THE LOSS OF THE EURYDICE.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 46, 17 August 1878, Page 3

THE LOSS OF THE EURYDICE.

I'ainful as it may I* to bee a eonelu■|on reflecting on those who have lost their lives, the conclusion cannot bo escaped that the Eurvdice was lost by bad seamanship. The mere fact that many small vessels met nnd weathered the iquall which capsized her is enough to prove this; but, apart from this, it must b<' pointed out that there must have been very great carelessness and want of vigilance on board th<- ill-fated vessel. The weather was threatening, the glass was going down rapidly, if there was to be a squalls the vessel was iu an especially dangerous'situation for meeting it, being dose in under the high land, whence, as every sailor knows, squalls always come down with double force and often in any and every direction at once. Under these circumstances, the captain was running an entirely unjustifiable risk in having all his kites (lying and his ports open, neither of which things should have been permitted by a prudent navigator in the state of things in which the vessel was at that time. A gradual rise in the wind he could huvo met and dealt with easily enough ; but a sudden squall was certain to be very dangerous, and it was precisely a sudden squall which seemed likely to come, if anything came at all, ;tri(l which was certain to come with especial force upon a vessel close in under the high land. At that time and in that place where the squall struck, her, the Eurydico, instead of having her ports open and all her canvas, from her royals to her studding-sails set, as she had, should liave been snugged an hour before, and her ports closed, in which case she would have fared as well as the numberless small crafts which were out in the same squall. To refuse this conclusion would be to admit that a captain is justified in taking no precautions at all, and to give a distinct encouragement to that want, of care and vigilance which, and not the defects in the ships themselves, are the principal causes of disaster at sea.

We protest most emphatically against tho questions arising out of this catastrophe being treated as though it wero a matter concerning only the reputation of the poor fellows who have gone down. The question is not that, but n far more grave and serious one—namely, whether the vessels in the Queen's service are to be handled in a prudent and seamanlike manner. Wo are convinced that the Eurydice was not so handled ; and to say that show.as, in order to screen the memory of the dead, or to spare the susceptibilities of the living, would bo to give a public encouragement to carelessness and lubberliness not only in the Navy but in all other cases, and that at a time when those very defects are most seriously on the increase and likely to bring about disaster of greatly increased gravity.—Vanity Fair.