The Dunstan Times SATURDAY, 31st MARCH, 1866

Dunstan Times, Issue 205, 31 March 1866, Page 2

The Dunstan Times

SATURDAY, 31st MARCH, 1866

‘Eeac.) f h lac if'e of wen r.yn'niy ovsn, t"i ten Js than ibe sworn!"

Since the wreck of the "Royal Charter in 1859 the Australian passenger ships have preserved an almost immunity from casualty of a serious nature, The number of persons who have voyaged to and fro have clone so with far more security than if they had travelled on land, and thousands of miles of sea, whether in a state of calm or tempest-tost, or even when mountainous i cehergs st u d ded its surface, have all been passed over with the greatest safety- From the first colonisation of Australia no danger has ever been apprehended to vessels while on the voyage from the mere effects of the waves alone. The rocky coasts at either the place of departure or arrival were the only sources from which it was felt harm might arise. The shipping records have fully borne out this opinion, for, notwithstanding the many vessels that have made the voyage, the number of ships classed as "missing" have been remarkably few. As in the case of the Royal Charter, the London had on board numerous old and respected colonists, besides all who were near and dear to many who were anxiously expecting once more to be united in the bonds of family unity. There were also on board the successful tradesman or miner, who, after yeais of persevering industry and self-denial, had accumulated sufficient funds to enable him to revisit the scenes of his boyhood, or he had just folded in his arms the being of his first love, or, perhaps, he had so , extended his business that a visit to the mother country was deemed

advisable, and having completed large purchases, and made arrangements for further supplies, was on his way back to re-commence the commercial strife with renewed vigor, new ideas, and increased means,

Each and every passenger who embarked on board that ill-fated ship had, without doubt, ample reason to believe that the voyage would be a successful one, and held their landing on the shores of Australia only as a question of time and patience. The vessel had previously made an unusually fine passage to and from the antipodes, while the name of her owners, Messrs. Money, Wigrara,and Sons, of Blackwall, was a sufficient guarantee that the ship was a good one, and all that was within the compass of the builder's art or the skill of the navigator would be done to bring the vessel safely to port; and well might the multitude

who gazed upon the noble ship as like a ''thing of life''she glided down the Thames at the outset of the voyage, or these who accompanied her a short distance on her way, when they bade "bon voyage" to the gallant craft and to those who were on board, have gone home with the full confidence that their wishes would be realised. But a stronger will than man's ruled otherwise. Violent and continued storms, such as have not been known for years, swept over the ocean, the disastrous result of ivhich has been unparalelled losses it sea. Other craft besides the Loudon had to succumb to the nighty tempest, but it is with her rati two hundred and nineteen poor souls who perished in the deep that iveare more immediately interested Doubtless the final departure from ;he shores of Kngland caused a oang of regret to those who had lever previously left their native sle, but with those who had spent i few pleasant years in the sunny and of Australia, the knowledge chat theywere leaviugcold weather behind, and that but a few days' steaming or sailing would bring them within the balmy breezes of the tropics, from which the remainder of the voyage would be little else than a pleasure trip, the feeling must have been one of pleasurable anticipation, and the dire calamity which was so soon to follow farthest from the thought The ship, however, never entered the torrid zone, but succumbed to the fierce blasts and mountainous cross seas of the Bay of Biscay, at whose bottom lie many jf the finest specimens of Engand's naval architecture, together ivith their cargoes of costly merchandise, and, what is more sad still, the hapless crews and passengers who could not escape being likewise engulphed.

Whether the London was seaworthy or unseaworthy wo are not in a position to soy, but we fully believe that, from the well-known character of the owners, who were also her builders, and whose fame is considerably more than a century old, they would not send an unworthy vessel to sea. Messrs. Money, Wigram, and Sons built the London, at their yards expressly for the Australian trade, and only kunched her in 18G4, so that age and concomitant infirmities could not be saidtonaveproducedthedireful disaster. There is nothing to show that the ship was 1 eaky, or that she had even sprung a leak below her water line. If there was any fault at all it must have been in her peculiar build or rig, but that is merely a matter of opinion. Every new idea or innovation of established custom finds plenty of people to condemn it, and tin? prophet of evil seizes the opportunity to exercise his unworthy calling. The great ship certainly did become from the mere force of the wind and waves a mere log on the waters, and rolled about in the trough of the sea a helpless nnd unmanageable wreck, till overpowered by the superincumbent pressure of the aqueous onslaught she sank at last The loss of her masts, and the ability of the engineers to keep up

steam, in consequence of the fires having been extinguished by the rush of waters which burst through the main hatchway, would be quite sufficient to place her at the mercy of the elements, against which the almost superhuman efforts of the gallant Captain Martin, his officers, crew, and passengers, were totally unavailing. The very fact of the doomed and water-logged ship floating so long was a proof that all that was within the power of human beings to keep her up was done. That she was not literally battered to pieces by the waves that must have broken on board while in her helpless condition, satisfies us that her structure as regards strength was without a fault.

The official inquiry as to the cause of the wreck, which was proceeding when the mail left, will doubtless set the public mind at rest as to where the fault (if any) lies, and until we know the result it would be unfair to draw any conclusions. But while we mourn the loss of the two hundred souls who sank at that awful moment beneath the waves, we have the consolation of knowing that they died resignedly and bravely, as "Englishmen should die, and that their last moments "were calmed by the unremitting exertions of the ministers of religion who perished with them.