The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-18
SHIPS LOST BY DRINK.
OF OFFICERS RES
PoNsIBLE FOR MANY WRECKS.

Hints About the tharlestou-otrOhS
Feeling in Washington Naval Cir
cles That One or More Officers of
4he Cruiser May BE Severely Dealt
With.
From the New York Mail and Express.
Tntoxication on the part of superior Of
fcers has been responsible for innumer-
able shipwrgcks, some of which have been
attended with considerable loss of life
There may be no truth in the charges
aeainst the junior officers of the United
states cruiser Charles on, which the navy
department has recently had its attention
called to, but in Washington there is a
strong undertaking that one or more Of
tcers of that vessel will be severely dealt
with as a result of her loss in the Philip
pines. Not only are the charges made
bv a number of army officers who claim
TO know whereof they speak, but the en-
listed men of the ship are likewise quoted
as being back of the charges.
Capt. George w. Pigman, the COM
mander of the ship at the time she struck,
is not involved in the charge, but it al
ways has been an unwritten law in the
ton of duty cannot possibly exist on
board a ship without the knowledge of the
commanding officer. For this reason it is
supposed that Capt Pgman will be
drawn into the investigation that Rear
Admiral Remey has been instructed by
cable to make, more for omission than
for commission.
The Charleston was returning from
five weeks cruise along the easterly coast
70
miles east of Kaniguan Island. The
court of inquiry which investigated the
circumstances of the disaster has not yet
reached Washington, but it is minated
that it's finding is that Spanish charts
are useless and that the Charleston was
lost by striking a previously unknown
reef
This report p1ust go by the board"
said an attache of the navy department,
who was in the metropolis the other day.
There is a hint that the revised report
of the loss of the ship is going to be very
exciting"
One Underwriters View.
One of the best marine underwriters Of
this country, in discussing the question of
how many vessels are lost annually
through carelessness that is due to intoX-
lcation. said to a Mail and Express re
porter to-day:
ut is impossible to say how many ships
are lost because of drunken officers. If
we could but know, it would be to learn
that hundreds of the fine vessels that
have been posted as missing in the last
ten years turned into Davy Jones harbor
as result of drink. In commercial life
there has been for years a tendency to
encourage temperance by doing away
with employees who are given to splicing
the main brace. But there has been no
such disposition among those controlling
vessel property. Looking through a glass
other than a telescope is now more COM
mon on foreign ships than half century
ago. I do not think that sea song has
been written within the last decade with
out the word 'grog' in it. Within my re-
collection as an underwater and during
the time I spent at sea master mariner
and mate l saw many instances of befud-
died brains being esponsible for the loss
of well-found craft. It's all right enough
to deal with a certificate when careless
ness in stranding or some other marine
disaster is shown. but it seems to me tEft
greater attention should be paid to the
capacity of the applicant for license.
"One of the greatest wrecks in the his
tory of the English navy were Indirect
ly due to drink. Cowper has sung of the
capsizing of the ROYAL George, but his ac-
count of the sad affair is not exactly ac-
curate. In all about 1000 persons. women,
as well as officers and sailors, went down
with the craft She was a battleship, of
100 guns, and during the summer of 1872
had just returned from a cruise and was
leaking. The majority of her crew were
impressed men, and, fearing that they
might run away If the vessel was locked
az Portsmouth, 1t was decided to careen
her in the roadstead. The craft was the
tallest In the service and, in addition, she
had the squarest yards of anything then
af1oat.
"a foglr - I0a rfr,or -
get at a leak is a most diff 'ult one 1t
mas been shown that the officers nd men
mad been on great spree the night be-
fore the craft toppled over Many of them
We're still under the influence Of spirits
when the disaster took place. This may
explain in a way the awful mistake of
leaving the lower deck ports omen, r nd
when the boat was heeled a sudden SOU II
coming up threw her wholly on ter side
the cannon rolling over to the depre sc
side. The sea water rushed INFO ne
open ports, and that ended the Royal
George. The guard and about seven tly
others were saved.
Loss of the Kearsnrgc.
THE loss of the United States corvette
kearsarge, on Roncador reef, always h
been attributed to drink, not on the part
Of her commander, Oscar F. Heye m -,
but on the part of one of his line officers
whom he trusted too well. A great deal OF
the particulars that preceded the stra md
ing of this historic ship was not brought
out during the court of inquiry or even the
court-martial that followed. 1t is known
IN the navy, however that a certain Off
Ger on whom devolved a portion of the
navigation. bent his elbow quite a little
for some days before the strandng, but /
do not think that the matter was brought
to the attention of Commander Heyerman
until 1t was too late, and the old boat was
In the coral.
The navy department did not excuse
this ignorance however ruling that he was
dereldct in not paying closer attention TO
the actions of those under him. l am Of
the opinion that Capt Pigman will be held
similarly responsible in the event of It
being shown that some of the junior Off
GERS of the Charleston were intoxicated
when that ship struck.
In the case of the ship Gatherer, in
which the worst kind of cruelties was
practiced on the seamen by the mates,
the court gave it as its opinion that the