The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1877-10-02 00:00:00

Notts anb Vints.

"Glorious Victory I total defeat of the Nova Scotian
ship Forest by H.M.S. Defence I The Prize towed into
Portland I." That would have been a fine heading for the
bills of the sensational dailies, only they were too much
occupied with giving the minutest shades of question and
answer in the trials of the Staunton,' and the detectives,
to pay overmuch attention to the danger that threatened
hundreds more lives. Such as the victory is, it is won by
hard perseverance and ever-increasing efforta. The ex-
periment. of the first few days were so weakly and slowly
conducted that it looked as if the Forest's removal had been
undertaken by day-work by a few poor people who wanted
to take as many days wages as possible cut of the job; but
the Press grew warm at what looked like a disgrace to our
navy and an exposure of the weakness of our resources.
When, somewhere about Thursday, each vessel in the
Channel Fleet was requisit eel to furnish four barrels of
gunpowder, it did indeed look as if business and success
were meant. But the 40ft-wooled ship seems to have
yielded to the blows, and almost like india-rublier, re-
covered her place again, and it was not till Sunday morn-
ing that the great ironclad and the Galatea victoriously
towed in the shattered wreck. Of course I distinguish
between the simpler feat of blowing a hole in an ironclad's
bottom, and the tough job of blowing to pieces • yie'diruj
mass of waterlogged to( t wool: but in future removals
(may they seldom be reqnired ; tireless to say "never')
H.M. officers must try the most sudden and terribly local
force of dynamite. Englishmen must be smart as well as
persistent in these rapid days, and not expend five days on
what ought to have been removed in one. It was not by
giant ttrength, hut by swiftness and suiblenly-struck
blowy, that Englishmen beat the Armada, and if routine
and red-tape keep our officers free using the last and
most sudden eget mire, the bier days' failure at the Forest
may only lie the foreshadowing of 3 more awful failure,
when our iron-clads may have to flee round the Orkneys
because they cannot cope with the swift bard-striking
flotilla of some future allied fleet.
Supposing some company of salvors had towed the
wreck to the inside of the Breakwater and left it there for
the Receiver, would that authority have accepted the
I charge I I am told that would-be salvors feared to tre
1 toe ing the Forest into a port, lent they should be im-
mediately troubled with notice to remove. I want to
I know whether private conipanies would in such a case
' have experienced all the forbearance which seems to have
been shown to the powers on board It. M.S. Defence.

Will some hon. member move in Parliament for & return
of the coat of explosives used about the Forest, and of
the amount of wages payable in live dap; to the company
of the ironclad / The cervices of the Galatea into the
bargain ni throw.

Now that the danger of actual further damage by the
Forest has been removed (except that to our navy's
prestige) we may hark back to the great collision and its
attendant circumstances. Alter over three days enquiry we
learn that the bodies were found drowned, the cause of
death being the collision. In effect this is a verdict that
there was no criminal negligence discoverable, a very
satisfactory one to the officers and men responsible ;
but the more it is satisfactory to them, the
more does it proclaim another addition to the
fearful dangers of the sea. "Error of Judgment; not
criminal but awfully fatal," that is what the Coroner
says, and the jury endorse his view. I cannot but
entirely agree with them, remembering as we all must,
something about the running down of the Miseltoe sailing
yacht by the steamer of a Person of Distinction. Again
must persons who go to sea take closer into their reckon-
ing. the uncomfortable fact that a ship is "a prison, with
the chance of being drowned."

Analysis of the evidence, or speculation thereon, with
a view to discover the real cause, or an attempt to discover
that non-criminal error in judgment, is forbidden, the case
being rub judiee. It will no doubt be decided in the civil
trial before the Commissioners of Wreck.
Portland fisherman are expected, it seems, to give
Information to the coastguard when they see anything un-
usual. I was present when the men of that force were
put in Line and complimented by their superior officer for
gallantry in life-saving on a Coiner wreck, and Portlenders
declared that the coastguard got the praise and reward
which was not their share. 'To true, tis pity; pity 'tis,
'tis true" that in so gallant an occupation as saving life,
"Two of a trade never agree."

Folly it may be to expect the Portland fishermen to give
information to their rivals, and it remains for the coast-
guard authorities to show what good would have reignited
if they had actually been informed in time for them to
render help. The Portland beachm in won't throw away
his chance of distinction and reward unless he ia quite
satisfied that the coastguard could give shipwrecked people
some help which the beachmen could not. In fact the
coastguard:must conquer success. They have every chance,
for they have all the time, a thorough organisation, and
regular pay.

The laat question of the Coroner was " Is there any
per.wn here who can give any further explanation on
behalf of the coastguard r Eoho sus wers—" coastguard r

Quickly have the ccastguard been sharpened up, for
they were extra smart in seizing that boat which went
ashore on the beach while its captain was assaulting one
of his men. They'll do better than even that feat, if they
have another chance.

Burying the dead was prepared for by the parish authori-
ties in a parochial way. Although I don't care where or
how inv wreck may be disposed of, when 'tis cast ashore—
defend any of my friends' bodies from being exposed to
the chances of such is burial! The Coroner, everybody
knows, ho nothing to do with the actual burial, the
police are under orders, and yield to the parish the
remains, the clergyman warmly repudiates the responsi-
bility, and he makes out a very good case for the church,
for he had made special preparation to lay the bodies
alongside each other. The jury declare that they would
have followed the bodies to the grave had they been told,
and thus the responsibility is left entirely upon the
authorities of the parish—the "civil authorities," I was
going to write, only I fear the word may be taken in a
wrong acne. Perhaps there will yet be opportunity for
the jury to follow such a funeral, for the Avalanche may
give up some of her dead. I confess I don't see why
the jury should have suggested their performing such •
service, for those gentlemen have already given over
three days, and received, besides the approval of their
consciences, the promise of an infinitesimal fee. It seems
an excellent opportunity to form in Portland a Guild of
persona who will devote themselves to make arrangements
for the proper burial of such dead as those who were
washed ashore. Up till now, it has been nobody's
business to provide aught but a parish funeral, and the
whole Island feels itself disgraced.

The London papers have made aloaults upon those
.xincerned, abd people not c:mcerned, and, no usual, the
assailants perpetrate exaggeration and blunder. With
the exaggeration I deal under the Portland heed: the
blunder of blaming Weymouth authorities for a Portland
funeral has been pointed out by our Mayor. The utter
Ignorance of Lyndon writers as to local matters would
be simply laughable if it were not that they presume ty
found " articles" on their own ideas, and thereby display
their own ignorance.

An honourable baronet, Sir Peter Pole, has selected
himself to attack the dangerous nuisance of driving fast
through the streets. At Met I thought we were going to
have this impudent practice put down, when a real
baronet and a county magistrate was the complainant;
hut customs were too strong for the baronet, although the
Mayor himself bore testimony to the nuisance and the
danger of swift-driven carte. "The man," says his
master, has been with me five yeas; and is a quiet
man." The man himself declared that he drove no more
swil tly than be has before, and thin is no result.