THE WRECK OF THE LONDON.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 366, 9 April 1866, Page 1

THE WRECK OF THE LONDON.

(From the Ote(0 Deilj Time*, tsth March-) The love of the r is the characteristic of the age, does oot proceed frd\n apri&eriess to give way.,to. the emotional, On the. .contrary, it is,, rather,an effort to, stimulate feelings blunted to in*, difference. 'VVe liveamidst so many wonders—>so many; surprising discoveries are made —so many extraordinary event s occur—that, ty a natural process.' .the faculty of wonder is deadened, and. it is bard in any Way to roake aui impression-T-almost. impossible to' make a lasting one; ■ Scarcely a 'man-id-ten thousand whb travels by|a or who receives i telcgtain, thinks:,how. extraordinary a contrast the Now presepts bo the Tfidh w'jk (ewyearahack,; TWnil atimirari reigtis'i because it, is the : tiat urat consequence. oithe theory that nothing is uapossiblei but it. assumes:more iliaodne form. - Paradoxically,' it creates a spirit of scepticism,^because it;wnketis ib£ Wetusfis.. The extremes meet; the.repdiness; to belmve in any tiling isi ,a ; convertible phrase, foii-he-Having in nothing.-- 1 Bat its' wbrst -aspect is that its natural concomitant is a disposition tdcallousness i " Beyond tlieimmediate sufferers, the gravest disasters leave m' lasting impreriuoo,- • The • dieposii^n, ! tOTelieye'distress probably has not a less enduring ‘ Charity,, hkeVeviefy* tbing else,’has heconmusharp.tdeicisive. and active;;, it has lost mUch of Hls lingeriagtehding §specg,; A s> through; the ass’stance which art has rlxeeo forced to. lendtonature, we live time dayl’ih ohfejdo l !* a hajr l^trJconA;efted’ jinto: ohe!of ~]%«s days! M|n scjyfoeiy paused to reflect bfi,- tba gravesi calamity.; Theyare forget; They read no lesson frtMri * it,- hecausO it is wofctheir; business. Thi- ectu&tyo not they, nmsi calcalate the chiht:es;ofUf& and death, cfdatigef andM'tnmttbiiy froW'danger. ' Twenty years ago, fwcb v a frightful catasr tropfijd ' as that 7 whiih has .overtaken the London would have created afarmore lasting impression than itis likfly to do now; > Andit is the knowledge of this which induce* as, and-we hope will induce our Colonial contemporaries,' to comment Upon *’ case which, to'dome extent, roay'be' regarded as under consideration. The enquiry into the loss of ihVstcanicrJwas not completed; up to the moment of the latest intelligenee from home; lul it ii in vain. we fMr. tp hope that any satisfactory muftiiUarisefroDi it. The sapie epirit WhitK would make an enquiry of reaJ valqe would haye rendered it unnecessary' <, If there were a genaine borror ol such disasters, and an < earnest respect for human safety; the Loqdon wonld never have gotta dowa with two htiidfCd fOuU on board.' impossible not lo believe that, she was Biterljr .whsnited for a safe pasacegtr ship Ne visiel fitted for such a purposeshould have soeetmhed to theaters fory of a tome■tom rnk iiidiidy- «**• IBgiM

Biscay gale; The accounts given leave but the one deduction, that she was r never con- ; stiruciedtoface character; it seems, was well known, but what was r • every, one’s business w»» no one’s. 1 In Melbourne ' her dnwortliiness, it 'appears/ was : matter of common notoriety.r The Age'says of her:—"Had she teen built within intention .of. sending! heritor the-bottoaitlie design could not have been better Carried out. The 'London pCver wks sea-worthy, and every passenger, who ever sailed Ju her concurred i n the opinion that she was unsafe. She was built for speed, regardless of safety; jlft- order to offeraslittlc resistance as possible to sea and wind, she , had ,peculiarly built bows. She.was destitute of: the usual bulwarks against the force of the sea and for strengthening the bowsprit; She had a plain stem, 1 such as is common to river steamers, and there ,was an absence of those curves which,break tbe force of cross seas; striking the.ship forward/ and which help to lift her their, crest. To complete her malponstruciion/ she bad.an enormous foremast, which was stepped so far towards tbebows as to give'her the appearance of .depression' hy fbe - head. = Nautical' men who gslr- the London prophesied iliat some day, if she had to make her way against a heavy cross sea. She would go down. In the language of one experienced captain,that foremast would be' shaken 'but of her.’ His prediction was fatally Verified; the Londou caught in a severe gale iu .the Bay of Biscay. Her naked bows were exposed to. the shock, and hy-and-by the enormous,. ill-placed spars gave way. Her fore-topmast and. jib-boom went, and the crew coiild not get the wreck cleaned away.”- : The one marvellous thing is that tlie captain, knowing, as he must have known, the character of the vessel, persisted in attempting to bravetbe storm. Had he, before she was a wreck, steamed with, iustead of agaiust.it, he might have saved her. The little that could have been done with such } a 1 ship was not done. Her decks Were dogged with coal, her boats at; the-least dor not a ppoar, to have - been readily < launchable; Undeniably Captain Martain possessed, in no common degree, the virtue which men and women alike so highly.prize—bravery. No thought for his own safety disturbed his selfpossession ;to the last. Calmly lie met the ; doom which - he saw awaited him with the .two hundred-beings round 'him; The sense ■of justice whicu.seldom asserts -itself 'in the presence of. imminent danger remainad with, him. The boat; tlie lait chance of safety/ belonged-to the engineers of the vessel-r-to ’them .be.gave her. ' Bat admiration ot’ ; this' couragejs hotl'to make us forget that but for it the' worthless yessei might have been saved; < : Ifl the accounts.be .correct, the Ship was S 'helplm wreck fully lseventeen hours' bofoire the captain = consented to consider her 50.,, **At ,8 a*n». on Tmislay, ; the 9th,”;says 'the account, “ while the captain was;; still eudeavoring to keep'the . ship in her course by means ,of . the screw, the'.violence of' ihe .gale carried away atone sweep'the jilffioom, the fore? topmast, the topgaliancmast, and the ijoyals. These large spars were not wholly c)e.t«eh«d from tlie ship, ; but; banging fast to the stays, swung to and fro with such violence that the.crewr were wholly unable to secure them.. About . two hburs :( later ; the maioFoyalmast was blown completely out of its socket/" and added to the general wreck,” the vessel was‘kept steanaing ahead. It was not unlit" three 1 o’Cldck’ lhC^following morning that -■ the i captain > lor the engineer; and told hior he had made ap his: mind to cease the' frightful contest between l the two hundred 1 beings” under his charge artd the futy-of a storm which the wrecked 1 .vessel in her soundest day was’ never fitted to encounter. But the determination came too late.

Across ft hundred thresholds thft Destroying Angel ,has earned woe. Hundreds of friends and relations asoum the losses they have sustained. ‘ Lire* of rich promise have keen '*wept;away,---the old. the young, the' hopeful have found a’ common grate, —the h Oates of which they .formed e pari ars deso* la ted. And >are < we* ■; forsooth,, to aceeptaa an encase that they were hd to death by a being to whom fear was. a suwagerr-are we ; etsafocoamdeclhstsilanoei# foeoedapoa

us, because it ris hard to speak ill of the dead ? The last plea - might be accepted, did not'the recollection intervene that the safely of'the living has a yet superior claim. Experience leaches-that official enquiries sucli as that now going on are worse than useless; for' as' a rule. they condohe abuses. It is by the force of 1 public opinion that an impression must be made, if brio is to he made at- all. It is diffieult, as we have said, to create a- lasting interest; but in the Colonies, at * any rate, where men are so cons tan ily travellingr- bonae, the subject may arouse ■more than a passing enquiry. It must be remembered that it was little short of a miracle which prevented the London passing Into the category of the hever-heard-of sliips° the, *, Madagascar, the Lord Raglan, and others—the vessels which have started with every promise of flue voyages, and" disappeared* without leaving * behind them a record-by* which to~l race their loss. • There were.a thousand chances to one - against the frail, overldadeti boat successfully-combatting' the gale which had wrecked the huge vessil, the remnant of* whose 1 Jiving freight it was carrying away. Had that boat g< me down, the last nineteen l would have perisbed, and conjecture only would, have followed the London’s fate. Fire might have been the popular verdict, as 'it was with'the Lord Raglan, .except with' the few who knew the vessel; for, of the Lord Raglan there are those who tell a simitar tale. The last time she-went r home it is said she leaked when rounding' the Cape, and fair weather only saved her. The chances-that saved the London’s boat are, as it were, a warning froni the dead'to the living—a warning to guard against the mismangemeat, nob to use a harsher phrase, whick l led to the- catastrophe.l It would-he false, delicacy alike to the- - dead ; and -the living to hush over a tragedy which is but another instance of the often-told tale—the sacrifice of life to money getting. ' .The London was lost because she was' built to satisfy the commercial proposi- : tidu that .high speed, with use of little coal, is profitable. ’