On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    dtfy , but cannot counteract it $ impulse . In the sijeam ^ vessel the power is within , and the t > o $ t can be urged in of the

    the ft ^ ce elements . One anecdote ( which we quote from memory , out are sure that its substance is correct , ) will illustrate the matter clearly . Off the coast of Yarmouth is

    a labyrinth of shoals , called the Swins , the navigation of which is extremely intricate . On the weather side of one of these banks , at night , in a

    hard gale , a steamer was clriven a-ground . In such a situation a sailing-vessel must shortly have gone to pieces , as has frequently happened . The action of the steamer ' s

    paddles , however , was reversed , and she backed off with the utmost alacrity . This was a triumph of art . There are two obvious modes

    of providing for the prevention of such gratuitous accidents , namely : — By the appointment of competent and responsible inspectors , who should be bound to

    ascertain that every steamyeasel was maintained in a fit state ; and By the imposition of

    adequate penalties on the voluntary commission of any act hazardous to the safety of passengers $ or on the neglect of due precautions .

    In order to render both these modes operative , a simple and pertinent code of general regulations might be iimn typ fry , competent , scien-

    Untitled Article

    tific and practical men . The fewer sucn rules were in nuinber the better ; and their efficiency might be completed by making it incumbent oil the inspector , if he should discover anything in the structure , furniture , or economy of

    a vessel , which he should consider of a dangerous tendency , to notify the same to the person responsible for the care of the vessel ; after which the vessel should not be capable of use until the fault in question were remedied .

    The penalties , to be of use , should be heavy , and severely enforced ; and the punishable offences as well defined as possible . The employment of

    boilers , for instance , condemned by the inspector , as worn out , or otherwise unworthy , should render the commander and owner of the

    vessel liable to heavy penalties , great part of which should go to the informer ; while the engineer on board should be punishable for not

    informing of such protracted use after qondemnation . For the bare act of overloading the safety valve , the engineer should be liable to a

    tremendous fine ( say 500 / . or 1000 ? . ) , or a lengthened imprisonment ; half the fine to go to the . informer ; or an , adequate rewzwrd , payable by the public , if the

    fine were not forthcQming . If it be objected that such severe penalties would be cruel , let it be remembered that the recklessness which

    Untitled Article

    Sftft : Steam-boat Accidents and their Prevention ^

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 1, 1837, page 278, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1836/page/53/