THE GOTHENBURG'S GOLD.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 851, 16 March 1877, Page 3

THE GOTHENBURG'S GOLD.

We find in the Home News the following report of the appeal before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of the English, Scottish, and Australian Chartered Bank v Putwain and another :

This was an appeal from a decree of the Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court of Queensland of December Ist, 1875, in a suit tor salvage. The appellants were the owners of a box of gold of the value of over £9OOO, forming part of the cargo of the steamship Gothenburg, which upon a voyage from Port Darwin to Newcastle in February, 1875, ran upon the Great Barrier Reef, on the coast of Queensland, and sank, with nearly all hands. The respondent Putwain lived at Brisbane, and owned the only diving apparatus in working order in the colony, while the other respondent, Phillips, was maßter of a vessel then at Brisbane. Hearing of the wreck, they determined to proceed to the spot and to divide the salvage that they chanced to recover. The diver, Putwain, at first tried to descend from the boat, but the strong current and heavy Bea made it impracticable. He then, with great difficulty, as he alleged, fixed a stage, and after many unsuccessful attempts, and at the imminent risk of his life, succeeded in reaching the captain's cabin, where he found the box of specie in such a position that it might at any moment have been washed overboard into 30 fathoms of water and thus become irrecoverable. While below he was, according to his account, in great danger from the currents and the strong break of the sea on the reef, and especially from a large number of enormous sharks, which had been attracted by the numerous corpses about the wreck. The box was at length recovered and safely deposited with the Customs authorities. The respondents as serted that in this act of salvage they incurred large expenses, and they claimed £4OOO for the recovery of the gold. The bank tendered them £IOOO, which they refused, and the suit was then instituted, the judge, in the result, awarding the respondents £2909, being one-third of the value of the box, £302 for expenses, and the costs of the proceedings. From that decree the present appeal was preferred. For the appellants it was contended that the amount awarded was excessive, and, in the real circumstances of the case, out of all proportion to the ser vices rendered ; that the narratives of the salvage and of the risks run were much exaggerated ; and that the respondent Phillips was not a salvor, and was not entitled to be a party to the suit. On the other harjd, it was urged that but for the services of the respondents jthe gold would have been lost, that great risk to life and property was incurred, and that the decree was justified by the evidence. Their lordships, after a brief deliberation, intimated their intention to advise Her Majesty to affirm the decision of the Court below, and to dismiss the appeal, with costs.