The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-09 00:00:00

SHIPWRECKS of TIMBER-SHIPS,
AND LOSS of LIFE ATTENDANT THEREON.

The Select Committee appointed to inquire into Ship-
wrecks of Timber Ships, and the Loss of Life attendant
thereon, and to report to the House whether any or what
Means can be adopted to reduce the Amount thereof in
future :—Have, pursuant to the Order of the House,
proceeded to inquire into the Shipwrecks of Timber-
laden Vessels, and the Loss of Life consequent thereon.

The first point which your Committee directed their
attention to was, to ascertain, by the most authentic re-
cords, the number of timber-laden vessels which ap-
peared to have been lost or fallen in with as wrecks at
sea, with any direct statements which may have been
made as to the sufferings of the crews ; but the gene-
ral result is as follows :—By the extracts from Lloyd's
Lists, in the evidence given by Captain D. Sutton, it
appears that in the year 1834, there is recorded in the
list of that year the loss of four timber ships from
America, wrecked on the shores of America or
Europe ; and seventeen lost at sea ; of six
of which no account whatever of the crews
had been obtained ; and in the case of three of
the remaining eleven, it had been ascertained that
the sufferings of the crews had been very great in-
deed ; in one of those, the Lucy, after nineteen days'
privation, only two of the crew having been found alive.
In the year 1835, fifteen ships are reported wrecked on
the shore, and thirty-four at sea ; of seventeen, of which
no account of the crews had been obtained ; and of the
other seventeen, the sufferings of the crews of six had
been very great ; in one, the Francis Spaight, reduced
by having been without water or provisions to the ne-
cessity of sacrificing four of their number, by lot, for the
preservation of the rest.
In 1836, twenty-seven ships are reported wrecked on
the shore, and forty-four at sea ; of eighteen of which
no accounts had been received of the crews ; and of the
other twenty-six, the sufferings of the crews of ttree had
been very great ; in the Earl Nellie, the second mate
and two men are reported to have been starved to death.
In 1837, seven ships are reported wrecked on the
shore, and twenty-five at sea ; of nineteen of which no
accounts bad been received of the crews ; and of the
other six, the sufferings of the crews of three had been
extreme ; in one, the Caledonia, two are reported, when
near death, to have had their throats cut for the sake of
their blood, and when fallen in with by the Dryden,
which saved the remainder of the crew, they were about
to sacrifice a boy.
In 1838, eighteen ships are reported as wrecked on
the shore, and forty-eight at sea ; of twenty-seven of
which there had been no accounts of the crews ; of the
remaining twenty-one, the sufferings of the crews of
two had been extreme ; in one, the Earl Moira, four
bodies only having been found under the main-top, all
dead, with part of one of their comrades hung up like
butchers' meat in a stall ; and in the other, the Anna
Maria, five bodies were found dead, with part of the
leg of a woman by the side of one of them, who had
evidently been feeding upon it ; and one more, the
Frederick, of St. John's, fallen in with by the
Hope, with her crew lashed to the main-top, without
the power of assisting them.
In confirmation of these statements of loss, as recor-
ded in Lloyd's List, the Committee applied to the
Honourable Commissioners of her Majesty's Customs
for a return of the number of ships which cleared out
from British North America in the years 1836-7 and
8, for ports is the United Kingdom ; and of those
which were believed to have been lost, from their
never having arrived at their destined or any other port,
to the knowledge of the Commissioners ; and they are
concerned to find by this return, that the number of
missing ships supposed to have been lost exceed conside-
rably the number reported in Lloyd's List, thus confir-
ming that part of the evidence of Mr, T. J. Smith,
Chief Clerk of Lloyd's, in which he says, there are
many instances of vessels not heard of, which are never
posted at all.
By the Custom-house Return it appears that the
number of ships from British North America lost or
or missing in 1836 was 74 ; in 1837, 51 ; and in 183e4,
101 ; out of the whole number which cleared out from
British North America in 1836, 1,942 ; in 1837,1,815,
and in 1838, 1,670.

Having thus ascertained the extent of the arrival and
loss of timber-laden ships from British North America,
your Committee considered it an object of importance
to know the character of the ships lost, as well as the
character of the whole number engaged in the
trade ; and they consequently applied to the
Secretary of Lloyd's Register Book of Ship-
ping, who very readily undertook to mark
against the names of the ships, in tha Return from the
Custom-house, the character which those that had been
surveyed held in the Register Book, and also to mark
those which had not been surveyed at all : it is right
here to state, that this survey of merchant shipping, al-
though established from the year 1760, by the common
consent of merchants, underwriters, and shipowners, is
not compulsory upon the shipowner to submit to. In
this return of the ships lost in 1836, amounting in num-
ber to 74, the characters are marked as follows :
A. 1
2E.
lE. 1

...

E. 1 ... 13
I. I ... I

E. 1 ... 18
*.E 1 ... 2
A. 2 ... 22

••
1.5
32 Not surveyed.

lE. 2 ... 1
Not surveyed 33

74 •.• ••• 101
In adverting to the above evidence and returns, your
Committee are concerned to observe, that the instances
proved each year of great suffering of the crews of some
ships, from their having been fallen in with, with two or
three only left on board alive to tell the tale of their dis-
asters, or the remains of dead bodies in others ; equally
proving the fact, can only be considered as an index
of the suffering to a like extent in all those other
vessels, the crews of which have never been heard
of, and which appear in the return to a most fright-
ful extent, being in the last three years no less than
64 ships, which together with the nine ships in which
some remains of the crews were found, making a total
of 73 ships by Lloyd's List alone, the crews of which
amounted to 949 seamen ; this, without making any
allowance for the additional number of ships reported
as lost in the Custom-house returns. They also ob-
serve, from the characters of the ships lost in 1836 and
1838, the characters not having been named against
those of 1837, there is as large a proportion of A. 1,
and good ships lost, as of old and inferior ones ; thus
proving, beyond a doubt, that the loss is occasioned by
other causes than the frailty of the vessels themselves.
The average tonnage of the ships lost is from 320 to
330 tons, old measurement ; and the average number
reported to have been lost in the last three years by
the Custom-house Return, and the account given
in Lloyd's List in that period, appear to have
been 196, or 63,200 tons, manned by 2,548
seamen, valued with their freight and cargoes at
5,1001. each, or at the whole sum of 999 6001.
The wages paid to the seamen in this trade exceed
the wages paid to seamen in other trades, where the
voyages are of a similar duration, from 7s. to 10s. per
month ; in consequence, as the witnesses stnte, of the
number of losses and general discomfort to the crew in
a timber-laden vessel ; the length of each voyage to and
from North America being from 13 to 16 weeks ; and
the provisions and water being stated, if not in the
whole yet in part, to be carried on deck.
In the evidence taken in regard to the insurance of
these ships and cargoes, it is stated to be doubtful in
law whether the underwriter is answerable for cargo
loaded on deck, unless there be a special provision to
that effect in the policy ; the last decision, where Gould
and Dowie were plaintiffs, was against the shipowner.
The average premium of insurance, out and home,
on the ship, for the spring voyage is stated to be from
31. to 31. 10s. per cent., and for th autumn voyage, from
six to ten guiners ; and the difference of premium, with
or without deck-load, appears by the evidence of Mr.
Hoyer, who has paid it, to be 21s. per cent. In the
northern ports of England the insurance is generally
effected in clubs, and Mr. Ord states, that the Wear
Company permit deck-loads to be carried by vessels
sailing from America before the Ist October to the ex-
tent of thirty-six load of timber for every 254 tons mea-
surement, or thereabouts, but virtually prohibit it alto-
gether after that date, by requiring five per cent. addi-
tional premium on all the insurances if carried.
Your Committee, in making their inquiry regarding
ships employed in the Baltic trade, find that, although
the losses of ships during the winter season are fre-
quently very numerous, and the premiums of insurance
vary from 10s. in the spring to eight guineas in the
winter, yet they are not attended by the same disastrous
loss of life and sufferings of the crews, as in the case of
the North American ships ; if wrecked on the coast,
the population is so great as generally to be able to
give assistance, and if at sea, the number of vessels con-
tinually traversing those parts is such that the people
are very soon relieved ; whereas in the case of a ship
being wrecked in her passage home late in the season
from America, there is little chance of any one passing
in the same track until the spring of the following year.
In following up their inquiry as to the cause of these
great losses, your Committee have been relieved from much
difficulty by the almost unanimous opinion of every wit-
ness examined, that the primary cause of all the mis-
chief has been in the improper over-stowage of the ships,
by carrying heavy loads of timber upon deck, and thus,
whether with or without ballast in their holds, render-
ing them top-heavy, and liable to upset, or to be thrown
upon their beam-ends by the first heavy sea that strikes
them. In alluding to this evidence, they would point-
edly refer to that of Mr. Joseph Somes, who has had
great experience at sea, and is now one of the largest
shipowners in England, and who strongly recommends
an Act of Parliament being passed, to prevent any load
being taken upon deck ; and states that he can prove
to any reasonable mind, that the owner in the end loses
by permitting his ship to carry a deck-load from the great
wear and tearof the ship; the proof of this wear and tear is
shown by the evidence of several of the witnesses, who
have surveyed ships after their arrival with heavy deck.