THE SINKING OF THE NESTOR
Shortly before the Nestor sank in
DISASTER TO THE NESTOR
As strange and extraordinary an
affair as has ever occurred at any port happened on Friday night last to one of
the immigrant ships in the bay. The Nestor, barque, 458 tons, Brown,
commander, which arrived here with 166 immigrants on the 16th September last,
had been for some days ready for sea. The captain had procured a crew from
An investigation, which occupied
four or five hours, was held at the police office on Saturday last, relative to
the conduct of the captain of the Nestor in sending his vessel ashore. .
. . The proceedings were listened to by a large attendance with great interest.
. . .
The captain and mate of the Arabian [in the harbour at that time]
were also examined. The captain of the Arabian stated that he was woke
up on the night of the 27th, about 10 o’clock, by his mate reporting that a gun
was fired from the Nestor, and that he feared something was wrong. His
orders were that if this was repeated to call him again. On the second report
he jumped up, thinking the Nestor might be adrift as he knew her cable
was foul. The mate with four hands went off by his orders in the quarter boat
to render assistance to the Nestor. These were away for about an hour:
on their return the mate reported that the Nestor was broadside to the
wind, drifting towards the jetty; the mate stated that the captain of the Nestor
had told him there was six feet of water in the hold, and that he [Captain
Brown] had slipped both chains. Captain Brown did not seem to care about any
assistance: the captain of the Arabian did not consider the degree
[direction] of the wind or cross sea sufficient to endanger any vessel properly
moored, although it was blowing fresh; his ship was riding at the time nicely,
and he had not found it necessary even to brace his yards by; the barque Nestor
had been at anchor in about five fathoms of water; there was no sea
sufficient to spring a plank in a vessel; he understood the Nestor was
tight when she came into port; could form no idea how a vessel should make so
much water in so short a time unless she had been scuttled.
David Bowen, chief officer of
the Nestor, was then examined. He produced the log book, but it appeared
that there was no entry after the 12th October; . . .log book was not made up
since the 12th because there was nothing of importance to enter; one of the
crew has deserted and two have been put in jail since then, but was not bound
to enter this in the log unless he had the captain’s orders; has a private note
book on board from the entries in which he can fill up the log book; . . . [he]
was on shore all yesterday by leave from the captain; was sent for by the
captain during the day, and promised to be on board during the afternoon; went
on board last night about 11 o'clock, ship was then adrift: thinks he was not
very sober at the time; [here the Police Magistrate remarked he should say from
his own observation at the time that he, the mate, was very drunk then]; . . .
private note book is in his coat pocket on board; heard it reported that the
captain wanted to have his ship condemned immediately on his arrival, on the
ground that she was very old. . . . The mate was then brought round to sign
this deposition to which he had been sworn; but after he had left it was found
that his signature was only a feint, and he was called back to sign his proper
name; at a subsequent part of the proceedings he was again called up, and
sentenced to 14 days imprisonment for the reckless manner in which he had given
his evidence, and for contempt of court in attaching his signature to his sworn
deposition merely in pretence. . . .
Further proceedings in the case
were adjourned to Monday morning (this day) an account of which we must defer
till our next publication.
[The
On Thursday last the examination
of this case was continued. John Buckman, cabin boy
on board the Nestor deposed: when the carpenter said there were 10
inches of water in the hold the captain said ‘never mind pumping’. The captain laid down, but directly after said the motion of the vessel
was strange and ordered me to go and call the second mate to get the ship
pumped. The starboard pump was tried but would not fetch, and it was found the
carpenter had neglected to put the lower box in after sounding. [The] carpenter
said, while the box was out he would sound again; on drawing up he found the
line wet. The men called to me for a light; I went down with them and found the
water within 4 or 5 feet of the [illegible]. We returned and continued pumping
for half an hour; then went below again, and found the water gaining on
[illegible]. Captain then gave orders to have the shackles knocked out, which
was done by Henry Tester, who got the tools from the carpenter. I know Henry
Tester did it, because I held the light. [The] carpenter’s tool chest was in
his cabin off the cuddy. I believe the men would not let the carpenter do it;
[I] believe the carpenter was not sober. The carpenter could get as much drink
as he liked; a decanter was always lying within his reach. The captain was
sober; [I] believe I saw him take one wine glass full of rum. I believe the
second mate was sober, but am not sure. We fired a gun three times to get assistance
from the shore. The guns were fired during the time the men were knocking out
the pins from the cable.
THE NESTOR
Another survey has been held on this ill-used vessel. On Friday there
had been 72 [illegible]
pumping night and day, and the water in the hold had been reduced three feet,
leaving about 9 feet in her. . . . This survey have decided that it was lost
labour to attempt to pump her out; and it was ordered to dismantle the ship and
have her sold. The Nestor is we understand insured for upwards of £1000,
and her cargo of iron is also insured for about the same amount. There are many
suspicious facts about the stranding of this vessel; and the general impression
in this town is - whether right or wrong we say not -that her stranding has
been designed; and in fact that she was scuttled while at anchor.
SCUTTLING OF THE NESTOR
Since our notice above was
written an important discovery has been made, justifying the suspicions that
were generally entertained of foul play in the stranding of the Nestor.
Some of the lascar crew upon the Nene
Valley were engaged last Saturday to dive under the Nestor, and they
have reported the discovery of three augur [sic]-holes
through her bottom under the cuddy, two of these are on one side and one on the
other. Her captain (Brown) was immediately apprehended and lodged in jail. His
examination takes place this day, and will be reported in our next.
[The
During
the investigation by the magistrates further depositions were made by David
Bowen (first mate), Morris (third mate), Henry Morgan and Henry Tester
(seamen), John Jolly (carpenter), John Buckman (cabin
boy), the Harbour Master and his crew, the Police Magistrate, the Tide
Surveyor, the Immigration Agent, the Surgeon Superintendent and Salim, a Muslim diver who was
. . . sworn after the
way of his country; a cock was brought and a copy of the Koran produced. The
Arab then turned towards the [illegible], put his hands to his face, repeated
some passage of the Koran, and cut the head off the cock. Captain Hardwind of the
[The
The preliminary investigation
concluded on 13 November when Captain Brown, John Jolly and the newly appointed
second mate Allen Robertson were charged with ‘unlawfully casting away the
British barque Nestor.’ The witnesses were bound over to appear at the
Assizes on 20th December.
The Circuit Court for this town
was opened by his Honour, Judge Barry on Thursday last, 21st December. The day
named in the Government Gazette for the opening of the court was
Wednesday the 20th December. But His Honour accounted for the [illegible]
through rough weather as sea that had unavoidably delayed him reaching the port
at the time specified; and explained the provision made by Act of Council to
meet such contingency. Mr Adamson conducted the prosecution for the Crown. Two
leading counsel from the Melbourne Bar, Mr Chapman and Mr Dawson, appeared for
the defendants.
THE
NESTOR'S CASE
The third case called was that
of Captain Brown, [John] Jolly, the carpenter, and [Allen] Robertson, the
second mate, all of the Nestor, who were charged with feloniously
injuring the barque Nestor with intent to destroy her. We reported so
fully the evidence of this case at the preliminary examination before the
magistrates that the leading facts must be familiar to our readers. The same
witnesses were examined, and the same ground gone over in this trial. No new
evidence was produced. The captain’s expressed desire to have the ship surveyed
immediately on his arrival in port; his having remarked on the evening of the
27th October that he had felt a strange motion in the ship, and ordering the
ship to be pumped out while in harbour; the carpenter having sounded the pump
at 8 o’clock, and having found only 10 inches of water in her, and then the
pumping of the ship at 9 o’clock by orders of the captain and shortly after the
discovery of five or six feet of water in the hold, the slipping of the cables
by order of the captain and the firing of the guns as signals of distress while
the cables were being slipped; the grounding of the vessel; the discovery by a
diver of a hole in her bottom like an auger hole and of two [illegible] having
been started were all detailed with an abundance of evidence. Mr Chapman,
counsel for master, Brown, handled the case admirably, and commented with great
effect on the [illegible] of the evidence. Although he was only [illegible] for
Brown, yet he would include the other two prisoners in his defence, and argued
that if the case was weak against the captain, it was also weak against the
carpenter and second mate.
The jury, after retiring for a
few minutes, returned a verdict of ‘Not Guilty’ against the three prisoners.
[The
Suspicious losses are fairly common, as reported in The
Lyttelton Times,
The Liverpool Post says:
‘The authorities in