§ THE EARL OF HARDWICKEsaid, he had a Question of some importance to ask, but he hardly knew to whom he could address it, as a new Government sat on the Treasury Benches, and the noble Duke (the Duke of Somerset) who lately presided at the Admiralty did so no longer, and was now absent from the House. He therefore begged their Lordships would forgive him if, under the circumstances, he addressed his Question to an imaginary 774 person. During the Administration of the noble Duke a great many experiments were made—the noble Duke was a great experimentalist— but the results of some of his experiments were not known, although they must be of course of great importance to the country. The last experiment was firing with conoidal-headed shot, at 200 yards, against a turret; but whether the experiment was successful in destroying the turret or not he could not say; but there was another experiment which had been made for the noble Duke the other day—namely, as to the efficiency of what was called the ram bow, which was intended to strike ships and sink them. The experiment was tried in the Channel; the result was terrible, but it was as disastrous to the conqueror as the conquered, at the same moment she destroyed the stricken ship she was destroyed herself. This appeared to him sufficient to direct the attention of Government to this construction of vessel. It was clear that either the principle was wrong, and that reaction operated against the striking vessel, or else that the carpentry of the Amazon was so bad that when she separated from the other ship she had a large hole in her bow, and sank immediately. It was well, perhaps, that this experiment had been made, although it had led to loss of life on board one vessel, and of the ships in both cases; but if it had not taken place they would never have known what description of vessel they were constructing, or what sort of carpentry was being put in their new ships. He trusted the Government would not fail to learn the lesson this disaster taught.
THE EARL OF ORKNEYsaid, the Commander of the Amazon, Captain Hunter, was well known to him, and he was certain that the disaster was not attributable to any negligence on his part, and that he had after it occurred done everything that was possible for the rescue of life.