WITHIN the last twelve months four remarkable cases of the stranding of large steamships have taken place on our shores, each of such vessels carrying a numerous crew besides a considerable number of passengers. Two of these steamers in the space of a very short time foundered in deep water, one re- mained above water long enough to give the crew and passengers ample time to leave her in the boats, but the fourth, having run on the main, fortunately held fast, and her crew and passengers were therefore at no time in danger.

The four casualties in question were those befalling the Mohegan, Labrador, Stella and Paris, and it is only in their relation to Life-boat work that this article is interested.

Modern improvements in ships and in the means for navigating them have to a very great extent reduced the chances of well-found and powerful vessels, such as these in question, being lost on well-known and well-lighted coasts. But with the enormous traffic for ever crossing and re-crossing the seas which surround our island such cases must of course be looked for, although they cannot be con- sidered as among the ordinary circum- stances which call for the establishment of Life-boat stations; consequently when such an appalling disaster as that of the Mohegan takes place in the vicinity of a Life-boat station, the resources of the means adopted by the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION to protect the coast are taxed to an extraordinary degree.

It is perhaps unnecessary to point out that Life-boats are principally provided to do work in weather too bad and in seas too high for ordinary boats to encounter, and when the elements are in such a condition, the life-boat man, who are generally speaking fishermen or boatman, are on the look out, not being enployed in their several occupations. The strand- ings of these four vessels did not take place in Life-boat weather pure and simple, though disaster may be looked for in any weather, and of course when it is foggy, as it was when the Stella was lost, there is always risk to shipping.

Of the four disasters mentioned only one—viz., that of the Mohegan—actually came within the scope of practical Life- boat work. The MoJiegan it will be remem- bered was bound for America, and for some reason, with which we have nothing to do, after passing the Eddystone about 4.15 on the afternoon of the 14th October last year, shaped a course which took her to the Manacles rocks on which she struck about 7 P.M., and afterwards foundered within a quarter of a hour. Her crew consisted of 97, she had 53 passengers and 7 cattle- men, making a total of 157 human beings on board. Close to the Manacles, or within three-quarters of a mile of the Maen Voces, where the Mohegan was lost, is the Porthoustock Life-boat station.

Falmouth is 6 miles off to the N.N.E., where there is also a Life-boat, and tugs are available, and 6 miles to S.W. round " Blackhead " is Cadgwith, where another powerful Life-boat is stationed. All three of these boats are in electrical communi- cation with each other, and should a vessel run on to the Manacles and remain fixed there, it is considered that these boats would be able to cope with nearly any disaster. Had the unfortunate Mohegan remained on the rock on which she first struck, although there was a nasty sea running, there is not the slightest reason to suppose that the whole of the 157 people on board would not have been rescued. In reviewing how- ever what actually happened one is forced to a condition of wonder that so many as 51 were saved.

Let us consider what took place on board. Mr. John H. Juddery, quarter- master, in his evidence before the Board of Trade investigation, stated that about 6.30 P.M. he came on deck, but went below again and remained there until the vessel struck. Upon coming on deck again he found the men were carrying out the orders given by the captain, who was on the flying bridge, to get the boats out; all the officers (none were saved) were engaged with the life-boats, and almost immediately the lights went out. The vessel had a list of about 45 degrees to port and was all down by the head. He saw some of the stewards serving out life-belts to the passengers. The port life-boat got away; the captain was on the bridge cheering on the men and telling them, to keep cool.

The list was gradually increasing, and he heard the captain calling, and on crawling towards him he found his orders were to get the women and children into the jigger rigging (the vessel had four pole masts), and then the vessel took the final plunge—about 15 minutes after striking.

He swam to the mizen rigging, the doctor and eleven others were there; the steamer went down bodily. ... Shortly before the vessel went down the chief officer shook hands with him and said " Good-bye, we have done all we can, look out for your- self." Such, in brief, was what happened on board, and it can be seen plainly why so many lives were lost, and also why in the circumstances so many were saved.

In the first place, all was over in a quarter of an hour after striking. It is known that the vessel struck a submerged rock, which lipped her side open, carried her way on, and ultimately foundered—close to another lock—in deep water. The list of 45 degrees which she took prevented the lowering of the starboard boats and rendered getting about the ship extremely difficult; added to this, the lights went out altogether, and the darkness was intense, which must have hampered them on board, but its effect as legards the Life-boat from Poithoustock, engaged in trying to find the vessel, was disastrous.

This combination of circumstances is suf- ficient to show why there was such loss of life. On the other hand, all the survivors who were examined at the Inquiry were agreed as to the splendid manner in which the captain, officers, crew, stewards and stewardesses behaved on this terrible occasion. This fact, and the coolness of I the passengers, mainly contributed to the | large number of the rescued.

The coxswain of the Porthoustock Life- boat happened to be standing at his stable door, from which there is a good view seaward, at a little before 7 P.M., when he saw a masthead light N.E. The vessel appeared to be coming stem on to him and about half a mile off; then she suddenly altered her course, and the coxswain, realising that the vessel must go on the Manacles, summoned his Life-boat crew at once and by 7.25 the Life-boat was in the water. Even before the Life-boat was afloat the vessel must have foundered and in all pro- bability the great loss of life had already taken place. The lights of the vessel had all gone out. The coxswain therefore who had seen her at 7 o'clock had only a general idea of her where- abouts, for there are many rocks she might have struck on, in fact the place was very aptly described as " a regular wasp's nest of rocks." To make matters woise the night was inky dark. As the action taken by this Life-boat was de- scribed at length in the Life-boat Journal for February this year, pages 280-282, it is unnecessary to recapitulate in detail the manner in which she was instrumental in rescuing forty-four out of the fifty-one persons saved. The greater number were saved on the Life-boat's first trip, three from one of the ship's life-boats, which was found capsized, and twenty-four from another of the ship's life-boats, which was in a disabled condition and might at any moment have drifted on to one of the Manacles rocks, in which case her chances would have been small, for the sea was now breaking over these locks, and although the steel ship's life-boats proved to be of great strength the proba- bilities are the boats would have been capsized. It was not until after falling in with the first ship's life-boat that the coxswain realised the extent of the disaster; he then signalled for more help, and the Falmouth, Cadgwith and Lizard Life-boats were telephoned for. Even if they had been sent for at first, there is little chance of their presence having been of much avail; the distance they had to come was so great that it is nearly certain that those who lost their lives had perished before these boats could possibly have been on the scene.

After landing the people picked up from the ship's life-boats, and one or two others who were taken out of the water, the Porthoustock Life-boat again went off in search of the wreck and ultimately found her, but it was not until long after midnight that the sixteen persons who had been successful in gaining the rigging and funnel were rescued. It is important to note that no one had been washed out of the rigging before the arrival of the Life-boat.

The loss of the Mohegan is certainly an illustration of the great difficulties in the way of rendering assistance from the shore to a vessel out of reach of the rocket apparatus, and which founders a quarter of an hour after striking.

The size of the Life-boats at the various stations is governed by the circumstances in which they are launched and the manual power available in the neighbour- hood ; and even if there had been a boat ' twice the size of the Porthoustock Life- boat, it is by no means clear that any more lives could have been saved. In fact, next to the cool behaviour of all those on board the doomed ship, the main reason which accounted for so many being saved was the fact that the coxswain of the Life-boat was actually looking at the ship a few minutes before she struck, and took instant action to get his boat afloat.

The Court which inquired into the loss of the Mohegan made no recommenda- tions affecting the Life-boats or their management, but before leaving the subject of this wreck, it is perhaps desirable to notice some mention mido by the Court concerning the steel boats which were carried by the ship. The Court remarks : "Some questions arose as to the steel boats which were fitted ; the Court desires to express its opinion as to the strength and quality of them. The two wooden boats that were on board were broken into matchwood, and notwithstanding that the steel boats were battered about on the rocks, there was a hole in one only of them. This proves their efficiency and superiority over the wooden boats." Those who saw these boats can certainly testify to the marvellous amount of battering they received, which certainly no wooden ship's boats would have stood, and for ship's boats it would without doubt appear that there are some great advantages to be obtained by building them of steel. In our Life-boat service it has not been found disadvantageous to use wood, as it is easily repaired. The German Lifeboat service however build nearly all their boats of steel. Those that are stationed in the Baltic have a great deal of ice to contend with, and steel boats have proved very efficient for this service.

The next case of stranding which called forth considerable public interest was that of the s.s. Labrador. In this case, fortunately, there was no loss of life, but the ship was totally lost. The wreck of this vessel has no practical relation to Life-boat work, as it took place at a part of the coast where there are no Life-boats, and the accident to the Labrador does not provide any reason for placing a Life-boat in the neighbourhood. Indeed, if there had.

been Life-boats at all the nearest points to the position of the casualty, not one of them, even if she had been a steamer, could possibly have got to the vessel until long after those on board had left in the ship's own boats and were in safety. The Labrador was bound from Halifax, N.S., to Glasgow, and for three days had been unable to ascertain her position by observation. She had unfortunately got con- siderably out of her course, and at 6.50 A.M.

on the 1st March last ran on the Mackenzie Bock, which is about 2 miles S.W. of Skerryvore Lighthouse. The early morning had been foggy, but by 6 A.M. the weather had somewhat cleared, and it was possible to see some miles.

Quoting from the report of the Board of Trade investigation, the following is what occurred after striking. "Finding the vessel fast the master ordered all the boats to be got ready, and in an hour and a half all the boats were launched and the passengers and crew got on board.

Had the circumstances been more urgent there seems little doubt that this time might have been shortened; but as it was the passengers and crew were safely put in the boats, which had ample accommoda- tion for them, and which were well and sufficiently equipped and provided both with gear and provisions. One boat succeeded in reaching the lighthouse (Skerry vore),though not without difficulty, and the other boats were picked up by the s.g. Viking, which shortly afterwards came upon the scene and conveyed the occupants to Tobermory." It would have been very much better if the one boat had not gone to the light- house, for by doing so a most unnecessary risk was run; there is nearly always a swell from the Atlantic in this neighbour- hood, which makes it extremely hazardous to land at Skerryvore, whereas the boat would have been perfectly safe, as the others were, if she had kept the sea, and her occupants, who were eventually taken off the lighthouse by the Northern Light- vessel Hesperus, would have been on the mainland some days before they were! At the time of the disaster there were on board the Labrador ninety-four crew and sixty-four passengers, total one hundred and fifty-eight, or one more than on board the ill-fated Mohegan.

The nearest land to Mackenzie Rocks is the Island of Tiree, thirteen miles off, lona is twenty-seven miles distant, and Tobermory about forty-five miles.

The loss of the Stella, close to the Casquets, and all the harrowing incidents connected with it, is BO fresh, in. the memory of the public, that it is only necessary to refer very briefly to it in these notes. Here again we have a per- fectly equipped and powerful vessel lost on rocks in the immediate neighbourhood of a lighthouse and on a regular beaten track, a fact which provides much food for reflection and shows that no matter what care, precaution and expense are bestowed on the fitting and manning of vessels, the frailty of the human element, the " personal error," so to speak, asserts itself at intervals, but providentially rarely considering the enormous amount of traffic in motion. This vessel had a crew of forty-two all told, and about one hundred and forty-seven passengers. Un- like the Mohegan, the disaster happened in daylight but in foggy weather, and as in the case of the Mohegan, the chief reason why so many as eighty-eight of the passengers and twenty-four of the crew were saved was because of the excellent order prevailing on board the vessel which it must be observed foundered only eight minutes after striking. The vessel was fitted with two life-boats, two cutters, a dinghy, two Berthon collapsible boats, seven hundred and fifty-four life-belts, thirty-six life-buoys and some deck raft seats. The starboard life-boat, cutter and dinghy were lowered and got away safely, so likewise was the port cutter; but the port life-boat, which was lowered to the rail, had not time to clear the ship, as at that moment she slipped off the* rocks and foundered in deep water. This boat was capsized, but righted again, and of the fourteen persons who got on the bottom when she capsized, all bnt two managed to get into her again when she righted. The steamer disappeared so rapidly that there was not sufficient time to open out and lower the Berthon boats, which were capable of containing se entj- four persons. This wreck also has no practical bearing on Life-boat work.

The nearest station—that of St. Peter's Port, Guernsey—is seventeen miles from the Casquets, and thetides in the neigh- bourhood run as much as five knots an hour. In these circumstances it is difficult to conceive what use the St.

Peter's Port boat could have been even if it had been possible to have telegraphed for her, and it is still more difficult to know how to provide Life-boat stations which could be of any use in such terrible and most exceptional circumstances.

For such disasters as the wrecks of the Mohegan, Labrador, and Stella, the means available OH board must be looked to as the main method for escape, and it is more to perfecting these than to relying on outside help that those interested in shipping should turn their attention. The Labrador had time successfully to make the best use of her life-saving appliances, but in the case of those other two vessels, the time was too short for the existing methods to be entirely successful. It is a difficult problem where and how to make improvements. Periodical drill, keeping the boats swung out when prac- ticable, and having numerous rafts which will float away when a ship founders, are the three things which suggest themselves to all minds, and are the methods it is believed which are finding most favour and practice ; but there is plenty of scope for improvement beyond this.

The last and most recent of the stranded vessels calling for special notice is that of the Paris. Strangely enough she ran ashore within a few hundred yards of the Mohegan, but under very different circum- stances ; insomuch as the Paris stranded on the Lowland point near the Manacles, and remaining fixed, the sea being per- fectly smooth, there was no risk to life.

The discipline maintained on board seems to have been excellent. The vessel was bound from Cherbourg to New York and took the ground in the small hours of Sunday morning, the 21st May; so little cause for alarm for the safety of those on board was there, that, finding his ship fixed, the captain lowered his gig (so the newspaper reports say, there being no official report to refer to), and proceeded round the ship to ascertain her precise position. The Porthoustock and Pal- mouth Life-boats were soon in attendance, but it was at once realised that their services as Life-boats were not required, although use was made of them for ferrying many of the passengers from the Paris to the tugs which conveyed them to Falmouth. Shortly after the ship stranded a rocket line was fired over her by the coastguard, so even if the sea had been too rough for boats to work com- fortably alongside, she was near enough for the rocket apparatus to have taken the people off, if necessary; but as there were nearly 800 on board this would have been a slow proceeding.

The only reason for mentioning this wreck is because when a ship of this size with such a host of living beings on board goes ashore it must create a great amount of public interest, and although everything so far as her passengers and crew were concerned went well, so near an escape from the fate of the Mohegan and Stella conjures up the " what-might-have-been," and again one is compelled to reflect that unless the vessel holds on until the Life- boats in the neighbourhood can be launched and reach her, reliance mnst be placed on the internal means provided for saving life.

A steam Life-boat at Falmouth (the only available place for one in the neighbourhood) could not get to the Manacles in less than an hour after being summoned, which would be no faster than the present Life-boat with a tug. A larger Life-boat is being built for Port- houstock and there is a large Life-boat at Cadgwith; but of what avail is a foot or two more in length and a foot more beam when you have 800 persons to deal with ? Look well to the means for summoning the Life-boat crew so as to avoid any unnecessary delay in launching; see that the telephonic or telegraphic communi- cation is made the most intelligent use of possible to summon,if necessary, the nearest Life-boats; and above all make sure that the Life-boat station is in exactly the best position, and the most suitable type of boat provided. These cardinal points must never be lost sight of and are among the most important measures taken by the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION for efficiently working the Life-boat system.