The morning call., 1892-10-08
THE cHARLEsToN's ACCIDENT.

On Thursday the cruiser Charleston, re-
turning from ocean-target practice at the
harbor of San Diego. ran upon sunken
rock at the mouth of the harbor. bent her
propeller blades, scored her bottom, and
had narrow escape Of a serious disaster.
The pablic will not know the extent OF the
mischief done until the ship is docked at
Mare Island on her return to this port.
Commenting upon the accident some OF
our contemporaries find fault with law
which. they saw. prohibits captains OF ma
tional vessels from taking pilot when en-
terIur or leaving port. AS matter OF TACT
there Is no such law in this country, nor
any rule of the service having the erect oil
law In the British service commanding
oficer is expressly forbidden to employ
nilot. He is supposed TO know enough OF
the barbors of. the world to take his ship in
or out of any OF them without guidance. In
our service general order adopted in 1881
declared that commanding officers are ex-
pected to pilot their vessels under ordinary
circumstances, and when such duty is not
specially difficult" A captain was not abb
solutely forbidden to take pilot, but when
he did so he was required to certify that
''he did not consider himself justified in
officers construed this rule as forbiddinS
tie employment Of pilots, ana. Ike the Eng
lishmen. they handled their vessels them
selves. This construction of the rule was
unsatisfactory 10 the pilots at the various
norris. and they brought pressure to bear on
the Government to have it altered. Accord
ingly last month Secretary Tracy issued an
order repeating all former orders on the
INN m a N
officers should employ pilots whenever III
their judgment such employment Is neces-
saw" The commanding officer OF the
Charleston did not consider the employ
ment Of pilot necessary on Thursday, ana
the result may have been the accident
which is reported
On general principles an officer OF the
navy who has served long enough tc have
risen to the command OF ship ought to be
able to pilot his vessel into and out of any
port in the world where The channel is not
shifting. II he is not. his long and careful
education at Annapolis and his years of sea
service have been thrown away. Every
national vessel is supplied with charts
which are corrected by the latest discOv-
cries, and every new rock or shoal is duly
reported to the Navy Department of all
maritime nations Insurance companies
require mercantile vessels to take pilots on
entering or leaving port, because the cap
tains of such craft are often imDeTfectly
educated and know little more than the
rudiments of seamanship. But q knowi-
edge Of the depth of water and of the direc-
ton of the channels connecting seaports
with the ocean is one of the first things a
cadet learns at Annapolis. 1t is no wonder
that officers Of the navy can seldom be
brought to confess their ineapacity TO take
their ships into port without the help of n
pilot.
The case of ports where the channel is
constantly shifting is exceptional At
Eureka, in HUMBOLDT County. in this State.
the channel shifts from month to month,
and no officer Of the navy would be justified
in taking a national ship in there without
guidance. 1t seems that there has been
some shoaling on the south side of the
entrance TO San Diego Bay and that it was
on bank which formed part OF the new
shoal that the Charleston struck. If so, ii
is singular that her officers should have
been so many days there without acquaint-
ing themselves with the changes which
were in progress. 1t used to be a rule on
national ships, when they cast anchor in n
port where changes were suspected. that
the navigating officer and iieutenants should
proceed in boats to take s0nndings, SO that
the safety of the vessel should not be de-
pendent on charts which might be obsolete.
A thorough knowledge of soundings is
often half tile battle in naval encounters.
If Admiral Brueys had known the channel
in front OF the roads Of Aboukir as well as
Nelson did he might not have lost The battle
which cost the French the possession oil
Egypt; in our own war Il was the ex-
haustive knowledge Of the Southern har-
bors which enabled the Union officers to
blockade the ports and to destroy the rebel
fleets without losing a ship by grounding.
The accident at San Diego. trifing as it
was, Will probably lead to a naval court
martial