WHY SEA RISKS ARE INCREASED.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 263, 21 May 1866, Page 3

WHY SEA RISKS ARE INCREASED.

(From the Examiner.)

With reference to the terrible loss of the London the Times observes : —

" It is remarkable that the progress of science has given new dangers to the seas. Formerly, a well-built, well-found ship, with a skilful commander, had a good chance of riding out the heaviest gale, providing she had plenty of sea-room. The " old tubs " of former days managed to keep themselves afloat though the wind was taking the masts out of them, and tremendous seas were breaking over them. But in vessels in which the whole or chief motive power depends on keeping the engines going there are dangers which as yet have been insufficiently guarded against. On the same day we are informed of the foundering of two great steamships from the same cause. In the case of the London the sea carried away the engine-room hatch, torced its way into the engine-room, put out the fires, and stopped the engines. In the case of the Amalia the cause of the disaster was precisely similar." A steamer with her engines shopped or disabled, is in much the same jeopardy as a sailing ship with all her sails blown away ; but probably from her build the steamer is a more helpless and unhandy craft, from her great length, want of width of floor in the midship section, ca using deficient buoyancy, and comparatively little hold of the water. The remark of the Times is, indeed, quite just, that the old tubs of former days managed to keep themselves afloat in the weather which distresses or wrecks the finer vessels of the present time, and the fact may be thus explained. The tub did not fight against the storm; she was soon beat and gave in, ran for shelter, or hove to under easy sail, and with her head to wind rose and fell with the sea like a duck. The more powerful vessels of our time do not yield so easily, they battle with the gale till they receive some damage which disables them for the remainder of the struggle. So the unfortunate London was kept on her course by the help of her auxiliary screw till the storm carried avvay her jibboom, foretopmast, topgallant-mast, and royals. She was thus reduced aloft to a wreck, but still there was no apprehension of danger ; and it was not till nearly twenty hours afterwards that the captain resolved to give up the struggle and beat up for shelter, but it was then too late, for the sea had become too bad for running. To complete misfortunes, a heavy sea tumbled in,' swept away the hatchway over the engine-room, flooded, the engineroom, and put au end fop eve* to the working ot the engine. Wq have no doubt thftt Captain Martin, a true hero, did all that Qo.uld be done, qy tfo&kest skill, butt he may Jiftve rejiscl tQQ jnucsa en. his i «higi mi fc« Btiuft pWi mi m &Bgte

fon against the gale till a safe retreat before it could not be made. His royals were carried away. Is it usual to cany royals in the teeth of a furious storm ? There is such a thing ac being run away with at sea as well as on land, and an officer may carry tUl 4 he cannot take in. A ship must be made snug before the worst of a gale, or she will not be made snug at all. f?he London could not have been made snug when all that havoc was made of her upper masts, yards, and gear. She was then reduced to a condition unfavorable to her last chance — running. Nor was she in a state to lie to. For running, for wholesome sail to keep her before the sea, she must have wanted her foretopsails but it could not be set, the mast wat gone, and she had nothing to help her but her maintopsail, which was split as soon as shown to the wind, except a sort of goose wing, which was used (we are not told how) to keep -her head to wind through the night. * The case was then hopeless, utterly without resource. And so it will too often be when the power of mechanical science is pitted against the power of the storm. The fight may be long maintained, but the damage received will tell disastrously when the necessity of yielding can no longer be disputed. How many vessels weathered that gale, fierce as it was, vessels very inferior to the London, and which for that very reason fared better by succumbing in time to what they could not eventually contend against. And if the London had had no steam power to help her, she would either have lain to till the weather moderated, or borne up before the sea became too bad for running.

The main danger of steam vessels is their persistence in battling with weather till some mischief happens, like the swamping of the engine-room, or some injury to the machinery, which reduces them to the helplessness of logs on the water. It is to be deplored that the London took her departure in every menace of storm, and that she did not yield and heave to, or seek shelter till too late. Indeed she hardly seems to have made bad weather, in the technical sense, till it was utterly too much for her, and overwhelming. In proportion to the resistance she had offered was her ultimate exhaustien, as it were. She had expended in the struggle what would have served and saved her in the timely flight from it.

A correspondent of the Times, " 5.T.," questions the claim of the London to the description of a first-class ship, on the ground that after little more than nine been hours' content oniwith the gale with but the loss of a single important spar she foundered ; while the Christiana, an aged old-fashioned ship, swam in a succession of storms for nearly three weeks. We think the question raised by "S.Y." quite right, but his statement in support of it is not so correct. The London was full four days contending with the gale, and instead of not having lost an important spar, she had lost her jibboom, foretopmast, topgallantmast, and royals. Indeed, for sailing she was crippled, for she had not a head-sail available, except perhaps her fore course, which was not a sail suited to her circumstances and need. The opportunity of laying her to had been for ever lost ; and here it may be as well to endeavor to explain the effect of that manoeuvre. To lie to, the sails are so arranged as to counteract each other, the helm assisting the after sail, and so the ship head to wind, is kept nearly stationary, or steals gently through the water, easily mounting and descending the coming seas. The wind steadies her, and prevents her rolling. In this operation, indeed, some of the power of the gale is borrowed,.. to turn it to the account of the ship's safety. A few square yards of stout canvas are filled with a fierce wind, which so applied, places the vessel in the beat position for meeting the sea, besides steadying its motion.

But, unfortunately, when there is provision of steampower movement ahead, with the temptation to shorten the passage, even in the worst weather, is too likely to be preferred to the safe manoeuvre of lying-to under sail, and this seems to have been the ease with the unfortunate London. It may be a question for seamen, however, how the long ships new in fashion would behave hove-to, and whether from their build they have the requisite qualities and buoyancy. The old tubs would He to for ever, provided a little life was kept in them by steering way. The present terrible disaster should raise the question, "Where are we in navigation and seamanship?" To what have steam and its requirements brought us, and what have we lost for what we have gained.