§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHwished to ask the Secretary of War whether he had received any information in detail with respect to the manner in which sixty-five horses were lost on board the Medway, and several so much injured that they were obliged to be sent on shore when the ship arrived at Gibraltar? He was induced to put that question because he had seen a gentleman who had been on board the Medway before she sailed, and who, on his return to town expressed his anticipation of some disaster, from the manner in which the horses were packed on deck, unless the vessel should have fair weather the whole way to Balaklava. So far from that, however, she encountered a severe gale in the Bay of Biscay, and hence the great loss of animals. The plan of placing the horses on deck was one which should never be adopted, except in cases of necessity—never, certainly, on account of mere economy. In the present case, the horses were placed under a shed on deck, and were so closely packed that the man whose duty it was to arrange the slings was obliged to lie down at full length on the backs of the animals. He understood that the shed gave way bodily during the gale, which happened to be a very severe one; the deck was entirely crowded with horses, dead, dying, or fighting; and if any accident had occurred to the machinery, the vessel would probably have been lost. The matter was a very serious one, and he hoped it would receive the attention of the noble Lord.
§ LORD PANMUREsaid, he had received information with reference to the accident that had taken place on board the Medway, and was able to state that the origin of that accident was a very violent gale—it could hardly be called a gale, it was rather a hurricane—which came on unexpectedly. He did not think he could do better than read a portion of a letter which he had received from the admiral at Gibraltar on the subject; but, before doing so, he wished to observe that in sending out horses to the seat of war at this time of the year, that they were not only justified in availing themselves of every possible means of sending horses to the seat of war, but, at this period of the year, there was every reason to expect that the weather would be such as to justify them in putting them upon the deck 1309 of a steamer, though not perhaps of a sailing vessel, under proper protection. With reference to the Medway, the letter from the Admiral, dated Gibraltar, May 22, gave the following statement—
In my letter of the 20th instant, by the Alice, I had the honour to report, for the information of their Lordships, the arrival of the steam transport Medway, which put in here owing to the loss of horses, occasioned by a very violent gale on the 13th and 14th instant. A case of small- pox having broken out on board, it was necessary to summon a Board of Health and to take measures for landing the sick man, isolating him from the rest of the garrison. In consequence she did not get pratique until 2.30 p.m. on the 20th. I went on board shortly afterwards, and put every carpenter I could procure at the disposal of the captain, to make good the damage that had occurred. In the meantime the military authorities ordered several wounded horses to be landed and preparations made for the embarkation, on the following morning, of mules to replace those killed, and landed in all, I believe, about eighty. In going over the ship with the captain I was astonished at the little comparative damage done to the fittings, considering the gale which was described to me, and the signs of which were evident from the way the paddle-boxes were stove in. It seems that on one side of the quarter-deck nearly the whole framework had fetched way, but had been stopped by the combings of the hatchways. This was effectually remedied by large cleats nailed to the deck, and the carpenters were ordered to repair whatever was pointed out by the captain and chief officer.All he could say in addition was, that the greatest care was taken in all cases to secure the safety of the animals sent to the Crimea, and that at the present season of the year such an event as a heavy gale could not have been anticipated.