Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.) 188?-1971, 1913-12-26

"A
destruction Of the liner Vol
turno in midocean, the great mass Of
people whose life Is restricted to dry
land are beginning to be interested
in maritime affairs.
The handling OF steamers, the dan
gers Of the sea, the duties and re-
sponsibilities Of the officers and crew
Of vessel, are all topics of enliyening
conversation after such a disaster as
has just been added to the roll Of the
tragedies Of the sea. The great major
ity Of people not directly connected
with maritime affairs have very
slight frequently erroneous idea Of
these matters
Conflicting reports Of well-meaning
survivors, who give testimony Of a
very few facts of the wreck or disas-
ter which they have been through,
tend only to confuse the reader who
is seeking for reasons and facts. The
reticence of surviving officers does
not help to make things any palmer.
Another feature which retards the
general spread of knowledge about
nautical affairs is the failure of sea-
faring men TO realize that things
which seem like abe to themselves
are absolutely foreign to the under
standing Of the average landsman.
Hero or Coward.
According to the reports which cir
culate after any marine disaster, the
captain is either held up as hero or
cursed as a coward, Yet when the
majority of people have forgotten the
case, well-informed, sober-minded
body Of men acting as board OF in
quiry and wading through mass of
testimony get down to few kernels
OF established facts.
And the truth is usually found that
the captain was merely trying to car
ry out his duty as the master Of his
vessel.
If he holds back a mob of frenZied
passengers at the point Of revolver
from committing suicide by pilling
into the small boats in hundreds, he
is merely doing what any police Off
Ger on our city Streets would do If
calamity Of similar nature threatened
on his beat
The captain of vessel is the mas
ter in fact as well as in name On
the high seas his orders are law and
the courts of the nations uphold him
Any refusal on the part Of the crew of
a vessel to do their duty as ordered by
the master may be construed as mu-
tiny.
In the older days Of the sailing YES
sells and long trips, the powers of the
captain were often abused and fire.
quently crews were compelled to en-
dure tremendous and even incredible
abuses. In more recent times no cap
tain dares seriously to misuse his au-
thority, for, while refusal to perform
duties on board ship still constitutes
mutiny and is severely punished as
such, sailing master can also be
made answerable for illegal acts COM
mitted at sea-
With much authority the captain Of
vessel also has to bear a similar
measure of responsibility. No mat
ter what happens on, his ship or to 1t,
this one man must answer for 1t.
On one Of the thousand-foot mon
ster steamers which now rip their way
across the Atlantic in a trife over
four days, this means not only the
navigation Of the boat, but also de-
tailed knowledge Of the condition
and working Of every piece Of equip
ment on board, the executive control
of largo force of men and the safety
and happiness Of thousand or more
passengers.
When vessel is lost the master, II
he happens to come out alive, is pref
ty sure to lose his license. Although
the loss may appear to have been un-
avoidable, the unfortunate captain Is
very likely to be sidetracked to some
minor berth, II he doesn't lose his pa
pers outright
This probably explains why so many
shipmasters, especially elderly ones,
finding their vessels piled up on the
shore or sinking, have quietly gone to
their cabins and escaped the admir-
atty court via the 32-caliber method.
Never Touches the Wheel.
The Unprecedented growth in di-
mansions and speed Of ocean liners
in the past 20 years has greatly in
creased the burden of responsibility
that is placed upon the commanders
Of these ships go acute has this stu
alton become that the largest steam
ship companies are trying to meet 1t
by having several captains under a
commander or commodore upon their
newest ships.
Yet marine authorities admit that
his action does not help matters
much, for the responsibility Tor the