The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-09 00:00:00

June

In ballast, not colliers 103

Coal

314

Colliers in ballast 79

Cotton

Fishing smacks lO

Fish or oil

Grain and provisions 115
General cargo

Iron and other ores

Manure and kelp 26
"We arrive at the conclusion from these facts that
our coastiog trade, and our coal trade in particular, is
the most dangerous, and yields 1-3 d of the whole losses
or collisions. Indeed, it is useless to disguise the fact
that some of our coasting versels are a disgrace to us as
a nation. Only a few months ago a small schooner from
Sandwich, while riding off Bridlington, was so rotten
that her anchor pulled out her bows, causing her of
course to sink, and her unfortunate crew of four hands
to perish. An again, on the Bth of May last, a small
schooner known to be unseaworthy (as we are informed)
went to pieces off Aberdovy, on the coast of Wales, be-
fore there was time for any aid to reach the crew. May
we not presume tl field inieiry A ould discover many
other similar cases among the numerous details of the
Register, even in addition to the large number stated to
have been abandoned or have foundered from unsea-
worthiness ? Surely a remedy might be found for such a
disgraceful state of things.
" An analysis of the tonnage of the wrecks on our
shores during the past year further tends to prove eur
statement. It is as follows :
Vessels under 50 tons
51 and under 100 tons
101 end uieler 300 tons
301 and under GOO tons
601 and under 900 tons 34
901 and under 1,200 tons
1,200 and up wards

" The exact site of each disaster is given in the Regis-
ter; and to prevent the possibility of error on this point,
the wreck chart, which accompanies it, clearly and dis-
tinctly points out the locality of the wreck. What a
tale of woe and misery this death chart brings to light;
who can think of it without feeling a desire, by every
means in his power, to lessen the causes of those black
dots on it? The following is the summary :

Vessels.
East Coast—Dungeness to Pentland Frith 506
West Coast—Land's-end to Greenock 307
South Coast—Land's-end to Dungeness ll9
Trish Cost
Scilly Islands
Lundy Island . . ll
Isle of Man
Northern Isles, Orkney, &c.

" We believe that after this additional evidence a pre-
position will be submitted to Parliament in the earl
part of the next session to build a harbour of refuge on
the north-east coast of England, and a ttlird on the west
coa-t of England.

" The return distinguishes the force of the wind at the
time of each disaster, which is instructive so far as it
proves that it is not the storm or the hurricane that de-
stroys the largest number of vessels, and that more
danger is to be dreaded from the carelessness, neglect,
or incompetence of man than from the act of God.
" The following table gives a list of the wrecks and
casualties, excluding collisions, which have involved
total loss, distinguishing the cause of loss :—Stress of
weather, 148 ; abandoned from unseaworthiness, 17 ;
foundered from uaseaworthinese, 27 ; want of lights or
buoys on coasts or shoals, 10 ; mistaking lights or bear-
ings, 10 ; fog or current, 38 ; defective corupasse4, 5 ;
defective charts, 3 ; error in course of reckoning, 6 ;
error in judgment, 12 ; ignoracce of coast, 3 ; errors of
pilots, 7 ; want of pilot, 3 ; neglectof the lead, 21 : want
of caution, 11 ; intemperance, 2 ; general negligence, 9 ;
missing stays, 19 ; striking on sunken wrecks, 1 ; burnt,
4 ; capeised or sunk, 4 ; cause unknown, 7 ; total, 368
"Thus we find that no less than 220 ships were to-
tally lost or stranded in 1856 from errors, nnseamanship
or drunkenness, or other preventible causes, in addition
to those from stress of weather. The lives lost from these
disasters is not given ; but the widows and the orpt ans
of some of these unfortunate crews in our seaports are
too numerous to elude our observation. If one out of
every 9 ships is lost from inefficiency whose duty should
,t be to see that crews are fully equal to their duties I
«'e
have often contended that every English ebip before

117
"A ship,will leak at sea-from straining, but the large
number of 87 vessels on our coast seems to be too great
a pereatage for such it ca,ualty. A ship sent to sea
with defective compasses or charts, and lost from that
cause, ought to cla sed under the bead of unseaworthy.
" If all vessels were inspected by competent authori-
th s befog e sailing, we suspect that the condemnation of
existing vessels and equipment would be wholesale.
We judge so from various reasons. lin 1850 the British
tonnage was 4,232,982 ,tons ; we learn that .the ships
and steamers. broketAp in that sear wera 129, register-
ing 5,7§6 tons. The vessels wrecked in 1850 were 692,
f 127,188 tons. But the new vessels registered were
689, of 136,695 tons, to which -fl'ght be added the vessels
built and sold for foreigners. Toe deaths from old age
and infirmities were only 129 out of 33,672. In Dec.,
1855, the number of ships registered in the United King-
dom from the Board of Trade return was 25,115, of
4,268,903 tons, and the ships lost or damaged during the
year ending' the 31st Dec., 1856, were 884, of 151,470
tons, being :1,5 pert out. of lads. Foreign vessels are
here excluded; so that we are still left in the dark as to
the vesseli broken up relatively to aggregate tonnage
and losses. From Lloyd's regifiter of wrecks we, gather
that 1,959 vessels were lost in 1856; this includes ships to
distant ports not given in the Government return. Old
vessels are made to do duty till they founder at sea.
When a vessel is fit for nothing else' she is put in the
timber trade, and the fearful accounts we read of water-
logged ships follow as a neceshary sequel.
" We thus, from the preceding consideration of de-
fined causes, can come to no other rational conclusion
than that mere ships are verteked from oversight, igno-
niece neglect, and spurious economy than from the dan-
gers Of the sea. Thd we require more convincing demon-
stratum of this attestation, we have but to refer to the
table which gives the force of the wind, and, as we have
before remarked, this is a highly instructive part of the
paper before us, tius—

,
Deai calm
Light air and alight steerage Way 22
Light breeze of one to two knots 5B
Gentle breeze of three to four knots '
Moderate breeze of five to six knots
Fresh breeze, with royals l5l
Strong breeze; sirgle and topgallant sails
Moderate gale; double reefs and jib . lOl
Fresh gale; triple reefs...., 69
Strong gale ; close rat fs and COEIIIIOI3 lB4
Whole gale ; close reefed maintopruast and reeefed
foresail
Storm ; under storm staysail 77
Hurricane ; bare piles

Total

... 1,153

" This proves oar statement ; for, out of 1,153 ships,
only 263 were lost in a whole gale, storm, or hurricane,
and on'y 121 by the conjoint agency of the two later.
" We now approach the most lamentable feature In
these returns. Of the number of lives mare or less
imperilled, we find them set down as 2,765, of whom
521 were drowned. Those saved by the meroy of God
and the help of men were thus rescued :

Pe: sans.

By lifeboats of the Royal National Lifeboat Insti-
anil local bodies
By loggers, Coastguard boats, smalll craft, and
ships' own boats 1,184
By ships and steam-vessels
From shore, by ropes, rockets, mortar apparatusokc 2G2
Individual exertion of a meritorious ch ,racter 28
" The facts clearly illustrate that great exertions are
constantly being made by our lifeboat crews, boatmen,
and fishermen, on the coast, to save life from shipwreck,
facts which should call forth the acknowledgment of the
community at large, a• showing most satisfactorily what
can be accomplished in this good work by sustained and
well-directed efi,lrts. And surely an institution like that
of the National Lifeboat Society, in addition to having
grantld rewards for rescuing 473 persons from ship-
wrecks, the I.febeats of which have been the means,
during the past 12 months,-of snatching 129 of our
fellow-creatures from a watery grave, has only to make
its claims extensively known to be folly appreciated and
liberally responded to by the afluent and humane
throughout the land,

" We thus appeal on behalf of the cause of humanity,
but we ought nut to lie required to appeal to shipowners
and underwriters to see that their ships are properly
manned aud furnished, for we believe that is is their
best interest which is consulted in attending to that
manifest duty."