CLIFFORD'S APPARATUS FOR LOWERING BOATS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVI, Issue 1242, 9 August 1859, Page 2 (Supplement)

CLIFFORD'S APPARATUS FOR LOWERING BOATS.

Mr. Clifford, the well-known but hitherto ill-paid .inventor of the best means of securing the prompt lowering of boats at sea, has addressed the following letter to the Times on the valuable services rendered by* his apparatus in tht case of the burning of the Sarah Sands : — " Sir,— l am well aware that the crowded state of your columns can ill afford room for a notice of any subject not having a pressing claim of public importance ; but, now that the question of the safety of passengers at sea has once more been erokedin Parliament, and an attempt seems likely to be made to do away with the responsibilities of carriers of passengers at sea, which under Lord Campbells Act, attach equally to them with carriers of 'passengers on shore, I trust you will find room for the remarkable instance I am about to adduce in proof of the public good that must result from this priuciple being, pushed riot only to the extretnett point, but also -fro ,n the forced observance (by legal enactment,) of. far more stringent

regulations, in all ships, of the necessary precaution! 'Tor, the safe'y, of life in ' oases of jemeyrency, now wilfully wHhhenrsbtely'thfough considerations of coit. - - " You have so often and so earnestly insisted on the paramount importance of all ships carrying " boat* on board fitted with an efficient means of lowering them instantly and s^fejy, that it will perhaps be hardly credited that not one in a hun 'red owners ever pays any heed to such a thing, or has any boat so prepared on board ; and that it is only because the Government will not employ shipi for the conveyance of troops or emigrants unless sui h a provision is made in them, that even they tike anything of the kind. " The Sarah Sands steam troopship was chartered by the Government under the usual regulations, including the one to which I have just referred, for the conveyance of troops to India. Her memorable preservation, though half consumed by fire, and also that of the live* of the troops and all on board, must be fresh in the memories of your readers, j but the writer of the leading article that appeared in your paper at the time, drawing special attention to the fact of the boati having been on that occasion of such essential service, little thought, when he said what he did in ignorance of the real facts of the case (and which I now for the first time make public), how important a cor roborat ion they would be in jupport of the principles you have so often advocated of the public importance of the' enforced observance of such a salutary regulation in every ship. That article says:— 'Now, there was a hea\y gale blowing at the time, and the flames were playing about the deck. It became necessary to lower the boats, and, strange to say, for once in the case of a conflgration at tea the boats were lowered in safety. The women and children were securely stowed away, and the boats pulled beyond the reach of danger to await the result. The boats were lowered without the least accident.' " I will now add Captain Castles' report on the subject, which Ims only just reached me (he having gone on to the Mauritius)', and hence my inability at the time to slate certainly how the results you then mentioned were effected. I use his own words :— • " '] n reply to your inquiries as to the use made of your boat-lowering apparatui (fitted by order of the Government) in the steam transport Sarah Sands, I am happy to tell you that, immediately after the discovery of the ship being on fire, the ladies and children, with the boats' crews and provisions, were ordered into the lifeboats fitted with your gear, and lowered by it withwithout the slightest accident, although there was a heavy sea running at the time. I would not have attempted lowering a boat with such a freight in it by the ordinary method, as it would hays- been attended with (oo great risk, and an accident to those poor helpless creatures at such a moment would have been followed by great confusion on board, whereas confidence was inspired in all by the cass and safety with which it was done. I am only very thankful that I had it on that trying occasion,' &c. " I leave the public to form their own judgment on these facts, and of the lives that might be saved by the simple application of an efficient means of lowering the boats, if generally applied ; but is is the observance of such regulations that it is now proposed to do away with " Surely, there must be left some member of the House of Commons whose patriot breast can find a corner for the consideration of humanity to nestle in, and on the power of whose eloquence the drowning passenger and the struggling seamen, when backed by the tears of the widow and fatherless, have equal claims with the 40s. freeholder! or, innst the Times still remain the only champion with courage to cross a lance in this just cause because political capital cannot be made out of it? " Your obedient servant, " Chaklbs Clifford."