Month: June 2023

The Age, Melbourne, Vic. 11 Sept. 1858 p.5
(From the Times Correspondent.)
Dublin, Saturday June 19th.
The fine steamer Indian Empire, which was to leave Galway on the 18th June, with the first mails from Ireland direct to the United States, while on her passage round from Southampton to Galway to take on board the mails, and when close on St. Margaret’s Rocks, was run hard ashore by the pilot who had charge of her from Southampton. Fortunately, however, the spot where she struck was not dangerous, and the ship eventually floated off and proceeded to Galway, having sustained but trifling damage and such as will not impair or otherwise prevent her from sailing on her appointed date. The authorities in Galway, on learning the particulars of the vessel’s going ashore, caused the pilot to be arrested, and after undergoing a preliminary investigation, he was committed to prison on a charge of having wilfully and knowingly run the Indian Empire on a hidden rock, the ship being in his charge at the time.

The people of Galway have had to endure another disappointment – only, however, a temporary one. On a close examination of the Indian Empire it was ascertained that some trifling repairs were required, which, owing to the slowness of the workmen, would, it was feared, necessitate the postponement of her sailing till this evening. The mail sent by this conveyance was very small – not 1000 letters, the average number being from 12,000 to 15, 000. The somewhat sinister accident which befel the steamship on her first entrace into Galway Bay has created quite a sensation here, and the result of the trial of the two pilots is looked for with no ordinary anxiety. The following narrative of the transaction is condensed from the Evening Mail.-

“She was boarded at Blackhead by two men, representing themselves as regular pilots, who undertook to guide her safely to her moorings. It was night, but calm and cloudless, and in the twilight of a summer’s sky landmarks and objects at sea, familiar to to the experienced mariner’s eye, were distinctly visible. The vessel was taken in charge by those men, whose bearing, however, was so little satisfactory or assuring to the captain that (contrary, it is said, to their advice) he slackened her speed to one-third of the rate at which he had been steaming. It was well that he did so, for in less than half an hour after they took the helm she struck upon a rock, and there remained for two hours before she could be relieved. Had she been going with all her steam up at the moment of the collision, there can be little doubt that she would, at least, have received irreparable injury. Happily, however, no material damage was sustained and she has this day departed, we trust, notwithstanding the omen melioribus fatis. The rock of St. Margaret, which was so near being disastrous to the enterprise, is so far out of the usual course by which ships approach or leave the port of Galway, that more than half a century has passed since any vessel was known to have come in contact with it. Its place is well known on the charts. It is, moreover, marked by a large buoy, so conspicuous that Captain Courtney decried it at a distance of a mile, and called the attention of one of the self-styled pilots to it. But that trusty guardian assured him it was only a small boat; and then there was scarcely time to order the engineers to back the ship when she came bump (sic.) upon the rocks. Other indications of wilful blindness have been mentioned, but we content ourselves for the present with those which have been proved in a public court. They present a case full of suspicion. A numerous bench of magistrates, comprising men of all the varieties of our social and political state, have committed the two pilots for trial at the approaching assizes. There was no difference of opinion on that subject. Whether it was through criminal neglect or ignorance equally criminal, or from a still more nefarious motive than either, that so untoward an event has been brought to pass, we leave to the investigations of justice to ascertain. We hope that a strict and searching inquiry will be made, and that neither pains or expense will be spared to trace it to the source.”

Another Dublin journal (the Express) deals more mysteriously with the conduct of the pilots:-
“It remains for a jury to decide whether they were guilty or not of the crime of intending to destroy the steamer. It seem to be the general opinion in Galway that the facts cannot be accounted for except on the presumption of their guilt. This, however, should be left to the decision of a jury of their countrymen. If they should be found guilty, the crime is one of the foulest on record. But if they are guilty, others are guilty too. If they did run the steamer on the rock intentionally, they were the agents of a diabolical conspiracy, which should be traced out; and, if the chief criminals can be detected, no punishment would be too severe for them. Suspicion points to Liverpool as the seat of this conspiracy. The motives assigned are commercial jealousy, and the self-interest of parties engaged in the Liverpool shipping trade. Should this prove to be the case, which we trust it may not, for the credit of our civilisation and the honor of our humanity, it would furnish the strongest possible argument in favour of the enterprise of Mr Lever. If those who are most capable of judging did not apprehend that it would be completely successful – that it would at least attract all the Irish traffic and especially all the Irish emigrants, and so interfere materially with their own interest – they would not adopt such atrocious means to defeat the project. Base, horrible and execerable as the attempt was – assuming that it was made, – it furnishes a most satisfactory augury of auccess, especially as it was so providentially and so mercifully frustrated.”

The Tablet takes a cooler view of the question, and thinks it is hardly credible – however strong the suspicion and evidence may be – that the vessel could have been purposely run on a sunken rock by the pilots. The Tablet is inclined to believe that the accident can only be attributed to the natural defects of the harbor and that these should be remedied before perfect success can be achieved in the way of Transatlantic communication between Galway and America.