MOTION FOR A PAPER. (Hansard, 3 June 1872)

THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE
, in moving for Copy of the revised Orders from the Admiralty to admirals and captains relative to the use of steam and consumption of coal in the Navy, said, that while he did not go the length to which Lord Clarence Paget went in his pamphlet on the subject, he believed the restriction of the use of coal in Her Majesty's ships had been attended with injurious consequences. Under the regulations which have been in force for some years, steam was never allowed to be used if it possibly could be avoided. Now, he (the Earl of Lauderdale wanted to know how a captain could be up to managing his ship in action under steam if he was never allowed to practice; besides, if he did get up steam he was only allowed to go at five knots. Steam at low speed was easily managed, but steam at full power required the greatest attention and care, and would always be required in action; and he repeated that, without practice, the consequences would lead to disaster, as neither captain, engineers, nor stokers, would be up to their work. The noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Camperdown) had been kind enough to produce certain Papers on the subject, but they did not contain all the information he sought for, and he therefore begged to move for Copies of all Orders issued on the subject from 1865 up to the present time.

THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN
said, he believed the Papers he had already laid upon the Table contained an exhaustive statement of the Orders and Circulars issued from the Admiralty with reference to the consumption of coal in the Navy, and he did not think he could produce any further information; but he would make inquiry, and if there were any other Papers he was quite willing to supply them. With regard to the pamphlet of the noble and gallant Admiral 998 (Lord Clarence Paget) which the noble Earl had quoted he did not think the cases it cited bore out the inference drawn—namely, that the Admiralty paid more attention to economy than to the proper management and safety of Her Majesty's ships. The reports concerning the various ships mentioned showed, with reference to the Captain, a strong probability that she had her steam up when the catastrophe occurred. In his report, Admiral Sir A. Milne said—"I directed Captain Burgoyne to get his funnel up, steam ready, and to connect his screws." Again, the Admiral said that after leaving the ship he made signal to get steam ready to keep station if required. Chief Gunner Hay said—"Steam was up, but I do not know whether the screw was revolving." So much as to the Captain. Now, as to the Agincourt—at the time she ran on the Pearl Rock the Admiral's order was that the ships were to have steam up sufficient to steam six knots if required. With respect to the Lord Clyde, in the night orders it was directed that the after-boilers should be kept banked and the foremost boilers should be ready for use with 10 minutes' notice. She was under steam even during the night, and could have been under steam according to her orders in 10 minutes at any time. Then as to the Defence. She ran ashore owing to an accidental mistake in the transmission of a message from the engineer to the captain, in consequence of which the ship's cable was shipped before steam was up in her boiler, and she was unable with two boilers only to make head against a heavy sea. With regard to the Royal Albert, she grounded through a mistake that was made as to the latitude. That mistake was not shared by her consort, the Danæ, which consequently escaped; and the captain of the Royal Albert, Captain Nicholson, himself admitted that he would have increased his steam if he had seen sufficient reason for so doing. If this had been the first time economy in the consumption of coal had been enjoined he could have understood the objection raised by the noble Earl; but the fact was that from the very earliest employment of coal and from the invention of steam the necessity of economy in the consumption of coal had been generally recognized, and by no one more than by the noble and gallant Admiral whose 999 name the noble Earl had quoted (Lord Clarence Paget). That necessity was recognized in the Circulars which bore that noble and gallant Admiral's name, and in the Queen's Regulations and Instructions from 1861 down to the present time. He believed with the noble Earl that it was absolutely necessary that a discretion upon this subject should be vested in the officer under whose control the vessel was placed; and the noble Earl would find that, not only was this discretion reserved in all the Circulars and Instructions referring to this matter, but that it was also alluded to in express terms in the very Circular to which the noble Earl had alluded. Observations had at various times been made by officers upon the paragraphs of these Circulars, and some recommendations had been made as to certain changes which it was stated would, if adopted, tend to the more economical and efficient use of coal in the service; and if the noble Earl would look at the heading of the last Circular he would find that it was owing to these reasons that the restrictions formerly imposed had been considerably modified, and that more latitude had been left to the officers in certain cases with regard to the employment of steam. He would undertake to make inquiries as to any other Orders on this subject which might have been issued from the Admiralty, but he believed that there were none in existence beyond those which had been laid upon the Table of their Lordships' House.

THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE
said, that he had not the slightest doubt from the evidence that the Agincourt was carried on shore in consequence of not going at a sufficient speed to resist the force of the current, and that the accident would not have occurred had that vessel, instead of going at six knots an hour, been going at a greater speed.

THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN
observed that the speed of the Agincourt depended, not upon any orders from the Admiralty, but on the speed of, and on orders received from, the flag-ship. She had orders to have steam sufficient for six knots, but at the time of the accident she was only going at the rate of three.