WE extract from the Nautical Magazine the following paper from the pen of Capt. K. B. MARTIN, Harbour Master, Ramsgate.

It contains some pertinent remarks on the subject of collisions at sea, and especially points to an increasing evil, which, no doubt, has already produced many disastrous results —namely, the hampering a vessel's upper deck with cabins and other constructions, which shut out from the view of the helm- nian all objects a-head of the ship. Col- lisions at sea are, with their fearful con- sequences, steadily on the increase, and it is time that serious attention should be drawn to the subject.

" THE LATE MELANCHOLY Loss OF THE EMIGRANT SHIP Ocean Home BY COLLI- SION.—The British public are feelingly alive to any and every thing passing under their immediate eye, and, whether for good or evil, there are no bounds to the expres- sion of their sympathies! Thus a morbid curiosity may lead them to witness the execution of a malefactor—to ascertain his penitence or hardihood, and to pronounce an opinion on the awful future which awaits the immortal spirit when all that was mortal has paid the penalty of crime. Or if an isolated case of drowning or accidental death occurs, how difficult it is to restrain the crowd of eager inquirers, each and all too readily anticipating the Coroner's verdict and pronouncing with self-complacency their own decision, and becoming in many instances perverters of the truth! Yet it is with regret that we cannot help observing that the record of unparalleled disasters at sea—because they occur in the dun per- pective—are read only to excite a moment of pity and to be forgotten; or, if remem- bered, it is only to elicit the usual apathetic ejaculations, ' Indeed, how awful f ' Poor fellows!' and ' What a fine ship and valuable cargo, but then, no doubt she was well insured!' Can there be no awakening to the awful truth that many helpless souls are hurried into eternity with all their im- perfections on their heads, and consequent upon causes which, in a strictly religious and moral sense, must hold the abettors of a bad system as little better than guilty of their destruction, or, in legal terms, acces- sories before the fact ? Severe as this may seem upon the determined worshipper of Mammon, it is time that some one of in- fluence obtained attention to the fact, and warned the commercial marine (not only of this country, but of the world) that there is a Providence watching us all, that ' The sea is His, and He made it,'—but not for the wanton sacrifice of His creatures— and that the time may come when, among the multitude of sufferers rising from it to judgment, thousands may point with un- erring finger to those who recklessly sent them forth upon it in ships badly con- structed, badly manned, and worse officered! " Who can dwell for" a moment on the instantaneous destruction of an emigrant ship, and not feel for the relatives thus doomed to mourn the severance of the dearest earthly ties ? We read in a paper a crushing announcement under the head of Mercantile Marine:— " « The Late Cottisum in the Channel- On Saturday last the American ship Chefvr bim, which caused the terrible catastrophe to the Ocean Home, emigrant ship, off the Lizard, on the 5th September, arrived in the river off Gravesend; but no investiga- tion will take place by the Board of Trade, both ships coming within the category of ' foreign ' vessels, and not, therefore, coming within the operation of the Merchant Ship- ping Act. Some of the poor survivors, emigrants, reached London on Friday, from Plymouth, and received every kindness from Mr. MAY, the consul. The poor creatures gave a harrowing tale of their sufferings.

One poor man, a carpenter, named WYN- TEEN, rather advanced in years, lost his wife, his mother, and five children, and about one hundred pounds' worth of pro- perty, the result of several years' hard- earned savings. Another emigrant, G.

WENSINK, apparently a young farm-labourer, lost his mother, four brothers, and three sisters. They had clubbed together for the purpose of purchasing land in the United States. A third survivor, a young man whose mind seemed to have been almost turned by the calamity which had befallen him, lost his wife and three yoang children.

A fourth survivor had been deprived of three of his children. The Consul made provision for their return to Rotterdam.' " And so it was, alas, with many more.

They are gone!—Gone in a moment!— No reckoning made!—A midnight crash ! —and ' Sleep, Death's counterfeit, awoke to Death itself!' There sunk the father, husband, brother, in smothered agonies, along with the weaker sex clinging to their helpless progeny—sacrificed to the heartless cupidity of the employer or the neglect and imbecility of the employed! " It is indeed obvious-to the most casual observer, that in the majority of cases of collision, the cause of the accident originates in a system which every seaman of the olden time denounces as an innovation cal- culated to produce (and which is continually producing) the most appalling and disastrous results. It may be summed up in a few words—the helmsman is no. longer the safe- guard of the ship, because to everything but the binnacle he is blindfold J Before his nose are deck cabins, which, extending aft on each side, coop him up in a sentry- box and leave only a small aperture, through which, if sailing close-hauled, he may just watch the weather leach of the topsail, and this is all he has to guide him in the dis- cretionary power upon which mainly depends the safety of the ship and all that she con- tains ! As to any sudden shift of the helm to avoid approaching danger, the helmsman must trust entirely to some one else,—the ocean field is hidden from his view, and the most fetal collisions are the consequence! I could detail many instances and give names and dates, but it is not my purpose to recrimi- nate the past, I would rather warn the future.

" Nine out of ten cases of collision with vessels of different flags that have sought this harbour of refuge in distress might, and probably would have been avoided if their respective helmsmen could have seen the approaching danger! Nay, this extends also in a degree to many distressed vessels rescued and brought in from the Godwin Sands. It is hardly credible ? of three vessels under repair at the same time in this harbour —one an American and two English—that the Masters in charge in their account of the disaster, stated, that they mistook the Gull Light for those on the South Foreland! Doubting the possibility of this, I make inquiry, and the following colloquy ensues with ihe foreign Captain :— " ' Are you an American ?'—' No, there are very 'few native-born Americans in the European trades, except in the liners (packets). The only real American on board my ship is the black fellow (steward).

We are mostly- Germans, Belgians, and Dutchmen. I am a native of Holland, and the mate is of Antwerp.' " ' Are you well acquainted with this coast ?'—' Yes, I have been in this navigation all my time.' " «How, then, could you take a departure from the Scheldt with a fair wind, see Ostend spires, and yet ran your ship under all sail upon the Godwin Sands?'—' Well, Sir, the truth of the matter is this: I had a good man at the helm, and the lead going occasionally, but I have a stupid chief officer, who only joined six days before we left Antwerp, and who pretended to be quite a pilot in these seas. I had kept the deck myself till we came into proper soundings, and had all the floating-lights clear and plain before us. I then gave the mate the watch, with instructions how to keep the two lights on the South Foreland in. one to clear the sandhead, and haul up to the weather shore for Dover Roads, but, the thick-head went to sleep on the windlass- end. The helmsman had heard my direc- tions. He could only see through a small opening before him right a-head, and only one light at a time, and that, unfortunately for us, he had mistaken for the two lights to which I had alluded upon the South Fore- land. The lead had given no warning, the outer edge of the shoal being very steep-to.

The tide also set over the sand, and we were fixed fast enough till assistance came from a shore-lugger and carried out a bower- anchor, and upon the next flood we were rescued from our perilous position and brought safely into harbour,—and here is the voyage ruined by one man's stupidity and neglect 1' " ' But,' I observed, ' if the helmsman had.

all the horizon within view—the three light- vessels, stationed as they are, and which, from the position of the ship were all visible —a triple, a double, and a single light— all on the same level as the ship—can you believe it possible the mistake would have been made ?'—' Perhaps not, probably not, certainly they (the deck cabins) are a very great inconvenience in every respect as to I working the ship.' " This was a candid dmission, and I forbear the "recital of excuses, which were | made by my own countrymen — such excuses were too ridiculous for repetition.

That any master mariner, with the printed instructions, called the Channel Pilot, on board, could mistake two lights in a small light-vessel for the high and low powerful lights upon the lofty promoatory of the South Foreland, is incredible. Yet such was the deponent's assertion, and in all three of these casualties we could not fail to observe that the man at the helm might as well have been below deck for anything that he could see around and about the ship, or else even the surf and the tide setting over the shoal would have attracted his attention. No, he must depend entirely for his directions on a sleepy watchmate;—and, be it observed, the officer may be drowsy, muzzy, or care- less,.—the watch may be 'a' nodding,'— but the helmsman cannot shut his eyes.

His are the best pair upon deck, kept wide awake by attention to the course and the exercise necessary at the steering-wheel.

He is also in the very beat position for any sudden and necessary evolution to avoid danger. He, as a skilful seaman, sees that a collision is inevitable, and thus seeing, the impulse is instantaneous: up flies the helm, or down, as urgent necessity prompts, and the sleepy-headed officer of the deck rouses himself up in his muffled-up brains to owe his preservation to sharp eyes and a ready hand..

" ' Lead and look-out t lead and look- out !' were the old panacea for half our evils.

' Lead and look-out * disarmed the sea of half its terrors. Where now will you find a crack leadsman ? And as for the look-out, what with topgallant bulwarks and booby- houses upon deck, it is next to impossible to exert that vigilance in the management of our merchant-ships which constituted and created for our predecessors their far- famed maritime supremacy. The man at the helm should have a clear and unob- structed view on all sides of anything which can approach the ship in any direc- tion, more especially since the introduction of the steam-engine as a propelling power, urging the rapid bark headlong upon her course, independent of wind and weather.

The officer in charge of the deck, it is possible, may be suddenly aroused to a sense of approaching danger, and give a mistaken order—such as ' Port, port the helm, hard a port! starboard I mean!' The skilful helmsman, when he caa see around him, disobeys the first injunction, and intuitively saves the ship by anticipating what was meant, and not what was said; and this .

originated *a favourite saying of the im- mortal Nelson, ' Give me the man that knows when to disobey his orders!' " One is naturally disposed to ask, Is this destructive system to be tolerated or not? Are life and property to be thus wantonly jeopardized to -increase the freight? Hu-inanity moved the British legislature to institute an Act of Parliament, restricting deck-loads during certain periods of the year in a particular navigation; and it is evaded by bringing the officers and pas- sengers into a booby-house upon deck, and the crew, in too many instances, packed away in a hole, more like a dog-kennel than anything else, in the fore-peak, certainly ill calculated for the comfort of human beings or the preservation of their health. Then the object is gained,—all under the deck beams is filled up with cargo, the wretched bark is fearfully overloaded, and if over- taken by a storm, is as fearfully distressed.

" The recklessness of this system (-which is increasing) must be seen to be believed. In every port of refuge the proofs of what I have stated are continual. Ships arriving for repairs with bowsprit gone, bows stove! and it is useless in many cases to ask how or where! The partner in suffering is gone, and of course ' It was all their fault!' In one instance in particular the helmsman could not see over the deck-house without raising himself on tiptoe, and in another a man at the steering-wheel is continually on the bend, stooping to his work; but here, in one of the present instances, were two of the ship's boats lashed athwart ship on its roof, bottom upwards ! I contrived to find the man who was steering at the time of the accident, and questioned him ] thus— "' How did you manage to run into a ship, you naving a fair breeze and he plying to windward ?'—' Why,' said he, ' yer honner, d'y' see, I couldn't help it. The officer of the watch is obliged to be on the forecastle in this 'ere ship. He can't see nothing anyvere else. He swears he sung out to me, but I can't see him and couldn't hear him—couldn't hear what it was he was singing out!' " « Good heavens!' I exclaimed, ' is there nowhere else to stow those boafS? I would put them over the side and lash them there.' —' Ye might throw "em overboard,' said he,« for any good they be to us, for neither of 'em would swim!' " This is no exaggeration. Government may make laws, but there -is nothing but a conscientious and proper sense of moral and religious responsibility which can or wih* establish respect for them; and I regret to add that the same moral feeling seems to be universally scouted.

" This was not a British ship. The flag shall be nameless. The Captain was one of those reckless fast men (too well known) of the modern school. But, ere we criticise the mote in our brother's eye, let us, as Britons, pluck out the beam which is in our own eye. Our first-class ships are like ' cities set upon a hill,' but our smaller fry are, in too many instances, a discredit to all who are concerned in their equipment.

" K. B. MARTIN.

" Royal Harbour, Samsgate".