PART I. INTRODUCTION. system of In THE subject of these pages is the system of Inquiries Origin of the into Shipping Casualties, and into the competency quiries. and conduct of officers of the Mercantile Marine. That system owes its origin to the resolutions of a Select Committee appointed by the House of Commons in the year 1836, to inquire into the causes of the shipwrecks, which at that time had by their increasing frequency aroused public attention. and concern. Select Committee of 1836. The Committee, after a full Inquiry, and as the result of the evidence before them, recommended, The Committee among other measures for diminishing the large recommended: loss of life and property annually occurring at sea, 66 The institution quiry into Shipwrecks. prac of Courts of In 'the arrangement of a plan for the institution of B With power to pronounce cenor commanders. sure on owners To publish the proceedings in each case. To suspend licenses or cer tificates in cases of gross incomneglect of duty. of And to reward petency or gross Principal causes of shipwreck stated. Causes of the admitted incom ters and officers. to their assistance from other vessels, or from the shore." In treating of the principal causes of shipwreck, the Committee stated: "That among the various causes of shipwreck, which appear susceptible of removal or diminution, the following appear to be the most frequent, and the most generally admitted: "1. Defective construction of ships. ‘2. Inadequacy of equipment. "3. Imperfect state of repair. "6. Incompetency of master and officers. The Committee further reported as follows:"That the frequent incompetency of masters and petency of mas- officers appears to be admitted on all hands, this incompetency sometimes arising from the want of skill and knowledge in seamanship, but more frequently from the want of an adequate knowledge of navigation, it being proved that some masters of merchant vessels have been appointed to command after having been for a very short time at sea; that others have hardly known how to trace a ship's course on the chart, or how to ascertain the latitude by a meridian altitude of the sun; that many are unacquainted with the use of the chronometer, and that very few indeed are competent to ascertain the longitude by lunar observations, while some are appointed to command merchant vessels at periods of such extreme youth (one instance is given of a boy of fourteen, all of whose apprentices were older than himself), and others so wholly destitute of maritime experience (another instance being given of a porter from a shipowner's warehouse who was made a captain of one of his ships) that vessels have been met with at sea which were out of their reckoning by several hundreds of miles, and others have been wrecked on coasts from which they believed themselves to have been hundreds of miles distant at the time." "That drunkenness, either in the masters, officers, Drunkenness. or men, is a frequent cause of ships being wrecked, leading often to improper and contradictory orders and directions on the part of the officers; sleeping on the look-out, or at the helm, among the men, occasioning ships to run foul of each other at night, and one or both foundering; to vessels being taken aback or overpowered by sudden squalls, and sinking, upsetting, or getting dismasted, for want of timely vigilance in preparing for the danger; and to the steering wrong courses so as to run upon dangers which might have otherwise been avoided." "That the practice of taking large quantities of ardent spirits as part of the stores of ships, whether in the Navy or in the Merchant Service, and the habitual use of such spirits, even when diluted with water, and in what is ordinarily considered the moderate quantity served to each man at sea, is itself a very frequent cause of the loss of ships and crews. Ships frequently taking fire from the drawing off of spirits, which are always kept under hold; crews frequently getting access to the spirit casks, and becoming intoxicated, and almost all the cases of insubordination, insolence, disobedience of orders, and refusal to do duty, as well as the confinements and punishments enforced as correctives, both of which must for the time greatly lessen the efficiency of the crews, being clearly traceable to the intoxicating influence of the spirits used by the officers and men. To guard against the incompetency of masters and mates above described, the Committee recommended : 66 The formation of certain standards of qualification in seamanship and navigation, to be attained by officers before they should receive licenses of appointment to particular grades in the Merchant Service; and certain higher standards of qualification in seamanship, navigation, and nautical astronomy, to be attained by masters before they should be entitled to receive licenses of appointment to the command of vessels of different classes and for different voyages. The report also urged Appointment of examiners "The appointment of examiners in seamanship, navigation, and nautical astronomy, for the public and power to officers of superior skill and knowledge. grant licenses to examination of all candidates for appointment as officers or commanders, with power to remand all who should be deficient in the requisite degree of knowledge for the class to which the candidate might aspire, and with a power also to grant licenses to officers of superior skill and knowledge.' Select Committee of 1839 as to timber ships. Select Com mittee of 1843 as In 1839 the House of Commons appointed a Select Committee whose inquiry was limited to shipwrecks of timber ships and the loss of life attendant thereon, but produced evidence of a most distressing character, and led to recommendations for the restriction of deck-loading on board timber-laden vessels from North America. In 1843, the House of Commons thought fit to to Shipwrecks. appoint a third Select Committee to inquire into the shipwreck of British vessels. Their Report recommended with respect to Inquiries into the losses of ships, that an Investigation should take place into the conduct of the masters and crews of all Merchant vessels that should be lost. It contained the following passage: Object of Courts of Inquiry as recommended by the Committee of 1886. "Your Committee have examined many witnesses on the propriety of investigating the conduct of the masters, mates, and crews of ships lost, and most of the witnesses are favourable to such investigation ; and the Committee therefore recommend that an Inquiry into the causes of the loss of ships should on all occasions take place." It thus appears that the object of the Courts of Inquiry as stated by the Committee of 1836 was threefold: 1. To examine into the causes of shipwreck; 2. On the one hand to censure owners or commanders of vessels to whose default or deficiency the Courts might attribute any casualty, and further to suspend for a time the licenses and certificates of officers and seamen who should be proved guilty of gross incompetency or gross neglect of duty; and, on the other hand, to acquit honourably owners and commanders not found in default, and further to reward officers and men who should particularly distinguish themselves by their skill, courage, or humanity, in preserving life and property, whether on board their own ships or by giving assistance to wrecked vessels from their own ships or from the shore; Object of Courts of In 3. To produce a salutary preventive effect by making the evidence and verdict in each case public quiry. in every part of the kingdom. The Committee of 1843 endorsed in more concise terms the principal recommendations of the Committee of 1836. In all cases therefore, while the main object of the Inquiry was declared to be to ascertain the cause of the shipwreck, the conduct of masters, officers and seamen was to be the subject of investigation, and the publication of the evidence and verdict in each case was enjoined. It may be reasonably presumed that the object of this publicity was not only to hold out a warning to owners and commanders of vessels, but to stimulate and suggest the exercise of preventive measures for the avoidance of future casualties. It is not unimportant to bear in mind these several heads of Inquiry ("). The Committee of 1843 did not in terms, like the Committee of 1836, direct attention to the conduct of the owners of vessels, but as a matter of fact it has always been sidered. more or less kept in view by the Courts of Inquiry constituted by the Legislature as an element for consideration in investigating the causes of loss of life and property at sea. The value and fruits of the labours of the two Committees of 1836 and 1843 are evident from the legislative effect which has been from time to time given to their recommendations. It is interesting to observe how closely the Legislature has followed the lines they laid down. PAST LEGISLATION FOUNDED UPON THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEES OF 1836 AND 1843, AND NOW REPEALED. The following brief review of past legislation is introduced in order to elucidate the growth of the existing system of Inquiries. Although these Acts are now repealed, their enactments have been remodelled and extended, rather than abolished or superseded in principle. They are not uninstructive, as their influence is traceable in the legislation of the present day. (*) See post, pp. 19 to 26. Conduct of owners also con Legislative results of the pro ceedings of the Committees 1836 and 1843. of |