, 1878-03-22


friendship and support. and, more than
likely. some substantial reward. Your
salary is small; steamboat owners can at-
ford to pay you literally to keep their boats
running; butt perquiSites result from do
ing your full duty and condemning them,
and, should you do it, you gain but their
ilI-will and run the risk of losing what lit
tie legitimate salary you do get. If you
yieldand accept considerations offered, even
with discovery ard removal, you have the
consolation Of knowing that the next cleo
tion would probably have resulted in your
being superseded, and so you are not much
the loser.
If any officer should feel secure in his
position-if any should be able to perform
his duty without fear or favor, untram-
melle,l by amy personal consideration, it
is the steamboat inspector; and yet he is
most under the influence, and in the power,
Of the very men whose property he must
condemn ii he does his duty, and between
whom and the public he was placed as a
safeguard.
Under the circumstances surrounding
these positions to-day, in our civil service,
aconstant premium is offered for rascality;
honesty is the worst policy. 1t, perhaps,
would be proper to ask here whether Mr..
Bristow was right when he pronounced
the steamboat inspection service in suc!i
satisfactory condition? took the pains
two years ago, to write inquiring in re-
gard to it Of friends of mine living at diff
terent ports OH our sea-coast, who | knew
must be aware of the working oil the sys-
tenn. The words Of one OF them in reply
was the general verdict OF all: at is no.
toriously corrupt and inefficient" Three
different parties in different States told
me of an individual case where two thou
sand five hundred dollars were paid to an
inspector to get a steamboat off the black
ist, and their stories agreed so in other
particulars that | must believe it true.
The month before Mr.. Bristow's report
was sent to Congress watched steamer
leave the wharf, crowded with passengers;
rs it passed away bystander, ship-car-
peutcr, said: There goes a floating coffin
for somebody" On asking what he meant.
he told me he had, years before, examined
her hull out OF curiosity, and then he could
have "shoveled her timbers out Of her.
md they had never been renewed. One
week after, we learned that collision
had occurred at sea. This steamer with
her bow had struck q sailing vessel amid.
ships, cutting the few planks ct the latter's
bulwarks through to her deck. The sail
ing vessel did not sink, but the steamer
went down with her crew and crowd O.
passengers, two only being saved. Had
The steamer been fit to 60 to sea at all, she
should have been able under the cirCum
stances to have given ten times the blow
yes, to have cut the vessel through anC
through without serious damage to her.
self, as was in fact done in the Chanhel
just after, by an English steamer. The
Steamship "City Of Panama." In July,
1876, at midnight IN fog, struck lum.
ber-laden vessel and cut huge gasl
through her side and nine feet into the
mass of lumber with which she was loaded
above and below decks, and yet the paint
on the steamer was hardly scratched.
The loss Of the steamer "Pacitic" 1.-THE
first case referred to- was crime worse
than murder. Over one of the victims OF
this disaster coroner's jury was held in
Victoria, B. G. All the survivors were
examined by them; they gave the follow
ing verdict
After three hours dciberation the iury
returned the following: THAT the body
is that of Thomas j. Farrell; that the said
Thomas j. Farrell came to his death by
drowning; that the said Thomas j. Far
rell was passenger OH board the Ameri-
can Steamship Pacific, which sailed from
4th of November, 1875; that the said steam
ship Pacific" sunk after collision with
the American ship "Orpheus " off Cape
Flattery, OIL the night of the 4th of No
yember, 1875; that the Pacific" struck
the "Orpheus" OH the starboard side, with
her beam, very slight blow, the shock of
which should not have damaged the Pa
citic' If sound and substantial vessel;
that the collision between tile Pacific"
and the "Orpheus" was caused by the
"Orpheus" not keeping the approaching
"PaCilc's" light on the port bow as when
first seen, but putting the helm to star
board and crossing the "Pacitic's" bows;
that the watch on the deck of the "Pacit-
ic' at the time of the collision was not
sufficient in number to keep q proper
lookout, the said watch consisting only of
three men, namely, one at the wheel, one
supposed to be on the lookout, and the
third mate--a young man of doubtful ex-
ra rian 40. tbut tha l.pnnifiny bol on I,o,, r,I