The Times, Saturday, Feb 03, 1866; pg. 10; Issue 25412; col F THE LOSS OF THE LONDON. ----------------------- OFFICIAL INQUIRY. [continued] By Mr. O'DOWD. - At daylight the water had still increased, and the ship was gradually going down. She was head to wind then. I heard Captain MARTIN give orders about the boats that morning. He was on the poop and he ordered them to be got ready. The two pinnaces and the port cutter were then cleared ready for lowering, and bread and water put into them. I know this was done with the starboard pinnace. I am not sure about the bread and water being put in the other pinnace. Those pinnace boats were iron. On the starboard pinnace being lowered she was at once swamped; there were four of the crew and one passenger in her; they all got on board again. She was lowered by a tackle at each end. I think the same thing might have happened to a timber boat. She was lowered by the crew. She was the only boat lowered then. At 2 o'clock Captain MARTIN ordered the port cutter to be launched. In the meantime no other boat had been launched. She was lowered safely. I and six or seven others were in her. She had common tackle falls and no patent lowering apparatus. We lowered ourselves from the boat herself. I, as second engineer, was supposed to have charge of that boat. The captain came to me about five minutes to 2, told me the boat was ready for lowering, and bid me go into her. I said I did not think it was any good. He answered that it was the only chance. He again remarked that there was no chance in the ship, but there was some in the boat, and I then proceeded towards the boat, and when I was stepping in he shook hands with me and bid me "Good by" and God-speed. I then went into the boat, and she was lowered in a few minutes. The first engineer and several others, to the number of 19 altogether, got in after. We then pushed off as soon as we could, seeing that the ship was going down. In four or five minutes after we left the ship I saw her go down stern foremost. We had a compass on the boat. Mr. TRAILL. - Was anything said about the captain going or not going? Mr. GREENHILL. - Not that I heard. Mr. TRAILL. - Did he give you a course? Mr. GREENHILL. - Before the boat was lowered one of the sailors called out to the captain, "What is the course?" The captain replied, "E.N.E., 80 miles to Brest." Captain HARRIS. - I believe you had very little hope of saving your life? Mr. GREENHILL. - None whatever. By Mr. TRAILL. - We shipped a good deal of water in the boat, but baled it out with tin cans and a bucket. We had two or three cans on board. We were obliged to throw our fresh water out as the salt water got into it. After 20 hours we were taken into the Italian bark. By Captain BAKER. - Both the lifeboats had been carried away from the London. By Captain HARRIS. - There was no one near me when the captain told me to take to the boat. Some of the crew might have heard him. When I lowered my boat there were the port pinnace and the jolly-boat on deck. They went down with the ship. One of the cutters had been stove in. After we shoved off I noticed a rush to the remaining pinnace, which was on the davits. But previously, after the starboard pinnace had swamped, there was an indifference as to making any further attempt in the boats. About noon on that day the foresail was set and the ship was got before the wind; but I suppose, finding that she shipped more water, she was again brought to the wind. Every time the ship went to leeward she was taking the water in by tons over the gunwale as she lurched in the trough of the sea. The sliding door of the screw tunnel was fastened by a screw from between the decks. Captain HARRIS. - Could it be possible that the door was not properly closed? Mr. GREENHILL. - It is possible, but very improbable that it was not properly closed after I shut it. I am sure I closed it down. The substance of the bulkhead on which the door was fixed was of 5/8ths of an inch. In reply to other questions from Captain HARRIS, the witness said: - The after bulkhead of the engine-room came up to the lower deck. The ship made very little water indeed before she shipped the heavy seas. The sluice-valves were opened from the engine-room to the main hold, and had been open from the time we left Plymouth, so that had there been any water in the main hold we must have seen it running into the engine-room through those valves. I did not hear anything said by Captain MARTIN or any other of the officers as to the height of the barometer. Captain MARTIN came down the hatchway to the lower deck and spoke to me repeatedly during the night after the fires were out. He spoke to me of his hopes of saving the ship by sailing her. They were carrying the water up in buckets from the lower saloon through the upper saloon and up to the upper deck. We had a boiler on deck for the donkey engine, and I believe that engine was working its pumps when the ship went down. The pumps it was working drew from the main hold. The sluices between it and the engine-room were kept open just sufficiently to allow enough of water into the main hold to be pumped out. The coals stowed on deck were thrown overboard, and the forward bunkers had been opened a few hours. There were no coals on deck at the time the skylight was washed away. For many hours before I left the ship I was satisfied she was settling down by the stern. Her bows were visibly up. The screw had not been hoisted, but was in its place when I left the ship. About 8 o'clock on the evening of the 10th I went along the tunnel and found the stuffing box quite tight. Mr. TRAILL. - The water in the engine-room alone would not have settled the ship down on her stern hatchway. By Captain HARRIS. - I never heard that the topgallant had come down by the run and broken the skylight. Since I came home I have heard it reported that some spars had come down. There were several mattresses and pieces of canvas hanging down from the spars into the engine-room, but none of those things had come into the engine-room and stopped the engines, and it is not true that the engine-room was blocked up by spars. By Captain BAKER. - I sounded the engine-room at 1 o'clock on the day I left the ship, and found the depth of water there 19 feet. Captain MARTIN was present at the time. When we hove to after the attempt to run before the wind, I think the mizen staysail was set, but I am not certain. I had no difficulty in lowering the boat in which I got away. I believe one end of the pinnace, the boat which swamped, was down before the other. The inquiry was then adjourned till to-day. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ End of Day 5 of the inquiry. Petra