Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1914-02-06

AAI tysdySn to details Of the
W ElAossifof the Titantic last
year And the very recent
sit2h t;desfruStion of the liner Vol
turno IN niitocean, the great mass of
people whosetllfe is restricted to- dry
land arsst beginning to be Interested
in maritime ,afatrs. vr--
The eshandliAg ;pf steamers, the dan
gers of 'the:aseaj the duties and re-
spohsibilitfessiof:the officers and crew
OF q vessel are all topics of enliYening
conversation after such disaster as
has lust been added to the roll of the
tragedies Of theasea The great major
ity Of ople:::lpt directly connected
with maritime affairs have a. very
slight frequeptly erroneous idea Of
these hiatters.'ssa
.Gendi letting reports of well-maaning
ivors. y who give testimony of a
very few sfaStsspf the wreck or disas-
ter which they have been through
tend only to confuse the reader who
is seeking FOR, reasons and facts. The,
reticencefpf Surviving officers does
mot help tosmake things any palmer
Another feature which retards the
general spread of knowledge about
nautical affairs is the failure Of sea-
fartng men to realize that things
which seem like ,a-bc, to themselves
are absolutely foreign to the under
.sttanding aofsthe: average landsma an.
~ = Hero orr' Coward. '----
re According to the3reports which cir.
hculate after any marine disaster, the
Captain Ia either held up, as q hero or
cursed as "a coward. Yet when the
majority Of people have forgotten the
case. q well-infeEmed.. sober-minded
body OF men acting as a board Of in
quiry and wading through d mass Of
Testimony get down to IA few kernels
OF established facts. ,I%c@a1 -, a.
r And the truth is usually found that
the captain was merely trying to car
~ out his duty as the master of his
vessel 81! 9:9.!3 Sefi siY
'ah he holds back a mob. of frenzied
passengers at, the point ;ef a revolver
from committing suicide; by ,pilling
into, the, small boats In hundreds, he
g merely doing what any police. offi.
Ger on our city streets would do: If. a
calamity of similar nature threatened
| on. HIS beat.T 's1o.5 Eli nI,n,
; The captain of d vessel as the, mas
ter In fact AS well AS In. name, ! On
the highs seas. his. orders are law. and
the COURTS Of the. nations uphold him.
Any refusal on the part OF the crew Of
q vessel To- do their duty alb ordered by
I the master may be- construed :'as. mu-
tiny. psapasii 81 9'r!if hqagg
katlntthe older days: ot the sailing vej.
sels and long trips, the bowers Of the
captain were often abised and IRE.
!guently crews were compelled to en-.
l1dufe Tremendous ana e1eif incredible
I abuses In more recent times nd can.
tain dafes isefiouslyato misuse hts an.
thority, for, while, q refusal to perform
duties on board ship stin constitutes
mutiny and is severely. punished as
such, a sailing master can also be
made answerable for Illegal acts com
mitted atfsea ~ ~ ::H1 -
Y With much authority the captain e, OF
"a vessel also has to- bear a similar
measure of responsibility. No mat.
ter what happens on his ship Or to Il
! this one man must answer for il, g j
IA On one tof the, thousand.foot mon.
ster steamers which now rip their way
across the. ATLANTIC In. a. q triffe . over
-four, days, this means, not only the
navigation Of the boat: but also a de-
tailed knowledge of'' the condition
and working of every piece of eouin.
ment on board, the executive cconfrol
ofla large force OF men; and the safetv
and happiness of a thousand or more
passengers, ~, .]f&s''I'',i
When /. a vessel Is lost the master. !,
be, happens to come out alive, IA pret.
.tty sure to lose his license. Although
the loss may appear to have been un.
avotdable, the; unfortunate captain "a
1veryHlikely!to to bsj jsidetracked to some
ntn0r'berth, II he doesn't lose bis pa.
];peEs outright ,js ,sa bya 'HS1 ~
Il This probably explains; why 30 MANY
administers, especially sIderfy'i ones
finding their vessels piled up on the
fhore, or sinking, have quietly. zone TO
their cabins and escaped the; ,ahmit,
atty court'viH the sz5alfbet method, :,
The unprecedented growth in di.