The Sun.
London, England, 1836-08-17 00:00:00

REPORT OF THE SELECT COM-
MITTEE ON SHIPWRE:CKB.

PRESENTED ON MONDAY, AUGUST 15.
The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the
causes of the increased number of shipwrecks, with a view
to ascertain whether such improvements might not be
made in the construction, equipment, and navigation cf mer-
chant vessels as would greatly diminish the annual loss of
life and property at sea, and who were empowered to report
their opinion thereupon, together with the minutes of evi-
dence taken before them, to the House, have examined
the matters ref:A-red to them, and agreed to the following
resolutions :

I. EXTENT OF LOSS IN PROPERTY AND LIVES AT SEA.
1. That the number of ships and vessels belonging to the
United Kingdom which were wrecked or lost in the periods
specified below appears, by a return made to the Com-
mittee from the books of Lloyd's to be as follows :
Number of Vessels Stranded or Wrecked.
1816 343 I 1833
1817 362 I 1834
1818 409 1 1835

1.114 ,
Number of Vessels Missing or Lost.
816
817
818

1,573

89 I 129
Making a total of 1,203 ships or vessels wrecked and
missing in the first period of three years, and a total of
1,702 wrecked and missing in the second period of three
years.

2. Thrt taking the number of vessels wrecked and lost
in the two periods named above at the assumed value of
5,0001. for each ship and cargo, on the average of the whole,
the loss of property occasioned by these wrecks would
amount, in the first three years, to 6,015,000/., being an
average of 2,005,000/. per annum ; and in the last three
years to 8,510,0004, being an average of 2,836,6661. per
annum.

3. That the number of ships, in each of the years above
specified, of which the entire crews were drowned, though
the exact number of each crew is not stated, appears, by
the same return made to your Committee, from the books
of Lloyd's, to have been as follows :
Number of Vessels in each Year, of which the entire Crews
were Drowned.
1816 l5 I 1833
1817 l9 I 1834
1818 l5 11835

49 8
Making a total of 49 in thel first period of three years,l and a total of 81 in the second period of three years.
4. That the number of persons drowned in each of the
years specified, in addition to the above, and of which the
number drowned belonging to each vessel is distinctly
known, appears, by the same return from Lloyd's books, to
be as follows :
Number of Persons Drowned in each Year by Ships named.
1816 ... 945 1833 .
1817 4991 1834
1818 256 1 1835

1,700 1 1,714
5. That assuming the average number of persons in each
of the vessels of which the entire crews were lost to con-
sist of ten individuals, including officers, seamen, and pas-
sengers, it would appear, that. in the first three years the
number of persons drowned were 588 in the 49 vessels
whose crews were entirely lost, and 1,700 in the vessels of
which the exact number in each was known, making a total
of 2,228 lives, or 763 per annum ; and that in the last
three years the number of persons drowned was 972 in the
81 vessels whose crews were entirely lost, and 1,710 in the
vessels of which the exact number in each was known,
making a total of 2,682 lives, or 894 per annum.
6. That among the special cases of loss by shipwreck on
particular parts of the coast, it has been stated, that during
the last four years 272 ships were lost belonging to the port
of Tyne, averaging 68 vessels per annum ; the whole num-
ber of vessels registered in that port being about 1,000
sail ; that these 272 vessels measured 60,489 tons; and
assuming these to have been total losses, and the average
value of the whole to be 101. per ton, the loss of property
from this single port would be 604,8901. in four years, or
151,2221. per annum, while the number of lives lost in
these 272 vessels during the same period was 682 ; the
number of widows and orphans left for relief 147 ; and the
amount of money paid out of the funds of the Seaman's
Association at Shields, for relief of members of that so-
ciety only, amounted to 1,9351. 15s. 9d. ; the ships em-
ployed from this port being principally colliers, which per-
form eight or nine voyages in each year, and are continued
in occupation during the winter as well as summer along a
dangerous coast.
7. That during a period of sixteen months, from, Jan. 1,
1833, to May 1, 1834, the number of vessels reported in
Lloyd's books as missing or lost, and which have never
since been heard of, amounted to 95 in number ; and these
ships being principally engaged in foreign voyages, the cal-
culation made on their value, and the number of their
crews, including officers, seamen, and passengers, assuming
8,0001. as the lowest average value of ship and cargo
throughout, and 15 persons as the average number of per-
sons on board the whole, gives a total lois in these missing
ships only, within the short period of 16 months, 760,0001.
sterling in property, and 1,425 lives.
8. That these results do not embrace the whole extent of
loss in property or lives, occasioned by shipwrecks, even
among those vessels only which belong to the United King-
dom, inasmuch as these returns include only the losses en-
tered in Lloyd's books, from which the returns adverted to
were made out ; whereas it is well known that many ves-
sels and lives are lost by wreck or foundering at sea, of
which no entry is made in Lloyd's books, and of which, as
no record is kept, no return can be produced.
9. That the whole loss of property in British shipping
wrecked or foundered at sea, may therefore be assumed as
amounting to nearly three millions sterling per annum ; the
value of which property, though covered by insurance to
certain parties, is not the less absolutely lost to the nation,
and its cost paid for by the British public, on whom its loss
must ultimately fall.

10. That the annual loss of life, occasioned by the wreck
or foundering of British vessels at sea, may, on the same
grounds, be fairly estimated at not less than one thousand
persons in each year, which loss is also attended with in-
creased pecuniary burdens to the British public, on whom
the support of many of the widows and orphans left desti-
tute by such losses must ultimately fall.
PRINCIPAL CAUSES, OF SHIPWRECK.

11. That among the various causes of shipwreck, which
appear susceptible of removal or diminution, the following
appear to be the most frequent and the most generally ad:
mitted

1. Defective construction of ships.
2. Inadequacy of equipment.
3. Imperfect state of repair.
4. Improper or excessive loading.
.5. Inappropriateness of form.
6. Incompetency of masters and officers,
7. Drunkenness of officers and men.
8. Operation of marine insurance.
9. Want of Harbours of refuge.
10. Imperfection of charts.
12. CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS.--That the defective con-
struction of ships appears to have been greatly encouraged
by the system of classification, which, from the year 1798
up to the year 1834, was followed at Lloyd's, by which the
age of a vessel and the port at which she was built were
made the chief tests of her strength and safety ; and by
which all new vessels, however slightly constructed, were
entitled to he registered in the first class for a given number
of years, varying from six to twelve, after which the
strongest ships were placed on a level with the weakest,
being excluded from the first class when the prescribed pe-
riod of years had expired : the tendency of this system of
classification being to induce shipowners to build their ships
in the cheapest manner, and with the least degree of strength
that was sufficient to sustPin their vessels through the
shortest period named (some having foundered and others
having gone to pieces on their first voyage), after which
period their value would be greatly reduced by their exclu-
sion from the flrst class.

13. EQUIPMENT, REPAIR, AND LOADING.—That the
' frequent replacing of such vessels as had thus passed into
the second class, by building new ones to occupy their sta-
tions in the first class, led to an increased supply in the
number of new
,ships beyond the healthy or profitable de-
mand for them ; while the lessels which had run out the
short term prescribed for their continuance in the first
class, being sold at very reduced prices, and the purchasers
having no inducement to put them into an efficient state of
repair—since no amount of reparation would restore them
to their original position—such vessels were navigated on a
lens capital and at less freight than others, and by thus com-
peting on lower terms with the already superabundant num-
ber of ships afloat, contributed to produce such general
depression of freights and profits, as to compel the most
rigid economy in the outfit and expenses of shipping gene-
rally, and the greatest efforts to make a moderate interest
on the capital employed, which too frequently led to the in-
adequaey of equipment, the imperfect state of repair, and the
improper and excessive loading enumerated among the
causes of shipwreck.

14. FOREIGN COMPETITtION.--Tilat in addition to this
operation of severe competition, among different classes of
shipping belonging to the United Kingdom, the British
shipowner had also to meet the competition of foreigners,
in the ships of Continental Europe, who, from the many
advantages enjoyed by them in the superior cheap-73s of
their materials for building, equipping, and provisioning
their vessels, and the lower rate of wages paid to their
crews, were enabled to realise profits, on terms of freight,
which would not even cover the expences of British ship:.

15. Foasts OF SHIPS.—That the inappropriateness of
form in British merchant vessels, which often incapacitates
them from beatitig lair a lee shore, and consequently leads to
their being wrecked, has been peily f}m result of the na-
ture of British maritime trade, and partly of the defettil'e
systems of measurement, and the heavy tonnage duties for-
merly levied on British ships ; many vessels being necessa•
rily constructed of a flat form of bottom to adapt them to
the shoal harbours of' England, and enable them to lie
in safety while aground ; but though these last are
causes which no system of fiscal regulations could remove,
yet it is established and admitted that the system of ad-
measurement and heavy tonnage duties which formerly
existed presented a strong inducement to shipowners to build
their ships of such forms and dimensions as should unite a
small nominal tonnage by admeasurement with a large ac-
tual capacity for carrying a cargo considerably above the
tonnage at which she might be registered ; which united
qualities could only be obtained at the sacrifice of speed,
buoyancy, celerity of evolution, and consequent incompe-
tency to escape from the dangers of a lee shore.
16. CLASSIFICATION OF SHIPS.—That the system of
classification has been very greatly improved by the forma-
tion of a new association, entitled " Lloyd's Registry So-
ciety for British and Foreign Shipping," the basis of whose
regulations appears to be a bona fide attempt to classify
vessels according to their real and intrinsic merits, including
their age, construction, materials, workmanship, and stores ;
but though there is good reason to believe that the ulti-
mate result of this new system of classification will be to
effect a great improvement in the general character of the
ships of the United Kingdom, yet this society possesses no
authority beyond that of any other private association to
onforce the observance of such rules as may be necessary
to secure the greatest degree of strength and safety desir-
able to be attained in merchant ships.
17. ADMEASCREME,NT OF TONNAGE.—That though the
system of admeasurement, as recently changed, may de-
fine, with sufficient accuracy, the cubic space of the ship's
hold, it is a problem well worthy of attention to discover
some method that shall fix the admeasurement of tonnage
.at the actual amount of dead weight which a ship can carry
without sinking, a fixed proportion of which might be
deemed the registered tonnage ; in order to remove every
inducement to build ships of inappropriate forms, with a
view to lessen their tonnage duty.
IS. INCOMPETENCY OF MASTERS AND OFFICERS.—
That the frequent incompetency of masters and officers
appears to be admitted on all hands, this incompetency
sometimes arising from the want of skill and knowledge in
seamanship, but more frequently from the want of an ade-
quate knovils.dge of navigation ; it being proved that some
masters of merchant vessels have been appointed to com-
mand after having been foe a very short time at sea ; that
others have hardly known how to trace a ship's course on
the chart, or how to ascertain the latitude by a meridian
I altitude of the sun ; that many are unacquainted with the
pu
es e ofthe
te n t
t n chronometer,
ascertain
the and h
longitude
a t veryb 3, few
lunar indeed are u
observations
c o
while some are appointed to command merchant vessels at
periods of such extreme youth (one instance is given of a
boy of 14, all of whose apprentices were older than him-
self), and others so wholly destitute of maritime experience
(another instance being given of a porter from a ship-
owner's warehouse who was made a captain of one of his
ships), that vessels have been met with at sea who were out
of their reckoning by several hundreds of miles, and others
have been wrecked on coasts from which they believed
themselves to have been hundreds of miles distant at the time.
19. DRUNKENNESS AND USE OP SPIRITS.—That drun-
kenness, either in the masters, officers, or men, is a frequent
cause of ships being wrecked, leading often to improper and
contradictory orders and directions on the part of the offi-
cers ; sleeping on the look-out or at the helm among the
men ; occas):ining ships to run foul of each other at night,
and one or both foundering ; to vessels being taken aback
or overpowered by sudden squalls, and sinking, upsetting,
or getting dismasted, for want of timely vigilance in pre-
paring for the danger ; and to the steering wrong courses,
so as to run upon dangers which might have otherwise been
avoided.
20. That the practice of taking large quantities of ardent
spirits as part of the stores of ships, whether in the navy
or in the merchant service, and the habitual use of such
spirits, even when diluted with water, and in what is ordi-
narily considered the moderate quantity served to each man
eartfysss
sea, is itself a very frequent cause of the loss of ships and
; ships frequently taking fire from the drawing off of
spirits, which are always kept under hold ; crews frequently
getting access to the spirit casks, and becoming intoxicated ;
and almost all the cases of insubordination, insolence, dis-
obedience of orders, and refusal to do duty, as well as the
confinements and punishments enforced as correctives, both
of which must for the time greatly lessen the efficiency of
of the crews, being clearly traceable to the intoxicating in-
fluence of the spirits used by the officers and men.
21. EXPERIMENTS IN AMERICAN VESSELS.—That the
happiest effects have resulted from the experiments tried in
the American navy and merchant service to do without
spirituous liquors as an habitual article of daily use ; there
being at present more than 1,000 sail of American ves-
sels traversing all the seas of the world, in every climate,
without the use of spirits by their officers or crews, and
being, in consequence of this change, in so much greater
a state of efficiency and safety than other vessels not adopt-
ing this regulation, that the public insurance companies in
America make a return of five per cent. of the premium
of insurance on vessels completing their voyages without
the use of spirits, while the examples of British ships sail-
ing from Liverpool on the same plan have been produc-
tive of the greatest benefit to the shipowners, underwriters,
merchants, officers, and crews.
22. MARINE INSURANCE.—That the system of marine
insurance, though affording the means of protecting indi-
viduals from excessive loss, has nevertheless a tendency, by
transferring the pecuniary responsibility for such losses from
the owners of ships to the underwriters who insure them,
to induce less care in the construction of ships, less efficiency
in their equipment, and less security for their adequate
management at sea, inasmuch as the risk of such loss to the
shipowners can be covered by a fixed premium of insurance,
which, being charged on the freight, and then re-charged
on the goods conveyed, fixes the real responsibility and
real loss ultimately on the public ; as all the parties ac-
tually engaged in the transaction can secure themselves
from any participation in such loss by tho aid of marine
insurance.
23. HARBOURS OF REFUGE.—That there are many
portions of the coast of Great Britain in which the want
of harbours of refuge has led to the loss of many vessels
that might have been easily saved had such harbours
existed ; of which the two following instances may be
named :—ln three different gales of wind which occurred
in the years 1821, 1824, and 1829, tkiere were lost on the
east coast of England, between the Humber and the Tees,
169 vessels, of which 73 were wrecked on the rocks off
Redear, where peculiar facilities exist for constructing a
harbour of refuge, by which the loss of nearly all these ves-
sels might have been avoided. In the present year, 18!.36,
no less than 39 vessels were seen on shore in Holyhead Bay
at one time, 20 of which were totally lost with all their
crews on board ; and within the same period many vessels
have been wrecked between Holyhead and Liverpool, where
an excellent position exists for forming a harbour of refuge
between the Great and Little Ornie's Head, near the
entrance of the river Dee; at which, had such a harbour
been formed, the greater number of these vessels might
have been saved.

24. IMPERFECTION OF CHARTS.—That the imperfection
of charts is more particularly the cause of shipwreck in the
newly-opened regions of the Eastern Archipelago and the
China seas, where, notwithstanding the highly valuable la-
bours of the East India Company's maritime officers, and
the zealous perseverance and ability of their distinguished
hydrographer, the late Captain Horsburgh, whose directory
and charts of the Eastern seas have been invaluable safe-
guards to life and property in those regions, there yet re-
mains much to be achie'ved towards obtaining correct nau.
tical surveys of the islands and coasts.

111. REMEDIES PROPOSED OR SUGGESTED.
25. MERCANTILE MARINE BOARD.—That it is a matter
of the first importance to authorize, by enactment, the for-
mation in London of a mercantile marine board, to direct,
superintend, and regulate the affairs of the mercantile ma-
rine of the United Kingdom, on such a plan of organization
and control as shall unite a due regard to the private in-
terests of the shipowners, merchants, and underwriters,
whose individual property may be embarked therein, with
an equal attention to the public interests in the preservation
of the national capital from destruction at sea ; and, above
all, in securing as tiar as possible the safety of the lives of
those who may be engaged in navigating the ships and con-
ducting the maritime commerce of the country.
26. That this mercantile marine board should be so con-
structed as to embrace a competent number of experienced
officers of the Royal Navy, and masters in the merchant
service, united with .experienced shipowners and ship-
builders, assisted by a skilful hydrographer, a professor of
snautical astronomy and navigation, and one or more men of
eminence in the legal profession, the election of such mem-
bers to be vested in certain proportions in the Admiralty,
the Trinity Board, and the shipowners, and to be irremov-
able from office except by the concurrence of the three
bodies named ; and that to such a board should be entrusted
the power to carry into effect, both in London and the out-
ports, under the sanction and authority of Parliament, the
followingprimary objects
ODE OF MARITIME LAW.—The compilation and
consolidation of a code of maritime law, embracing so much
of the existing common and statute law of the realm as
should appear to the board to be most important to be
adopted and made generally known, adding thereto such
otherprovisions as might seem necessary to the completion
of such a code as should clearly and accurately define the
relative duties and obligations of shipowners, officers) and
seamen ; with a view to supply the remarkable defect under
which Great Britain now labours, in being' almost tae only

maritime country of the world in which no such special
code of maritime law eaiats.
28. NAUTICAL IMPILOVEMEIVii--...The promotion and en-
couragement of nautical improvement, by receiving; exa-
mining, and reportinr, upon plans presented to them for
flidt purpose, whether in science, art, or discipline, em-
bracing therefore ettbjects connected with nautical astro-
nomy and navigation, hydrovaphy and surveying, naval
architecture, seamanship, rigging, stowage, sailing, regula-
tion of crews, and other matters conducire to the improve-
ment of British ships and British seamen.
29. CLASSIFICATION OF SHIPS.—The perfecting a sys-
tem of classification of ships, to the utmost attainable point
of accurately defining, by such classification, the real state
and condition of every ship registered.
30. BUILDING, SURVEYM;I, AND EQUIPMENT. The
collection of information as to the best methods for build-
ing, surveying, fitting out, equipping, loading, and furnish-
ing with the requisite supply of men, provisions, water, and
boats, all ships built and registered in the United King-
dom ; and the suggestion of the best means of giving prac-
tical efficiency to the information thus acquired.
31. EXAMINATION OF OFFICERS.--The formation of
certain standards of qualification in seamanship and navi-
gation, to be attained by officers before they should receive
licences of appointment to particular grades in the merchant
service ; and certain higher standards of qualification in
seamanship, navigation, and nautical 'astronomy, to be
attained by masters before they should be entitled to receive
licences of appointment to the command of vessels of dif-
ferent classes and for different voyages.
32. The appointment of examiners in seamanship, navi-
gation, and nautical astronomy, for the public examination
of all candidates for appointment as officers or commanders,
with power to remand all who should be deficient in the
requisite degree of knowledge for the class to which the
candidate might aspire, and, with a power also to grant
licenses to officers of superior skill and knowledge, autho-
rising each class to wear a uniform, as was done in the late
mercantile marine of the East India Company, differing
from the uniform of the Navy, but at the same time suffi-
ciently marked for the purpose of distinguishing the persons
wearing it as passed officers of the merchant service.
33. SAVINGS BANKS AND ASYLUMS.—The preservation
of fie health, strength, and moral character of seamen,
which are material elements in the efficiency of ship's
crews, and tend to lessen the risk of shipwrecks, by the es-
tablishment of savings' banks for the wages of seamen, and
asylums for the reception of the men and their effects,
either in ships to be moored afloat, adapted to their recep-
tion, or in buildings erected on shore ; for the purpose of
saving these seamen, as far as may be found practicable,
from the misery and degradation into which they are so
constantly plunged almost immediately after their return
from sea, when, being made intoxicated, and sometimes
stupified by drugs, they are robbed and plundered by crimps
who make them their victims, and who hold them in actual
bondage till all their wages are drained from them, when
they are often taken in a state of intoxication to a ship,
of the officers and crew of which they know nothing, and
their advance of wages, instead of being applied to the
purchase of an outfit or the voyage, is seized by their ori-
ginal betrayer for a real or pretended debt incurred while
in his custody.
34. REGISTRY OFFICES.—The formation of registry
offices for merchant seamen, at which certificates of the age,
name, capacity, and character of every seaman (which, by
the late Act for the Registration of British seamen, must
be granted to all seamen demanding the same from their
commanders at the time of their discharge) may be depo-
sited and recorded in a register book to be kept for that
purpose ; such
.registry-offices to be bound to furnish, free
of expense, authenticated copies of such certificates of cha-
racter to all seamen applying for the same ; in order to af-
ford the requisite facility for the selection of the best men;
and to furnish inducements to commanders, to engage at
early periods of the vessel's fitting out, the actual crews by
which their ships are to be manned for the voyage.
35. NAUTICAL SCHOOLS.—The establishment of cheap
nautical schools, either in ships afloat adapted to the pur-
pose, or in appropriate buildings on shore, in which the
practical duties of seamanship and the elements of naviga-
tion should be taught to the young apprentices who are
training- up for the sea ; and in which, under proper direc-
tions, some attention should be paid to their habits of
cleanliness, order, acd sobriety, and the preservation of
their moral characters, fill of which are at present unhap-
pily neglected.
36. COURTS OF INQUIRY.—The arrangement of a plan
for the institution of courts of inqu:ry to examine into the
circumstances of every shipwreck that occurs, as far as may
be practicable, with power to pronounce ea verdict of censure
on the owners or commanders of all those vessels where the
result of the inquiry should establish the fact of such wreck
being occasioned by any fault or deficiency cro the part of
either, as well as to acquit honourably the owners' and com-
manders of those ships against whom no fault cOld be
proved, and to make the evidence and verdict in each. ease
public in every port of the kingdom ; with further power
to suspend, for a given time, the licenses or certificates_ Of
such officers and seamen as should be proved guilty of gross
incompetency or gross neglect of duty ; and to reward,
either by reimbursement of their loss of wages and effects,
or by gratuities, or medals of honour and distinction, those
officers and men who should have particularly distinguished
themselves by their skill, courage, or humanity, in preserv-
ing the lives and property of others, whether actually be-
longing to the ships that were wrecked, or coming to their
assistance from other vessels or from the shore.
37. SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES.—The formation of
special tribunals i r the cheap, speedy, and open trial and
adjudication of all quotions arising between shipowners,
officers, and men, relating to claims for wages, breaches of
discipline, and such other matters of dispute as might be
fitly submitted to summary jurisdiction ; in order to avoid
the great delay, expense, and uncertainty attending such
trials in the ordinary courts of law and prilice, as at present
constituted, the effect of which is often sufficient to deter
parties from seeking redress, and thus to defeat the ends of
justice, equally to shipowners, officers, and seamen.
38. FUNDS
.FROM FEES.—That the funds for the sup-
port of the Mercantile Marine Board in London, and its
auxiliary establishments at the principal out-ports, might. be
raised by the payment of moderate fees on the registration
of ships, and on the granting of licenses and certificates to
officers and conmanders, aided by such contributions from
the public revenue as the institution might require.
39. ASSISTANCE GOVERNMENT.—The, while the
Marine Board should be t.igaged in carrying out the prin-
ciples and accomplishing the objects hereinbefore enume-
rated, there appear to this Committee to be others well
worthy the attention of the Government, by the promotion
of which they can render material aS3isl.7nce towards the
improvement of British ships, and the relief of British sea-
men, more especially the following : 4.
40. REDUCTION or DUTIES.—The gradual rett,:ic"°n
of all the duties, imposts, and taxes, which press, in I.li'e
first instance, on shipping, and which tend to enhance the
cost of their building, equipment, and navigation, so as to
enable them the better to meet the severe competition to
which they arc now subject with the ships of other nations.
41. DIMINISHED USE OF SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.—The
encourageraent, in his Majesty's navy, of the system—so
happily followed both in the ships of war and merchant ves-
sels of America, and in some instances in the merchant
ships of England, with the best results in every case—of
discontinuing the daily supply of spirits to the seamen as an
article of necessary use, and substituting the more nutritious
and wholesome beverages of coffee, cocoa, chocolate, or tea :
so as to restrict the quantity of spirits supplied as stores, to
the amount required for special and urgent occasions, to be
served under the direction of the commander and medical
officer of each ship, and at such periods only as they might
deem necessary.

42.
LOADItiG AND PROVISIONS.—The prevention, by
such means as may be deemed most efficient, of the prac-
tice of carrying any portion of ship's cargoes on deck, by
which vessels arc frequently upset and water.logged or sunk;
and the securing the reservation of an adequate portion
of the provisions, and water for the crew, to be kept in
some part of the vessel that shall be accessible in. such
cases of peril, to prevent the dreadful scenes of hunger,
misery, and lingering death, to which so many are sub-
jected, every year, for the want of some such securities as
those proposed.
43. INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS.—The opening a
negotis'.ion with all the maritime powers of the world with
which Great Britain has either political, or commercial re-
lations, in order to effect,
if possible, a comprehensive treaty
u
with each and all of them, to use their best endeavours for
the preservation of the lives and prOperty of those who may
have the misfortune to be wrecked on their shores, first
securing the lives, and affording sustenance, shelter, and
protection to the persons of those who mly be cast upon
their coasts, and then disposing to the greatest advantage of
tht property saved, holding the proceeds for a given period
at the command of the lawful claimants, if any should ap-
pear ; and after such period, should no claimants apply,
transferring the amount to a shipwreck fund, out of which
to defray the expenses incurred ill the preservation of life
and property saved on their coasts ; in order to supersede,
if possible, tile present barbarous practice of plundering the
ships and men thrown by misfortune on dangerous shores,
Es well as to transfer the proceeds of such wrecks from the
funds of the droits of the Admiralty and lords of the manor,
to a fund for the relief of shipwrecked mariners, and the
restitution to its lawful owners of shipwrecked property.
44. PLANS AND '.MODELS.—That among the various
Plans and models of proposed improvements in the con-
struction of vessels,. which have been submitted to the
Committee, there appear to be none more worthy of se-
rious attention than those which shOw the great superiority,
in strength anti powers of resistance, of the solid bottoms
for ships, as evidenced in the case of his Majesty's ship
Pique, over the ordinary method of construction in. Mer-
chant vessels, by which open spaces are leftibetween.ever}f
pair of timbers. They conceive, also, that the apparatus