The Portland daily press., 1873-04-08
Who is RaspousihIae

Now that the statements of Captain Will
liams of the ill.fated steamship Atlantic and
his chief officer, Mr. Firth, have been given
in an official tribunal at Halifax, it is a proper
time to form an opinion as to where the re-
sponsibilty ofthat unparalleled disaster rests.
BY his own statement Captain Williams finds
himself AGO miles from his port with but 1877
tons ofcoal and provisions for hardly more
than two days. At the rate that the ship
had been consuming coal for the three days
previous when she was making from eight to
ten knots an hour, the coal would give out in
about thirty-three hours. leaving the ship 100
milesfrom her destination. This, in connection
with the indications of bad weather, rendered
it imperative for Captain Williams to make
the port of Halifax. In view of these facts,
the Liverpool agents ofthe Atlantic, knowing
all the vicissitudes that attend a voyage at this
season of the year, are clearly responsible in the
first instance for those deficiencies that COM
PEELED the ship to go out Of her course 10 get
supplies. Had there been no lack of coal or
food, the ship with commander who had
never before been on that dangerous coast,
would not have been wrecked on Marr's
rock.
There can be hardly question but that
Captain Williams convicts himself by his own
statements of the most inconceivable lack of
prudence To his care was committed not
only ship and cargo worth nearly million
dollars, but a thousand human beings with all
their hopes and prospects, and bound to
thousands of others by the most sacred ties
Assuming as he did that at 1.3O in the morn
ing, an hour and half before the ship crash
ed against the rocks, that he was forty-eight
miles south of Sambro, it was no time for
man charged with such grave responsibility
to give his ship into other hands when run
ming toward the shore at the rate OF twelve
miles an hour. 1t may be urged that Capt
Will ans relied upon the accuracy of calcula-
tons that had never failed, and that the
chance of an error was not one in thousand.
This does not alter the case. A man in that
position should not rely upon one test, but
should employ every means in his power to
secure absolute safely. Captain Williams as
sumed from his calculations that by RIM
ming certain course from the point whei G
the Atlantic was turned toward Halifax, he
would reach point five miles east OF Saalbro
light. A wen known captain sailing from
this city informs us that that course would
take the ship west Of that light, and upon the
rocky coast, where she was lost CAPTAIN
Williams expressed his ignorance Of any cur
rents that .,,y31 ant
says that every navigator of that dangerous
coast is familiar with the long known exist
ance of strong currents which set toward the
shore at the rate OF three or four miles an
hour. Captain Williams assumed that he
coul1 see Sambfo light when twenty-one
miles distant in clear weather, aud in moder-
ate weather when fifteen miles away. Our
informant, who has made that port hundreds
oftines, says that Sambro light cannot be
discened at greater distance than fourteen
miles under the most favorable circumstan-
ces, and seven or eight miles in ordinary
weather. Officer Brady says that no means
were taken to ascertain the direction or force
ofthe currents, and no usual means were
employed to- look out for an approach to the
shore. In short, seemingly assuming that
there could be no danger, Captain Williams
and his officers sailed for this unknown port
and in view of all the facts, both of his own
and others testimony, the most charitable
must be led to the irresistible conclusion that
the dreadful calamity is directly due to his
neglect which, under all the circumstances.
can fall little short of criminal recklessness.