From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Newspaper clipping about the inquest into the death of engine tester Vic Halliwell during the Miss England II boat crash.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 174\5\ img162 | |
| Date | 14th June 1930 | |
| SPECIAL REQUEST OF SEGRAVE. Pencil And Engine Notes In Death Grip. INQUEST OPENED. "HE had nothing to gain except the consciousness of a job of work very well done," it was stated at the opening of the inquest, to-day, on Vic. Halliwell, the Derby engine tester, who went down in the Miss England II. wreck. Reference was made to the great risk which Halliwell ran in being in Sir Henry Segrave's speed craft, and it was revealed that he was making a time test at Segrave's special request when the craft overturned. VIC HALLIWELL went to his death whilst in the act of recording the revolutions of the Rolls-Royce engines of Miss England II. His body was recovered yesterday from the bottom of Lake Windermere within 20 yards of the sunken boat. Grasped in one hand was a pencil and in the other a slip of paper on which he had been making notes of engine revolutions when the end came. Mrs. Halliwell and her little son, Richard, left for her parents' home at Clifton, Bristol, three hours before the finding of the body. Prior to leaving, messages of sympathy passed between Lady Segrave and Mrs. Halliwell. INQUEST OPENED. The inquest on Halliwell was opened by the Ulverston coroner, Mr. F.{Mr Friese} W. Poole, at the Ferry Hotel this morning, and adjourned to a later date pending the salving of the boat. Evidence of identification was given by Mr. Charles Edwin Elliot, of Burton-road, Derby, experimental engineer with the Rolls-Royce Company, he said he last saw Halliwell alive at 2.5 in the motor boat Miss England II. in company with Sir Henry Segrave and the mechanic Wilcocks. His name was Percival Victor Halliwell and his age 31, and he lived at Derby. Mr. H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} A.{Mr Adams} Handley, who represented Mr. F.{Mr Friese} Henry Royce, the Rolls-Royce Co., and Mr. F.{Mr Friese} Cooper, the designer of Miss England, said that with the assistance of Mr. Handley he undertook to supply a full statement as soon as possible. The Coroner: I take it the designer would desire not to complete the inquiry until after we have salvaged the boat? Mr. Handley: I think so. It would confirm beyond all reasonable doubt the evidence already in our hands as to the cause of the disaster. The Coroner said he did not propose to fix any date to-day for the further inquiry. He would leave it until the experts got into touch with him after the boat had been salved. Mr. Handley undertook to supply a full statement as soon as possible. Mr. J.{Mr Johnson W.M.} S. Chamberlain, on behalf of Lord Wakefield, who financed the Miss England II. enterprise, associated himself with all Mr. Handley had said. POSITION MARKED. Preparations were begun to-day for raising the wreck of Miss England II. from where she lies at the bottom of Lake Windermere, 70 feet down. The work has been entrusted to Mr. George Borwick, of Bownes, whose sheds housed Miss England II. on the shores of the Lake. In an interview he said that he would work in collaboration with a well-known salvage expert from Liverpool. "I don't think it will be a task of particular difficulty," said Mr. Borwick, "we know the position in which Miss England lies and have marked her position with a buoy." "At the time of the accident my son, Herbert, was on the lake in a launch. | ||