As there was next to no wind and a current running 3 to 4 knots to the westward, the _Schomberg_ refused to come round. Forbes next tried to wear her, with the result that the ship slid up on to a sandbank 35 miles west of Cape Otway. On sounding round the ship it was found that she was stuck fast in 4 fathoms of water. Sail was kept on her in the hopes of it pulling her off into deep water again.
Forbes, on being told that the ship was hard aground, said angrily:—“Let her go to Hell, and tell me when she is on the beach,” and at once went below.
Henry Cooper Keen, the mate, then took charge, and finding that the _Schomberg_ was only being hove further in by the swell and current, clewed up all sail, let go the starboard anchor and lowered the boats. And it was subsequently proved at the inquiry afterwards that it was chiefly due to the chief officer and a first class passenger, a civil engineer of Belfast named Millar, that all the passengers were safely disembarked and put aboard the steamer _Queen_, which hove in sight on the following morning.
All efforts to save the ship failed and she presently went to pieces. Forbes at the inquiry was acquitted of all blame for the stranding, the sandbank being uncharted, but at a mass meeting of his passengers in the Mechanics’ Institute, Melbourne, he was very severely censured. Many of them declared that he was so disgusted with the slowness of the passage that he let the ship go ashore on purpose. Others complained of his tyranny during the voyage and even made worse allegations against his morality and that of the ship’s doctor; altogether the affair was a pretty scandal and Forbes never obtained another command in the Black Ball Line.
The Best Outward Passages—Liverpool to Melbourne, 1854-5.
+------------------------+--------------+----------+----------+------+ | Ship. | Captain. | Date | Date | Days | | | | Left. | Arrived. | Out. | +------------------------+--------------+----------+----------+------+ | | | 1854 | | | | _Red Jacket_ | Sam Reid | May 4 | July 12 | 67 | | _Mermaid_ | Devy | „ 3 | „ 17 | 74 | | _Miles Barton_ | Kelly | „ 4 | „ 22 | 78 | | _Lightning_ | J. N. Forbes | „ 14 | „ 31 | 76 | | _Marco Polo_ | Wild | July 22 | Oct. 25 | 95 | | _Arabian_ | Bannatyne | Aug. 19 | Nov. 13 | 86 | | _Morning Star_ | — | Sept. 6 | „ 20 | 75 | | _Champion of the Seas_ | Newlands | Oct. 11 | Dec. 22 | 72 | | | | | 1855 | | | _Indian Queen_ | McKirdie | Nov. 12 | Jan. 31 | 80 | | _Shalimar_ | Robertson | „ 23 | Feb. 7 | 76 | | _James Baines_ | McDonald | Dec. 10 | Feb. 12 | 64 | | | | 1855 | | | | _Lightning_ | A. Enright | Jan. 6 | Mar. 20 | 73 | | _Blue Jacket_ | Underwood | Mar. 6 | May 13 | 69 | | _Marco Polo_ | Clarke | April 6 | June 26 | 82 | | _White Star_ | Kerr | „ 30 | July 18 | 79 | | _Oliver Lang_ | Manning | May 5 | „ 31 | 87 | | _Arabian_ | Bannatyne | „ 21 | Aug. 13 | 84 | | _Donald Mackay_ | Warner | June 6 | „ 26 | 81 | | _Champion of the Seas_ | McKirdy | July 5 | Sept. 26 | 83 | | _Shalimar_ | Robertson | „ 20 | Oct. 16 | 88 | | _James Baines_ | McDonald | Aug. 5 | „ 23 | 79 | | _Emma_ | — | „ 21 | Nov. 17 | 88 | | _Lightning_ | A. Enright | Sept. 5 | „ 25 | 81 | | _Red Jacket_ | Milward | „ 20 | Dec. 4 | 75 | | _Invincible_ | — | „ 30 | „ 18 | 79 | +------------------------+--------------+----------+----------+------+