THE TRIBUTE OF THE SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 175, 17 August 1909, Page 3

THE TRIBUTE OF THE SEA.

£10,000,000 LOST YEARLY OFF THF BRITISH COASTS.

Lear after year s'hip fi an d cargoes to ho tim of some ten million pounds i tw uT? d tho BritUh «°"ti Ti'i ™,rd ° "' C ,pa >' t0 tllc seas to guaid our shores. Hardly any of tic sunken ve.,scl s arc recovered; "for it fa the incomprehensible fact that hitherto Cu-at Britain, the richest and most Powerful of all maritime countries ha been content to be without any efficient salvage organisation for dealing prompty and rapidly with the onornro, s mi,. her of vessels lost i„ her waters "| though over fifty per cc;lt . of t| ; * cant,!e marine of the w-orld eails uden ■^,?£ t,Bh "?*' !t * »<* known it m all large salvage operations even upon I our own coasts we are compelled to seek I the assistance „f foreign salvage compauies, remaining strangely indifferent i °. the vast wealth in ships and™„ lying neglected off OUr s |',ores. j"C Siclie, Gonna,,, and Co., the largest mhJiiarmc engineers' i„ their last year's catalogue, wrote: "It is greatly to \* ratted that England, thfn,olpowc r : iiTcTt, ,I,,tonin ' thcworl ' I '' l, '> i > l '' still be without some proper salvage organisation empowered o leal 5 tiously with all vessels sunk off • coasts, especially hj, vicw of tl ' t ' ° ment which te mil(le "* thonty, that the value of vessels and cargoes annually lost on the BritW coast exceeds £9.000,000."

PROFITS OF SALVVJK Only now and again is a voice -nisei against the national indifference tosea salvagc, or to urge the need either of „ State organisation ,(o reduce the prodigious tribute paid lo the s0 J° f a British company adequately equipped for rescue work. Chiefly i n the law courts, where in the end all cn l of wrecks must come, has that urgent ones, tion of salving ships been discussed. «U is of the highest importance to foster the maintenance of salvage vessel, ?,r£l„ OUr !°? StS '" said t,,e of the Rolls not long s i„ce; and Mr. Juslice Gorcll Banes, giving judgment in a recent case, uttered words full of ™ i y «?!"' rc I"' 01,<,n to the British pop)c:«ltwasa.„iattc,-,"lleis,-eporti 1 eis,-eport-i o,t extraordinary, when the enormous volume of British commerce which Massed up ami down these coasts was taken into consideration, that there was no salvage craft belonging to Briti"h owners. t was therefore obvious that >cr>ons who launched in enterprises of this character deserved to be adequately compensated." For those who launch on these enterprises with efficient mea.i, of carrying, them through there would lie overwhelming compensation. As' it is, with the means employed, salvia work ,s one of the most lucrative of'?"] businesses, although hardly any o! Die wrecks -are recovered on account of the Jack of efficient instruments for raisin* vessels from the bottom of the sea ° The operations of one Swedish company alone during the few years of its existence have resulted i n "the salving of vessels, m their damaged condition representing a value of over £5,500000 So enormous are the remunerations paid to salvage companies' that, as a general rule, they exceed half the value of the property recovered. The Brothers Bambino, of Genoa, to take onlv'onc ca<Tc received £52,000 for a few davs' work on H.M.S. Sultan, though her deck was barely unde r water. H.M.S. Gladiator, wrecked last year, was raised at a cost of £50,000.

SOME OF THE LOSSES To glance at the figures which speak ot the wrecks in the world's water is to gam some idea of what work and what profit awaits a Salvage oramisnt"" 1 ' ,!L W ? Ukl ' the Vl ' ar ™<' ed 30th ■lone. 1000-7, as being the last statistics published, we find that the vessels of the world numbered 17,004, of which 15,265. with a tonnage of 18 014180 failed under the British flag. Of thc=e 15.205 ships. BSB3 vessels, tonnage 7,003,720, suffered casualties. Thene figures, flic latest available, are below (he average, but they speak of shins and cargoes damaged' in a. year of a value of hundred? of millions." They do not include .the ships'of the Rovnl Navv and they mean that over half'the ships and nearly half their tonnage belonging to the nation reported casualties on the Tear either home o r abroad. In ;he same year the number of ships tli.it met with casualties on the coasts of 'he United Kingdom alone totalled 3784. of which 453 were foreign ships. The value of the ships would lie small in comparison with the value of the lost eargoesoften precious cargoes of bullion, ores, pearls, and other jewels. England Is the latest of the world's markets for jewels I and the products of mines. At a moderate computation, the gigantic value totally lost on the British coasts alone in a year is. as we have mentioned. .■£10.000.000. Tf one in a hundred sunken ships were raised, enormous profits would be made by a salvage company provided with strong, powerful, effective, and simple apparatus.—Evening Standard.