The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-04-05

adoption of such provisions as are necessary
to avert such marine catastrophes as that of
Tuesday morning last We sorely need, in
addition, more suitable equipments on board
ship for the rescue of passengers after disaster
occurs. When the critical moment arrives the
ifeboats seem to be utterly useless for the
passengers, and before they can be hoisted
and cleared all is over. This is often
and chiefly due to the absurd fash
ion of placing the davits so near to
each other that the boat must be
launched narrow-wise and one end at a time
and after this delay of about ten minutes, and
other bitches which inevitably occur in the
excitement, comes the fearful scramble of the
crew and passengers to embark. II has re-
Gently been urged by the Nautical Magasinc,
Of England, that this glazing outrage on naval
architecture, now so universal, can be easily
abated, and the lifeboats SO arranged in their
chocks that they need no hoisting and can be
gotten over the ships side as quickly as a
bale of cotton or any part of the cargo is dis
charged in unloading Elbow immeasurably
little" strikingy remarks the above paper,
"a drowning man must feel who remembers
that the lifting Of mere balo of cotton in the
world he is leaving is more studied than the
lifting out Of boat" Such matters arc little
considered by steamship companies, but
the public ought to demand security
and take the supervision and direction of
them into their own hands and see that they
arc properly cared for by their own and not
the companies officers We earnestly trust
that the present movement now going on in
the British Parliament. and led by Mr.. Plni-
soil, may have full and wide scope and redeem
nautical legislation from its present deep dis
grace. We need similar legislation here for
the protection Of the many thousands who SO
constantly go down to the sea and are exposed
to it's perils. x Hagouaa sa raM9s Hi85
In the case of the Atlantic, in addition to
the faults we have named above, which are
common to all vessels, it appears that the
boats of the ill-fated steamer were not in q
condition for immediate use, so that they
would have been unavailable even if they
could have been readily loosed and launched
Quartermaster Raylance, in his statement,
says that while they were engaged in getting
one Of the boats clear he found that the plugs
were not in her, and as the passengers had by
that time crowded in and lay ''huddled to-
gether in the bottom, crying" they could not
get the plugs in. This is only one of the
many confrmatory proofs OF the want Of dis
cipline and authority that prevailed on the
unfortunate vessel. There appears to have
been no officer on board capable Of inspiring
the bewildered passengers with presence Of
mind or Of compelling order and obedience on
the part of the crew The poor souls rushed
into the boats and INSTRUCTED the only work
by which portion Of them at least might
have been saved The Quartermaster unwit-
tingly bears testimony as to this fact, and his
account Of what followed bears heavily upon
the courage and efficiency Of Captain VIII
liams AS soon as it was found that the boats
could not be used the Captain, he says,
''passed the order around for every one to
look after himself" and, following his own
advice, he proceeded to provide for his own
safety. There was no further thought for the
women and children-no further caring for
tuC AAtCo VI CAIC PbooOAiSOAost PASoSA
was the Captains first law, and he obeyed
that law faithfully in his own person. There
have been instances in which great calamities
at sea have been the occasion of developing
qualities in commanders noble enough to
atone, in o measure, for carelessness or errors
of Judgment. Actions have been performed
in the moment of deadly peril which have
called forth the admiration Of the world
Captain Luce went down with his boat The
pilot of the Erie and the wheelsman of the
Griffith, on Lake Erie, take rank among the
worlds heroes. The conduct of the captain
Of the Metis is still fresh in the memory of
our people. But Captain Williams will be
known in history only as the commander who
left q thousand dependent human beings to
their fate, with the cry Of "Sduue qui peut -
as the man who, more careful Of his own life
than Of the lives of others, left the vessel he
had wreckedand got ashore among the earliest
of the rescued, while hundreds of his passen-
gers still chung to the rigging and prayed
yainly for deliverance.
Marshal Bazaine.