The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-09-15

l ulnB Ior improvements tO Muke IT n
 Safe Harbor--Immense Traffic Passes
 by It,
 The Montagu disaster sent thrill through the nation, and it only re-
 quired the loss of life which, in the circumstances, was possible, to convert
 the disaster into one of the saddest of the many sea tragedies on record in the Bristol channel.
 That first-class line of battleship should be stranded on the Shutter reef on any given day was, of course, be- yond human provision; but when the event happened, many knew that it was only, as 1t were, the realization of tho expected.
 For more than half century, the fate of H. M. s. Montagu has been prophesied for some ship belonging to the nation, Royal commissioners, ser vice men, master mariners, sailors, pilots-men of all classes having busi- ness in the deep waters of the Bristol channel-foretold what would and must happen when the conditions were fla Vorable in fog or storm. And no mere lguesswork this, as we knew since the prophecy has been fulfilled, though thrice happily without that sacrifice of human life, which has given shipping disasters in the Bristol channel so dread record.
 For more than fifty years, successive governments have been warned that lLundy was a menace and a peril, though 1t might easily be converted into a place of refuge and safety for the navy and all shipping, and be made a splendid base for some protection and defense. In the session of 1887, af- ter the terrible gales of the closing months of the previous year. when f1f- ty fine sea going vessels and three hundred lives were known to have been lost near Lundy strenuous efforts were made to get the island converted into a national place of refuge and shelter. I The. pressing needs of H. M navy were not overlooked, nor the nature of the island for strategic purposes and coast defense in a time of war. The West of England Harbor of Refuge association, then in full activity, obtained the sup 1 port of all the Chambers of Commerce and Shipping in the kingom and at one moment it was believed that the sound, economic principles and hu- manitarian pleas long and consistently urged in and out of Parliament, would have prevailed.
 The Bristol channel is devoid at pres | ont ,1f tbn OP place of refuge in stress of weather. l It has long been known as a place of special peril, studded on both sides with rocky headlands and subject to ] shifting gales of exceptional severity
 The prevailing winds of the region fol- low tolerably uniform law. They start almost invariably from the southwest, and pass by west to the northwest. The result is that vessels which may
 have sought safely under Lundy at the l beginning of the gale find themselves directly suddenly, often without warning-in the terrible position of ly- | ing off a lee shore. For powerful and IWell-found steamers the position is al- ways perilous and for sailing vessels usually fatal. For a vessel "blown out | of Lundy" there is no place of shelter to run for between the Severy and the Lands End. Underwriters understand when vessel blown out of Lundy" is missing and to be missing" Is unhappily only too common an event in the merchant service.
 Those who have labored so long and lstrenuously to get Lundy converted into national place for shelter warned successive governments that Lundy as it is was a trap and peril to ships of the royal navy. The reasons are obvious but it was thought neces- sary to show that harbor or safe roadstead in this place was essential to the security of the navy in order to induce the treasurer to make an effi- cient grant of money for the construc- tion of national harbor of refuge in l the Bristol channel. The warning has unhappily now justified it's utterers, It has been estimated that the cost of making Lundy a safe roadstead in all weathers would be under half million sterling g-about one-half the cost of first-class battleship.
 Tn dense fog, when lights are invis- ible and syrens cannot be heard far enough, Lundy is trap.
 It is not, perhaps, generally known that this point of danger is in the most crowded highway of our ocean traffic. It is estimated that about one- ] fifth of Great Britain's sea-going traf- f1c passes Lundy light, and it works out from the Board of Trade wreck re- turns that In this comparatively small but crowded area over one-seventh of the loss of life and casualties on our coasts takes place. Table 10 for 1903-4 (the last return) conveniently tabu- lates the localities of wrecks, partial or absolute, on or near the coasts of the I United Kingdom, The totals are: Sailing vessels, 1;26S; steam vessels, L209-2,477 Of this number 3S0 oc- cured in the Bristol channel as fol- lows:
 Sailing Vessels. Lands End to Hartland Point.s,... 91 Hartland Point to St. David's Head, ,151 Steam Vessels.
 Lands End to Hartland Point. ...... 30 Hartland Point to St. Davids Head .16S IOldl .'.s.s ss'..s..'. ........"'.s ooU | The Board of Trade returns mercifully show a tendency towards an annual reduction of loss of life and casualties at sea, but there are years (as in 1SS6) when the maximum loss of life and