New Orleans Republican., 1875-11-19
ale,,, 0rlea..s &epablita1.
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS
The Decline Of Senma Aship.

The Nory told by the captain OF the Or
pheus. the vessel with which the racine
came in collision, affords further evidence
of the mismanagement OF the steamers
Neither of the Pacihc's side lights were lit,
and she displayed only her white hght NJ
the mastheau. The officer in charge OF the
deck of the Orpheus could not, therefore,
tell which way the steamer was steering.
AZ the vent proved, she was steered straight
for the sailing vessel, and althougn tne lat
ter's sails were thrown aback at the last
moment in the effort to AVOID collsion,
she a. struck with avlolence which crushed
in the bows OF the Pacific. 1t is the duty OF
a steamer to keep out OF the way OF SAL
ing vessel. So recklessly, however, are
steamers managed, that sailing vessels, as
rule take their own measures Tor safety,
where it is possible TO do so. Had the IA
cifc had her side lights in order, the Or
pheus would have kept clear OF her, as ap-
pears by the testimony OF the captain. AS
it was, there was no means OF telilng WHAT
course the steamer was steering ana what
course the Orpheus must take III order 10
avoid her If the lookout on board the
steamer had been attending 10 MS duty
there need have been no collision, IN spite
of the nexcusable failure to hght the slde
lights. In all probability the racine was
rushing along without any one on the iooK-
out, and with the officer on the pridge III 700
dTON sN d CUuultISh w ANe-NO
the Orpheus.
1t is now perfectly well known that the
City OF Waco was destroyed because she
was unlawtully permitted - go 10 sea win
a deck-load of petroleum. Ihat noo SOUL
OF the ships company was saved was pl loo-
ably due to the incompetence OF her oihcers.
There was heavy sea running. Dut IL
would be hard to ind sea in which d life
boat would not live if properly handled,
1t is quite possible that the boats were cap
sized or stove by the panic stricken men
who attempted to launch them. There
were not however, many persons on poard
the steamer, and two or three determined
officers could have quelled panic, II they
had made the effort. These two steamers,
the Pacific and the City of Waco, were l,su
b tuse of reckless smismanagement 1t is but
a short time since the captain OF the Allan.
tic drove his ship on the rocks because he had
made a mistake in his reckoning. Still more
recently the Vile du Eavre was sunk be-
cause the officer of the deck gave the helms
man a wrong order; the Schliler was
wrecked because her captain neglected to
take soundings; and the Illinois and the
Montana were nearly lost because they
were driven at full speed into heavy head
sea. Bad seamanship, and criminal reck-
lessness which is the worst form OF bad
seamanship, were the immediate and only
causes of every one of these so-called acci-
OenI9. tDS OIlceEe VI bucsc NteSolS
studied seamanship on board Hunters
Point ferry boat, their competence could be
easily understood. The public, however,
still clings to the delusion that the command
of ocean steamers is given only to expe-
rienced seamen.
There is no use in shutting our eyes to the
TACT thar the decay of seamanship has kept
pace with the growth of the steam marine.
The lad who goes to sea on board an ordi'
nary steamship might as well stay at home
and exercise himself in boiling teakettle
on board a catboat, so far as his advantages
for becoming a sailor are concerned. On
board the steamer he will have to steer, and
TO handle in fair weather few fore and aft
sails In time he may become an officer,
and learn how to telegraph orders to the
engineer. He might spend fifty years in
this sort of thing, and at the end of that
time he would be no more fit to take an old
fashioned Liverpool packet across the North
Atlantic than he would be to manage the
steam engine that propels his own vessel.
There are some of the best seamen in the
world in command of steamships, but they
are rapidly becoming the exception rather
than the rule. And the absence of any
practical school for the training of seamen
will render them still scarcer in the near
Tuyure - Nom Yorl Times