§ SIR FREDERICK MAPPIN (York, W.R., Hallamshire)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, inasmuch as the charge of default has been partly proved against Captain Ernest Rice that he committed an error of judgment in running the Sultan so close to the five fathom line on an uneven and rocky bottom, and the same Officer was tried by court-martial for stranding H.M.S. Iris, under his command, on the Avola shore, off Cape Augusta, on the 17th February, 1882, he would state to the House what steps the Government intend to take to secure the safe navigation of Her Majesty's ships in the future?
§ LORD G. HAMILTONEvery precaution to ensure the safe navigation of Her Majesty's ships is, and always has been, taken, and any further security against accident that experience can suggest is from time to time adopted. The few casualties which have occurred among Her Majesty's ships while employed on every conceivable service in all parts of the world speak well for the precautions observed and the navigating skill of their captain and officers. The British Navy is the only naval service which, as a rule, dispenses with the services of pilots in local waters. I regret, therefore, that, under cover of a Parliamentary question, the hon. Baronet should have made so unfair a reflection upon the capacity and skill of a distinguished service, which is all the more ill-timed as, during the last few days, the display of those very qualities which the right hon. Member insinuates the Navy do not possess saved Her Majesty's ship 244 Calliope from a catastrophe which befell all the warships of other nations with whom she was in company.
§ SIR F. MAPPINMay I ask whether, in consequence of these defaults, the Admiralty will consider the desirableness of dismissing Captain Ernest Rice from Her Majesty's service?
No answer was given.