The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1880-07-01
Perils CT Sound Steamers.

New Ork mariner "and whether either
skipper were to blame is not for me to say,
cause weren't there and don't know the
but it ought to teach us
the necessity of gittin' anchor or two
out to windard 50 as to purvent repet-
ton Of the like. They say it amt no use
shuttin' the stable door artcr the horse
are gone, but if you've got another horse
in there its likely to be of a good deal
of use and it's Wen for to git into the
habit Of shuttin' the door anyhow. While
Ia be the last man for TO make them as
has lost friends feel any additional pangs,
! must say us in my experience I've seen
eases where it were only some sharp and
sudden disaster ot this kind rs could wake
folks up to the necessity OF takin precau-
tons aGin one much more dredtul. Every
day in the year, sir, and a dozen times in
every daN, there are il risk Of a disaster
compared to which this here collision of
Friday night we're only ropeyarn agn a
fifteen inch cable | alludr, sir, to the
danger Of ettin' them biz Sound steamers
pass through The East river and round to
their berihs in the North river, crossin'
the course ot AT the ferries 'twiNt New
Ork and Brooklyn and some of them
'tNiNt New York and Jarsey, and Just at
the time in the mornin and cvenin' when
the boats is most crowded Why there
ant been a collision aIorc now, nobody
but the rhrrub alott knows. It's only
scatarn' men that can properly appreciate
this ll~k. It are great in the finest of
weather and under the most favorable
sarllumstances it are increased tenfold
at spring tides and iii strong winds, ana
a hundred fold in togS lou may begin
at the turthtst slip up the East river ana
ask eny captain OF eny craft away down
to the Battery, and then, skippin' Castle
Garden, begin ut pier | North River and
ask eny captain ot eng sort ut craft from
there to Spul ten Day yIl. and then ask
any Sandy Hook pilot, and they alI tel
You amt a giVn' no tattN, and if Nou
kin find one seattrin' man neither drunk
nor crazN that says them steamers Kin
run through these rivers without great
risk I'll never taste another drop of beer
duin' the lcst ot my material existence.
Lord, oir, it amt no wonder we sailor men
ptIes the ignorance Of folks IS has lived
all their lives ashore. for ii they knOWed
the danger as we knows it. every man
ana woman IN this City and in Brooklyn
and in ,jarsr} city and in lloboken WoUld
rise up to once and say we won't have
oar likes put IN such daily peril no longer.
When the smash comes, and come it will
some time, and a boat Ike the Providence
or Bristol crashes into Fulton trrryboat
ithnay bc two thousand people on board
and Mule than half Of EN- gifts druWnded
don't irt any Body blame the captain What
were stcerin' ut the boat, OF the engineer
cause he didn't back fast enough, or the
captain Of the ferry boat cause he didn't
git out VI the way, DR. the Steamboat com
pany cause 1t dldn't employ better men,
but blame the people Of these here cities
that they don't rise up and put a stop to
it,"
"lts all a outrage, sir, continued the
uld TAN, thc ciSplratlon rolling oil MS
forehead rs He grew animated, ION a good
sa,IoIman to ask llm tn run a boat safely
through s)rh q gauntlet as that. and the
idea Of h"ldn him responsible for i acci
dent are AZ ridiculous as it Woud DE to
force a man t. 90 through fire and then
hame him for gIttin' burned. He's got
to keep his boat under coed headWay in
order to Keep her undtI control, and you
cdn't,top EN- short of twuor three lengths
no hos ,anl ii there's ANYTHING iii the way.
the Lord help it, for its past human aid.
There's another pint, sin. There amt
one Of them blg passenger Stcamhcas as
kin glt hen boats in the water and hist
EN- up again iii less than ten minutes
under the most favorable circumstances.
let alone Il pane. Now | know as Il sailor
man that 'tWuuldn't be any great hard
ship to make 'tm do this thing every day
once a day, amy time they liked while
was Il llin' III the docks, call the boats
away, lead oul the fall, cut the rockins to
'em, cast Oft the -ripcS, rise the boat from
her chocks swim her out, make fast the
guys OF the davits, lower Her into the wa
ter, hist her mp again, swing htrin. secure
her and Coil away the fans clear In less
than i month that which to day III bet a
beer none Ot 'cn can't do IN ten minutes
any one of EN- viii do in three minutes
sam | aSkln any thing unreaSonablt III
continued the ancient mariner, hiding his
face behind his beer mug, for a short in
terval Supposlu' il we're humbuggin
and that's what every mate as has it to
10 will say III are: but suppusn' it are,
oughtnt they to stand humbuggin' for
ten inmates or 50 for the sake Of havin'
at all times oars, roNIDcks, rudder and
plug in position, falls clear for lowern,
and crew infatuated to the work, each
one having particular part Of it and
goin' right to his station! Ifyul'Il believe
me sjr,there's lots Of men as has been
deck hands Oh steamers for Years as never
seen Il boat lowered once. Last summer,
Sir, | seen a man drowned is would have
been saved but for delay in loWerin' IL boat
He tumbled overheard or'ard The cap
tain of the steamer was an old sailor, and
the mate had been whaln', ana were
accustomed to loWern' boats uuickly.
They both done their dtity well. but the
steamer had been recently fitted out, new
falls had recently been rove off, it had
raiucd in the mornin' and every body
knows that new Manila rope if wet GETS
as full Of turns as the intarnal regions
are of devils; the passengers tried to help
Get the turns out and made EN- worse :
IA cuckold's neck got jammed in the block
sheale and finally artcr trlin' in vain 10
clear it, the fall had TO he emf and the