Captain George Dennis, who was in charge of the Australia when she struck, has been in the Port Phillip pilot service for nearly 26 years, having joined in September. 1878, In his young days de served from middy to chief cilicer in the ships Essex, Sussex, and Yorkshire, of the Money Wigram lino, trading between London and Melbourne, Upon the ocean sion of the visit of the Duke andiDuchess of York to Australia, three years ago, Captain Dennis was selected to pilot the Royal yacht Ophir through Port Phillip Heads. He proceeded to Colombo for the purpose, and joining the royal yacht there; came across in her to Melbourne, 'THR POSITION OF THR WEECK, Captain Wymark, Lloyd's sun who was questioned as to the of the wrecked steamer, stated:—She is lying on her side, with a decided list to starboard. Her head is pointing in the direction of the South Channel, and at low water there are from ten feet to twelve feet of water on the reef on which she lies. The shelds are full of water, and on the port side of vessel amidships is a submerged rock, the top of which is six feet beneath the surface at flood. The tide runs at a speed of from five knots to six knots, and, owing to its peculiar speed, it would be impossible for a diver to remain un-dor the water for!more than two or three minutes. It would, therefore, be difficult to ascertain by this means the extent of the damage to the ship's bottom. 'There are 1,700 tons of cargo on board. Nothing' was done to-lay in the way of salvage operations, and, owing to the expense involved, it was necessary to ascertain the exact position of affairs before commencing work in thi The steamer's boilers are under water, and it will be vut of the question to resort to them for supplying the cranes with steam. The employment of lighter in the usual way is, therefore, impracticable, as it will be necessary to make use of steamers fitted with the necessary lifting appliances worked by steam power."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.