Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-11-29
Ships Lost by Drink.

One of the best marine underwriters o,
this country, in discussing the question
of how many vessels are lost annually
through carelessness that is due to i'll
toxication, said to e. Mail and Express re
porter recently:
at 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 5 harbor as
a result of drink. In commercial life there
has been for years tendency to encour
age temperance by doing away with en-
ployes who are given to splicing the main
brace. But there has been no such dis
position among those controlling vessel
property. Looking through q glass other
than a telescope is now more common on
foreign ships than a half century ago.
do not think that a sea song has been
written within the last decade without
the word 'grog' in it. Within my recolicc
ton as an underwater and during the
time | spent at sea master mariner and
mate, ! saw many instances of befuddled
brains being responsible for the loss of
well found craft. It's all right enough tc
deal with certificate when carelessness in
stranding or some other marine disaster
is shown, but it seems to me that greater
attention should be paid to the drinking
capacity of the applicant for a license.
One OF the greatest wrecks in the his.
tory of the English Navy was indirectly
due to drink. Cowper has sung of the
capszng of the Royal George but his
account 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 l7SZ
had just returned from cruise and was
leaking. The majority of her crew were
impressed men. and, fearing that they
might run away if the vessel was docled
at Portsmouth, it 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
ahoat.
''At best, the task of heeling boat to
get at leak is most difficult one. 1t
has been shown that the officers and men
had been on a great spree the night be-
fore the craft toppled over. Many of them
were still under the influence of spirits
when the disaster took place. This may
explain in way the awful mistake OF
leaving the lowed deck ports open, and
when the boat was heeed sudden squall
coming up threw her wholly on her side.
the cannon rolling over to the depressed
side. The sea water rushed into the open
ports, and that ended the Royal George
The guard and about seventy others were
saved.
The loss of the United States corvette
kearsage, on Roncador reef, always has
been attributed to drink, not on the part
of her commander. Oscar +. Heyerman,
but on the part cf one of his line officers
whom he trusted too well. A great many
of the particulars that preceded the
strandng of this historic ship were not
brought out during the court of inquiry
or even the court martial that followed, 1T
is known in the navy, however, that
certain officer, ON whom deyolved a por-
tion of the navigation, bent his elbow
quite little for some days before the
stranding, but | do not think that the
matter was brought to the attention of
Commander Heyerman until it was too
late.
The loss of the Atlantic was another
instance where it has been charged that
LIQUOR played a part. She struck near
Meagher Island, Nova Scotia, April ],
1870, and of the 957 persons on board a
total of 535 were drowned. Not a woman
was saved, and all but one of the children
We're included in the lost. Capt. James A.
Williams, who commanded the ship,
had his certificate as extra master and
master taken away for two years, and the
certificate of the fourth officer was sus-
pended for four months.
There are many here as well as abroad
who believe. as a result of private informa
ton. that the loss of the batteship Vic.
tora.' in the Mediterranean, was due &c
'grog' 1t has been shown that there was
something mentally wrong with Admiral
Tyron the dav of the disaster, and it wa Z,
reported at the time that he had suffered
from an attack of sunstroke while on
shore 1t Beyrout two days before the dis
aster."