Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/106

 and a collision. An account of the collision was found in an old diary:

"The P. & O, Steamship 'Peshawur' (Captain E. J. Baker) left Gravesend on September 14th, 1882, bound for Australia, having on board 91 first-class passengers and 56 second-class, beside a heavy mail from England.

"She left Colombo on the evening of Saturday, October 14th. All went well until the following day, Sunday, October 15th. In the evening the majority of the first-class passengers were on the quarter-deck attending divine service. The evening was beautifully fine and clear. The service concluded at nine o'clock and the people were going to saunter about, when a large ship was noticed on the starboard bow with all sails set.

"The officer on watch, Mr Buchanan, alleges that when first seen the ship had no lights visible. Two minutes afterwards a red light was suddenly shown. This light was also seen by a large number of passengers from three to six minutes before the collision. One of the first to see it was Captain Baker, who had been attending prayers on the quarter-deck. He immediately rushed on to the bridge and, seeing the danger of his steamer continuing her course, he gave orders to stop the engines and a second order to go full speed astern in order to permit the sailing ship to pass—the tule being that a steamship should keep out of the way of a sailing shipship. [sic]

"Unfortunately at this moment, the master or captain of the ship also changed her course in place of following the strict regulations to keep on her way or port—the wind being on her port quarter. She luffed right up, starboarding her helm, and dashed into us.

"My cabin was on the port side near the engines and I was lying down reading. I had just looked at my watch and found it was nine o'clock, and I