The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-27 00:00:00

'HE SUN, LONDON' TUESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 27, 1859.

stress of weather ; 58 from defects in ships or
equipments, including 'charts and compasses ; and
69 from various other causes more or less avoidable.
We thus see that 127 vessels were absolutely lost
in one year from causes which were clearly con-
trollable by man, and which were, we fear, the pro-
duct in some instances of his wilful negligence. It
is not long ago that the master of a ship was tried
and convicted at the Old Bailey for scuttling
his vessel off the Downs. Who can tell how many
more vessels have been thus wilfy.lly destroyed, in
addition to those which have been lost through
gross and culpable neglect ? For it must be re-
membered that, in consequence of the almost uni-
versal custom of insurance, the shipowner has
often no pecuniary interest in the safety of his
vessel, and may even be benefited by her loss. It
cannot be wondered at, therefore, if here and
there an unprincipled man should lend himself to
the commission of a fraud for his own advan-
tage. Every English vessel should be thoroughly
examined before she leaves port, in order that it
might be satisfactorily shown that she was sea-
worthy and well manned, and that means, both
simple and efficacious, were on board for the rescue
of the crew in the event of an accident.
On this latter point it is much to be lamented
that the law of the land does not afford, that pro-
tection to its merchant seamen which they surely
have a rightful claim to, by requiring all owners
of vessels to provide the cheap and simple appliance
of a life-belt for the use of each seaman in his em-
ploy, as by such provision alone undoubtedly many
lives would be annually saved from our merchant-
craft. We will illustrate this assertion by a case
in point:—
"A few months ago a lifeboat of the National
Life-boat Institution stationed at Walmer, pro-
ceeded off early in the morning to the rescue of a
sloop's crew on the Goodwin Sands. The crew,
three in number, were seen in the rigging; but_it
was found impossible, from the violence of the sea
and the rolling of the vessel, to approach her. As
soon as the tide turned, causing the sea somewhat
to subside, the life-boat was taken alongside ; but,
at the moment of her being so, the vessel's mast
went by the board, falling across the bow of the
liaboat. One of the three men in the vessel's rig-
ging. had before this been washed off and perished ;
of the two who remained, one was taken into the
boat as the mast fell ; the other, the master of the
vessel, was thrown into the water. One of the
life-boat's crew, John Chadwick, immediately
jumped overboard, swam to him, and succeeded
in bringing him alongside the life-boat ; but on the
crew grasping him, his clothes unfortunately tore
away, and a sea dashing the boat away from him
he unhappily perished."
In the report of this case received by the Insti-
tution, it is remarked that had the unfortunate
master been provided with one of the cork life-belts,
such as were worn by the life-boat's crew, his life
would probably not have been sacrificed. Indeed,
the two other men previously washed from the
rigging and drowned might possibly have been
saved had they been provided with belts, as they
might have been picked up by the life-boat, or by
a Deal lugger which was near at the time.
The life-boats of the National Life-boat Institu-
tion were manned last year by about 3,000 persons
on occasions of service and exercise. They were
often afloat during the heaviest gales, and in the
darkest nights ; and it is satisfactory to be able to
report that not a single life was lost from them on
those occasions. This happy circumstance is prin-
cipally, no doubt, attributable to the safety of the
boats themselves ; but this immunity from fatal
results has been owing in some instances to the
excellent cork life-belts, one of which each man
forming the boat's crew is required, by the rules of
the society, to put on before he is allowed to step
into her.
Let the reader bear in mind that the average
loss of life from wrecks on our coast during the
past seven years is 745. It is not presumptuous to
say that a very considerable proportion of this
large number of our fellow-creatures have been
sacrificed through the cupidity and carelessness of
their employers. How many of these victims might
this day, with God's blessing, be still the solace and
support of their families, as well as useful and active
members of a busy commercial community like ours,
if all had been done for them which justice and hu-
manity dictated, If the shipowner had discharged
his duty by ascertaining the soundness and tight-
ness of his vessel, the fitness of her rigging, sails,
anchoring gear, &e., before committing her to the
dangers of the sea. how much misery would often
have been prevented? Where in the hour of need
and distress has been the sufficient number of the
ship's life-boats—the means of safely lowering
them—the life-buoys and the life-belts ? None are
at hand; and if found, they are too frequently found
to be worse than useless, from want of repair and
preparation. We confess that we esvy not the
feelings of the man who has realised immense
wealth, but who has not in his day faithfully dis-
charged the important duties of an employer of la
bour, and who, by his remissness, probably uncon-
sciously to himself, has consigned many a woman
to be a widow and her children to be orphans. The
best interests of our country, and the cause of hu-
manity, constrain us to speak thus openly and unre-
servedly on this important subject. Great difficulty
is at present experienced in manning with able sea-
men her Majesty's ships. Now, in seven years,
5,220 valuable lives, or nearly 800 annually, mostly
seamen, have perished from shipwrecks on our
coast ; and that very large number would unques-
tionably have been nearly doubled had not strenu-
ous and brave exertions been made to rescue ship-
wrecked:persons. Whosoever therefore contributes,
either by his individual services or in any other way,
to this philanthropic work, is not only the friend of
the cause of suffering humanity, but he also renders
important services to his country.
" The preservation of human life," it has been well
observed by a contemporary, " has in all ages been
considered as.au act deserving of the most enthu-
siastic meed of gratitude. If he who, makes an ear
of corn to grow where it never grew before merits
public applause, how much more deserving of praise
is he who rescues a fellow-creature from a violent
and an unprepared death. The highest and humblest
are made widows and orphans by ruthless ship-
wreck. To-day it is the great admiral, in his proud
war-ship, who goes down with twice five hundred
men' into the ocean's bosom. To-morrow it is the
poor woman, with her children round her, who on
the desolated beach mourns for the embrowned
face, the tarry hand, the manly heart that
will reture no more ; for the night has been stormy.
the smack was capsized, the fishermen are 'drowned.''''
Ten thousand nine hundred and two persons have
been saved from shipwreck by lifeboats and other
means since the establishment of the Notional Life-
boat Institution ; £28,061, have been expended by
it on lifeboat establishments, and £11,651, besides
gold and silver medals, for saving life have been
voted. The committee of the Institution make,
therefore, a confident appeal to the generosity of
the public, on whose support the continued efficiency
and extension of the society depend. Many new
lifeboats are yet needed on the coasts. The cost of
several, recently placed, as well as of the carriages
and boat-houses required for them, has in some
cases bees defrayed in full by charitable persons,
admirers of the institution, or anxious to afford sub-
stantial testimony of their personal gratitude for
rescue from shipwreck by means of lifeboats. Only
the other day Lord Bury and his fellow-passengers,
returning.in the Asia from the United States, pre-
sented £2l, the profits of an amateur magazine they
had started to relieve the tedium of the voyage, to
the National Lifeboat Institution. A prettier or
more graceful thank-offering for a " good deliver
fusee" from ocean's perils could not well be con-
ceived. Only recently the journeymen sawyers and
boat-builders in the employ of Messrs. Forrest, of
Limehouse, subscribed £3O for the same purpose.
Equally as touching and appreciated was the gift to
the society of ls. 6(1. in stamps from a sailor's
orphan. It only remains for us to appeal to the
public at large for their continuous pecuniary sup-
port to an institution at once noble, patriotic, and
merciful in its design,. and which is so constantly
affording practical illustration of its useful charac-
ter and successful working.

THE THAMES STEAM-PACKET

COMPANIES.

(From the Steam Shipping Chronicle.)
To the tens of thousands of persons who, from
day to day, watch the busy steamvessels which
ply up and down the Thames, it may be a matter of
surprise to know that scarcely a quarter of a cen-
tury ago there was no means of communication
whatever, as far as river navigation is concerned,

between the City and any of the numerous towns
and villages which line the banks of the Thames.
The General Steam Navigation Company (the only
company that has stood firm against the influences
which have plunged so many of its compeers into
ruin) was then in its- infancy, and Ramsgate was
then, we believe, the town nearest to London to
which its vessels plied. The science of steam was
literally in its infancy ; the cost of building a steam-
vassel, and of manufacturing its engines, was extra-
vagantly high ; coals were dear ; engines liable to
constant " breaks down ;" and a rate of speed of
five or s;_x miles an hour against the tide was deemed
a trio mph. Passengers, of course, were comparatively
few, and even the few who wished to travel were
deterred from carrying their wishes into effect by the
high rates charged for conveyance. At that time the
fare to Margate—which is at present 4s. Gd., and
has been considerably lower—was 15s. ; and at a
later period the fares to Woolwich were 9d. and ls.,
and those to Gravesend 2s, Gd. and 3s. As the
demand for travelling increased, various joint-
stock companies were formed for the purpose of
meeting the requirements of the public; and al-
though many of these companies for years paid
good dividends, their property ultimately became
depreciated, and they ceased to exist. Amor gst
these may be enumerated the Commercial Steam-
packet Company, started chiefly by licensed vic-
tuallers as a rival to the General Steam Navigation
Company ; the Margate Steam-packet Company;
the Herne Bay and Margate Company, the Star
and the Diamond Gravesend Steam-packet Com-
panies, the Old and New Gteenwich Steam-packet
Companies, not to mention a host of private steam
speculators, the most noteworthy of whom was Mr.
Napier, of Millwall, whose boats, the Eclipse, Isle
of Thanet, and Fawn, ran for some years between
Dover and London.

It may be interesting to trace the causes which
led to the decay of these companies, and to the con-
sequent sacrifice of interests involving hundreds of
thousands of pounds. Reckless mismanagement no
doubt existed in some cases, hat the two dominant
evils were the employment of vessels of a larger
size than was necessary for the trade, and the too
exact deference paid to the wishes of a few inha-
bitants of remote localities by running boats
for their convenience during the winter season.
The former of these causes entailed permanently a
larger cost for coals, crew, &c., than was necessary,
whilst iCalso added a larger sum to the capital
upon which a dividend had to be paid. Tempted
by the fact that on some specially fine days in the
height of the season the boats were crowded by
passengers, the directors provided vessels not to
meat the general average of the season, but those
exceptional cases which only occurred once or twice
in the course of the year. The result was that the
first cost of the vessel was at least fifty per cent.
more than it ought to have been, and the working
expenses of the engines afterwards were quite as
much in excess. A larger crew had also to be en-
gaged, which was another important adelitinn to
the expenses. If we take the item of coals alone,
we shill see how great is the saving effected by the
use of boats of smaller power and tonnage. The
consumption of coals in one of the Diamond funnel
stea in packets, p ying between Gravesend and Hun-
gerford, and making one passage to and from Lon-.
don daily, is less than 3 tons, say 21 tons, whilst
the boats of the Star or Diamond Packets consumed
at least five tons, and some of the larger boats six,
and even seven tons. The passage by both steamers
occupied about the same length of time, and on
every six days out of seven the smaller boats
were quite adequate to the number of persons de-
sirous of travelling. Estimating the cost of coal
at 18s. a ton (a price which it sometimes reaches),
here is a saving of at least 21 tons per diem, or
£2 ss. per diem, or of little less than £BOO per an-
num, if the vessels should run, as used to be the

case, throughout the year. The first cost of one of
the vessels now plying to Gravesend is about X 3,500,
whilst the cost of one of the boats of the old school

ranged between £5,500 and £B,OOO, so that the
saving in the first cost of construction averaged at
least, £3,000. Estimating the interest and depreci-
ation at 15 per cent. per annum on this sum, we
have a saving of £450 per annum, which, added to
the £BOO already referred to for coals, and an addi-
tional £l5O for crew, &c., shows a total of £1,400

per annum on the cost of working a single boat.
Against this has to be set the extra earnings of the
larger boats on a few fine Sundays and holidays,
which certainly would not realise more than £4OO

or £3OO per annum.
Still more important as a cause of ruin to the older
companies was the practice of running boats during
the winter season, when casualties were numerous
and 'passengers were few. The total earnings of
one of these boats during the winter season would
not cover ,the. cost of the coals burnt on the pas-
sage, leaving the company heavy losers by every
trip their vessels made. The winters, in fact, were
to them what Pharaoh's lean trine were to his fat

ones—they devoured the whole of the profits mined
during summer days.. So well is this now under-
stood that it is a principle with the executive of
steamboat companies never to retain a boat upon a
station a single week after the traffic has ceased to
cover the working expenses ; and towards the end
of the season a single shower of rain, or a cold day
with an easterly Nvind, is sufficient to " shut up" a
fleet, and to send it to winter quarters, where, if it
earns no money, it at least wastes none.
We mint not suppose that the managers of the
older companies were altogether ignorant of this
fact, or of some at least of its baneful consequences;
but in their time there were no railroads, and to
withdraw the boats altogether in the winter season
was to throw back the inhabitants of the districts to

the primitive mode of travelling by coach—an &di
of a very serious character. Every attempt of this
kind was followed by the threat on the part of the
inhabitants of starting a rival company—a threat
which would in many eases have been realised ,as
the public we-e then anxious to invest their money
in steam-boat shares. The directors, moreover,,
were in many cases connected with the towns to
which their vessels ran, and did not like, by a per-
emptory mandate, to shut off the inhabitants from
all communication with the metropolis.
These causes were undoubtedly the principal in-
gredients in the ruin of the older steam-packet com-
panies ; but there were others which, though of
subordinate importance, are not to be overlooked.
One of these was the extravagant charge made for
pier dues on landing and embarking passengers ;
and so long as competing companies existed, the
proprietors of the landing piers dictated their own
terms to the companies, because if one company re
fused to accede to their demands, the other was
always ready to step in and occupy the vacant
place. In the balance-sheet of a company the item
of pier dues formed a conspicuous element, and
usu illy ran up to one or two thousand pounds.
Two other sources of evil were the high fares
which were charged when the company had the
monopoly of the trade, and the ruinously low fares
which were charged when there was an opposition.
The former operated as a prohibitory tax upon vo-
luntary travelling, the latter brought in heavy re-
turns but with still heavier expenses. The golden
mean of the lowest fares consistent with profit was
never adopted ; and directors who charged pounds
when their reign was omnipotent, descended to
pence when it was disputed. We have already seen
that the fare to Margate was at one time 155., but
not many years afterwards, during a strong opposi-
tion, the charge to Ramsgate fell as low as ls., and
it is said that some years before this, when there
was a vigorous opposition to Sheerness, the steam-
boats not only carried passengers for nothing, but
gave them a good dinner to boot! This may be a
mere hyperboe, but it expresses the reckless folly
which distinguishes public companies during periods
of opposition.
Nor in considering the causes of the downfall of
steam packet companies must the competition re-
cently
established by railways be-forgotten. The
Margate boatshave now to contend with the South-
Eastern Railway on the one hand, and the 'Thames
Haven line on the other. Gravesend possesses two
railroads and Woolwich two ; and the superior
speed and regularity of locomotive travelling
render the railroad too potent a rival to the " silent
highway"' fhis fact renders it still more necessary
for the river steam packets to confine their trips to
fine weather, when Pleasure-seekers prbdominate
over those who travel for business purposes only.
Experience his supplied the directors of existing
companies with the means of economising their re•.
sources to a great extent. _Formerly all their en-
gineeering and shipwright work, whether of con•
strue;ion or repair, was done by shipbuilders and
engineers. As far as building was concerned, the
exnense was the subject of contract ; but as re-
Lyirded repair,, no specific agreement could be en-
tered into The companies finding this a serious'
item ia their accounts, resolved to establish fac-
tories for themselves, with the view of executing
the repair, of their own machinery. From repairs
they proceeded to the manufacture of engines, and
now the majority of the companies execute their
entire work, both of construction and repair. The
General Steam Navigation Company has an exten-
sive factory at Deptford, where their boats are
"hula and the engines „made; the Waterman and
Woolwich Steam-packet Companies have factories
at Woolwich, where they employ a large number
of shipwrights and engineers; and the Citizen

•
REMINISCENCES OF DANIEL WEBSTER.—The fol-
lowing conversation occurred at the dinner table where Mr.
Webster for the first time met Colonel Preston, then a
new Senator from South Carolina. "Colonel Preston," said
the great Massachusetts lawyer in his stateliest manner,
" I am happy to greet you as a memberof the body to which
it is my pride and honour to belong, bui 1 regret to see that
Southern gentlemen so often stand aloof from me." Mr.
Preston answered in polite and deferential terms, when the
other continued :—" The truth is, I am far more a Southern
than a Northern man, and I think that I should be treated
as ' hailfellow ' by all my Southern colleagues."
beg to know," said the other, the grounds upon which
you make this claim ?" " Certainly,' replied Mr. Webster.
" In the first place. I am very fond of a race horse, and 1
believe the turf is a southern institution. Secondly, I have
in my cellar a hundred dozen of the best wine, unpaid for,
and that I understand to be a trait of southern life. Thirdly,
before daylight 1 shall be under the table, and I suppoe
you are willing to admit this to be characteristic 't,f
southerners." " Enough," shouted the other, laughing,
"you have vindicated your claim to be niy compatriot "
Some readers will recollect the exquisite manner in which
Mr. Webster used tti relate the following:—One right,
before railroads were built, he was forced to make
a journey by private conveyance from Baltimore to Wash-
ington. The man who drove the waggon was such an
ill-looking fellow, and told so many stories of robberies and
murders, that before they had gone far Mr. Webster was
somewhat alarmed. At last the waggon stopped in the
midst of a dense wood, when the man, turning suddenly'
round to his passengers, exclaimed fiercely, "Now, sir, tell
me who you are." Mr. Webster replied in a faltering voice,
and ready to spring from the vehicle, " I am Daniel Web-
ster, member of Congress from Massachusetts." "What,"
rejoined the driver, grasping him warmly by the hand,
"are you Webster ? Thaik God ; thank God. You are
such an ugly chap that I took you for a highwayman."
Toronto Globe.

Company has its factory at Battersea. The boats
turned out by these companies, and their engines,
are inferior to none of those constructed by profes-
sional thins, either in strength, speed, or durability.
These general remarks on the history of the
Thames Steam Companies will serve as an intro-
dnetion to the history of the -various individual
companies whose fleets now traverse its waters.
They will serve also to point out the rocks upon
which their predecessors have struck and made
shipwreck, and may. prove a beacon to warn those
who are tempted to follow their footsteps. .