The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-04-05
DTFRTI,SING PaTF,S

Letters to be addressed "To TUE DAILY Exou.rav
Baltimore, MARYLAND"
1t is to be regretted that the lecture on Nautical
Science, delivered Monday evening at the Ma
ryland Institute, by Captain JOHN H. BELL, Prin-
cipal of the Floating School, should have been 50
meagrely attended. The audience hardly exceed
ed fifty persons This was the more the pity. as
the very slender abstract of Captain BELLS re-
marks, which was all that we had room for in
our columns next morning, scarcely conveyed an
idea OF the topics which he handled much less of
his manner of handling them. The subject is one
OF vast Importance to this community and to society
at large and the ability of the lecturer to do it
justice is undoubted. An invitation to the Cap
tain, on the part of the ship-owners and ship
masters of this port, and others interested in the
prosperity of our mercantile marine, and in the
moral and physical welfare of seamen, would not
only be an appropriate recognition of the Cap
ains services as an instructor, but of decided adj
vantage to the institution of which he has charge
The recent atrocities on board of American ships,
which have excited so much Indignation abroad,
and others which have lately come to light
through the papers at home have served to lead
public attention to the condition of our merchant
service. Generally speaking, there is no class of
laboring-men which has been more utterly I'M
cared for than sailors. The heather at the anti
podes have been objects of more tender solictude
to the Christian and the philanthropist. AT sea.
the sailor is kicked and cuffed, and subjected to
treatment infinitely worse than that which the
aoolltlonists pretend is practised upon Southern
slaves. Ashore, he is robbed and victimzed |
and the interval between the close of one voyage
and the commencement of another, if not spent in
the hospital or Jail, is generally passed by him |
in state of drunken supefaction from which he |
only awakens to find himself again at sea. Heis |
drunk within hour after he has been paid off |
and turned adrift, with his pockets full of money
an easy prey to the sharpers and harpies who sur
round him; and he is drunk when, having been |
robbed of everything, he commits some act of
lawless vengeance upon those who have plundered
him, or is trundled on ship-board by those who
have no further use for him. The abolition of
hogglng, which was designed for his benefit, has
only resulted in the substitution of modes of pun
lshment still more barharous and severe He is tied
up by his thumbs in the rigging. or soused over |
board until he is halfdrowned, or starved within
an inch of his life, or beaten to q mummy with |
the hrst convenient weapon that comes to hand. |
How to put stop to these barbarites is a ques-
ton that should interest every man with a parti-
Gle OF humanity in his composition. 1t is one of
the questions considered by Captain BELL in his
lecture In the nature of things, it is necessary
that the government of ship should be a despol-
Ism, and that it should be vested in one man. The
no oaCtar 10 Il:
commensurate with the necessity of having
perfect suoordinaton. Sailors, proverbially
are men only in their strength and their passions.
they are children in intelligence. Like children
they must be governed, and the means of coercion
must be greater in proportion to the increased diff
Guilty of compelling obedience But why should
sa ors be suffered to remain in this condition of
helpless dependence? Why should not their edu
cation be cared for well as that of other classes
of laboring-men? We have lectures and libraries
and schools of design for every class of working
men on shore-why not nautical schools for sea-
men? Raise the sailor in the scale of intelligence
and 1t will no longer be necessary to treat him as
an infant or a brute. Educate him, and he will
begin to respect himself and his moral and social
condition will be improved in proportion. But it
necessity for higher standard of intelligence and
education among seamen in the merchant service
is to be urged. To the skill and professional
knowledge of that class ofmen are entrusted daily
the care of hundreds of thousands of lives, and
millions upon millions of property In the major
ity of cases, the men to whom this great RESPONSE
bility is committed wholly unqualified for
their position. This is true, according to Captain
BELL, not only of the crews of our merchant YES
sells, but of the commanders also. Most of
the cases of shipwreck that happen, may be traced
to want of proper nautical knowledge and good
seamanshp This is not to be picked up on ship
board, or learned before the mast Navigation is
science and difficult one at that; and the posi-
uon OF commander of ship requires many sorts
OF knowledge besides that of the ropes. The
master OF vessel engaged in foreign trade, ought
TO have at least, general knowledge of the prin-
clples OF public law, of the law of shipping and
OF insurance, and of treaty stpulations. Every
good seaman ought to have some KNOWLEDGE of
geography, and understand the principles of nau-
ucal reckoning, the laws of storms tides and cur
rents, and the mechanical principles that should
regulate the stowage of cargoes. None of these
Things can be learned in the forecastle Their &C
QUESTION must be the result of system of previous
training, designed to prepare man for the practical
experience and duties of seaman. Abroad, this
fact is beginning to be understood, and the un-
doubted superiority of English seamen, and the
wonderful improvement observable among French
sailors, are attributable almost exclusively to the
nautical schools which have been established at
the principal ports of both countries, and which
enjoy the enlightened patronage of their respec-
tive governments. 1t is certainly within the scope
of the Common School system of this country to
afford similar advantages to boys who may evince
an inclination for the sea, or who may be led by
chance or circumstances to adopt scattering life
Here, in Baltimore, we have such advantages offered
in the Floating School, of which Captain BELL is
the Instructor, and it only needs that its claims
should be better understood, to greatly enlarge its
sphere of usefulness, and lead to the establishment
of similar institutions in all the large sea-ports
of the country.