And hereby hangs a tale. Here it is: In the matter of the survey of the S.S. _Ethiope_ “I, Robert Barclay, chief engineer of the S.S. _Ethiope_, solemnly and sincerely declare that we sailed from Melbourne on Sunday, November 17, 1895, bound to London with a cargo of wool and preserved meats. During the passage down Hobson’s Bay my attention was drawn to the fact that there was a leak somewhere in the ship, and by measurement I ascertained there were five feet of water in the bilges. I reported the matter to the captain; then we rigged the pumps and put on the donkey engines to work them. As the state of affairs looked serious, the ship was brought to an anchor inside the Heads on Sunday afternoon. We kept the pumps going all night and next day (Monday), until they became choked with coal-dust. I then advised Captain Miles to return to Melbourne, and have the ship docked and examined. He, the captain, at first was under the impression that it was only the water ballast tank that was leaking, and he demurred to go back with the ship. I was so convinced that the ship was leaking that I told the captain that I declined to risk the men’s lives, and my own, in going to sea before the ship was surveyed. Captain Miles told me that if there was nothing the matter with her, I would have to be responsible for detaining the ship. I undertook the responsibility, and the vessel was accordingly brought back to Williamstown on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 1895. After discharging a portion of the cargo into lighters, the ship was taken into the Graving Dock on Thursday, Nov. 21. One of Lloyd’s surveyors, Mr. Watson (and others, I believe), examined the ship, and reported to the captain, and through him to me, that there was nothing the matter with the vessel, and insinuated that the whole affair was simply a scheme to get the ship’s bottom cleaned, in order to make a quicker passage, at the expense of the underwriters. It was further stated that I would have to pay all the expense of the survey and delay; that I was an incompetent man, and in all probability my certificate would be taken from me. Being ill and weak—through exposure in the water while previously trying to find the leak when the ship was down the Bay—I was confined to my bed by order of Dr. McLean of Williamstown, who was tending on me. When the survey report and comments were given to me, they did not help to make me feel any better; but ill as I was, I determined that I would search for the leak myself. On Monday morning, Nov. 25, the ship being then painted over and ready to be taken out of dock, I went under the ship’s bottom with a table-knife, and had not searched many minutes until I discovered—about ten feet distant from the place where I suspected the leak—an opening where the plates overlap each other. I inserted the knife, and found that only the handle stopped the blade from going in further. I ran on deck, and came back with a long piece of