The Portland daily press., 1899-07-11


pline whichnundsr trying circumstances
was admirably sustained BY my officers
and crew.
(siGned)
" Frederick Watkins. Master S. s. Paris. .
Appended to the foregoing Is the consul
lar affidavit.
The report Of the United States local
inspectors Of the steam inspection service
George n. Starbuok, supervising inspeo-
tor OF the second district Of New York, is
as follows;
"We have the.honor TO report that wa
have carefully read over the report made
by Captain Watkins. late commander OF
the s. s. Paris when she was stranded on
the Enalish coast between the Lizard
and the Manacles on May 81, 1899, at
about 1. 10 a. M, q COPY Of which y here
by nttached In which Captain watkins
takes the entire responsibility Of the
disaster upon himself In making mis-
take In ths time when be passed tho
Case uets and thereby over-runnfnF<'his
distance. We fnd that the report is very
meagre In detail, inasmuoh as he. merely
states that he made o mistake in taking
his departure from Cape La Bogue st 81
when he was actually abreast Of the
Casquets at that time, a distance Of
about sixteen and one half miles. This,
Of course, would put him 10 i-2 miles
ahead OF his reckoning, but would not
account for his being set into the north
ward OF his course seven miles, allowing
his intention TO pass the Lizard at dis
tsnos OF three. miiesL As Captain Watkins
does not make any mention Of making
any allowance for tide, we are of the
opinion he had not taken the matter into
consideration whereas when he APP
preached the English coast he must have
encount cred the Hood tide ON his port
bow setting him In towards the land. In
addition to this ne makes no msntion OF
having ueed his lead and he only diso0v-
cred 1t was thick over the land whom the
ship was ashore.
"Giving all due consideration to these
matters we are Of the opinion that Cap
tain Watkins has not acted with the nec-
easary care and attention requisite In the
navigation OF his vessel Which u master
should have used and we therefore sus-
pend bis license as master of ocean steam
ships for period Of two years as per au-
thority conferred upon us by section 44Sg
Of the Revised Statute of the United
States
(Signed)
Respectfully yours,
Thomas II. Barrett, Peter @. Peterie.
y. s. Local Inspectors.
Clemens A. Grisoom. Jr.. Woe presi-
dent and general manager Of the Ansri.
can line when interviewed, said:
Captain Watkins's sentence seems
a little severe. Other Iuen have lost ships
through what WAS afterwards proved
their own oarelessness, and only had their
masters license suspended for six months
or year at most. Personally we feel for
Captaip Watkins He has been half a
century at sea without the slightest acci-
dent before and 1t seems very hard upon
him. / am very sorry 1t occurred for his
sake. We nre all liable to error and Ii
seems too bad that the accident should
have happened and the mistake made
on night when the atmospheric condi-
tions were such that he received no help
from the landlights. Had the same error
nine out of one hundred cases, the land
lights would have saved him. The cap.
tain has many friends who constantly
stop me upon the street and express theil
regrets at the misfortune. All this IL
very gratifying to both the company and
Captain Watkins"
When asked whether Captain watkins 4
report would Affect the insura2ee on the
Paris. Mr.. Griscom replied that IL would
not. be said he line Is not respon.
sible for the mistakes OF u captain.
ALGER WANTS VETERANS.
Washington, July TO- Secretary Alges
is very anxious TO have the new regi
ments rbcruitedias far as possible from
men who served In the state volunteers
during the Spanish war. He has recei vec
Information from a number Of officer
especially those who were on duty mus
tering out the volunteers In differen
states that IL there was an opportunity
afforded probably 30 per cent OF the new
regiments would be composed of these
men. OF course, under the regulations
the recruiting officers cannot discriminate
between the men who have been in tn,
volunteer service and those who have no
and men will be enlisted as they apply
without regard to their previous service
or re,ords.