THE TARARUA DISASTER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 6272, 19 May 1881, Page 2

THE TARARUA DISASTER.

It is reverses tliat reveal weak points, and, after all is over, the retrospect invariably discloses how much of the worst might have been averted, if so and so had been done, or if such and such had been avoided. In the case of the late Tarnrua disaster, for instance, there is something to be learned, albeit we must say that, so far as we know, exclusive of the one cardinal blunder, there is less cause for reproach than generally lies at the door of such disasters. All that could be done under the circumstances to mitigate the catastrophe was faithfully attended to, and that, we regret to say, was but little. "Where there is no outside help, a vessel in such distress must fall back upon her own resources, and those, of course, are boats and rafts, and men skilled in their management. Whilst it is a fact that many wrecks have occurred on the coast of New Zealand, it is no less a fact that they have involved comparatively little loss of life. The coast line on the whole is rot inhospitable, and vessels stranded do, as a rule, hold together until their occupants are rescued. Even when the Surat with her crowd of immigrant passengers went on shore close to Catlins River (an ugly place) not one was drowned and very little physical suffering resulted. So with all the other wrecks on that part of the coast, the loss of life has been next to nothing. The Tararna disaster is therefore exceedingly exceptional in the severity of its effects. And it is because of this that the public naturally ask can nothing be done to moderate consequences in such a case, a case that may be repeated, for there is no guarantee against it. Now we know that a very great deal may be done to save life by the aid of good boats well-handled. It is presumed that passenger steamers are well provided for in this respect, at any rate the provisions of the Act bearing upon boat equipment must be complied with. The number and size of the boats carried are governed by the tonnage of the vessel. At first sight the provision made is liberal enough, but when the tonnage is discarded and the number of passengers carried considered instead, the subject wears a different aspect. The public imagine, and naturally, that passenger steamers are equipped with enough boats to carry all on board iu case of wreck. Tins, however, is a misconception, for to meet such a demand a steamer would have to be covered with boats to give boat accommodation to a full complement of passengers and crew. There is nothing new about this phase of the argument. It has been discussed again and again, and a variety of propositions have been advanced to provide enough floatage power and space too, in the event of wreck, give passengers and crew a last chance for life. It has been proposed to so construct deck-houses that they might be floated off, and form good substitutes for boats, and plans have been suggested whereby all the larger of a vessel’s fittings might be converted into rafts, &c. But none of these propositions have yet received general application passenger vessels still go to sea only partially provided with the means of saving life iu the event of a grand catastrophe occurring. The truth is that the problem is exceedingly difficult of solution, and by a sort of tacit admission those “ who go down to the sea in ships” are prepared to incur a certain risk. In the case of the Tararna we aro glad to say that, so far as insufficiency of boats was concerned, this risk was not incurred. She carried one boat in excess of the prescribed number, and when she was lost her boats could have accommodated every soul on boat'd. She had two large boats fitted as lifeboats, and three others. But her lifeboats were only life boats of a certain kind, and wore scarcely fitted to battle with a raging surt on alee shove. lor ordinary purposes they were amply sufficient, and hence the question whether every passenger steamer, of and above a certain size, ought not to be equipped with about constructed on the highest principles of life-pre-serving. Such a boat would have undoubtedly proved of the greatest service at the wreck of the Tararua—that is, providing there were meu on board who understood bow to handle her properly. And this introduces another phase of the question we are

discussing. Is sufficient attention paid to boat-drill on board passenger steamers? Are the crews exercised in that most difficult of all nautical manoeuvres —getting boats out and frightened people into them, in a downright sea way? Again, is enough consideration given to the contingency proved, alas! possible by the Tararua disaster —of having to work boats in a heavy surf on a lee-shore ? We fear not; and also that the great majority of the seamen employed on board the passenger steamers of this colony are comparative tyros at boat work. To handle a boat full of people in a sea-way demands skill only to be acquired by much practice, and still greater skill is required to beach a boat in a heavy surf. Next to going into action or (( laying on” to a wicked whale, there is nothing so trying to the nerves and skill as taking a boat through a heavy surf to shore. And yet in a _ good boat, ably manned, the operation is comparatively easy, but there must be no funk, and everything must be done exactly at the right moment, and with hand-breadth precision. We can accord the Union Company the highest meed of praise for the general equipment of their fine steamers, and we are quite sure that the directors would do anything in their power to provide still further for the safety and comfort of every one committed to the keeping of those steamers. Now, we are of opinion that the ends of safety would be very much served if each steamer was provided with a boat constructed expressly to work in a heavy sea-way and surf, and that care was taken that out of the crew there should be at least one or two men thoroughly conversant with the handling of surf-boats. We would urge steamboat companies in their own interests to leave no stone unturned to convince the public of the safety of sea travelling. Every disaster increases the prestige of the railways. shall be very much mistaken if the loss of the Tararua does not materially increase the passenger traffic on the line 1 ‘ from Amberley to the Bluff.”