The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 83, 9 April 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 1867.

The paucity of shipwrecks on the dangerous coasts of New Zealand is frequently a matter of surprise, and there is danger tbat our comparative freedom from them should engender a feeling of false security. As if to startle us from this feeling, and show companies and captains that nothing is safe so long as navigation is left to chance, two serious wrecks have occurred within the last two months. In the former case, tbe Star of the Evening was lost near the Ariel Rocks, on the East Coast of the North Island ; and to this we have to add the loss of the Queen on Friday last. With the Star of the Evening perished several of her passengers and erew ; providentially, in the case of the Queen, the passengers and crew are saved. In both cases, however, the loss of pro-

perty, not ouly to the owners, bat to individuals, was considerable, and none but the sufferers can estimate the extent of the losses sustained by tbem in these dread calamities. In the absence of the reports which, will reach us frcm Wellington in the course of the day, the only reliable account of the disaster is that given by Dr. Cusack, and with which most of our readers are by this time familiar. It will be admitted that his unvarnished tale of the horrors of that night is impressive to a degree, from the absence of adornment which characterises the narrative, and the natural manner in which the thrilling incidents are depicted. Nothing occurred from the time of leaving Wellington until the vessel struck that was calculated to excited the curious or alarm the timid. Allwere lulled into a feeling of security by the flattering appearances that surrouuded them, and sought repose in the assurance that early the following day they would arrive at the termination of the voyage. In a moment the vessels strikes, aud rapidly fills ; the boats are hastily lowered, and, in a few minutes, passengers and crew are borne onward by the foaming current — fortunately to a place of safety, where tbey could congratulate themselves ou one of the most remarkable escapes ever recorded in maritime history. Our readers are aware that an official and Government inquiry follows all these shipping disasters as readily as cause follows effect, but it rarely happens that the result of such inquiries is such as to inspire the public with the hope that they will be rendered of less frequent occurrence. Some mild censure is sometimes administered to the owners or the captain, and he is let off with a reprimand on the ground of long experience and general good conduct. In the case of the Star of the Evening, which was wrecked a few weeks ago, the Court stated: "'Taking into consideration the darkness of the night, we are of opinion that a course outside the Ariel should have been steered, passing seven or eight miles to the eastward until he got into 40 fathoms of water, when a northerly course might have been taken with safety; It is but just to observe that the master has made about 60 voyages on the coast, and had never before met with an accident ; and that all on board do readily attest to his utmost personal attention during the whole of the night upon which he sustained the loss of his ship." No doubt it is considered by many remarkable that a master who has made so mauy voyages, and should be acquainted with every inch of the perilous navigation, should at last dash on the rocks be had so long and so happily shunned ; but it strikes us that the long exemption from serious accident, begetting a kind of conviction that impunity is owing to superior skill, is the cause why mistakes occur, the self-confident individual being taking by surprise, in consequence of not using the precautions which one less trustful of his own powers would have recourse to. The captain of the City of Dunedin, which was wrecked off Cape Terawiti in 1865, was supposed to have a perfect acquaintance with the coasts of New Zealand. He was also known to be fond of hugging the treacherous shore, a weakness arising from his superior knowledge and experience, and which a man of less local kuowledge would not have been guilty of. His ship did not go down in a heavy storm, but was driven by the current on the rocks, in half a gale of wind. It is rumored that the Queen was nnseaworthy and incapable of standing a shock from which a stronger boat would have escaped unscathed. This will be a subject of inquiry, and when the public know the facts, they will pronounce an opinion. It seems to ub that so long, as companies compel their officers to take vessels through such intricate and dangerous channels as abound on these coasts, in the darkness of the night, so long will wrecks occur, except prevented by-miracle* We know the reply that may bemadeto this, but we have yet to learta that aDy considerations of profit or advantage to companies or individuals are to be placed in comparison with the sacredness of human life. If the captain of the Queen has been through this passage, as he probably has been, a hundred times before, under-

similar circumstances and has, more fortunately than Captain Boyd, survived to tell tlie tale, he should be required to explain why he so miscalculated his position, and wby he did not give the dangerous rock a wider berth, ou this occasion. Without abandoning the theory that so long as navigation is conducted in darkness through these intricate channels, and without relieving the companies from the repousibility they incur, we are forced to conclude on this occasion, tbat tbe night was not so dark, as not to enable a seaman acquainted with the coast, aud alive to the responsibilities of. his position, to see where be was going and to keep tolerably free from danger. In medio tutissimus ibis, is as true now as ever it was, and if the night was not so dark as to prevent the sailors frorn steering the fragile boat by the outlines of tbe cliffs and headlands, it was not so dark as to excuse au experienced navigator for running his good ship ashore. As shipwreck is an event for which seamen ought always to be prepared, like a good general is for a retreat, too much care and foresight cannot be exercised in preparing the means of eecape. Boats are the only resource to look to, and it makes one shudder to think that that in which Dr. Cusack and his associates took refuge, depended for its existence, as well as the precious freight it contained, on the accidental presence of a couple of knives. Thia little incident, in our opinion, is in keeping with too many of the shipping airangements, to which the public life aud property are entrusted. Too much is taken for granted, and too little positively proved. Because boats have never been wanted they never will be, and it is not worth while troubling about them. Because a ship has gone a certain course a great number ox times with safety, it is not necessary to adopt such measures as will render failure impossible. We see the result of the fallacy, but see no remedy for it but in a superior mental and moral training on the part of those to whom helpless passengers are compelled to entrust their property and lives,