THE LOSS OF THE OCEAN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 124, 28 May 1877, Page 4

THE LOSS OF THE OCEAN

The Auckland -Eferald writea thus severely on, the loee of this fine ship, and the subsequent proceedings in connection with it :—

• Ou tbe first announcement of the -wreck by telegraph as received 1 last week, the first thought that presented itself was, that the ship had no business whatever in such close proximity to the island. She was some 200 miles oat of her course. That she should be so was only a natural result of the utter disregard: which, throughout the brief hut unfortunate voyage, was shown to all requisite and necessary precautions fyhich a shipmaster entrusted with over a hundred, thousand pounds worth of property, and, the. lives of his passengers, and crew, was bound to exercise. The fact that there had been heavy betting on the voyage home between the master of the wrecked ship and the master of the Avalanche was a beginning by no means satisfactory. Racing too often implies recklessness, and that is one of the worst attributes which could mark the character of a shipmaster charged with the care of valuable lives and valuable property. And what followed all this foolish betting ? First of all there was the supreme folly of Captain Watson going on board the Avalanche at 10 o'clock in tbe, morning, and remaining there till 4 o'clock in the afternoon, leaving his, ship in charge of officers whose untrustwprthineas is but too clearly shown by the evidence presented to the Court of Inquiry.and the punishments awarded to negligence and perjury.; which., these three officers displayed at that Court, What but a

desire for senseless carousing could have, taken the master of suoh a ship from his important charge the second day from port, and induced him to go on board another homeward-bound vessel, getting his boat stove in while he was dining- and wining in the cabin of the other vessel, and endangering tbe lives of the men whom he had no reasonable excuse for taking from the proper work of his ship ? Such inconsiderate conduct in itself implied a want of judgement which was calculated to lead to danger and disaster. And to these it did lead, as the valuable wreckage strewn along tbe shores of Matarakau too plainly demonstrate. Then something worse followed. The criminal neglect shown in not only omitting, but by direct orders of the captain, refusing to mark tbe progress of the ship by means of the log deserves a more severe punishment than than that awarded by the Court of Inquiry. That Court offered a very small amount of palliation in regard to the thirteen miles of difference of longitude, and one mile difference in latitude of the Cbathams in the chart used by tbe master, but that is a factor in the sum all but infinitesimal, and, in point of fact, forms no excuse at all in consideration of the wide sea-room which a proper course, duly reckoned by any other than pure guess-work, would unquestionably have secured. Moreover this variation in the chart was known more than three years ago. The American scientific party who visited the Chatham Islands to observe the transit of Venus in 1874, corrected the error, and we maintain that after such a correction, no shipmaster having command of a vessel like the Ocean Mail, should have been ignorant of this error iv old charts. This is a point which is well worthy of the consideration of marine iusurance companies. Not that in this case it is worth a farthing as an argument to favor the escape of the captain and officers of the Ocean Mail from well-merited censure and punishment; but this question of chart alteration, whenever necessary, should be one to which all insurance agents ougbt to be instructed to give speedy attention, and enforce their knowledge on all insurers of ships. This would help in some cases both to lessen risks and reduce the hazard to lives, It is a question for shipowners and freighters also.

The perjury commuted by the second and third mates, (the latter an uncertifieated officer.) regarding [the use or rather non-use of the log, and their inducing the poor apprentice boy to tell lies on oath touching the same affair, is a matter of a deplorable nature, and tells the story of the general character of those in command, To the credit of the first mote, notwithstanding his mistakes, let it be said that from the first he refused to be a party to this system of perjury, and hesitated not to declare

that the log never was used, and that! this precution web willfully avoided by order of tbe captain, whose ignorance! on this subject was on a par with hia unfitness for such an important com-' mand.

Regarding the sale . of the* wrecked; ship and cargo, the indecent haste which marked the arrangement for carrying such sale into effect, the want; of publicity in a place where the inhabitants are sparse and scattered, — on these points we are averse from dilating at length, as we hope to see the various Insurance Companies concerned taking such action at law as will overturn a transaction in which,if the facts stated are ; correct, justice to those interested in the matter would not appear not to have been attended to, Wreckers of the old style are one thing, and the legitimate sale of wreckage is another. What the insurance companies require to look to is that no facilities shall be offered, under cover of pretended legal dealings, for sacrificing valuable property after tbe manner in which this ship and. her cargo have been sacrificed at the Chatham Islands.