The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-09-03 00:00:00

HOLIDAY SEASON PERILS.

The recent distressing yacht accident at
Ilfracombe, which is a favourite resort in the
summer and autumn months, served to re-
mind temporary dwellers in watering-places
and tourists always on the move that the
period of holiday- making has its perils as
well as its pleasures. No doubt risks to life
or limb are run everywhere, and at all
times, whether in harness or out of harness.
Even within doors at home a sudden giddi-
ness or slight slip of the foot may precipitate
anyone, with breakneck violence, from the
top to the bottom of the staircase. Some
of the unfortunate victims of the disaster in
the Bristol Channel belong to London, but
if they had remained in the metropolis, in-
stead of going to spend a few weeks in North
Devon, they were liable to be run over at
any hour of the day in the crowded and
dangerous thoroughfares. Nevertheless, the
numerous warnings given each season, by
the occurenee of sad fatalities, should suffice
to put pleasure-seekers on their guard against
possible mishaps. and induce thim to ex-
ercise the caution which forms an evidence
of good sense. Thisli • all the more needful,
as the exalted state of spirits, which gener-
ally accompanies change of scene and free-
dom from care, is apt to cause neglect of
prudential considerations, and even to
prompt to the performance of fool-hardy ad.
ven• ous feats. At the seaside there occur
bathing, boating, tidal, and cliff-scaling
fatalities, though the last-mentioned, happily,
are not very common on our rock-bound
shores. The owners of pleasure-boats, intent
on pin while the holiday season lasts, cannot
re ,ist the temptation of overcrowding wher.
ever local regulations are not strictly enforced
and loss of life by drowning, when sudden
squalls crest the waves with flying foam, is
often the result of such rash and reprehensi-
ble conduct. Amateur boatmen, who are
"literally at sea" in squally weather, have
the unfortunate habit of losing an oar just
when it is most wanted, and they often make
a muddle in the veering of the sail when the
small craft under their management requires
to go through the tacking process. The in-
evitable capsize comes when the tiller is not
properly handled. or the single sail of the
sloop-rigged boat is not under proper control.
At certain points of our coast line there lie
stretches of ribbed sand, with a gentle slope
all round from the central parts, treacher-
ously attractive to unwary visitors who,
after walking about for some length of time,
intent on picking up curiously shaped shells,
suddenly discover, to their horror-stricken
surprise, that they are encompassed on all
sides by the incoming tide, and that the islet
on which they have their foothold is being
rapidly diminished in size by the swelling,
rushing, seething, and sparkling waters of
the fall-flooded sea. Early in the present
season two hapless visitors to the seaside
were drowned in this way at Llandudno. A
curate, accompanied by the young lady to
whom he was engaged to be married, walked
on shell-gathering to a dangerous part of the
sands, unaware of the risk, and they both
sank in a watery grave before any effective
attempts at rescuing them could be made.
It was not till this melancholy event took
place that the town authorities thought it
necessary to put up notice-boards warning
visitors of the danger attaching to the treach-
erous sands. Amateur cragsmen run still
greater risks than amateur boatmen The
two adventurous youths from London yho,
when spending their holiday at the seaside
a month or so ago, made a foolhardy attempt
to climb to the top of the chalk c!iffs at
Folkestone, found themselves in a fix when
they had reached a perilous height, being
unable either to ascend or descend, and it I
was the hearing of their cries of distress by
two gentlemen, who fortunately happened
t) he strolling in that direction on the sands,
which led to immediate steps being taken to
effect their rescue, and this was done by
means of a looped rope let over the face of
the rocks. Both of them were in quite an
exhausted state when brought to bank, and
the rescuers saw that the deliverance had
just been accomplished in the nick of time.
The desire to do something of a hazardous
nature, merely for the sake of boasting about
it afterwards among friends and acquaint-
ances, is to frequently the sole motive for
entering on the performance of actions
which imperil life. Training from boyhood
is needed to give cool heals and dexterity in
finding footholds in difficult positions to the
cragsmen who collect the eggs of sea-fowl
from the lofty shelves of perpendicular rocks,
and who pursue a vocation as "dreadful" as
that of S iiakespeare's samphire-gatherers on
Dover cliff. Few tourist s, even of the most
adventurous class, would have nerve enough
to imitate the feat of Thomas Edward the
self taught naturalist of Banff, who laid his
back to the rocks and slid with a rush to the
sands telow, rather than court sertain death
by sitting painfully on a narrow ledge wait-
ing for the faint chance of help until he
might drop down headlong from his terrible
perch through she :r exhaustion. The brave
and hardy naturalist lay stunned for a time
a the foot of the rocks, but as no bones were
broken he was able, after an interval, though
much bruised, to wend his way slowly hor: '-
wards. Falling over cliffs into deep ravi 01,
where rushing torrent.: have their chan:: :4,
is sometimes the Ii! e of tourists in
mountainous district t-home and abroad.
There is danger in Cie bewildering dense
and damp mists which often infest the wild
1
corries and craggy steeps of the Scottish
Highlands, and sensible tourists, who ought
always in those regions to be provided with
handy and cosy plaids, fuad it their salest