MR. BICKNELL, cross-examined by Mr. Purves: _Q._—Are you a pilot? _A._—I am a coasting pilot and an exempt pilot for the ports of Adelaide, Melbourne, Newcastle, and all intermediate ports. I have commanded many vessels, steam and sail, in my time, and have a thorough knowledge of the Australian coast—none better. I have been on the _Alert_ in the Bay, but never outside with her. I felt she would be a coffin for someone sooner or later. _Q._—Assuming the _Alert_ started from Wilson’s Promontory with a south-easterly gale and a south-westerly sea, passes Cape Liptrap, and gets to within two miles of Cape Schanck, carrying, on the latter part of the journey, a trysail and a staysail, and shipping no water, would that be an indication to your mind that the vessel making that passage was sea-worthy? _A._—It would not. _Q._—If Captain Mathieson was two miles off Cape Schanck, and if a south-easterly gale veered into a south-westerly one, was he a proper seaman to try and get an offing? _A._—Yes, he was. _Q._—What is the most dangerous sea for a boat of small freeboard? _A._—The most dangerous would be in the trough of the sea; when the lee side of it lifts over and falls on top of the ship in a mass. _Q._—Supposing I tell you that in the case of the _Alert_ three tremendous seas coned over on top of her, would you say that was an uncommon occurrence? _A._—Heavy seas generally run in threes—one, two, three,—and the third is generally the worst. _Q._—Would three tremendous seas one after the other have an appreciable effect on a sea-worthy ship? _A._—No, I have often been in a ship with decks flooded. She would shake the water off her decks, and away she would go, as lively as ever. That is a good sea boat. _Q._—I presume you will admit that hundreds of sea-worthy ships have been overwhelmed by the waves? _A._—Yes, some of the best ships that ever floated have gone to the bottom. In a heavy gale of wind a ship, even riding at anchor, often founders. She strains herself, and opens out forward. _Q._—Assuming that the _Alert_ was passed in England by Lloyd’s surveyors, would that shake your opinion as to the sea-worthiness of the ship? _A._—No, it would not. _Q._—No matter how good a ship, how admirably proportioned, how safely built, there may come a time in her history when stress of weather may cause her to founder? _A._—Yes. _Q._—Did you ever see a steamer on her beam ends in your life? _A._—I have seen them at an angle of 45 degrees, and we usually call that pretty near “beam ends.”