126 REFLECTIONS ON MARITIME PURSUITS. 



furnish food for the remaining few, or perhaps they endeavour to 

 secure the body of a dying companion, in order to draw a loath- 

 some subsistance from a diseased and emaciated corpse ! 



Such are the scenes of horror that frequently take place on 

 board of water-logged timber ships ; and instances might be 

 given of more distress, and even more horrible details than we 

 have ventured to portray ; but let us cover them with a veil, and 

 consider what ought to be done to lessen, if not to avoid, such 

 calamities. 



When old merchant ships become leaky, and unfit to receive dry 

 cargoes, they are sent into the ** timber trade," here they may conti- 

 nue for years, but their end is almost always such as we have descri- 

 bed; that is to say, they founder at sea; the owners receiving from 

 the Insurance office the full value (as insured). Now, although 

 we are advocates for *' free trade," as well as "sailors' rights,*' 

 and would willingly loosen the shackles of commerce, yet we 

 cannot help thinking, that old and unseaworthy ships should be 

 broken-up, instead of being sent out as coffins for our sailors. 

 An unseaworthy ship should not even be allowed to go to sea 

 in the timber trudcy and captains and owners of antiquated ships 

 should at least be obliged to publish tlie age of the ship in their 

 advertisements ; but no, the captain of an ancient ship is as 

 tenacious of her age as an elderly maiden lady is of her's! 



We are, however, ready to acknowledge, that all ships em- 

 ployed in the timber trade are not rotten or superannuated, nor 

 even all those that have foundered in their transit from America 

 to Europe; many a good ship has been lost, through tlie gross 

 ignorance and want of skill in stowing the cargo. Let us take 

 a cursory view of this subject. 



1st. — The cargo in a ship's hold should be so disposed, that 

 each section of the ship may bear a weight proportioned to its 

 buoyancy, and that no part be overloaded . 



2nd. — Great care should be taken in stowing the ground tier, 

 least an under weight be exerted on some parts of the ship's 

 bottom, which would strain the ship and cause her to leak. 



3rd. — The stowage of the cargo should be such, as to afford 

 the ship stuhility to carry sad. 



A ship filled with timber of a buoyant description, may be 

 sufficiently stiff as long as the ship remains tight, because the 

 cargo would, by its weight on the botioniy afford stability; but, if 

 water gain admission into the hold, the timber will have a ten- 

 dency to float, and turn the ship bottom upwards. Ex gratia. 



