Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1910-08-05
From the New York Press.

ElolAA IAN ANS~ WI SSS
ST. Johns. n. F.-The year 1908 holds
the melancholy honor of being the
worst 12-month for the number OF
wrecks and the consequent loss OF life
that the death hole OF the seven seas,
which lies along the southern seaboard
Of Newfoundland from Cape Race TO
Cape Ray and into the Gulf OF st. Law
renee to the westward, ever has known.
And from one rapidly growing custom,
those In a position to forecast the fu-
ture are of the opinion that h present
year will make this tragic record a
still worse one to ships and TO those
who go down to the sea In them. Frem
the wreck Of the Tolesby, in January,
1909, scarcely a month has passed that
the fogs, the treacherous currents ana
the sudden storms Of this coast have
not taken toll Of at least one great
ship, a toll that might never have
been levied If shipowners had not sent
their vessels to sea insufftciently
manned with crews to whom the sea Is
a last resource when every other occu-
patton known to man las shut Its doors
upon them. It is the firm belief OF the
shipping interests in these parts that
1t is this curse OF the Ill found ships
that sends so many Of them crashing
into each other ia the fogs or smashes
them into wreckage up against the
~rockbound coast.
Bad as was the record Of disaster in
this death hole at the time of the Boer
war, it has been growing worse since,
and this condition Is due to one vital
cause. The war took from the mer-
camille marine of Great Britain most
of it's best men, men who were real
sailors. This shortage forced ship
masters to take the scum Of the Lon
don waterfront to man their vessels.
And how III fitted this class Of men was
to do the work Of a seaman was shown
at the board Of trade inquiry into the
collision between the Lucania and the
bark Embleton, when the lookout Of
the LUcania testified hat he was a
London shoemaker and never had been
to sea before in his life.
Another contributing cause to his
heavy death toll Is the habit OF carry
ing deckloads Of lumber on both sailing
ships and steamers. The rulers OF
Great Britain's mercantile marine, the
mighty board of trade of London, ex-
pressly prohibits the carrying Of car
goes in his name but, like many
other English laws affecting anne
and ships, this one is got around by
the practice OF carrying a deckload to
some continental port, unloading it
there, and then sailing to England with
the remainder Of the cargo below
decks.
Some Notable Wrecks.
Following close on the wreck of the
Tolesby. with her big cargo Of cotton,
came that of the Manchester Shipper,
also cotton laden, that went ashore on
the southern coast of Newfoundland
and proved a total loss, though all Of
the crew were saved through the heroic
efforts of the coas guard vessels crew
and Of the natives living on the cliffs
above the scene of the wreck. AS IT
was, SO hours elapsed before the last
man of the crew was rescued from his
perilous plight on a ledge of the cliff,
half way between the raging ocean and
the cliff top above him.
Next after t4is came the wreck of
the steamer Cyril, coal laden, in March.
She went ashore near Cape Race in an
~equinoctial gale. In May the steamer
Rialto was lost off Cape Ray, at the
entrance 10 the Gulf of st. Lawrence,
and under conditions which ShOw how
frightfully undermined ocean steam
ers are at present.
On this vessel and others Of her class
there are but five or six seamen SO
called. These are divided into two
watches and one nan is at the wheel.
An officer is on watch and the other
two seamen either are throwing ballast
or getting ready to enter port. This
ship had no lookout, the officer being
supposed to perform this <as we'll as
his other duties. 1t was owing to the
fact that she had 40 lookout that she
went ashore.
In July last the liners Monaghan and
Heurona collided in Belle Isle strait in
q fog. And a few weeks later the
Corinthian and the Halinhead came to-
gether in the same locality from the