HC Deb 18 February 1914 vol 58 cc951-2
72. Mr. O'DONNELL

asked whether the steamship "Bridgeport," owned and registered in London by Brown, Jenkinson, and Company. 4, Lloyd's Avenue, London, which left Sydney for Montreal on the 1st November last, has not since been heard of; whether it is proposed to hold an inquiry in this country into the matter; whether statements made by officers of the vessel and now in the possession of their parents or friends will be taken into account at the inquiry; whether, when this vessel arrived at Sydney, Cape Breton, on the 23rd May, 1913, her thwartship beams were put ashore to facilitate the working of the cranes and were left there after her; whether, on the voyage of the 8th September at Montreal,, this ship's cargo of coal was 11,660 tons, draft 26 feet 11 inches, whereas her builders, William Doxford and Sons, Sunderland, give her dead weight 11,000 tons, on a draft 25 feet 1⅜ inch; whether the compass, owing to the change of derricks, had shifted a point, and was the cause of putting the ship on the wrong course; and whether, seeing that this vessel was owned and registered in this country and that the officers, all of whom were lost, are British subjects, the inquiry into her loss and its cause should be held in London?

Mr. BURNS

The steamship "Bridgeport," of London, has not been heard of since she left Sydney, Cape Breton, for Montreal, on 1st November. At the time of her loss, and for some months previously, the "Bridgeport" had been trading on the Canadian coasts, and the Canadian Court, which is to hold an investigation into the loss of the vessel, is in a much better position to secure material information regarding the casualty than a Court of investigation in this country. I am unable to say whether the statements in my hon. Friend's question as regards the conditions obtaining on the vessel at different times are correct, but they and any other statements bearing on the loss of the ship, which can be supplied to the Board of Trade, shall be forwarded to the Canadian authorities, to whom certain information has already been sent.