PERHAPS Mr. Plimsoll, in the interest of Saving Life at Sea, has done no more useful thing than pressing on the atten- tion of Parliament the necessity for addi- tional precautions and legal requirements to prevent the shifting of grain and similar cargoes, when stowed in bulk.

Undoubtedly very many vessels so laden have foundered with their crews through their cargoes shifting, i.e., falling to one side in gales of wind. Any landsman can readily conceive the imminent danger which must arise from the shifting of a vessel's ballast or cargo to one side, whereby a permanent inclination, or " list," as it is termed by sailors, to that side is occasioned, rendering her more or less unmanageable and difficult to steer.

Every lurch of the hull towards the lower side must then tend to a further shift of cargo, with corresponding increase of "list," until a final lurch capsizes the unfortunate craft, and consigns her crew to a watery grave, adding one more to the long list of "missing ships," an average of more than one hundred of which are so recorded year by year.

The least consideration will suffice to show why grain cargoes stowed in bulk, that is to say, not confined in bags or boxes, are specially liable to shift. Any one who has had to fill a box, canister or jar, &c., with any small grains, such as wheat, rice or coffee, will have noticed that if, after being completely filled, the vessel be well shaken, its contents will settle down and occupy less space. This is caused by each separate grain re- accommodating itself to those around it, thereby reducing the area of the inter- stices, or open spaces between them, and thus an additional quantity of grain is required to completely fill the vessel.

This operation may indeed be repeated two or three or more times, re-filling the vessel after each shaking, before the largest possible amount of grain is con- tained in it.

Now, on a larger scale, precisely the same operation takes place in a ship laden with a grain cargo of any kind, with the exception that instead of two or three shakings only, the operation is continuous whenever the sea is rough, every motion of the vessel tending to re-arrange every separate grain of the cargo into the smallest possible space. Hence, unless an additional quantity of grain be carried on deck, to be added to, or " feed," as it is termed in grain-carrying ships, the cargo below deck, the constant tendency of a bulk cargo of grain must be to settle down on the lee or lower side of the vessel, more especially when remaining a long time on one tack, to the imminent danger of ship and crew.

The danger specially attending grain cargoes stowed in bulk has, of course, long previous year; and as regards grain cargoes its 3rd section enacted that " No cargo, of which more than one-third con- sists of any kind of grain, corn, rice, paddy, pulse, seeds, nuts or nut kernels shall be carried unless such grain is con- tained in bags, sacks, or barrels, or secured from shifting by boards, bulkheads, or otherwise, an infringement of the same subjecting the master of the vessel to a penalty, not exceeding 2001." Regarding this clause, we remarked at the time (No. 98, page 403 of Lifeboat Journal) that " the new law about carrying grain in bulk is one of those just and necessary measures of ordinary legislation which, it may be supposed, might and ought to have been brought about years ago by a governing power exercising proper supervision of the mercantile marine." In 1876 yet another Merchant Shipping Act was passed, testifying to the in- creasing interest taken in our mercantile marine and merchant seamen. As regards " grain cargoes " (section 22), it enacted that " No cargo of which more than one- third consists of grain, corn, rice, paddy, pulse, seeds, nuts, or nut kernels, herein- after referred to as ' grain cargo,' shall be carried on board any British ship, unless such grain cargo be contained in bags, sack, or barrels, or secured from shifting by boards, bulkheads, or otherwise. Also that the managing owner, agent, or master of any ship who should knowingly infringe this enactment should for every such offence incur a penalty not exceeding 300?." The Act of 1880, on which -we are now commenting, is a further recogni- tion of the importance of protecting the lives of our seamen in the grain trade, becoming indeed, year by year, more important as the nation is more and more dependent on the importation of foreign corn for its food, and especially from the American continent.

It is entitled " An Act to provide for the safe carriage of Grain Cargoes by Merchant Shipping, 7th September, 1880." It is divided into eleven sections.

been recognised, but in former times shipowners were pretty much left to themselves in all matters affecting the lives of their crews. In the year 1854 the first serious legislative effort "was made to protect the lives of our merchant seamen, when the Mercantile Marine Act of that year was passed, which consoli- dated all previous shipping acts. Amend- ments to that Act were passed in 1855, 1856, 1862, 1871 and 1873, in the last of which it was stated that the whole might be cited collectively as the Merchant Shipping Acts of 1854 to 1873. It does not, however, appear that any of these Acts contained any special enactments respecting grain cargoes.

In 1874 the general impression in the public mind that the lives of our seamen were not duly cared for, fanned into a flame by Mr. Plimsoll, the then member for Derby, led to the appointment of a Royal Commission, presided over by the Duke of Somerset, and of which the Duke of Edinburgh was a member, and in the Report of that Commission attention is first called to the danger of "grain cargoes," and to the exceptional care requisite to reduce that danger to a minimum. They add, however, that " there are well-known precautions tend- ing to diminish this danger, but the application of these will be best left to the responsibility of the shipowner, and to the practical knowledge of the captain." We are unable to see that this advice is not equally applicable to all other sources of danger to the lives of our seamen, which would thereby be handed over to the tender mercies of every un- principled and avaricious shipowner who might be ready to run the risk of what- ever penalty might be entailed by his " responsibility," not before, but after the loss of the lives of his crew.

In 1875 a temporary Bill was passed, to continue in force until 1st October 1876, and to be "construed as one with the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854." This Bill embodied many of the recommenda- tions of the Royal Commission of the Section 1 defines its short title and con- struction as follows:— " This Act may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Carriage of Grain) Act, 1880, and shall be construed as one with the Merchant Shipping Act, 1851, and the Acts amending the same, and together with those Acts may be cited as the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1880." Section 2 enacts that the Act shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1881.

Section 3 is as follows:— " Where a grain cargo is laden on any British ship, all necessary and reasonable precautions (whether prescribed by this Act or not) shall be taken in order to prevent the grain cargo from shifting.

"If such precautions have not been taken in the case of any such ship, the master of the ship, and any agent of the owner who was charged with the loading of the ship or the sending her to sea, shall each be liable to a penalty not ex- ceeding three hundred pounds, and the owner of the ship shall also be liable to the same penalty, unless he shows that he took all reasonable means to enforce the observance of this section, and was not privy to the breach thereof." This section is everything that can be desired; its first clause requiring all necessary and reasonable precautions to be taken " whether prescribed by this Act or not," effectually closes any loop- hole by which an unscrupulous shipowner might evade the spirit if not the letter of the law, whilst its second clause makes the actual owner of the ship liable to a penalty not exceeding 3QOL, in addition to the master and any agent charged with the loading of the ship.

Section 4 provides and states in detail the precautions to prevent grain cargoes from shifting, which shall be required in all grain-laden British ships proceeding outside the Straits of Gibraltar, from the Mediterranean or Black Seas, and from the coast of North America, as follows:— (a.) There shall not be carried between the decks, or, if the ship has more than two decks, between the main and upper decks, any grain in bulk, except such as may be necessary for feeding the cargo in the hold, and is carried in properly constructed feeders.

(6.) Where grain (except such as may be carried in properly constructed feeders) is carried in bulk in any hold or compartment, and proper provision for filling up the same by feeders is not made, not less than one-fourth of the grain carried in the hold or compartment (as the case may be) shall be in bags supported on suitable platforms laid upon the grain in bulk: Provided that this regulation with respect to bags shall not apply— (i.) To oats, or cotton seed; nor (ii.) To a ship which is a sailing ship of less than four hundred tons registered ton- nage, and is not engaged in the Atlantic trade; nor (iii.) To a ship laden at a port in the Mediter- ranean or Black Sea if the ship is divided into compartments which are formed by substantial transverse par- titions, and are fitted with longitudinal bulkheads or such shifting boards as hereafter in this section mentioned, and if the ship does not carry more than one-fourth of the grain cargo, and not more than one thousand five hun- dred quarters, in any one compartment, bin, or division, and provided that each division of the lower hold is fitted with properly constructed feeders from the between decks; nor (iv.) To a ship in which the grain cargo does not exceed one-half of the whole cargo of the ship, and the rest of the cargo consists of cotton, wool, flax, barrels or sacks of flour, or other suitable cargo so stowed as to prevent the grain in any compartment, bin, or division from shifting.

(c.) Where grain is carried in the hold or between the decks, whether in bags or bulk, the hold or the space between the decks shall be divided by a longitudinal bulkhead or by suf- ficient shifting boards which extend from deck to deck, or from the deck to the keelson, and are properly secured, and if the grain is in bulk are fitted grain-tight with proper fillings between the beams.

( Z.) In loading, the grain shall be properly stowed, trimmed, and secured.

Section 5 exempts from the require- ments of this Act all grain-laden ships from the Black or Mediterranean Seas and coast of North America, which shall have been loaded in accordance with the regulations for the time being approved by the Board of Trade, or constructed and loaded in accordance with any plan approved by that Board.

Section 6 requires the masters of all British grain-laden ships, passing the Straits of Gibraltar outwards, and from the coast of North America, to deliver, or cause to be delivered, to the British Consular Officer, or, in Her Majesty's dominions, the principal Officer of Customs, before leaving her final port, or within forty-eight hours after leaving such port, a notice stating— (I.) The draught of water and clear side, as defined by section five of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1871, and section four of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1873, of the said ship after the loading of her cargo has been completed at the said last port of loading; (2.) And also stating the following particulars in respect to the grain cargo, namely, (a.) The kind of grain and the quantity thereof, which quantity may be stated in cubic feet, or in quarters, or in bushels, or in tons weight; and (6.) The mode in which the grain cargo is stowed; and (c.) The precautions taken against shifting.

The master shall also deliver a similar notice to the principal collector or other proper officer of Customs in the United Kingdom, together with the report required to be made by the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, ou the arrival of the ship in the United Kingdom.

Every such notice shall be sent to the Board of Trade as soon as practicable by the officer receiving the same.

If the master fails to deliver any notice re- quired by this section he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds: Provided always, that the Board of Trade may, by notice published in the London Gazette, or in such other way as it may deem expedient, exempt ships laden at any particular port or any class of such ships from the provisions of this section.

This clause is a most important one, and would be still more so if it effectually prevented any vessel from leaving port unless it could be shown that the re- quirements of the Act had been complied with. We presume, however, that this has been found to be impracticable, since even the delivery of the notice forty- eight hours after the sailing of the vessel is deemed to suffice. We trust, however, that the penalties incurred by non- compliance with the Act, and by any wilful false statements in the official notices, may prevent deliberate evasion of the law.

Section 7 subjects the master of any ship to a penalty not exceeding 1001., if he shall wilfully make any false state- ment, or omit any material particular, in any notice required by the Act.

Section 8 authorizes any officer, either specially or generally deputed to do so by the Board of Trade, to inspect any grain cargo, and the mode in which the same is stowed.

Section 9 enacts that every offence punishable under the Act may be sum- marily dealt with.

Section 10 defines the meaning of the expressions in the Act, viz., that the expression " grain " means any corn, rice, paddy, pulse, seeds, nuts, or nut kernels.

And that the expression " ship laden with a grain cargo " means a ship carry- ing a cargo, of which the portion con- sisting of grain is more than one-third of the registered tonnage of the ship.

Section 11 repeats section 22 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1876.

We feel sure that our seamen will welcome this short Act as another in- stalment of justice to and consideration for them, and that the British public will hail it as another concession to their repeated demands in behalf of an in- valuable and long neglected class of the community.

We may be allowed also to express a hope that the increasing interest taken in them and the many advantages they now enjoy, compared with the British mariners of bygone generations, combined with the civilizing effects of better education in their youth, may surely, if slowly, raise their standard of morals and habits of life, until the British seaman of the future shall be an honour to his country and his class wherever he may sail.