ATLANTIC STEAMSHIPS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—Within the period of twenty-nine years, from 1844 to 1873, 42 Atlantic steamships have been lost, being on an
average for each year. In 1854 the number actually lost was 4; in 1864, also 4; in 1874, time will tell ; but in 1873 the number was 6 !
In the eleven years, 1845-55, the loss was 8 ; 1856.66, it was 20; and within the seven years which have elapsed of the next period the number has already reached 14. The loss seems to accumu- late towards the end of the period ; for example, of the 8 lost between 1845 and 1855, 6 occurred in the last four of the eleven years, against 2 in the first seven years,—a ratio for an equal num- ber of years of 10 to 2 ; of the 20 lost between 1856 and 1866, 9 occurred in the last four of the eleven years, against 11 in the first seven years,—a ratio of 3 to 2. This last ratio shows clearly that the result is independent of the increased number of steamers, and is a complete answer to any suggestion that I attri- bute the losses to recklessness ; for it would be absurd to suppose that captains and seamen sail alternately carefully for seven years and recklessly for four, or that they are reckless in an extraordi- nary degree every ten or eleven years. And yet there must be some manifest cause for these results.
We have now entered upon the last four years of the next period, and unless some change takes place—unless sailing is con- ducted with an extra degree of care to lessen the effects of that cause as much as possible—the average loss will be at least three steamships each year during the four years.
Whether 1873 has been the most disastrous year known for shipping generally, I am unable to say, but it has been for Atlantic steamers ; and in regard to the fisheries on the North-American coast, the Cape Ann Advertiser says that 1873 has been the most disastrous in the destruction of life and property of any since the establishment of the fishing business there, 174 lives and 31 vessels having been lost in the year.—I am, Sir, &c., B. G. Jermats.
P.S.—When I wrote the above no Atlantic steamship had been lost in 1874, but within the present week news has arrived of the foundering of two, the ' Europe' and the ' Amerique.'—B. G. J.
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