Untitled

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 35, 14 May 1881, Page 373

Mr. G. M. Waterhouse, writing to the iV. Z. Mail on the wreck of the " Tararua, " makes some startling assertions. He says :•— "Whatever may have been the cause which led to the loss of the vessel itself, the great loss of life attendant upon it may be attributed to two causes : — lst, the difficulty of launching the boats in a broken sea ; and, 2nd, the danger of taking the boats in safety to the land through a heavy surf. Your ordinary readers will doubtless read with astonishment, and your nautical readers with derision, that half a pint of oil would probably have allowed the boats to be launched without difficulty, and that an expenditure of two or three gallons of oil would have brought the boats to land in safety. The calming

effect of oil upon water has been long known, and the saying in reference to throwing oil upon troubled waters is founded upon actual experience. Its efficiency in cases of maritime danger has, of late years, been brought prominently under the notice of the public by Mr. W. Chambers, in his well-known journal, and favorable references to the same subject have recently appeared in the London Times. Of the many illustrations adduced by Mr. Chambers, I will mention only two. He states that the Shetland fishermen are in the habit of saving their boats from being wrecked in raging tideways by a very simple expedient. They crush in their hands the livers of any ling or cod they may have caught, and keep throwing them astern and around them. The effect is said to be magical. The waves are not lessened in size, but the oil keeps them from breaking, and thus extreme danger is avoided. The next illustration is even more striking : ' A Mr. Richie, who accompanied a Spanish captain to the island of Perto Santo, was standing on the shore during a hurricane, when lie saw the vessel in which he arrived torn from her anchors and swallowed up. Suddenly, in the middle of the bay appeared a boat driving towards the shore. The waves, however, advanced with redoubled energy, but without breaking, and tossed the boat so high on the strand that the men were able to jump out and .scramble on the beach. The rescue Avas due to the captain, who, as the boat entered the breakers, stove in the head of a keg of oil, which though unable to lessen their height, prevented the waves from breaking, and caused them to run up the strand like rollers, carrying the boat with them.'"