The Times, Saturday, Feb 03, 1866; pg. 10; Issue 25412; col F THE LOSS OF THE LONDON. ----------------------- OFFICIAL INQUIRY. [continued] Mr. JONES said he had not observed. Within about ten minutes after the big sea had come down the engines stopped. They did not stop immediately the fires were put out, because there was steam on at the time. When they found the fires out the engineers shut the door upon the after bulkhead - the door which led to the screw tunnel. They then went up on deck. At that time there was not a continuous downpour into the engine-room, but the water streamed down as the vessel shipped seas. She was labouring very heavily, and almost continually shipping seas. Tarpaulins and canvass were brought, which the men tried to nail down over the aperture. They had the flying jibboom there, which they tried to put over the aperture, but it was blowing a hurricane, and the canvas and the men who were trying to batten it down washed into the lee scuppers. He saw the forward pumps going, and the crew behaved well. He did not hear any complaints against the crew. Many of the passengers assisted at the pumps, and they were also baling out the water with buckets. The saloon as well as the steerage passengers worked to relieve the ship. He could not say what canvas the ship was then carrying. When rolled into the lee scupper in the morning his arm was severely hurt, but no bones were broken. Subsequently, when getting into the boat in which he was saved, he was struck on the head with an oar. From half-past 10 on the night of the 10th up to the morning of the 11th nothing particular occurred that he witnessed, but he was not much on the deck in the interval. He came on deck about daylight, and he then noticed that the ship had been making water, that she was continually being washed, that she was in the trough of the sea, and that she was in a most disabled condition. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the 11th he was between decks, near the engine-room; he ran up and across the deck, and jumped from the poop into the port cutter, which had been launched previously. The boat rose with the sea, and he had to make scarcely any descent from the gunwale in getting into her. She rowed off immediately. As witness was passing from between the main decks he met for the last time the captain, who was going towards the saloon. The captain asked him how he felt, and he replied, "Not well." He thought the captain's remark had reference to the state of his mind rather than that of his body. On second thoughts he could not say the exact time at which he met Captain MARTIN. It might have been an hour or two before he got into the boat. The passengers and crew were calm. Among the passengers he heard preaching and praying and some groaning, but no screams. All hope of the ship had been given up. He believed he was the last to get into the boat. The ship was about 80 or 90 yards from them, and they had left her about four minutes, when the ship went down. She went down stern foremost. Those in the boat saw her for a moment with her bows up; then the boat itself sank in the trough of the sea. When it rose again not a vestige of the ship was to be seen. There were a few biscuits and some vegetables in the boat, but no spirits, wine, or water that he was aware of. He and his companions remained about 20 hours in the boat. The boat did not make much water; what she did make they baled out with a tin pot. The sea was very rough; there were five oars, and generally they had sufficient way on the boat to escape the seas as they came down towards them. On the morning of the 13th a bark was sighted, when they hoisted an old shirt on the top of a pole by way of signal. When the crew of the bark saw the boat they waved their hats and signalled for the boat to approach them. The boat did so and a log line was thrown to the boat's crew from the bark. Several longer lines were thrown after the log line, and all the boat's passengers, amounting to 19 (16 of the crew and three passengers), were pulled up on the bark; all hands on board the latter assisting them, except the man at the wheel. The wind had lulled somewhat by this time, but it was still rough. It was his opinion that the boat was steered principally by the oarsmen and not from the rudder. He heard no one in particular give orders. There was shouting every moment - sometimes to go forward and sometimes to back oars; and it was his opinion that the boat was principally governed by the oars. In the broadest sense of the term, the captain of the bark, the Marianople, behaved with the greatest kindness and generosity. By Captain HARRIS. - He had been at sea six years. He had served his time as an engineer, and had been chief engineer for 2½ years. He had received a first-class certificate for competency on examination. He had been in the West India mail service, and subsequently had been in a small boat on the English coast. The consumption of coal on board the London after she left Plymouth was from 8 cwt. to 10 cwt. an hour, or about 12 tons a day. Up to the time the ship went down they had been burning the coals they took in at Plymouth. They had not commenced to use the coal in the bunkers. Up to the morning of the 8th of January they had been going with the ship's head to the wind. The ship was then put under canvas, because the engines were not able to make way against the wind. It is usual in auxiliary screw vessels to ship the screw under such circumstances. He believed she was still going head to wind on the 9th, when the masts were carried away. The engines were then driving her against the wind, but she could scarcely keep headway - not more than 2½ or 3 knots an hour. At this time the bilge pumps were at work, but the suctions were dry. There was no appearance of water in the engine-room, and no intimation had been given to the engineers that the ship was making water elsewhere. There was a donkey engine on board, but no additional pumps were being used. The bilge pumps are always working when the engine is working, but generally they are sucking dry. By Captain BAKER. - On the night of the 10th when he left the engine-room he thought the engine was making about from 48 to 50 revolutions, which would be a speed of about three knots an hour. A little spray had been coming into the engine-room, but no water to speak of before the very heavy sea. Captain BAKER asked whether any of the spars which were lying about could have by possibility come in contact with the skylight of the engine-room. Mr. JONES replied that they could not when he saw them. He could not say how the ship was going when the very heavy sea struck her. Captain BAKER asked how many feet of water were in the engine-room when the witness last left it. Mr. JONES said he thought there were about 14ft. That, he thought, was about midnight of the 10th, but he could not exactly say. He did not notice then whether there were any sails on the ship. He could not say how the engine-room skylight was fastened as he had been so short a time on board the London. Captain HARRIS asked the witness whether the water would not have flowed into the tunnel of the screw before they shut the door of the bulkhead. Mr. JONES replied that they shut the door immediately - as soon as the engines were disabled. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 5 of the inquiry to continue with the examination of the second engineer..... Petra