PRESERVATION OF LIFE AT SEA.
THAT the miserable wreck of the Pegasus continues to excite a re- gretful attention, is shown in the letters which we still receive on the subject. One correspondent calls upon us to do justice. He takes exception to so much of our remarks as was based upon the supposition that Mr. MILLER, the master of the vessel at the time of the wreck, had also been the master when some previous accidents occurred. Mr. MILLER, it appears, was mate of the Pegasus for four or five years, and master for two years and a half; and in all that time no mishap had occurred. All that we founded, therefore, upon the alleged continuance of a foolhardy man in so responsible
an office, falls to the ground.
Another correspondent remarks, that such disasters create a great sensation for a time, but the sensation passes of, and nothing is done to prevent loss for the future. The remark is one made in every case of the kind; but the reproach particularly applies to shipwrecks, because several aids to safety, that are easy to procure, are as much neglected as if they did not exist. There are various afety-jackets, that of caoutchouc seeming the most convenient ; yet they are used anywhere but at the worst need. Our corre- spondent has been trying one : he went into water five feet deep, with his clothes on, and a caoutchouc jacket ; he floated, head and chest out of water, as easily at the float of an angling-rod; he tried to dive, but could not in any way contrive to sink ; if he had de- sired to drown himself, it would have been impossible. Now, all the souls on board the Pegasus might have been so provided that it would have been impossible to them to drown. But people re- serve these life-preservers for the perils of pleasure-bathing : those who go to sea and incur actual shipwreck take less precautions, or rather none.
Who should begin ? Undoubtedly, the Legislature should enter heartily upon the subject of passage-boats with a view to their ef- fectual regulation. A little inconvenience incurred in cabs and om- nibuses gives rise to the moat stringent laws for controlling hack- ney-carriages; but danger and death are privileged occupants of steam-boats. The seaworthiness of the vessel, the safety of its boilers, the capacity of the commander, are all points to be secured by competent legislative control. Vessels should not be allowed to do as many do on the Thames—to go in perpetual danger of upsetting or foundering from being over-crowded. A proportion should be fixed between tonnage and passengers. And above all, steam-boats should be provided with the means of enabling all on board to float. But legislation is slow, and should if possible be anticipated. Passengers, indeed, cannot well be expected to fur- nish themselves with a floating-apparatus : the landsman, who takes a trip to Edinburgh, Boulogne, or Herne Bay, once in a year, if so often, would hardly buy a dress for the purpose. People would laugh at his cowardice. But steam-boat owners are no less bound in humanity than they would be justified in self-interest, to begin the practice of keeping a floating-apparatus for all their passengers. The individual passenger only goes to sea once or so ; they have passengers always at sea. The more they diminish the perils of the ocean, the better for their profit. Why does not some com- pany begin, and take steps to announce in its handbills—" Plenty of safety-jackets and other floating life-preservers for all the pas- sengers on board?"
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