oth Tune.
Tuosz who have read the proceedings of the Naval Court of Enquiry into the burning of the steamer Paoching must have been a little puzzled to predict what the finding of the Court would be, for the evidence was very inconclusive and occasionally almost contradictory. This is no reflection whatever on the witnesses, for one could hardly expect to get a coherent and complete account of such a fire as that which destroyed the Paocking and some thirty lives, two of those lost being foreigners. When a river steamer with her two tiers of deck-houses, all of pine covered with paint, with innumerable doors and windows, and the partitions of the cargo space only made of wooden bars, once catches fire nothing can save her; it is practically certain that she will be burnt out. The fire runs so fast too, and burns so furiously, that the officers may well be excused if they neither know exactly what to do at the moment, or remember clearly afterwards what was done. It must be satisfactory to the survivors to see that the Naval Court finds that everything possible was done by the master and all the officers, and attaches no blame of any kind to any of them. The master "did everything in his power with the limited means at his disposal to save the ship and passengers", while the two mates and the tivo engineers, "did their duty and remained at their respective posts as long as possible, and did their best to carry out the master's orders."
The evidence of the chief mate may be very briefly summarised. He was awakened at a quarter to six in the morning and found the whole starboard side of the tween-decks ablaze. He tried to use the hose from the done pump, but the pump was not started. There were some buckets on the passen= ger deck full of water, which was thrown on the fire, but without effect; meanwhile the port boats, two in number, were got out, and some thirty-four lives saved in them. When the chief mate saw that there was nothing more to be done, he jumped overboard, got hold of the chain, and was fortunately picked up. The second mate was on the bridge when the fire broke out; he got to work with the useless hose and the fire buckets, and helped to clear away the port boats. He must have stayed on board until the last moment, as the captain's room was full of flames when he looked into it to see what had become of the captain, and he then appears to have jumped overboard. he chief engineer, whose pluck in going down into the engine-room when it was full of smoke, to try and start the donkey pump, deserves separate recognition, was in bed when che fire broke out, and he could practically do nothing after his attempt to start the donkey. The engine-room was not closed off from the cargo-deck and the smoke could get in freely. None of the three foreign witnesses could make any suggestion as to the cause of the fire, but all seemed to believe that it broke out among the cargo on the tween-deck. The 'Shinese witnesses were a little inconsistent as to what was done with the engines, and unfortunately the second engineer, who was in charge at the time, was drowned; but it is known from the position' in which the engines are now that they were not finally stopped, but were going ahead up to the end, the throttle valve being open. It. seems that the engine-room filled with smoke so rapidly, that the engineers were unable to stay there to carry out the captain's orders, if he gave them; and the captain first intended to beach the steamer and then dropped the anchor, though there is no positive evidence as to who did let go the anchor. There have been various rumours about as to the fate of the captain. The second fireman swore that he saw the captain jump overboard, and the finch of Captain Place's body, which occu since the enquiry closed, confirms his evidence. The naval court do not appear to have asked for any evidence as to the condition in which things were found in the engine-room, or they would not. have found that the captain could not
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.