Complex sentence: The master claimed that it would have been useless to anchor and that he did all he could to save the vessel but there was no hope, except that of saving life he claimed he had been a careful navigator for upward of 19 years.
Split into simpler sentences: The master claimed that it would have been useless to anchor and that he did everything he could to save the vessel. He claimed he had been a careful navigator for upward of 19 years.