66 against masters and seamen (including mates) on the high seas and abroad made to a Naval or Consular officer by the master or any certificated mate, or by one-third or more of the seamen" in any ship, or by her consignee. These Courts were invested with power to supersede the master of the ship and appoint another in his stead if the Court unanimously decided that this was absolutely required for the safety of the ship or crew, or the interests of the owner. 13 & 14 Vict., c. 93. 14 & 15 Vict., c. 96. Increased Board of Trade. The Mercantile Marine Act Amendment Act, 1851, by section 4, conferred upon the Board of Trade increased powers of cancelling or suspending the powers of the certificates of masters or mates convicted of felony, or of an offence on board ship under the General Merchant Seamen's Act, 1844, or the Mercantile Marine Act, 1850, or if the report of an Investigation under section 28 of the latter Act was to the effect that a master or mate had been guilty of gross dishonesty, drunkenness, or tyranny. By sections 23 and 24 of the Mercantile Marine Act Amendment Act, 1851, the powers of the Naval Courts were extended. By section 26 power was given to them to investigate the cause of any wreck or abandonment of any merchant ship abroad, and if the report of the Court was to the effect that the wreck or abandonment had been caused by the misconduct or incompetency of the master or any certificated mate, the Board of Trade might cancel or suspend his certificate, whether of competency or service. Naval Courts empowered to investigate the cause of any donment of any wreck or aban merchant ship abroad. 14 & 15 Vict., c. 79. Various amendments of Various amendments of the law relating to the regulation of steam navigation, and to the boats and lights to be carried by sea-going vessels, were made by the law the Steam Navigation Act, 1851 (14 & 15 Vict., c. 79), before referred to (). That Act contained provisions. for ensuring the periodical survey of steam vessels ; and the limitation of the number of passengers to be carried therein; for regulating the build of iron steamers; and the placing of a safety-valve upon each boiler, out of the control of the engineer; for prescribing the boats and other equipments to be provided for sea-going vessels, and the lights to be (*) See ante, page 6. Legislation of 1854. Previous Acts repealed by 17 & 18 Việt., c. 120. Pre-existing provisions con solidated and amended by 17 & 18 Vict., c. 104. Early Inquiries into wrecks of steamships, 9 & 10 Vict., c. 100. Inquiry into wreck of steamship Sirius. Report of the Inspector thereon. carried, and other provisions to be made for guarding against accidents from collision. In the session of 1854, two Acts of great importance were passed. By one of them-the Merchant Shipping Repeal Act, 1854 (17 & 18 Vict., c. 120)— the whole of the legislation reviewed above was repealed. By the other Act-the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854 (17 & 18 Vict., c. 104)-the pre-existing provisions were consolidated and elaborately amended. The latter Act, though amended by subsequent statutes (a), to all of which full reference will be made, contains the principal provisions now in force upon the subject of Inquiries into Wrecks. EARLY INQUIRIES INTO SHIPPING CASUALTIES. A short account of the earlier Inquiries conducted under the provisions of the repealed statutes will tend to elucidate the general subject, and may be of some interest. Those Inquiries related wholly to steamships, and were conducted under the provisions contained in the Steam Navigation Act, 1846, 9 & 10 Vict., c. 100 (), by which, as we have seen, it was enacted that serious accidents to, or the apprehended total loss of steamers should be reported to the Board of Trade, and powers were conferred upon the Board to appoint Inspectors to inquire into and report upon such accidents or apprehended losses. The Act came into operation on the 1st January, 1847, and out of nineteen cases reported to the Board of Trade in that year, nine were formally inquired into (). One of the earliest Inquiries was conducted by Captain Denham, R.N., F.R.S., into the wreck of the steamship Sirius, off Ballycotton Point, County Cork, on the 16th January, 1847, and his report (4) throws light upon the objects which were kept in view in these Inquiries immediately after the new legislation was put in force. Captain Denham fully reviewed the circumstances attending the casualty, and concluded his report by expressly bringing for (a) See account of the existing provisions, post, page 56. (C) Parliamentary Return, 695, 8th April, 1851. The Sirius. Practical sug gestions for the ties. ward in furtherance, as he stated, of the instructions given to him by the Board of Trade, "matter which the accident suggested and the evidence supported." The matter referred to included practical suggestions for the establishment of lighthouses and lights at avoidance of localities indicated; for lessening speed in case of future casualfog; for stopping to heave the lead at frequent intervals when approaching land or shoals; for a certain equipment of boats; for ascertaining the local attraction and deviation of ships' compasses; and the like. Other suggestions for future guidance and precaution were also made by the Inspector. It appears from the report that the press and the public were not admitted to attend the Inquiry, though no instructions to that effect had been given by the Board of Trade. This is the earliest report on record, and it is to be noted that the instructions which the Inspector received from the Board of Trade required him to recount the lessons of warning and of practical suggestion for the future to which the facts of the particular casualty might give rise. On another occasion, Captain Denham was appointed by the Board of Trade to investigate the circumstances connected with the loss of the Tribune, screw steamer, on the coast of Wexford, in October, 1847, on a voyage from London to Dublin. The vessel was built of iron, and it having been alleged that the disaster was solely due to an error in the compasses, Captain Denham reported (a) "that it arose from the occasional, but most uncertain operations of the local attraction and disturbing influence to which the compass needle is liable on board iron screw vessels, particularly if not corrected by the most careful and elaborate tests." The report further stated as follows: "Such precautions are of vital importance, and require the exercise of Government regulation to the effect that approved and authorised persons shall alone adjust and certify so vital an adjunct to safety of life and property. * I have added to the grave consideration of this subject by relating how the Astronomer Royal, whom I had the privilege of attending, undertook in person to adjust the first iron ship that *** (*) Parliamentary Return 696, 8th August, 1851. The Tribune. Finding. Suggestions. The Tribune. The Finn McCoull. Finding. went to sea in 1838, so intricate a solution of practical science was it esteemed; and as each vessel is totally different from another in this respect and [they] are multiplying, a reference to officially recognised science and experience is suggested." Although the loss of the Tribune was not attributable to the charts on board, considerable stress was laid upon the circumstance that the vessel was not provided with authorised Admiralty charts, but that the master used such as he found the vessel furnished with, at four times the cost, without any guarantee of accuracy. Upon this subject Captain Denham reported-"That such perverseness required legislative enactment, making it unlawful to use any charts not stamped at the Hydrographical Office of the Admiralty." Several other cases were investigated by Captain Denham subsequently to the year 1847. Among these was that of the Finn McCoull, a steamship, which was lost in Tuscar Sound, on the coast of Ireland, in June, 1848. The subject of charts was again under discussion at the Inquiry, and after reviewing the circumstances of the casualty Captain Denham reported (") as follows: "It does appear that the loss of the said steam vessel is to be attributed to the absence of a correct and authorised chart on board; and to avert the like Suggestions. accidents in future, your Lordships' Inspector recommends that all steam vessels (for which the Act in question is intended) be required to be provided with Admiralty charts of the latest possible date, of at least the particular route for which they clear out; such charts are not only the necessarily correct ones, but are to be obtained for one-fourth of the price of the unauthorised ones. And as it is equally, if not more essential, that sailing vessels should be so provided, seeing that in proportion as they cannot repeat their voyages so rapidly, their pilot knowledge is not so readily attained, it suggests the application of such a regulation as would render it illegal for any British vessel to proceed to sea without such charts, or a certificate from the Hydrographer of the Admiralty, that no official chart exists for such and (*) Parliamentary Return 696, 8th August, 1851. such a portion of the intended voyage. It is submitted indeed, whether it might not be desirable to enact that no chart shall be sold or bought that is not under the Hydrographical Office seal, to the intent of giving provisional character to those charts emanating from private compilation, where the Admiralty surveys have not yet extended; and effectually checking the dissemination of privately compiled charts of regions and localities actually anticipated by such official surveys and publications as 'Admiralty Charts and Sailing Directions.'"**** "This case may [also] go to strengthen a suggestion that all steam vessels be required to carry one or more pilots for the coast their traffic route embraces, until the master and chief mate shall be found by examination to be competent to act as their own pilot." Another instructive case which formed the subject of a most exhaustive Inquiry, was that of the steamship Orion, lost off Portpatrick, Mull of Galway, in June, 1850, when about fifty persons were drowned. This vessel had been employed as a passenger and general cargo vessel between Liverpool and Glasgow. She had been on that station for three years, and was held in such estimation as a first-class coasting steamer, that although fitted to carry 108 cabin passengers, she was frequently resorted to by many more than could be berthed, and on the occasion of the voyage when she was lost, there were at least 173 passengers on board. After elaborately explaining the construction and equipments, and stating in much detail the circumstances which led to the casualty, Captain Denham (") reported as follows: "It is clear that the second mate, John Williams, was by his obstinate reliance on his own judgment, and when warned of his danger not attending to it, nor when under the very glare of a lighthouse, acting with presence of mind and common caution, the direct cause of the Orion's wreck. And as the master, Thomas Henderson, left her in charge of a mate without stipulating that the ship's course should not be altered without consulting him, and that too when the ship would be for the next two hours ranging (*) Parliamentary Return 696, 8th August, 1851. The Finn McCoull. The Orion. Finding. |