New-York tribune., 1873-03-12
COAST AND FOREIGN SHIPPING.

Mr.. Plimsoll, NJ. p. for Derby, was to move
for ga Royal Commission, to inquire INTO
the condition of the mercantile marine
"of Great Britain" by which general word
ing is meant the exposure OF system OF
wholesale murder carried on, according to Mr.
Plimsoll's Indictment, by the owners OF trading
and emigrant ships, and'statedivery fully IN re-
cent letter of our London correspondent. Inc
facts collected by the Derby member are appall-
ing enough, and are made more pointed just now
by the individual interest excited In the loss
of the Northheet. Within the last five years
nearly 5000 lives have been lost within ten
miles of the English coast--no account being
taken of vessels which founder at sea. In
one year $50 wrecks occurred "when the force
" of the wind did not exceed strong breeze"
There is no legal supervision of any kind over
ship builders or owners; consequently their
greed and recklessness of human life is un-
controlled
According to Mr. Pimsoll, it is the constant
habit of these men to build unseawOrthy ves-
sells or purchase them, and after oyer-lnsurlng
them, deliberately sacrifice them and the lives
of crew and passengers. Ships" he tells us,
:" are built constantly with devils or sham
"riyets, which literally tumble TO pieces like
ga house of cards, when struck by heavy
I" sea-" and points his charge by the terrible
fact that zone of Lloyd's surveyors found
seventy-three devils in one vesseln He
mentions ships insured for E1,OOO that cost
only $500, for E8O0 that cost f4O0, for 10000
that had Just been been bought for G7,5OO,
(which went to sea and sank with every
/" soul on bOard.n One man has lost
L., IN, ha Lost Another
1O5 lives in two years. Certain firms are so
notorious for these practices that no under
writer at Lloyds will insure cargo unless
the broker gives warrant that 1t shall not
be shipped in any of their vessels. Liver
pool shipping paper, commenting on this pro-
posed Commission, states that the reason un-
derwriters allow themselves to be so frequent
ly imposed upon is that the loss divided
among so many is but trifiing, while refusal
on their part would cause their firm TO be
tabooed by the brokers who usually effect the
insurance.
The point in which this matter affects us is
that similar legal restrictions to those pro-
posed by Mr.. Plimsoll could be placed upon
our own shipping vessels with equal facility,
and are very nearly as much needed. IL is
matter of common nOtoriety along the coast of
New-Jersey and southwark that two-tbirdS of
the hundreds of wrecks which every Winter
furnishes in that perilous locality are of shore
schooners, worn out, lightly freighted, and
heavily insured. Government has, during the
last five years, endeavored to protect life in
these disasters by a series of wreck
ing stations along the coast at intervals
of few miles, where a guard of able
bodied men are maintained, constantly sup
posed to be on watch, with all the appliances
for boarding and saving vessel. Unfortu-
nately, the appointment of these poor wreckers
goes by favor of politicians, as do higher
offices, and the class of men selected are usu-
ally better qualified to play their part at the
polls or village bar-room than when going
down to the sea in deep waters.
The evils of coast traffic, however, are with
us but petty matter compared to the over
crowding and overlooking of foreign shipping
vessels, all of which the English Commission
is also designed to reform, on their part. The
sooner we follow their lead in this matter the
better.