The herald., 1898-11-25
THE CAPTAINS SIDE OF 1T
Says the Public Is to Blame for the
Loss of Some Steamships

There's another side to this question Of
the criminal carelessness of the commander
which we hear so much talk about when
ever liner is lost" said the captain Of
big ocean steamship the other day. "It's
not the captain who is really to blame in
one case out of ten, even when he is running
his ship at full speed through fog It's the
public that's to blame and III tell you how
it is.
"To begin with, everybody knows the rival
ry between the different lines. Everybody
knows what difference there is, in the
estimation Of the public, between the rival
boats of the same grade which start at the
same time and come in twenty-four hours
apart. The man who has travelled by the
boat that comes in last is going to say to
himself that next time he will 90 on the
So-and-So, which must be better boat, for
didn't she come in day ahead of the one
he came on! The captain of boat No. l is
hero for the time being, and the COM
pany he works for smiles on him. That he
has run all the way at full speed, through
heavy seas and fogs, and has taken all kinds
of risks, he knows, but he doesn't say any
thing about that and the company doesn't,
either. They have beaten the other line and
that is enough The captain of boat No.
3 2, which came in a day behind the other,
knows just what is in store for him be-
fore he reports at the office of his COM
pany. This is about what he hears:
Why, bow is this, Mr.. Blank? You
came in twentyfour hours behind the So
and-So? What was the matter?''
Well, you see,' says the captain, we
had storms pavt of the way, and when we
got to the Banks we struck fog so thick
you couldn't see your hand before your
face, and we had TO run at half speed all
day.
'Ahem,' one of the owners will say.
'Ahem! It's a bad thing, Mr.. Blank, for us
to be beaten twenty-four hours by the So
and-So.'
Captain Blank says no more, but feels
that he has been reproved, and he remem-
bers it on the next trip. The sea may be
running mountains high and the fog may
be so thick you can't see the funnel from
the bridge, but he is bound to get in on
time this trip and he does. The owners
OF the line smile on him. So he knows what
ne is required to do. and goes on making
record trips. 1t is the public, you see
which the company has got to please, if it
Is to exist, and the captain has to please
the company. Some day he does this once
too Often lie collides with another ship
IN log, may be, or runs on the rocks Per-
haps the natural love of life or the thought
of helpless family keeps him from deib-
erately going to the bottom with the ship,
but he knows that his career is at an end.
The board sits on the case and if there is
any evidence to show that the accident was
due to the carelessness of the commander in
running at full speed in thick weather. or
whatever the case may be, he is reprimanded
and his certificate suspended for some
months at least. When at last he gets the
certificate back it has hole punched in Il
Now let us suppose that he has been a
faithful servant of the company for a good
while, and they like him, and decide to
transfer him to another ship and give him
chance for existence. This new ship has
to be insured, Of course, before she goes to
sea. The underwriters make their examina-
tion and in the course of their inquiries