JAMES GRANT, examined by Mr. C. A. Smyth, stated: I am a shipwright, with about forty years’ experience in the business, and amongst shipping. I have a certificate for navigation as chief officer. I got it in 1875. I also passed my examination before the Steam Navigation Board as marine engineer. I have seen the S. S. _Alert_ running up and down the Bay several times as a Bay trader. Some repairs were effected to her machinery in the year 1893, some months before she was lost. Messrs. Robinson Bros. had the contract for the job, and I was engaged as their ship carpenter to carry out the shipwrighting work. I was working on her two months altogether. Speaking of her generally, she had very fine lines. The model now shown me appears to be like her. There is no bearing here (pointing to bottom of model). To give her stability, the flat part should be carried further along. There is no bearing until the bulging part touches the water, and it would have the effect of throwing her deep in the water aft. She was about 170 feet long, her breadth eighteen or nineteen feet, and her depth between nine and ten feet. In my opinion the _Alert_ was very long for her beam and for her depth. According to the _Alert’s_ certificate of register, she came out from England as a three masted schooner, or barque, under sail only. When I was making the alterations she had only one mast, a foremast, as shown in that model. The captain’s bridge went right across the ship, and there was a gangway going fore and aft on the starboard side, from the bridge to the poop. There was nothing on the port side at all. The stoke-hole would be about twelve feet in width athwart ships, and about five feet fore and aft. It was covered over with a grating composed of ¾-inch iron running fore and aft, and these bars were about two inches apart. There was no provision made for covering this grating with a tarpaulin by means of cleats. Nor was there any provision made for covering any of the skylights. There was nothing to prevent the water getting through either grating or skylights. If water went through either of these places, it would go into the engine room and stoke-hole. The height of the ship’s bulwarks above the main deck was four feet six inches. The breadth of the alleyways between the bulwarks and the side of the machinery casing would be about three feet at the narrowest part, and five feet further on. There was a port hole in the bulwarks opposite; but if the vessel shipped water while lying on her side, that port could not discharge inside water, and there was no provision for discharging water in the alleyways except that port hole. I remember the window made for passing food to the saloon. I did not make it. Originally it must have been cut out of the iron. It was a glass window about 16 x 14 inches, with a wooden frame. I did not notice how it opened; but if it opened inwards it would be a source of danger if the vessel shipped much water aft.