. The fact that she had been perfectly tight up to this time points to the conclusion that some special circumstance, such as an unusually heavy blow from the sea 1215 when being driven in the Bay of Biscay or collision with some floating material, must have caused the leakage. The hand pump did not work satisfactorily, and the steam ejector had to be used; but without, so far as has been ascertained, any injurious effect on the boiler. Everything was done at the Dockyard to secure that the boats were in all respects complete and fit for sea. There is no reason to suppose that the service torpedo boats are weak or unfit to perform the service for which they were constructed.