Toronto, brigantine; stranded near Beak's Bay, Bahamas, August 24, 1878. Inquiry held at Nassau, September 19, 1878. casualty not attributable to carelessness on the part of the master, officers or crew. Star Queen, barque; stranded on the Sisters' Reef, July 29, 1878. Inquiry held at Freemantle, September 8, 1878. Stranding due to negligence on the part of the master. Certificate suspended for three months. Southport, barque; stranded at Durban, August 23, 1878. Inquiry held at Durban, September 21, 1878. Master in default, but not sufficiently culpable to warrant suspension of his certificate. Napier, s.s.; lost at Port Campbell, September 16, 1878. Inquiry held by the Steam Navigation Board of Victoria, September 25, 1878. Master committed an error in judgment; cautioned to be more careful in future. Atlantic, barque; beached in Trial bay, N.S.W., and afterwards became a total wreck. Inquiry held at Sydney, September 23, 1878. No evidence on which to found a charge against master. Mary Grant, brig; beached to the north of Newcastle, N.S.W., September 25, 1878. Inquiry held at Newcastle, September 27, 1878. No evidence on which to find a charge against master. Stranger, barque; burnt and abandoned at sea, September 26, 1878. Inquiry held at Port Elizabeth, October 23, 1878. Fire arose from spontaneous combustion. Master exonerated from blame. Eudora, barque; lost her rudder by grounding near Cape Pacific, August 30, 1878. Inquiry held at Port Elizabeth, October 3, 1878. Master censured and cautioned. Certificate returned. Furness Abbey, ship; lost at Galle, and inquiry held there. Casualty due to the misconduct and drunkenness of both master and mate. Certificates suspended for two years. Mary E. Goodwin, ship; abandoned at sea. Naval Court held at Antwerp, November 7, 1878. Abandonment justified. Evidence conflicting as to whether she was overloaded. Princess Royal, schooner; stranded on the Lofgrunde Shoal, August 19, 1878. Inquiry held at Stockholm, November 11, 1878. Casualty occasioned by the default and negligence of master. Certificate suspended for twelve months. THE NAUTICAL MAGAZINE FORTY-EIGHTH YEAR. VOLUME XLVIII.-No. II. FEBRUARY, 1879. THE THAMES TRAFFIC COMMITTEE. HE Committee appointed by Lord Sandon to consider the Rules for regulating traffic in the Navigation of the River Thames, have issued a preliminary report, to which the minutes of evidence taken up to the 5th December last are appended. The report is as follows:— "Before attempting to form an opinion on the general subjects which your lordship has referred to us, we have found it necessary to receive evidence from a considerable number of persons representing the various interests on the Thames. The different and in some respects conflicting views expressed by these witnesses raise a number of special points connected with the navigation of the river; and it appears to us desirable that these different views should be brought to the notice of the public and of those interested as soon as possible. "We have therefore thought it right to submit the evidence we have taken. "In the meantime we are continuing to take further evidence, which will accompany our report. "(Signed) "T. H. FARRER, R. COLLINSON, THOMAS GRAY W. C. MORGAN, F.W.E. NICOLSON, D. MURRAY.” VOL. XLVIII. H Lord follows: Sandon's reference to the Committee reads as To be a committee to consider the rules now in force, and to report to their lordships whether any, and if any, what, fresh regulations are necessary with a view to preventing collisions, and for regulating traffic in the navigation of the river Thames, bearing in mind the special points following; that is to say, the Rule of the Road; the lights to be carried; the use of signals; the speed of steamships; the necessity or otherwise for alteration in the regulations concerning the number of passengers carried by steamships in such waters, and as to appliances to be provided for saving life in cases of emergency, and the hours during which passengers should be carried in river steamers; and generally to report whether and in what manner further provision can be made for better securing the safety of human life upon the river; stating with whom the responsibility now rests for making and carrying into effect the regulations for that object; and whether any alterations appears to be desirable in the distribution of the work amongst the authorities or officers now charged with it." Our readers will remember that Lord Sandon's Committee were appointed immediately after, and in consequence of the deplorable loss of life resulting from the collision which occurred between the saloon steamer Princess Alice and the screw collier Bywell Castle, in rounding Tripeock Point, on the night of the 3rd September last. They will also remember that the collision referred to was declared by the Court of Inquiry to be the outcome of an utter want of system in the navigation of the Thames, and that though the Conservators of the River had adopted bodily the rules issued by the Board of Trade for preventing collisions at sea, sufficient pains had not been taken to make known or enforce those rules, and that practically the entire navigation of the Thames is carried on by rule of thumb. The comprehensiveness of Lord Sandon's reference to the Committee indicated that the terrible circumstances attending the Princess Alice collision only brought to a climax the general dissatisfaction existing with regard to the management of the river traffic, but the evidence elicited by the Committee reveals a state of things which it would be hard for anyone unacquainted with the river to realize. From Teddington Lock to Lower Hope Point the Thames is at present under the joint control of the Conservators of the River and the Watermen and Lightermen's Company, which have Acts of Parliament confirming their authority, and entitling them to frame bye-laws for the regulation of the traffic and the protection of their own interests. The Board of Trade, the Trinity House, and the Thames Police are also possessed of certain limited powers in the River; but the Conservators and Watermen's Company are entirely responsible for the navigation. The Watermen's Company have the exclusive right of licensing watermen and lightermen to ply within the limits referred to above, viz., Teddington Lock to Lower Hope; but vessels from westward of Teddington Lock, and vessels from eastward of Lower Hope Point may enter and leave the Port of London without icensed men on board, provided that they do not ply entirely between places within the limits. The effect of this regulation is that all the river steamboats must be commanded and manned by licensed watermen, who are, as a rule, unacquainted with sea service or the Board of Trade Rules for preventing collisions at sea. These Rules, as already pointed out, have been adopted en bloc by the Thames Conservators, but since their adoption in 1872 very little has been done to make them known to watermen and pilots. It follows, therefore, that the master of a river steamboat, who does not happen to hold a Board of Trade certificate, may be in utter ignorance of any rules for his guidance when a collision is immirent. An exempt pilot named Langman gave the following remarkable evidence : Q. "But if the rule is that you shall port, why is the extra light required to show that you are going to do what the rule says you shall do ?-A. The mischief seems to me to be that when we meet one another we do not know what each of us is going to do. There always seems to be a misunderstanding between two ships approaching each other. Q. "Do you mean that there is a doubt whether you will act on a rule or not ?-A. That is it. Q. "But if you do act upon the rule, you do not want a signal to say that you will act upon the rule ?-A. We have never known that there has been a rule upon the Thames until lately. Q. "How long have you known it ?-A. Only a month. Q. "You never knew until last month that there was a rule of the road on the Thames ?-A. No; and I do not think that others knew it. Q. "Do you not think it better that everybody should know the rule, and should act upon it, instead of having additional lights to indicate to another ship what you propose to do ?—A. I think so. If the Thames Conservancy frame rules and do not make them known to pilots and others, how are we to know that they frame them? Q. "Is there not at Gravesend a sort of office where pilots wait and congregate, and so on?-A. Yes, on the Terrace Pier. Q. "Is that where the rules of the pilots are to be found? -A. Yes. Q. "Are you aware that the harbour master at Gravesend constantly keeps the pilots there informed of the rules and by-laws. of the Thames Conservancy ?-A. I am not. Q. "Are you aware that the Thames Conservancy have distributed about 2,000 copies of those rules since they were enacted?-A. Many, like myself, were quite surprised that there were any rules of that kind. Q. "You never heard of an end on rule before ?-A. No, not in the river." It does not appear very wonderful after reading the above evidence that the Princess Alice collision occurred, or that it was deemed necessary to appoint the present committee. The remedy proposed by the Thames Conservators to meet the case of vessels rounding points, like the Princess Alice and Bywell Castle, is a rule to the effect that "when the tide is running, and two steam-vessels are approaching each other preparatory to rounding a point, the vessel proceeding against the tide shall ease or stop, if necessary, until the other vessel shall have passed clear |