The Daily News WEDNESDAY, JULY 25. SEA TROUBLES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8164, 25 July 1906, Page 2

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, JULY 25. SEA TROUBLES.

Me* who go down to the sea in ships and imye their business in great waters, often enough, as we are so well aware in Now Zealand, never come ashore alive again. The loss of a couple of vessels, with their crews, off the coast of New Zealand, within the past week or so, emphasises the groat dangers that attend the life of a worker on a sailing vessel, the hopelessness of his position in time of gales, and tho inadequate means we have in New Zealand for the saying of lives. It is, beyond expression, pathetic to read of the drowning, one by one, of the crew of the Sir lienry off tho East Cape last week. To be drowned far out at sea is a death that is less terrible than to be drowned within a quarter of a mile of land, and to see upon the shore people who are powerless to help because they have no adequate appliances, is hideous. # # * # As we so well know, the coast of New Zealand is a most dangerous one. Seamen in these waters are probably as lino mariners as are to bo found in the world. The frequency of gales, unexpected squalls, reefs, sand-spits and other evils of seagoing, call for all the skill the marina can possess. There is so much competition, even in the carriage of goods by sea to-day that "wind j-immers" have to take big risks. Very often although tho risks :im; luij liie crews are small. H.-.iling s.dp ciuw.l are smaller to-day than they ev.H- were l;c!'o e. In fact, many of the smaller craft—and, indeed, some of the larger - are habitually worked short-handed, not he-' (sutMJ there are any mechanical device* aboard to ivairant the shortage, but because it is cheaper. On the .vhole, the sailor-man round the coasts of New Zealand has less to complain about than his brother in the Home sorvice, rLainly because a more humanitarian Government has insisted that a man at sea has some of the rights that the man ashore enjo)S. # 4 • *

The max at sea is as safe, as a general tiling, as the miner or the jockey, the mechanic or the factory li iixl. But the method of his death .is often so tragic that it impresses one, and makes one wonder if there is i.ut sometimes a culpability in theso tragedies of the great waters, apart from the action of the poor souls who are working the ship. A doctor chloroforms a patient to loath, Tin; death is "by misadventure." The doctor is not struck o!l' the ro'.l. The skipper of a craft that i> pcobably bei::g work' (1 with a crew h'..i r d' !mjouvments gets heiwi. !. 1L- is ii-r'iting the most tromemli' :s elements tiiat man lias t •••iiU-t.'! wif|\ 110 is often a bigger beio •'•tin si>,v ot!>w kind of a man I3ut stiuic-p.'ii 's ►r-'l him how lie should Imv • v>»: ;.»l iii.> s<i»ip t;> avojd collision i'i 1 liii!.■ i u i,ii a ice Oftex tho owners of n wrecked vessel dismiss a skipper for faults that their own greed is responsible for. Many a skipper of a schooner or other sailling ship knows iie ought to havo a crew of twelve when his owners insist that he shall go to sea with six —and if the skipper and crew are drowned, what matter? The insurances are all right. Sea insurance is in the unsatisfactory condition that shore insurance is in. That is to say, a good deal is taken on trust. Comparatively few houses are burned, and comparatively few ships are lost. The risks to the insurance companies being comparatively small, they don't insist on a full crew or too frequent examinations of the seagoing capabilities of vessels. The life of one A.l>. is of more consequence to tho country than tho loss of a scow or a schooner and a ,load of timber ; and for the purpose of saving life much more should be done in New Zealand ports. it? & t*

A witlLi: a Wellington limn felt

constrained, after the loss from a yacht of two very jnomiMng young men, to try every means to institute a lii'e-l;o;»t service in Wellington, The scheme did no! come to anything. There woru the usual meetings and the usual enthusiasm and the usual gush about, the poor sailor-man, but thole is no life boat. It is not that, the! e are 10 !>••!>• >»>• in tin* ftlpital with ii-.s'illi. i lit d.iiing and skill to ,iml; a lifeboat. It oae wanted an ilinsli.'i'c'.'m of t!i« fouwgc of the men of this country, one has only to let one's mind revert to the great lights of rescuers in mining accidents, tho quint selv s:u'i ifiee of bu.-hmen who have a maimed comrade to carry over miles and miles of lush tracks, the innumerable rescues iioin the sea under the worst possihie eon litions, and the subsequent modesty that has characterise 1 the rescuers.

One iast.anee of the readiness of the New islander to become a hero without knowing it occurs to us, although we could cite dozens. A boat was coming in to a northern wharf, and one of the sailors had removed a portion of the handrail ready foi-t.be gangway to I>:> juii a-hoi'". A passci.- - ovri; 'one him, lor <-l alii !Vll in: o the wnti'V. lie did no:. ri.-r, he was unconscious. A wii rf laborer imni- - ilii'.ti.ly jumped into the sea, and, after swimming a hundred and fifty yauls, di\ed for the man. lie dived several thues. ami, at last, fi.heil ihe man up and to',veil liiin ashore. -no easy matter as Ihe man was big, fully clothed and unconscious The moment the wharf laborer had completed hi-- task, he picked up his haiti! barrow and ics'.nae ] work. !!.

refuel 1o ■/»> lo n hotel and have ;i ehanije of rinlln's ;ui'l drink, on the ground that, the " bos<would do;'k his lime "if he got fooling about time any Joii^e!'. 51 And ' iiiM'e thousand's ol men iu New X-.'aiand of the s iiue >o\ t as that mm, ,i(vr another j.'iint in eor.uo. l'ur,\ wilii the >'•<!}■■ ■-. <:i' " whiti--\yih'_'s " liiowinfr aroiiud the-e M my of them iiri' no', safe until they hiW a load of tim bee alioii'd. Tie- v are! like a Mrrd! ya<'hfc without a eeiitu:hoard, f iuit is a dealli-tta|> f'T oac.iinl safe enough wii h liv- or ,-i\to hailist h>'r and the ranva.s something lo work on. Toeso boats perhaps take a load of tiuiUr down the It is. essential io the job of the master and his crew that tbo ship .shall make a good passage, be she a weary oil scow, a smart schooner or p. more aristocratic ship. All the other seows and schooners are racing her, and, when she is unloaded she turns for home again with sand ballast or something to keen her in the water. She can't sail very fast in heavy ballast, and when he is safe at sen, the thinking of hi* jub, jiwt

heaves the ballast overboard, and lets lier " rip." He is taking tho chances his owners expect him to take. Maybe the scow will bo washed up like bunches of seaweed on a rocky shore. Who examines ships that return empty to port to see if they have a proper quantity of ballast aboard 2 Who cares? The widows and orphans who read "None of the crew were saved."