ENGLAND'S LOSSES AT SEA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11243, 13 October 1898, Page 6

ENGLAND'S LOSSES AT SEA.

The most absorbing and yet most dreadi'iA books in the world {says a writer in the London Daily Mail) are the returns the Board of Trade makes each year to Parliament. They tell of the wrecks and loss of life that British ships and sailors have suffered during the preceding year. They have never been presented to the public as a. whole, and it « difficult to extract" totals from the yearly reports, though experience lias shown the officials simpler ways of arranging their figures than were at first adopted. The first report was published in 1867, and is a voluminous document of 105 pages. It U preceded by threb charts, England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively, which .show by means of a small circle or Jross each of the casualties of the yeav. The effect produced upon the map by the hosts of crosses, etc., at such parts of the coast as those near Yarmouth or the Goodwin Sands is very curious.

The reports are very careful to discriminate when a casualty has resulted from a collision, the main object being to show the wrecks that " have been caused by the action of wind, current, or shoal," and which maybe prevented to a certain extent by increasing the number of lights and beacons, while the places where life-saving apparatus is most needed may be seen at a glance.

The report at first dealt only with wrecks that occurred within-an arbitrary line drawn round the coast at a distance of 12 miles from the shore, but in 1870 the casualties in foreign parts were added. That additional security is given to vessels at sea. may be seen 1 from the fact that while to-day there'have I been all over the world during the last 21 , ye-vv-j 19.557 wrecks, there were during the 11 I years 1856 to 1866 4998 on the British coast alone. Of these, it-may be noted that ■ tho largest proportion occurred on the east coast. The loss of lives during the years 1859 to 1865 mustered 6488, the .returns being only for the coa&t of Britain.' By far the greater number were lost on the west coast, the number being materially increased by the wreck of the Royal .Charter in 1859. It may bo mentioned that no fewer than 343 foundered and stranded during what 13 known a.i the Royal Charter gale, in 1859. : That while tho east coast is more fatal to ships, the west is still more dangerous to life, is shown by the fact that in 1895-96 the loss of lives was far greater on the west coast than on all the other parts of England put together. Of foreign shipwrecks the report tells little;" thus there is no account of theloss of the German Elbe in the North Sea. But far and away in importance beyond the enormous loss of property is the astounding waste of human life. It is impossible to believe that in 21 years the 50,000 people that have been swept away into eternity need all have died had our chips been properly found, properly managed, and properly manned. For it must be 'remembered that these figures do not include the many _ cases in which men have been killed by accident, or have been drowned by falling o\'erboard, while if tho cases of men that have died from disease, that might possibly be traced in many instances to insufficient or bad food, were included, the total would be enormously increased. ■ . It will be seen by referring to the list of shipping disasters that many which involved the greatest loss of life have occurred in the East, and the condition in which some of the ships, owned by natives, put to sea is well known. But is there any other pursuit in which there is such mortality? And the reflection forces itself upon the mind that there is a shameful prodigality of life at.sea, and that matters are not much better than when, in 1883, Mr Chamberlain addressed a deputation from the Associated Chambers of Shipping in the United Kingdom, as follows:—"Of the number of. seamen employed, one in 60 mcl with a violent death last year, from drowning, Well, now, are you gentlemen here present, gentlemen of experience and knowledge, going to tell me that in all these cases—l would . almost say in, a large portion of these eases— theso terrible disasters were the act of God for which no human being is responsible? 1 don't believe it." The causes of the various shipwrecks contain suggestions for innumerable nautical novels; thus we read " Scuttled by Lascars," "Crushed in Ice," "Collision With an Iceberg," "Spontaneous Combustion of Cargo," "Deck Swept of all Hands," " Machinery Faulty," and so on. The reports are careful to tell exactly the status of those who have been lost, and stowaways are frequently mentioned, while, where possible, tho component parts of the crew are stated, •whether European or Lascars. • ' The following is a list of some oi the great disasters of the second half of the present century.:— • . ■

On. Wo, 277 lives lost, on April 30, 1896, collision off the coast of China. Wairarapa, 126 lives, on October 29, 1894, Barrier Island, New Zealand. Drummond Castle, 247 lives, on June 30, 1896, off Ushant, Kow Shing, .1197 lives, on July 22, 1894, sunk by Japanese man-of-war, Naniwa Kali. H.M.S. Victoria, 404 lives, on July 31, 1893, collision with the Camperdowii, in the Mediterranean.

Roumnnia, 107 lives, on October 28, ISO 2, coast of Portugal. . Bokhara, 134 lives, on October 10, 1592, lost in hurricane off Formosa. Decean, 258 lives, not heard of since sailing' from Calciitta, February 9, 1892. ' Nanchow, 361 lives, on January 8, 1891, at Breaker Point, China Sea. • Shanghai, 400 lives, in December, 1890, burnt in Yang-tse-Kiang River. Utopia, 568 lives, .on March 17, 1890, collision with H.M.S. Anson in Gibraltar Bay. Quetta, 133 lives, on February 28, 1890, Queensland. Vaiturna, 746 lives, not heard of since passing Porbenda, November 8, 1888. Wah Yeng, 500 lives, on November 15, 1887, burnt in Canton Eiver. \V. A. Scholten, 127 lives, on November 19, 1887, collision off North Sands Head, Goodwin Sands. ' Benten, 128 lives, on March 29, 18S7, colli- [ sion in the Stiaits of Malacca. Sir John Lawrence, 776 lives, not heard of since sailing from Calcutta, March 25, 18S6. Kapunda, 296 liv,es, on January 20, 1896, collision off Brazil. States of Florida, 118 lives, on April 18, 1894, collision in North Atlantic. Teuton, 226 lives, on August 30, ISBI, foundered off Quoin Point, Cape Colony. H.M.S. Dotterel, 143 lives, on April 26, 1881, explosion off Punta Arenas, Chili. Tararua, 130 lives, on April 29, 1881, off Waipapapa Point, New Zealand. ■ Borussia, 154 lives, on October 2, 1879, in North Atlantic. . . . '. H.M.S. Eurydice, 318 lives, on March 24, 1878, Dunosc, I. of W. Atacama, 102, lives,' on November 30, 1877, Copiapo Biver, Chili. Schiller, 331, lives, on May 7, 1875, stranded on the Retarier, Rocks, Scilly Isle 3. Asia, 821 live?, on November 6, 1873, off Hainan- '.'. . ■ Indus,, 420 lives, not heard of since sailing from Calcutta, January 6, 1873. Cospatrick, 470 lives, oil November 17, 1874, burnt in South Atlantic. In addition to the above there also foundered the Atlantic, in 1873, when 545 lives were lost, and .in 1870 H.M.S. Captain, 500 lives, foundered on Saturday, September 7, in the Bay of Biscay; and the City of Boston, 191, that sailed from New York, and was never heard of. The above ships, with the exception" of the Schiller, were registered as British shipr and owned by British subjects.