HC Deb 28 June 1900 vol 84 cc1330-1
SIR FORTESCUE FLANNERY

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the Admiralty have now received any explanation of the position and extent of the leakage which rendered Her Majesty's ship "Hermes" helpless in mid-ocean; whether this leakage was in the water-tube boilers; and if it is yet known how long the repairs will take.

MR. GOSCHEN

The report of the court of inquiry on the breakdown of the "Hermes" has now been received. The chief cause of the breakdown was the inefficient state of the feed pumps, which had been allowed to become so defective that they were not capable of supplying the necessary feed water to the boilers. The court state there is no reason to suppose that the feed pumps were not efficient when the "Hermes" left England, but that the slight defects which arose in ordinary work were increased by injudicious treatment. The distilling apparatus was also working unsatisfactorily. The leakage appears to have taken place from various steam and drain pipe joints, and in some cases from split boiler tubes, and also water was being pumped into unused boilers and escaping through their safety valves. It would be improper to make any statement at present as to the responsibility for the treatment which the machinery received, as the report has not yet been fully considered, and the state of health of the staff engineer in charge did not admit of his exercising the necessary supervision. He has since been invalided. The boilers have been seriously damaged by being worked without sufficient water, and a large number of the tubes will require to be replaced. It is impossible to say at present how long the repairs will take.

SIR FORTESCUE FLANNERY

Do I correctly understand that the leakage was in the boilers?

MR. GOSCHEN

The hon. Gentleman had better read my answer. I will not venture to go into any further statement of detail.

MR. ALLAN

Has the right hon. Gentleman received any report from the inspector of machinery who was sent out to see the vessel, in which it was stated that—

*MR. SPEAKER

Order, order! Notice must be given of that.