Year: 1866




A short time ago we made some remarks on
the subject of the loss of the Evening Star,
in which we stated that serious charges had
been brought against the owners Of the vessel
1t was asserted that she was unseaworthy; that
her crew was inexperienced and Inefficient; that
she was not provided with the necessary APP
plances to enable her to meet an emergency
such as that which arose. Accusations of
this kind, following closely on calamity in
which so omany persons had perished, naturally
excited comment, and aroused q degree Of sus-
picion which full knowledge of all the facts
might not have warranted, or, at least might
have dispelled. We therefore suggested that
q proper regard for public opinion as well as
for their own interests, required that the
owners of the unfortunate vessel should court
rather than evade an investigation. By the
one course they might remove the painful
doubts existing in the minds of those who had
lost friends and relations on the Evening Star;
by the other they would inevitably confirm
suspicious which must always be injurious,
both morally and pecunianly


The owners very sensibly took this view of
the case They did not assume mock
dignity or elothe themselves in garment Of
injured innocence or treat the public with
arrogance and disdain I; but they demanded
an immediate investigation. The examination
has been held in New York, by gentlemen
whom, in the absence of any statement to the
contrary, we presume to be experienced and
4 competent men. They devoted number of
days to the investigation, and according to
the reports Of the New York papers, they did
their work in a thorough and satisfactory
manner The examination was finished on
the 9th ult., and the result is published in
the papers of the next morning The COM
\ mission pronounce the vessel to have been
4 thoroughly sea-worthy in every respect !"
In their opinion the final calamity was caused
Shy not keeping her head to the wind, and
also by not providing her with appliances for
so doing"


\ Thus, much Of the responsibility of the
owners is removed. They cannot be justly
+ charged with having knowingly jeoparded
\ the lives Of the passengers who intrusted
themselves to their vessel. Perhaps, indeed,
i it is rare for ship-owners to look further than
j this, and to provide for those extraordinary
emergencies which may overcome the resist
{ ance of even perfectly sea-worthy vessel,
I unless extraordinary precautions have been
/ adopted. But, can it justly be said that q
: vessel is thoroughly sea-worthy if she is not
: provided with those appliances for keeping
her head to the sea, the absence of which is
f said to have caused the loss of the Evening
Star? Sea-worthiness may be a technical
term, applicable, according to the code of
marine technicalities, only to what may be
considered the essential constituents Of the
ship; but, III q general sense, and by popular
construction, it goes beyond these limits.
What, therefore, may be sea-worthiness to-
day may be unseaworthiness tomorrow.
Whenever a new and safer mode Of working
a.ship is discovered, that mode becomes as
sociated with the general idea of sea-worthi-
ness. In the particular case in question this
view is strikingly illustrated. We are told
that the vessel was lost because she was not
provided with certain appliances for s'keep-
ing her head to the sea" Now a vessel des-
titute Of such appliances might, perhaps, be
technically called thoroughly sea-worthy; she
might be rated as Al on the books of the in
suranee companies; but, in popular estima-
ton, she would not be sea-worthy, It is, Of
course, impossible for human sagacity to
foresee all contingencies; but the fact that
such appliances as have been spoken of are
known to ship-owners, and that in the case
in question they could have been successfully
used, shows that the contingency which ac-
tually occurred, could have been foreseen;
and, in general way, really was foreseen.
i However, after the frank and manly way in
which the owners have dealt with the public,
we do not feel inclined to complain Of them.
We think that the investigation was properly
made, and we believe that, by the Light which
it has thrown on the case of the Evening Star,
it will be productive of much benefit, We
sincerely trust that this deliberate statement
of the examiners that the vessel might have
been saved had she been provided with appli-
ances ''to keep her head to the sea, will be
received as a lesson and a warning by all ship
owners, and that we may never hear of another
such calamity due to such a cause.


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