South Canterbury Times. TUESDAY, FEB. 24, 1880.
Wii arc glad that a correspondent has directed public attention to the threemasted telescopes which frequent the port of Timaru. Our pretentions to nautical knowledge are but limited, but we venture to think that naval architects never intended their workmanship to be resting in an open roadstead for days and nights with their keels at an angle of 45 degrees. The dangerous condition of vessels while discharging at anchor in this port is becoming a matter of notoriety, and we trust the harbor authorities will lose no time in considering the necessity of imposing regulations which will effectually prevent captains from keeping their vessels riding all night with their noses out of water like spouting -whales or porpoises. Apart from the unnatural appearance which star-gazing ships present, a most serious risk is incurred, and, if we are not mistaken, some of the disasters with which this port has been credited have been due to the slovenly way in which cargo is discharged. The captain of a fine and and comparatively new barque, which was lost here not many weeks ago, attributed the disaster to the fact that when the gale occurred, his vessel was out of trim. It is eminently unsatisfactory that accidents which seriously compromise the reputation of this port should occur from causes that arc avoidable. We are aware that no amount of precaution will prevent occasional risks, and that vessels in process of being discharged cannot be constantly kept in trim, but we believe that a great deal of the risk that is incurred is perfectly unnecessary, and arises from a most unwise economy of time and trouble. Only last evening one of the vessels in the roadstead might have been observed riding at anchor with her keel poised as if she was intended to shoot the moon. Of course, the weather was fine, and everything passed off calmly and pleasantly, but the attitude of that vessel looked very much like templing providence. It is scarcely right, we think, that risks of this kind should be incurred. Atmospheric changes usually come without much warning, and masters of vessels are constantly liable to be caught napping. Insurance policies may reduce materially the mental distress which needless danger should provoke, but this very fact should put the harbor authorities on their guard. Masters or owners of vessels may have but a small pecuniary interest in the safe keeping of their property,' but the reputation of our harbor is at stake in a matter of this kind. Our correspondent, in his letter, offers some sound practical suggestion, and they ought to realise both prompt and earnest consideration at the hands of the gentlemen to whom the management and interests of this port are entrusted.
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South Canterbury Times, Issue 2164, 24 February 1880, Page 2
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461South Canterbury Times. TUESDAY, FEB. 24, 1880. South Canterbury Times, Issue 2164, 24 February 1880, Page 2
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