LOSS OF THE S.S. RANGOON.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 903, 21 December 1871, Page 3

LOSS OF THE S.S. RANGOON.

The particulars to hand show that the vessel haß been lost in a most simple manner, though how she had been allowed to become a wreck so simply is by no means so clear. She had steamed from her moorings outside the rockstrewn harbour of Point de Galle, she had then stopped for a mail boat that had not yet come on board, and had then quietly drifted away in the strong current which sweeps by the mouth of the bay, and had gone on one of the reefs which abound in the locality. A pilot was on board, and Captain Skottowe, the commander, is known to be a cautious seaman. We are informed that the finding of the court of inquiry, although it has not yet been made known, is to the effect that "no blame is attached to any person in particular - " This is a fixed principle in our glorious Briltish institutions. It was so in the good old coaching days. The pleasant, jolly, anecdotal coachdriver would sometimes, in displaying the speed of his horses and his own skill, upset the coach in turning a sharp corner at the foot of the bill: one or two passengers would be bruised or have their limbs fractured or worse ; inconvenience and loss and delay would be occasioned ; but there was always the gratify, ing circumstance that ao blame could be attributed to the driver. Now we have a fine mail steamer, with full engine power, well manned, well officered, ably commanded, and with a pilot on board; she is in water every inch of wbich-is known with exactness ; the weather was calm ; there was neither wind nor darkness, nor uncertainty of ground, nor an irresistible current, nor an unknown reef; and with all these favourable conditions, with this total absence of any unfavorable ones, the vessel is wrecked, the passengers are subjected to great loss and I extreme peril, the Australasian colonies are deprived of the month's mails, absent friends are more completely sundered, parted relatives are made to feel their separation more sadly, business is disarranged, we are more.'completely isolated from the rest of the world, numberless inconveniences are occasioned, and when enquiry is made as to who or what is accountable for all this, we learn that Vno blame is attached to any person in particular."