§ CAPTAIN CHALONER (Wilts, Westbury)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether any Report has been received at the War Office of the circumstances attending the wreck of the Warren Hastings on the island of Réunion; and whether the Report can be made public?
§ MR. BRODRICKReports have been received from the officers commanding the wings of the King's Royal Rifles and the York and Lancaster Regiment and other details on board the Warren Hastings, and also from the officer commanding the ship. It appears that the ship got out of her course and struck the rocks soon after 2 o'clock on a pitch-dark night. The troops, numbering over 1,000, were mustered at once, and the captain of the ship reports that but for the perfect discipline observed and the prompt obedience to every order given, many lives must necessarily have 206 been lost. I propose to lay the Reports on the Table, and I think the House will feel that the individual acts of heroism in saving life recorded in them, and the perfect order maintained during the landing of the women and children in darkness with the ship at an angle of 50 deg. and momentarily expected to capsize, are worthy to be recorded in the annals of these regiments and of the British Army. [Cheers.]