No More Rotten Ships. 



DOING WITHOUT THE BOARD OF TRADE. 



PHARAOH may have had the best possible 

 intentions with regard to the ultimate fate 

 of the Children of Israel, but nobody can 

 deny that the plagues helped him to carry out his 

 embryo benevolence much more thoroughly and much 

 more expeditiouslv than he would have done had he 

 been left to himself to benefit by the unceasing labour 

 of the Israelites in his fields and brickyards. And 

 so \ve feel with regard to the Board of Trade and the 

 masters of the Marine Department, i.e., the ship- 

 owners anci shipbuilders. Their intentions with regard 

 to .safety at sea, and the lives of the passengers and 

 crews of the vessels under their supervision, may be 

 excellent — they have been outwardly so for years ; 

 but we confess to very considerable doubt as to whether 

 anything really tangible is g6ing to result in the way 

 of giving to every seafarer a reasonable chance of life. 

 While hoping for the best from the shipowners, we 

 are very strongly of opinion that no time should be 

 lost in forcing them to do right. Otherwise they will 

 harden their hearts again, trusting that the disaster 

 of the Titanic will have been, not forgotten, but 

 relegated to the past, and nothing will be done. The 

 general public, even the travelling public, is unorganised, 

 and therefore without much chance of being really 

 potent. There is no sane trade union of ocean 

 passengers ! If there were, the reasonable ideal of 

 every passenger a chance of life would be more 

 easily attempted. As it is, we find that even on 

 the Olympic, sister-ship to the Titanic, passengers 

 are struck by the almost callous and ostentatious 

 manner in which the White Star Line are not carrying 

 out even those pitifully inadequate measures of safety 

 which the lurid glare of disaster has forced them to 

 take. We have always avoided any semblance of 

 bias or of animus against one steamship company or 

 another, but if what we hear of the Olympic is true, 

 wc can only -say that passengers would do well to 

 boycott the White Star Line in future. Beyond this 

 We would strongly advocate combination amongst 

 tho.^c who have suffered bereavement owing to the 

 loss of the Titanic, in order to take to the last farthing 

 the limited compensation which the owners are liable 

 to pay. Xot to do so would serve no good purpose, 

 while there is no doubt that it is from the financial 

 side that the question of safety at sea is to lie attacked. 



It is the pocket which has brought things to the 

 present pass ; through the pocket they must be altered. 



But the passenger is difficult material ; he is here 

 to-day and there to-morrow. He has his prejudices, 

 largely dependent upon the measure of comfort and 

 attention of the differing lines and vessels he happens 

 to patronise ; in short, he desires safety, but only 

 becomes an active factor in the struggle to secure it at 

 irregular intervals. The passenger is the guerilla of the 

 movement. What of the regular forces ? The sailors 

 and the firemen are organised in trade unions and can 

 be counted upon, since their unions are run on sane 

 lines, and there are men like Father Hopkins directing 

 them. But any action on their part has always been 

 without the proper result, since the captains ,and 

 officers have not been united. These sea-officers, badly 

 paid and under as complete a system of compulsory 

 silence as the strictest Trappist community, have until 

 now not dared to take any real part in the struggle for 

 efficient conditions on the sea. And yet they hold the 

 situation in their hands. It may be possible to work 

 an Insurance Act without doctors, but it is impossible 

 to work a ship without officers. 



We are therefore immensely relieved to learn that 

 a " National Union of Masters and Mates " has come 

 into existence, and that under auspices which seem to 

 promise well for successful results. Those responsible 

 for its inception have grasped the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of sane trade unionism, and the union is making 

 great headway. This Union, although independent, 

 will work in closest harmony with unions having the 

 same objects. Steps are being taken to draw up 

 and secure schedules of pay and conditions of work 

 fairer to the officers, and at the same time conducive 

 to the safety of the travelling public. A special 

 feature is to be made to secure the more adequate 

 training of boys to become officers, and as the scheme 

 of training will be drawn up by practical men, from 

 now on we may consider that the real battlp- for 

 ocean travel safety has really ■ begun, since we 

 have the masters and mates combined and deter- 

 mined on thing.s being altered. The ideals of the 

 union are many, and we are gratified to find a 

 determination to endeavour to raise the level of the 

 profession to something where men will be proud to be 

 sea-captains and parents can arrange to send their sons 



