There is an annual publication called the ‘Wreck Register,’ which
probably few of us have ever seen, if even heard of. Its object is to
record all the wrecks which have occurred during the preceding year,
accompanying the narrative by such remarks or observations as may
contribute to explain each catastrophe, or offer likelihood of
prevention in future. It is, though thoroughly divested of any
sensational character, one of the dreariest volumes one can take up.
Disaster follows disaster so fast, that at length the reader begins to
imagine that shipwreck is the all but invariable event of a voyage,
and that they who cross the ocean in safety are the lucky mortals of
humanity.
Fortunately, however, long as the catalogue of misfortune is, this
is not the case, and we have the satisfaction of learning that the
percentage of loss is decreasing with every year. The higher knowledge
and attainments of merchant captains, and the increase of refuge
harbours, are the chief sources of this security. The old ignorance, in
which a degree or two of latitude more or less was a light error in a
ship’s reckoning, is now unheard of, and they who command merchant-ships
in our day are a very well informed and superior order of men. With
reference to the conduct and capacity of these captains, this ‘Wreck
Register,’ is a very instructive publication. If, for instance, you
find that Captain Brace, who was wrecked on the Azores in ‘52, was again
waterlogged at sea in ‘61, and ran into an iceberg off Newfoundland
in ‘62, you begin, mayhap unfairly, to couple him too closely with
disaster, and you turn to the inquest over his calamities to see what
estimate was formed of his conduct. You learn, possibly, that in
one case he was admonished to more caution; in another, honourably
acquitted; and in the last instance smartly reprimanded, and his
certificate suspended for six months or a year. Now, though you have
never heard of Captain Brace in your life, nor are probably likely to
encounter him on sea or land, you cannot avoid a certain sense of relief
at the thought that so unlucky a commander, to say the least of it,
is not likely for a while to imperil more lives, and that the warning
impressed by his fate will also be a salutary lesson to many others.
It was in reflecting over this system of inquiry and sentence, that
it occurred to me what to admirable thing it would be to introduce
the ‘Wreck Register’ into politics, and to have a yearly record of all
parliamentary shipwrecks; all the bills that foundered, the motions that
were stranded, the amendments lost in a fog!--to be able to look back
and reflect over the causes of these disasters, investigating patiently
how and why and where they happened, and asking ourselves, Have we
any better security for the future? are we better acquainted with the
currents, the soundings, or the headlands? and, above all, what amount
of blame, if any, is attributable to the commander?
If we find, for instance, that the barque Young Reform, no matter how
carefully fitted out for sea--new sheathed and coppered, with bran-new
canvass, and a very likely crew on board--never leaves the port that
she does not come back crippled; and that old and experienced captains,
however confidently they may take the command at first, frankly own that
they’ll never put foot in her again, you very naturally begin to suspect
that there’s something wrong in her build. She is either too unwieldy,
like the Great Eastern, or she is too long to turn well, or she requires
such incessant repair; or, most fatal of all, she is entered for a trade
where nobody wants her; and therefore you resolve that, come what will,
you’ll avoid her.
What an inestimable benefit to the student of politics would a few such
brief notices be, instead of sending him, as we send him now, to the
dreary pages of Hansard! Imagine what a neat system of mnemonics would
grow out of the plan, when, instead of poring over interminable columns
of tiresome repetition, you had the whole narrative in few words--thus:
“Barque Reform, John Russell, commander, lost A.D. 1854 The
Commissioners seeing that this vessel was built for the most part of
old materials, totally unseaworthy, are of opinion that she ought not
to have sailed at all; and severely censure the commander, J. R, for
foolhardiness and obstinacy, he having, as it has been proved, acted
in entire opposition to ‘his owners.’ On the pressing recommendation,
however, of the owners, and at the representation that E. has been long
in the service, and is, although too self-confident, a very respectable
man, his certificate has been restored to him.”