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Leader (1850-1860), 20th October 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 8

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      '880 Ike Saturday Analyst And Leader. [O...

      ' 880 Ike Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Oct . 20 , 1869

      A-Record Of Disasters. Tlii; '' Wreck Tl...

      A-RECORD OF DISASTERS . Tlii ; '' Wreck Tlegistcr " for 1859 lias a sad account to give of disasters at sea . The wreck chart which accompanies the Board " of Trade report shows the whole of our coast , north , cast . , west and s-. nuth , thickly dotted with luarks indicating the locality of wrecks . The stars are scarcely more thickly strewn over the vault of heaven , ¦ than are these wreck-dots irpon this chart . We search in vain lor »* y other quarter wf the A ; orld where wrecks are of such common occurrence . Locking at this map of disasters , we might almost imasjiive that the shore ' s of England were beset by whirlpools , which stilted ships from all part ' s of the world , to swallow them up .

      -Aftdyetwe admit that ive are the best sailors in the world . Are V » 6 , o * r are Ve not ? The French will not venture to deny it ; nor " will the Spaniard , nor the Greek , nor even the Dane . Perhaps the Fin BiAy dispute our title ; . but we suspect the case , if tried by a jur ? ' of all nations , would be against him . As a maritime people , \ yfiS position is , at any rate , hrtlie very first rank . And J-et no nation P . Vses more ships than we do . ' Well , " we ] must grant that our coasts are dangerou *—tlie most dangerous in . the world . On every side our island its beset by shoals , by rock ;? , by stormy headlands , by dangerous qiiicivsands and deceptive shallows . The winds too in this northern latitude arc more fickle arid boisterous than in . any

      other -quarter of the . g-lo . be . Still our Wreck Register shows a catalogue of disasters -which-we cannot calmly accep t as the natural result of accidents over which we have no control . The chapter of accidents is too long , and it is very' . evident that it might be shorter if oil ?' ships were better built , better provided , and better manned & i « d commanded . The statistics in reference to this matter should ' possess a very wide interest in these days , when all classes of the people are in the habit of travelling by sea . It must engage the sympathies even of those who never make a longer sea voyage than that from London to Margate , or from . Portsmouth across to the Isle of Wight . Steamers have been wrecked , and lives lost , even on these journevs , and exactlv from the same causes which lead to

      flisftsters on longer and more dangerous voyages . Let us turn to the figures of the report of the Board of Trade for the past year . The number of ships wrecked , on the British shores alone during the twelve months , was no less than 1 , 416 . The number of lkeslost was 1 , 6-15 ; and the value of property lost or damaged , two millions sterling . It should be mentioned , how ever , that the loss both of life and-property ' is greatly swelled by the disasters which befel the ftoyal Charter , the Blervie Castle , and the Pomona . But excluding these , the account is altogether Unprecedented . What then are the causes of this terrible increase of wreck and disaster at sea ? Is it because we have taken , like the . Americans , to build vessels of green timber , and run them up in a hurrv ? — or is it because we

      are getting * more venturesome ? Is the inspection of the Board of Trade a mere matter of form , or a strict and rigid examination , as it ought to be ? The state of our recently constructed gunboats may suggest an answer to the first inquiry . "Admiral Bkrk ' kmj y has told us that he pushed his umbrella through the bottom of one of those boats shortly after it returned from the Baltic . Are our merchant vessels .-built in the same way , with rotten timber , held together with sham bolts ? The report of the Board of Trade gives no information on this head , and we are therefore left to our own suspicions on one or two very important-points . However , the report does furnish us with information . First of all , we learn that ships of seventy , eighty , ninety , and even a hundred years old , arc allowed to so on the long-cst voyages , through the most dangerous seas .

      And next we have the astounding admission , that many vessels arc commanded by captains who have no certificate of qualification , and who have never been examined as to their competency . This is surely enough in itself to account for n largo proportion of the disasters to which our attention is called . The report attests tho fact . Thoro are , it socms , three clashes of masters : musters who hold certificates of competency ; masters who hold certificates of service only ; and master * who hold neither the ones nor the other . And we find , as might bo expected , that the proportion of accidents win a ratio to the skill of the masters . Tho musters of the first class met with 2 J 7 accidents ; those of the second , with : 314 ; while tho masters who hold no certificates whatever , wore in trouble no "

      loss than 507 times . Thero' i * plain evidence that a very considerable number of ships is lost overy year , in-consequence of tho law permitting incompetent pci'soris to occupy . the position of commanders . Tho public \ vill scarcely credit thut piich n state of things has been ullowed to continuo so long . Wo confess that our own " belief was , that nono lmt certificated nmstorK wore allowed to take the command of any kind of vessels whatever ; and wo believed that a law to this effect lmcl boon passed long ago , But hero is tho Hoard of Trade ' s own report bearing evidence to the contrary . Tf such a gross abuse as this is permitted to continuo , tho public may well begin to Hwspect that there tiro nerows loo >« o elsewhere . It iies

      becomes imporaitivo tlmt wo should lutvo un iiiiMVtT to that (| - iion about ; tno yveon timber , and equally ho that vc should know whatnort of tost is applied both to shi p * and men by tho oflicors of . the Board of X ' nido . There iw very tfood ground for sufipoeting that om * coasting vossoIh , and especially our oolliovfs , are allowed to run their caret , * without any inquiry being made us to their condition . " Our ill-built colliorw , " wo read , " continuo io mnintuiii their fatal pre-eminence for their frequency of wrecks on tho east coast . Whon overtaken by tt storm oft ' Fiamborough Head , nof-rtioltor is afforded until they reach YminoulU ltoads—whore , alas ! too frequently tho bodies of their unhappy crews are iouna floating on tiw gutlyln ff eand bonks . " Wo quite agree that no facts cqxilcl {( peak louder fpy the absolute necoa & lty which exi » ta that meauwoa should be tukon . aw curly « a nofiwibjo , to improve our national

      harbours of rcfug-e , and to construct new ones . Still we believe that a heavier responsibility . lies in another quarter . Our colliers are notoriously ill-built , . ill-formed , and scantily manned ; and , as a general rule , they arc made to carry heavier burdens than . 'they can well bear . The rough sailors engaged in that trade know no fear ; ' they will g-o to sea in anything that is at all like a ship . ^ The owners , on their part , aro equally indifferent ; for the whip is insured , and if she g-oes down , the underwriters will pay the damage . Thus wo liave only the Board of Trade to look to for that supervision which is absolutely necessary to ensure tho most ordinary precaution . And the question which calls aloud for an answer is—Docs the lioard uf Trade do its ( kitv ?

      The ^Retropolitan, Or Underground Railwa...

      THE ^ rETROPOLITAN , OR UNDERGROUND RAILWAY . THIS Line is in a forward , state for speedy completion . Between the Bagniffgc-wells-road and King ' s-cross there is a large ga ]> caused by the pulling down of Iiouses , and a large proportion of the material carted away . At Kiug ' s-cross avast deal has been done—this id where the juii ( jtion will take place with '' -the Great Northern , and tlie works in progress arc necessarily very , heavy and complicated . A large block of houses , in the neighbourhood of the Kclgvyure-road- and Lissou-grov ' e , at the end of the >[ aryleb ' onu-road , are down , and leave an open spacewhich attracts attention ; between . -King ' s-eross and this

      , ]) O . in . t several shafts have been sunk , and much work done in removing obstructions and diverting sewers , A . e . . At i \ w "Western-end , near Paddington- Stution , all is confusion . of tein 2 ) orary . timber bridges for various roads and side streets diverted from their usual route ; . every one , from the Engineer to the Xavvy , seems intc-iit on the one great object , and all equally zealous in the performance of their duties . There is , now , very 1-i't ' tle doubt we . shall , during the ntvt summer , have thu satisfaction of travelling by liail from . Farringdon-. stToet to Padding-ton ; and what is now an hour ' s annoj-a-uce , will then b > .-only a rpiestion of—shall we be seven , or will it b ' _ - eig ht- ' mi ' mikM , before we are there ?' .

      Tasmania.*. T He Above Is The Name Which...

      TASMANIA . * . T HE above is the name which is urnv ffiven to Van Diemcn ' s Land . The progress of the colony lias been surprising ; it exceeds , in fact , all precedent . The advantages presented by Port Philip were not fully appreciated until 1835 , or the following year . Van Dicmen ' s Land " was the younger of its colonies , and ha-d been , to a slight-extent , colonized in 18 () : J . In the following year ; it ran an imminent risk of being made a convict settlement . ( iovernor ¦

      Collins , on the li ) th February , landed in Sullivan's cove . In a garrison order he states his regrets at the men labouring on the Sabbath in loading the ship Occaii , but circumstances-compelled the desecration .. " since , " he added , " the sooner we are enabled to leave this unpromising and unproductive country , the sooner shall we be able to reap the advantages and enjoy the comforts of a more , fertile spot . " And so the governor and his convicts shook the dust from their feet , and with happy haste sped away from those shore * . How erroneous were the Governor ' s impressions , experience has sinceamply demonstrated . Tasmania in ISM contained < U ) . 8 i » u inhabitants ! In 1837 , these were inc-reased to 8 J , -H ) 2 . ISewbouth Wales is older than Vnn Diemen ' s Land by fifteen years ; and in 1830 , possessed 77 , 00 ( 5 inhabitants ; in 1857 , 2 !) 5 , 0 < X > . \ ictoria , to which the report from which wo extract'these data relates , during the same interval has far distanced them both , in i ™<> , »

      possessed 221 . souls ; in 1 S . "> 7 , ll <) , 7 ()<) . Jt is highly important , says tho Registrar , fov general ami statistical purposes , that the next census of Victoria should he taken in 1801 , on whatever day tho population of Great , Britain niny hu enumerated . It is still further desirable that the inhabitants of tho whole Australian Groupe of colonies should ho polled on that < ln . v . too , so that th « number of souls in the mother muntrv . and at lu-r antij ) odort , mny be ascertained in tho « umo twenty-four hourn . to tho nnuiocr f

      The colonists have lately endeavoured equalise « males » nd females , tho previous diaproportion having been great . Thero has also been a largo influx of tho wngo-clnssoHj of the United Kingdom ; but it has boom concurrent with a still more powerful stream of unassisted middlc-cluns immigrants , whom ) superior education and peouniury resource * have enabled thorn io oovroborato their lesw favoured Ibllow-imini ^ riinU , " » «« t () . nils 0 Victoria to lior pronent position . At first , there wus a great ml ii . \ of squftttors j und tho piantornl w « f » tho prinoij ) al interest ol ui < colony . Millions of acres of highly timbered hdiI la > y at t lii » « ut «» tho advonturer , und the readiest way to wealth wais evident y i \ V i »« - division of tho land into runw , niid tho dopantm-ing ol slu ; ep anc euttlo thereon . Settlers mid Htook , at ilr » t from Jasmaiiui . im « ovontually from New Houth Wales , poured over thu land noeonlmKij . in a continuous Htromn , Irnin the very lirst year of dirtcoverv . m \ Htoclc incrcoHed , with whidvtho procluco of tho wuol utaplo wai ., emu-no , coinmoiisurutq . With their growing hmccchu , rKiuntturs roi timiecl to spveiirl over widt'r und wjdov areas of country wan uiui

      Hooka and their herds . , , . i * ,,,.., ! Tho purohiwovri of land nro of a later dato . The first and « tw > l Port Philip land sale took place in JLB 87 . U , y ^^" r-i "; ,,. "JJw there hnd looen alienated , by purohaao , upward * ol 100 , UUU J «^»

      ? Statlhlloal Kotos Of Tho " Proffrow Of...

      ? StatlHlloal Kotos of tho " Proffrow of Vlblorlp , from tho Pottnilfttlon of } h « ^ owny ( 16 . V 0— . ISHOJ / ' I » y ¦ \ VtlUum Henry Arolior , RofflHtriuXJcnornJ 0 / Mcioim . » . Authority , Johu ' rencm , aovornraont Prlntor , MoUwmnio .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 20, 1860, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20101860/page/8/