MR. SMYTH in continuation said the _Alert_ was a small steamship of 243 tons gross measurement, built at Glasgow about seventeen years ago. She was unduly long as compared with her beam, and particularly so as compared with her depth. The engines and boilers were all placed aft, and she was constructed as a river boat on very fine lines. The weight of her machinery was about 150 tons, and in consequence of having all this weight in the after part, she sat in the water with her bow up and her stern low down. Her engines were very powerful, and when she steamed fast the effect was to bring her stern down still deeper, and of course raise her bow still higher out of the water. Then at the aft part of the ship were the saloon and engine rooms; but the entrance doors to these, instead of opening outwards, opened inwards, so that in the event of pressure of water they would open instead of closing. In addition to these, there were doors, or lids, on each side of the vessel’s deck leading into the stoke-hole and coal bunkers. Further, there were gratings, or “fiddleys,” as they are often called, on each side for admitting light and ventilation to the engineers and firemen below. In the opinion of experts, provision should have been made for covering these openings with tarpaulins, so as to prevent water from going below in heavy weather. There was also in the front of the poop a hole cut through the iron bulk-head, which was fitted with a square glass window in a wooden frame. This also opened inwards, and was used for the purpose of passing dishes of food into the pantry and saloon, when required, from the cook’s galley. Such an opening might be very well for river trade, but was a most improper thing in a small vessel sent out on the high seas. It was no wonder that the pressure of water burst this window in and caused the saloon to fill. Notwithstanding all these defects, more had to be mentioned. There was a large wooden awning which extended all over the poop, and constituted a highly dangerous article on board a vessel of the _Alert’s_ dimensions. She had besides only about forty-four tons of cargo on board, and it was stowed away in the main hold, and none in the foreward part of the ship. Consequently, the vessel was out of all trim, and not in a fit state to go to sea. The state of the weather and the manner of her loading caused the ship to list to starboard, or leeward, and all the efforts of Captain Mathieson to get her head to windward failed entirely. This was principally due to the fact that the _Alert_ had only one mast, and hence no sail could be set aft to help the ship’s head up. As a result of the way in which the vessel was loaded, she had little or no “freeboard” aft, while foreward she had a very large amount, hence the wind and waves had tremendous power on the bow as compared with the after part. Experts would be called on behalf of the plaintiff, shipwrights,