The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-11-26 00:00:00

Cy 3 taarbag 0115erber

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1887.

THE DISASTER OFF DOVE R.

ONE of the busiest bits of waterway in the
world is the stretch of channel lyieg
between the white cliffs of Kent and the
undulating shore of France. That same
"silver streak," as it is often poetically
styled, is also among the most perilous of
the environments of England to the mariner;
dangerous because ot the strength of the
conflicting currents and the thickness of the
ioics which from time to time, often with
scant warning, settle on the water. Danger-
fens, too, is the Channel by reason of the
never ceasing succession of ships which pass
sont4lward from British and Continental
b,rts to the Atlantic, and northerly on the
homeward voyage; not to speak of the
ewift mail and passenger steamers constantly
crossing and re-crossing, and the fleets of
fishing and coasting ships. On any clear
day one can stand on Dover Heights and
discern easily the coast of France; but when
the fog cornea as it does at times the" look-
out " on any vessel caught therein often
cannot, so to speak, see his hand before him.
Many a day the sea, from the beach right
away out of the harbour, is still and shining
like a mill pond, and you can stand at the
heaeon end of the Admiralty Pier to enjoy
the lightest of breezes; anon, the storm
storm signals are hoisted, a mighty wind
arises, and the waves, lashed into ungovern-
able fury, sereop impetuously across the
jetties, and then boom and break and leap
int') showers of !spray among the chimney-
pots of the Lord Warden or the houses nest-
line below the frowning Castle. It is at
suc;h stirring times only that we realise the
hazardous nature of the occupation of those
who do business on the great waters. The
channel, in a terrific storm, when big ships
break from their moorings and aie tossed
hither and thither like utshells at the will
af the sounding breakers, or driven aground
and beaten into metchwood by the resistless
awell of the currents, is an awful sight; but
it is questionable whether a dense fog is not
even more to be dreaded by the sailor than
the most violent wind that ever blew. Then
he is hemmed abote,with dangers that he
cannot see, and if he drops anchor and keeps
the keenest watch, he is still always in peril
of being ran down by some less careful ship
which, it may be, steams on in the mist
rather than lose a single hour on its voyage.
The wonder is, when one weighs the many
and ever-present perils of Channel naviga-
atm, not that the catastropheoccurred to the
steamer W. A. fichatee in the dead hours of
last Saturday night, but that many more
terrible collisions than are reported do not
take place. It would appear that this fine
vessel', from. Rotterdam, bound for New
York; with two hundred and ten souls
aboard, had anehord for safety during the
thick fog; bat at half-past ten, the weather
having improved, weighed anchor. Time
veyage was resumed with great caution,
the captain and three officers keeping on the
bridge, a haze being still on the water,
Presently a vessel was sighted ahead, with
np, but showing no side lights. It
was inferred, of course, that the ship was
riding at anchor, in which CRBO the IV. L.
Scholten would have been able to clear her.
Too late it was seen that the strange steamer
was moving, and the Dutch boat was imme-
diately struck on the port-bow. A hole was
made in her side, big enough to drive a
waggon through, and in twenty minutes the
vessel sank. Some seventy-eight of the
passengers and crew were saved in two of
the boats carried, or by floating rafts or life
belts, of which latter the W. A. Scholter had
a, sufficiency for twice the number of people '
aboard. For some reason or other the six
remaining boats were not available in the
emergency, and the result was that the
residue of the 210 who had left the mouth
of the Maas light-hearted and full of hope
but a. few hours before, found a water;
grave in the foggy darkness. The seventy-
eight survivors were mainly picked up,
teeny of them benumbed with the icy cold
and almost exhausted, by the Ebro, a pass-
ing steaener. Meanwhile the ship that had
wrought the thetructien is said to have
pissed Q. witheet attempting to render as-
sistance. The sacrifice of human life envoi.-
was a terribfy heavy one, though
happily not nearly mio great as what followed
the collision between the Ki;ing Wilhelm and
the GrosB,?r li7ztrfurst in the Channel
nine years back. Panic, of course, ac-
counted for net a few of the fatalites of
that dreadful night, the circumstances of
some of which were heartrending in the
rearterie ; but we think there are lessons to
be learued f.om ti:e calamity, lessons
*hereby in the recurrence of such a col-
li.sion many deaths by drowning might be
prevented. Theme are some who hold that a
speedy themth is preferable to the chamaees of
heihg saved by a lire-belt ; but mostof those
rt,el;cA o:t 8:-ttn-..(1.ty night and Sunday
morning had been buoyed up by mans of
life-belts. The TV. A. Scholten, as has heen
starot, led a full complement of these,
au.mo every tets3euger carrying ship ought
10 Lave- This is not en ough; the passengers
should he, by Board of Trade regulations,
inetrneted, in their use, and in that of the
hie-rafts Obich pa.sseug er stearneis ought as
en7ltto oqmlipped w tim. There might,
e the gafiti Oi all, also be compulsory
drill in every body on beard in the matter of
neinnin,.4 the boats ; always supposing that
tleeee wa-i a sufficiency carried fo • every
amid, and that they swung ready ,for use at
shorest notice, and in full floating
order. Spetially for safety in the crowded
Qiutunel uavigation, we would have 4.. bin-
d,
-
_

ing law laid down that every ship going notqh
or south should stop her course and lay to
during a dense fog, burn the most luminous
lights possible under vapourons
constantly ring a resonant. fog bell, an.:
sound at frequent intervals a steam-horn or
whistle. When additional security against
accident would thereby be asalred we would
have signalling by rocket resorted to also.
It is av irred, and that rightly, that the
signalliry,s regulations, or at any rate usages,
of Channel shipping traffic are sadly too lax,
I and in need of careful revision. And the
signals of distress made use of in the Channel
should certainly be of a most unmistakeable
character. These mate uso of by the W.
A. Scholtan appear to have been improper
and indistinct, and so misunderstood. Every
ship using the waterway should conform to
a full and efficient code, drawn up br ex-
perts and rigidly enforced. Thereby much
danger would be done away with, and a
good deal of needless irritation avoided,
because, as things are, fisher and other boats
and vessels often put off now in response to
uncertain signals of distress, in the hope of
being of service, enly to find themselves not
wanted. Vice versa, as on Saturday night,
signals in (xtrsinis are at times taken to be
only of ordinary character, and a vessel able
and willing to assist passes within reach of
scores of drowning persons without knowing
how direfully its aid is required. /t is all
very well and very praiseworthy to show a
big-hearted humanity to the rescued, as
Dover has in this case done, but it would be
far better if by taking. thought and action
we can lessen the chances of the occurrence
of so dreadful a disaster as that of Saturday
act.