Year: 1879

CNSEAU OH1Hl oHlf


A few months ago there was an animated
discussic1 in the English papers over the
frequency of the sort of ocean disasters ol
which the loss of the Borlssia has just fur-
nished an example When ship strikes upon
the coast, OF runs into an iceberg, or is III
collision with another vessel, or takes fire.
there has been almost always some fault OIL
the crew. and we can show how the accident
might have been avoided. But large pro-
portion of the ships lost at sea wholly disap-
pear leaving no record of their fate, and we
can only conjecture what happened to them
and what was the cause OF their DESTRUCTION.
Few persons realize how common such DIS
astcfs are The ship sails away from port
and is heard of no more. There Is
long period of anxiety before hope Is
abandoned; and meanwhile, unless the
vessel is well known and the pas
senger list large, the general public for
gets all about the case-perhaps does not
even hear 81 it, We have before us list of
steamships only which have sunk On the voy-
ale between Europe and America Within zen
years. Ii does not include wrecks on the
coast or losses by burning or COLLISION !;
merely the steamers which have foundered, or
have been abandoned sinking, or are missing
with all on board. The number amounts 10
no less than thiriy-four, and 1t is certainly
not complete During a little more than TWO
| months of the Winter of 1S72-'73 one trans
atlantic steamer was capsizcd, two foundered,
one was abandoned at sea, and five were re-
ported missing-a total of nine during
single season-besdes which the year lo'Z
was signalized by ten European steamers
wrecked" The year 1878 was also
very disastrous, and the list OF missing
or abandoned transatlantic steamships IN
| 1879 amounts so far to no fewer than
seven. Sixteen have gone down within
! three years.


Most of the missing vessels were freight
boats carrying few passengers, and the
aggregate loss of life is not known,
though it certainly ranges in the thou
sands. Ii has been remarked that these
steamers were nearly all of British build I;
but il does not appear that the ratio to the
total number of British ships in the American
trade was unduly large. 1t Is also noticed
that considerable majority OF them were
employed in carrying wheat, and 1t Is sug-
cested that the swelling of grain improperly
slowed may have caused them to spring
a leak. To this it may be answered that
most of the disasters occur in the stormy
season of Winter, and that nearly all the out
ward bound freight-boats at that time OF
the year are loaded with breadstutfs. The
great number of missing steamers however,
and the fact that they are almost invariably
vessels of one particular class, may well
prompt a closer inquiry into the causes OF
these losses than any official authority has
vet thought of making. They seem hardly to
belong to the category of unavoidable ac-
cidents.
| AS n rule we believe it will be found that
missing steamers are either vessels which have
been degraded from the frst-class passenger
service on account of age or other defect,
| or else boats too small and too weakly built
for the dangers of the wintry Atlantic. or
boats with insufficient engine power. Very
MANY of the steamers sent ont of this port
with grain are small and low in the water,
and not only is their machinery weak but they
are Obliged to economize too much in the con-
sumption of fuel. Seas over which the better
class of ships ride easily will sweep them
from stem to stern. The staunch and
full-powered passenger steamers of the New
York aud Liverpool, Glasgow, Bremen, Ham,
| burg, ana HaFre llhes are h'uuiJ IhPc"co u!
the most tempestuous weather. They make
their trips, Winter after Winter, with regular
ity, and it is extremely rare for them to sus-
tain any serious injury from the utmost viO-
lence of the elements. If, nevertheless, while
these ships pass safely through the worst
storms, there is not season in which four or
five or more freight steamers are not swal-
lowed up by the angry deep, it is almost im-
possible to resist the conviction that the own
ers of the missing craft conduct their business
with criminal disregard of human life, hold


ing it cheaper IN the long run to drown few
hundred sailors than to pay for ships that
will float.