Note 225 — Chapter V

If my readers will refer to the Report of the Royal Commission on Unseaworthy Ships (1873-74), they will find the following summary of the losses of ships at sea from 1856 to 1872 inclusive, which have been the subject of enquiry at the instance of the Board of Trade:—Losses attributable to unseaworthiness of hull, compasses, equipment, and outfit, within the power of the owners to remedy, 4½ per cent.; losses to be attributed to carelessness, drunkenness, ignorance, incompetency, and absence of discipline, 65 per cent.; losses from stress of weather, and causes not apparently preventable, 30½ per cent. This last item includes 38 wrecks of which no cause is assignable. See also article, “Merchant Shipping Legislation,” in the ‘Westminster Review’ for April, 1875, by Mr. Charles Lamport; and a very able article by his brother, the late Mr. W. J. Lamport, of Liverpool, entitled the “Plimsoll Agitation,” which appeared in the ‘Theological Review’ for January, 1874.