The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4654, 4 December 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1883.

The disaster which has befallen the s.B. Triumph in the Auckland harbor is a sad misfortune from not only one point; of view. Our contemporary, the Auckland Herald, is disposed to be rather eerere on the Captain and officers of the vessel, and Whether the remarks therein published are deserved or not, it ia certain that there is something defective in the Pilot Service which .calls for some, remark. Our readers are aware from the telegrams which I hare from time to time appeared in our ~columuns of the circumstances attending >the unfortunate event under notice, and

although it has been very plainly hinted that gross carelessness, ignorance, intoxication, or a desire to lose the vessel, one or other, or a combination of some or all of them, lie at the bottom of the occurrence, it is manifestly unjust to —even to vindicate the safety of the Auckland harbour—prejudice a case, surrounded as this one is, by such inexplicable circumstances; and over which such a halo of mystery, .as regards cause, seems to be thrown. Appearances, to judge by what we can learn, certainly would favor the -view that alcoholic indulgence or the more iniquitous thought of losing the vessel, was the cause of the catastrophe. The peculiar behaviour of those on board only tends to mystify an observer, and the telegrams expressing the callousness displayed by those who should bo most concerned, do not tend to dispel such unpleasant thoughts. Certain suggestions have been locally made as to the wisdom of the course pursued in taking the steamer through the passage which has proved her stopping point. This, of course, is a matter only to be answered, by the pilots, and while referring to them, it would be •as well to suggest, as seems apparent to us, that the duties of those piloting large vessels should have their field of labor extended. If, instead of leaving the Triumph inside of Tirifciri lighthouse, the steamer bad been conducted by a mariner thoroughly conversant with the place—as we presume pilots are—beyond the lighthouse, with a clear seaway to Cape Colville, this deplorable affair would not have been chronicled—at least not in such close proximity to Auckland harbor as it was, unless, indeed, the Triumph were turned back to stop on the rock. Not only would it appear necessary that pilots should in cases of large vessels, more par* ticularly those on a first trip to the port, conduct their charges beyond the places where they now leave them, but that the establishment of a pilot station on the island mentioned is most desirable.