[A document of four pages, sewn at the spine with coarse thread. First page in Zofia Malinowski's hand in English, laboriously neat. Marginalia in the same hand, later, in pencil.]

TO THE CORONER OF PORT HUME COUNTY AND TO THE HONORABLE MAYOR

We, the undersigned widows and surviving families of the crew and passengers of the Steamer IPHIGENIA lost on the night of 7 November 1912, respectfully submit that the Inquest of January 1913 did not examine the cause of our loss with the care we are owed.

We ask for a new Inquest, with the following considered:

FIRST. The boilers of the ship were inspected and passed on the 12th of September 1912 by the Company's own engineer. In eight weeks a sound boiler does not fail. A boiler that strikes a reef fails for reason of the reef. We wish the Court to ask why the ship was on the reef.

SECOND. The captain, Mr. Raleigh Hume, was in his cabin for many of the hours before the sinking. We have been told by persons who cannot come forward in public that he was not well. We ask the Court to hear those persons in private session, as Mr. Reddick was permitted to have the crew heard in private session.

THIRD. The sum offered by the Company for the life of a working man upon their ship is a sum that is not sufficient. Mrs. Maeve McCausland, widow of the First Mate, received Two Hundred and Forty Dollars. We are told by men acquainted with the shipping trade that the Company's own rule-book for such a case contains a different figure. We ask the Court to require the Company to produce this rule-book.

FOURTH. The cabin steward who served the captain has, we understand, given a written account. It was not read. We ask the Court to read it.

We are poor women. We have lost our husbands and our sons. We do not ask for a story that pleases us. We ask for the story that is true.

Respectfully submitted,

Mrs. Zofia Malinowski (widow of Stanisław Malinowski, deck-hand) Mrs. Jolanta Sosowski (widow of Aleksy Sosowski, deck-hand) Mrs. Maeve McCausland (widow of Ewan McCausland, first mate) Mrs. Kirsten Leino (widow of Arvo Leino, stoker) Mrs. Rosa Benelli (widow of Gianluca Benelli, steward) Mr. John Kruszewski (father of Teofil Kruszewski, boy aged 14, cabin boy)

[signatures continue, 58 total on the original, in a variety of hands and inks. Fourteen of them are struck through later in pencil with brief notations in Zofia's hand: "withdrawn Mar 913 — 3rd visit from Co.", "withdrawn — moved away", "withdrawn — afraid", "withdrawn — bribed — $40 — J.S. told me". One entry has been partially erased; another annotated only "—".]

[final page, a pencil note by Zofia, undated, in stronger English than the petition: "The Court did not answer. Miss Pellman of the Beacon wrote an article. It was not printed. She gave me her card. I keep it still."]