Year: 1873

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the doctors care. Some were troubled
with swollen feet, symptom of latent
scurvy. On the second day Of their
arrival they were little worse, but nc
serious consequences are anticipated.


The Atlantic Disaster and it's Lessons


1t is good time, after the first honor
OF the disaster to the steamship Atlantic
has passed away, to consider and dis.
cIss, with calmness and candor, the
question as to the responsibility for that
wholesale sacrifice of the lives of limo.
cent and trustful passengers. Where
was the blame? We are now inclined
to place it at the door of Capt. Williams
chart-room. 1t is no more than Just to
believe that he did the best he knew
how to do. His own safety was involved
with that of his passengers, and his
action after the wreck showed that he
considered his own life worth saving as
well as that of his passengers. Was he
considerably caution under the circum-
stances in which he found himself
Probably not! Did he prove himself to
be good navigator? We think not.
Would the ship have been lost in the
hands of man who understood the
dangers Of the coast, and thoroughly
felt the tremendous responsibilities of
his office? Possibly probably not.
But who placed Capt. Williams in COM
mand of the ship? Who but the same
company that sent him out of port with n
shamefully small supply of coal, and
thus forced him into the circumstances
which he proved himself to be incompe-
tent and master?


If Capt. Williams was an incompetent
navigator, the fact must have been
known to the company as well before as
after the disaster. His life has not been
hid under bHshel. lie has command
ed steamers sailing between New York
and Liverpool for years. If there was
anything in his character, habits or
nautical education, which made him
anything less than the best man possible
for his place, the company knew it, or,
if they did not know it, ought to have
known it. Primarily, then, the com
pany is responsible for every mistake
that Capt Williams made, and for
everything culpable-if there was any
thing culpable-in his mismanagement
That he made great and awfully fatal
mistakes, is evident enough, but we go
no further than this in awarding blame
to him. We are willing to believe that
he did the best he knew; but the ques-
tion is: Was the best he knew the best
that was known? If not-and we be-
lieve that the general conviction is that
it was not-then we must hold the com
pany responsible for placing him in a
position of such tremendous RESPONSE
bility. They are responsible for their
commander they are responsible for
sending him to sea unprepared for the
exigencies of the voyage; they are re-
sponsible for all the death and woe that
have resulted from their course. II
Capt. Williams was not the man for his
place, he ought not to have been in it.


1t is time that the American people,
who furnish three quarters of the fares
of the finest lines, should know some
thing of the dangers to which they are
subject by the foreign owners and COM
manders of the vessels which furnish the
only means of transport to European
shores. Tens of thousands of our best
people are going back and forth every
year on these lines. The world does
not possess another line of ocean travel
so freighted' with life and treasure as this,
or one which demands, from the interests
involved, such faultless vessels and such
thorough seamanship and high character
on the part of those engaged in its man.
agement. We trust to these command
ers our own lives, and the lives of our
children and friends.


In these days, any sphere of industry
commands the man it pays for. The
world is so full of enterprise and the
opportunities for wealth, that cheap
place, or a rule, can only get and retain
a cheap man. One of the best captains
ahoat said the other day in our hearing
GA good man must either be hard up
or have little money invested, to affort
to be captain in the Anglo-Americal
service" The remark has moved us t,
make inquiry in the matter, and we fine
that the pay Of a captain in this servic
is, On some lines, from G300 to G400
year, with bonus of f15O if no acciden
occur, and on others from f300 to f5OO
without a bonus. In our money the
salary of a captain is, therefore, from
81, 500 to 81, 500 a year. His board upon
the ship is, of course. free. How do
tbese wages appear to those who are