The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-26 00:00:00

HARBOURS OF REFUGE.

(From the limed )

During the year 1856 ten lives upon an average
were lost every week by wrecks and casualties at
sea, within sight, as it may be said, of these shores.
As this loss, ILckw.ever,_ is very considerably less, not-
withetapclingsgei;ifeePoelee4Otte. shipping, than
waseuitialry experienced VIA a few years back, we
should not perhaps bespeak any special notice of
the two circumstances were it not for one or two of
the features which characterise the return, and
which appear to us of sufficient importance to be
impressed upon the. public mind. It seems placed
beyond a doubt, by the statistics which we have
recently published, both that a large proportion of
shipwrecks still arise from preventible causes, and
that the loss of life may be still further reduced by
the energies and benevolence of the public.
The ordinary conceptions of a shipwreck usually
involve the idea of a tempest or a hurricane, with
all the appalling accessories of thunder, lightning,
surge, and foam. Such a picture was given the
other day in the terrible story of the Central
America steamer, and such, no doubt, is the scene
presented occasionally nearer home. But the
" wrecks" to which we now invite attention are of
a far more vulgar, though not less shocking character.
In many—we are assured in most—of the cases
which occur in British waters the ship is endangered
not by the visitation of God, but the recklessness of
man. The vessel has put to sea iu an unseaworthy
state, or she is badly found, or badly handled, or
badly commanded. The consequence is that she
runs agroutd, or catches fire, or is obliged to be
abandoned, or founders outright, and the escape of
her crew depends upon the chances of relief provi-
dentially afforded. - The elements really appear to
play but a subordinate part in the aggregate of
catastrophes. The entire number of casualties in
the year referred to was 1,163, and of these only
121 took place during weather which in nautical
estimate would amount to a storm. As many as
19 actually occurred in a dead calm, 58 in a
" light" breeze, 49 in a " gentle" breeze, 98 in
a moderate" breeze, and 154 in a " fresh"
breeze ; while only 492 happened during any of
those atmospheric conditions by which seilors clas-
sify the successive developments of " a gale." On
turning to another table of the statistics in question
we soot discover why so little account need bs
taken of the weather. Excludint the results of
collisions, 368 ships were totally lost, in addition to
a still greater number damaged, during the period
under review, and of these examples upwards of
200 can be referred to causes directly connected
either with the worthlessness of the vessel or the
incompetence of her crew. We give the precise
figures, because figures alone in such matters can
convey an adequate notion of facts, and the reader
will be amazed, we think, when we say that 17
ships out of the 368 were abandoned, and 37 went
right to the bottom, simply and purely because
they were unseaworthy, or, in other words, ought
never to have been sent to sea. Defective com-
passes and defective charts again come in for their
share in the account, and the rest of the tale is
made up of errors, neglects, and carelessness in
their several forms. " Stress of weather" in all its
shapes can only be charged with 148 of the catas-
trophes, but it is rather an encouraging feature in
the case that intemperance does not figure conspicu-
ously in the work of mischief. Two only out of
the mass of disasters are Set down to this source.

The facts above stated carry quite evidence
enough of the proposition with which we com-
menced, and prove beyond question that a large
proportion of shipwrecks on these coasts admits
of prevention. Even those which are direc! ly
attributed to the fury of the weather might possibly
have been in some instances escaped with better
vessels or better seamanship; and it is painful in
the extreme to reflect that, with a state of things
like this, men should be exposed to the penalty of
Idinprisonment for refusing to proceed to sea in ships
probably unseaworthy. As owners can be protected
by insurance there is no self-interest at work to
keep them in a proper course, and the temptation to
continue worthless vessels in use is constantly ope-
rating. We are told of a certain schooner so rotten
that her own anchor positively pulled her bows
out; and that such things are likely to happen under
such arrangements is sufficiently plain. It has been
even inferred from the declared rate of mortality
among ships that some of them must be kept alive
and afloat beyond their appointed time. Out of
33,000 vessels and upwards known to be existing
in a particular year it is said that only 129 were
broken up. Whether that number is below the
proportion due to the natural infirmities of a ship
is more than we can pretend to decide, but as a
general principle it appears to us clear that if the
' insurance system destroys the precautionary mo-
tives which would otherwise be at work the law
should in some manner step in, and do as much for
life as is already done for property.
The other feature most noticeable in the
accounts before us is of a more pleasing kind.
A system of lifeboat establishments is maintained
to such effect on the coasts of these islands that its
instrumentality is exceedingly conspicuous in the
table of lives happily preserved. It must be
understood that casualties specified in the preceding
paragraphs placed actually in danger no fewer than
2,764 souls ' • indeed, excepting for succour of some
kind, those figures would have repre4ented the loss
of life from shipwreck during a single year, and in
our own seas only. In the greater number of in-
stances escape, of course, has been due to the small
craft of various kinds plying about, or to the boats of
the sinking vessel itself, but life boats alonesaved
362 lives in the 12 months, and the apparatus of
mortars, rockets, &c., employed from the shore
as many as 262 more. Perhaps it is not too.
much to conclude that where the agency of the
life-boat proved thus serviceable no other agency
would have succeeded, and certainly there is none
on which se much reliance can be placed in the
most pe.rilous class of emergencies. _ Harbours of
refuge may do much, but they must be far apart,
whereas a lifeboat establishment can be formed
on almost any point of the coast, and is
sure to find the immediate support of active and
daring seamen. The only impediment to the
multiplication of these establishments is a
very surmountable one—the want of money and
the Royal National Lifeboat Institution—a
society which has benevolently charged itself with
this good work—appears certainly deserving of
public support. There seems, indeed, hardly any
limit to the reduction %chic) may be accomplished
iu these annual disasters by the exercise of vigi-
lance beforehand and the provision of succour at
all times. Nearly two-thirds of the catastrophes
as classified above ought to be eliminated from
the list if all vessels were sent to sea in
good condition, well found and well manned.
Of the rest, or those due to the violence of storms,
teeny could probably be robbed of their fatality if a
lifeboat were at hand for rescue, and there is surely
nothing in either of these requirements which
should be beyond the means of the richest nation
and the greatest maritime Power in the world.

G.HEAT STEAM PLOUGH TRIAL

AT STIRLING.

An important meeting of agricultsrists has just
been held at Stirling to adjudicate the Highland
and Agricultural Society's premium for the best
steam plough. Recently, as is well known, steam-
' ploughing has formed an attractive feature at agri-
cultural sjcieties' gatherings, Mr. Boydell's locomo-
tive engine, with its " endless railway," Mr.
Smith's cultivator, and Mr. Fowler's plough (both
hauled by wire-ropes, windlass, and anchored-
pulleys), having been exhibited in work to crowds
of farmers and sightseers ; but only on one occasion
has a prize been awarded, namely, at the Yorluhire
Agricultural Society's meeting, when Mr. Boy dell's
engine, the only invention there competing, was
thus honoured by the judges. The Salisbury trials,
nsaiisfactory as they were, have not yet been pro-
nounced upon by the Royal Agricultural Society,
and it is gratifying to find that the Scotch farmers
who adopted the thrashing machine of Meikle, took
the lead in the improvement of ploughs, applied
the discoveries of Deanston. Smith, and first found
the advant Age of every farmstead having its steam
chimney, are foremost in giving their deliberate
sanction to the steam plough as a means of better
And more profitable hustQedry.
List yell. the Stirling General Agricultural As-
sectiatioi; Practically tested the capabilities of a
method of agriculture invented by Messrs. Fisken,
of Auchterarder, by which a common portable steam
engine stationed in the field is employedto drive a
travelling implement by means of a rapidlany-dmaefivxinz
hemp cord suspended above the ground,
machine winds
svirerope, along which. the ploughing
its way. In a remal;kably fair d considerate re-
port the committee stai;Pi.that,a.anith.ough defective
in several mechanical detai.'s, this ingenious appa-
ratus fully demonstated the value
of its principle
of action, one of their chief gotinds of approval
ntillage imple•
being its adaptation for working
a.engine may ba
meat besides the plough, while tb(' 4
) farm mill-
suitably employed in thrashing. or
work whatever, thus being ready c al'n
cu.l3.l:ed• to dis-
pense with one-third t.t the farmer's hot se's',
This year a prize of 2001. has been offered tilt the
Highland Society, the committee of .the
Stirling Association to conduct the trials and adit, -
dication. The three days of private trial began on
Tuesday, followed by a public exhibi ion on Friday
and Sattirday upon Mr. Forrester's farm at Stewart-
Mr. Henderson; of Banks ;
hull the judges being
Mr. Patterson, of Offers ; assisted by'Mr. Miller,
of Millfield, as engineer, while Mr. Finnie, of
Swanston, Mr. Gibson, of Wcolmet, and Mr. Hall
Maxwell, the secretary, were present on behalf of