The Express.
London, England, 1868-12-22 00:00:00

TILE CASE OF TILE GOSSAMER.

Ai ONO the many calamitous losses recorded
during the recent week of gales there is one which
seems particularly to press for the most anxious
inquiry. About a fortnight since the ship Gossamer
was despatched from London for Australis with
a general cargo, and under orders to call at Ply-
mouth for passengers. The Gossamer was • ship
of considerable reputation as one of that famous
fleet of China tea clippers, whose performances ex-
cite so much interest in the shipping and commer-
cial world, and, we might add, in betting circles.
She was built in 1e64 by Sri:we-ors, of Glasgow,
owned by a Liverpool firm, and chartered by
Messrs. HOLDER and Co., of London. She sailed
from the Downs under charge of the pilot, and
Lad to Lest down Channel against a strong south-
west wind. When the Gossamer, standing in to-
wards the land, was off the Start Point at noon on
Thursday, December 10, her mate, who was on
deck with the pilot in charge, called the pilot's at-
tention to the position of the ship, and gave it as
his opinion that she was too near the land, but the
pilot held un his course until the ship was close
to Prawle Point, a signal station between the
Start and Bo'thew!. The pilot then attempted to
tack the ship, but she missed stays, and was pre-
sently driven on the rocks, her anchors refusing
to hold. Be had evidently miscalculated the
strength of the indraught of the tide, and when
the ship missed stays he did not attempt to wear
her round, but trusted to her anchors. Of thirty
souls on board, thirteen were lost, including the
captain and his newly-married wife. When the
ship missed stays the captain came on dock, but it
•as already too late; and so long as the pilot
was in charge, he, and not tho captain, was
of course, solely and wholly responsible for the
ship's course and the way she was handled, and
the authority of the captain and his officers was in
abeyance. There is reason to believe that the
pilot was in drink ; if he was sober, he must have
been grossly incompetent. It is but a few weeks
since the Leichardt, a New Zealand passenger ship
anchored at the Nore, was deliberately run
down on • bright, calm, moonlight night by
the North Star steamer, which was in charge
of a river pilot; in that case the pilot was
also mate of the steamer. It is a matter
of serious interest and importance to the seafaring
British public to have some sort of guarantee that
pilots in charge of passenger ships are sober
and responsible men of thoroughly proved capa-
city. The Board of Trade requires that the
masters of merchant ships and all their subordi-
nate officers shall pass a strict examination in
navigation and seamanship, and we believe the
officers of the merchant service are disposed to
complain of the severity of this examination, and
of the somewhat pedantic tests and " catch "
questions to which they are subjected. Many
an experienced and skilful seaman, they say, is
liable to be tripped up by a question which
is scarcely more practical than a conundrum.
As landsmen we should be inclined to support
the discretion of the nautical examiners of the
Board of Trade. But surely it is worse than idle
to impose those rigorous testa of proficiency upon
the officers of the mercantile marine if their ships
are liable to be put in charge of drunken or in-
competent Channel plots. The seafaring public
are apt to trust their lives and fortunes with
perfect confidence to the care of pilots who
are licensed by the Trinity Board, and have
received their certificates from that Corporation of
whose valuable services we hear so much at their
annual dinners on Tower-hill. There are, we
know, a class of men—broken-down sailing-
master-mariners and mater--who, having lost
their character and their certificates, infest the
Channel under the name of deputy-pilots, and
tempt foreign ships by offering to take charge of
them at half-price. Nothing is more strange to a