596 



NATURE 



[October 22, 1891 



recommendation of the ophthalmic section of the British 

 medical profession, came to the conclusidn " that all 

 candidates for masters' or mates' certificates shall pass 

 a test examination as to their ability to distinguish the 

 following colours, which enter largely into combination of 

 signals by day or night used at sea ; viz. black, white, 

 red, green, yellow, and blue " ; and they state that " the 

 Board have been led to this decision because of the 

 serious consequences which might arise from an officer 

 of any vessel being unable to distinguish the colour of 

 the lights and flags which are carried by vessels." 



So far so good. But there the matter stopped. An 

 officer failing to pass in colours is not deterred from going 

 to sea ; his certificate is simply endorsed " failed to pass in 

 colours^' and then it is optional with the owners, if they 

 know of a man's colour imperfectness, to engage him or 

 not. In the majority of cases they do not know. Wishing 

 to obtain accurate information as to the views of the 

 Liverpool shipowners upon this subject, I submitted to 

 them the following queries : — 



(i) Do you consider a colour-blind officer, mate, or 

 captain, competent to have command of a vessel, steam 

 or sailing ? 



(2) Would you consider a colour-blind man fit to be a 

 look-out man ? 



In reply, no firms answered both questions in the 

 negative, while one answered both in the affirmative. 



Six said " Yes," to the first query, and " No," to the 

 second. 



Six expressed the opinion that no colour-blind officer 

 should have command of a vessel ; but that colour- 

 blindness was not a barrier to a seaman officiating as 

 look-out. 



The language of the firms that answered both questions 

 in the negative was such as to show that there was not 

 the slightest hesitancy in the minds of the writers as to 

 the utter undesirability, not to say danger, of employing a 

 colour-blind man in any capacity in which he was re- 

 sponsible, in part or whole, for the safe navigation of the 

 vessel. 



Such expressions as "emphatically no," "absolutely 

 unfit," "not fit to serve on a ship," " very unsuitable," &c., 

 show in unmistakable terms the views held by Liverpool 

 shipowners on the subject. 



Liverpool shipowners certainly seem alive to the 

 dangers of colour-blind employe's. The practice of pri- 

 vate examination would seem to be coming into common 

 practice among first-class firms. But the Board of Trade 

 have still to realize that look-out men, as well as officers, 

 should not suffer from colour-blindness. If shipowners 

 themselves deem it necessary for their own interests, and 

 the safety of the voyageurs and property intrusted to 

 their care, to debar colour-blind seamen from their 

 service, it is surely incumbent upon the Board of Trade, 

 in the interests of the travelling community over whose 

 welfare they are supposed to preside, to make perfect 

 colour-vision a causa sine qtcd nan that shall apply to all 

 seamen of our mercantile marine. It is but fair, however, 

 to that complex and overburdened instrument of govern- 

 ment to add that they have introduced a so-called volun- 

 tary test, whereby a seaman, on payment of a fee of u., 

 may be tested as to the perfectness of his vision for 

 colour. Such a test must, from the very necessities of 

 the case, be absolutely worthless. What A.B. would be 

 likely, had he the shghtest suspicion of his colour-blind- 

 ness, to seek that confirmatory evidence which would 

 debar him from following his calling ? Sailors may be 

 pardoned if they prefer to remain in a state of blissful 

 ignorance as to their colour-vision, since they have no- 

 thing to gain, and possibly everything to lose, by under- 

 going an examination in colours. It must be admitted, 

 however, that there are not wanting those who aver most 

 positively that colour-blindness is not responsible for 

 maritime disaster of any description whatever. 



NO. I 147, VOL. 44] 



Rear-Admiral P. H. Colomb is of this opinion. In 

 discussing the action of the Washington International 

 Maritime Conference relative to colour-blindness, he 

 stated, " I never knew myself a case of collision where 

 colour-blindness was in question. The statements were 

 generally perfectly clear that wrong helm was given 

 deliberately in the face of the colour seen, and as no 

 authoritative teaching had existed to show that it 

 mattered what colour was seen as long as danger was 

 denoted, I have never been able to lay stress on the 

 colour-blind question." 



Again, Admiral Colomb expressed the opinion "that 

 collisions at night occurred through the helm being 

 ported to the green light, and starboarded to the red 

 light." 



Undoubtedly this is a fertile source of disaster, but 

 seamen, unless we assume them wilfully negligent, or 

 astoundingly nervous, could hardly fail to act correctly 

 at the critical moment in so many instances, if there 

 were not some other factor at work which brought them 

 to grief. I admit the truth of Admiral Colomb's state- 

 ment as to collisions at night occurring through the helm 

 being ported to the green light, and starboarded to the 

 red. But I would go further, and inquire why such a 

 wrongful procedure should be adopted in so many cases. 

 I cannot believe it is done wilfully with the intent of 

 causing collision, I cannot accept nervousness on the 

 part of men, many of whom have spent a lifetime at 

 sea, as the sole, or even a likely cause. I believe that in 

 many cases the reason why the helm is ported to the 

 green light and starboarded to the red light is that the 

 persons responsible for the porting and starboarding are 

 visually incapable of differentiating between one colour 

 and the other. 



Admiral Colomb's cause is undoubtedly the immediate 

 means of effecting the collision ; but that cause traced 

 to .its original source will, in the majority of cases, show 

 neither negligence nor nervousness, but will stand re- 

 vealed as the inevitable resultant of eyesight that cannot 

 distinguish red from green. Pronouncements such as 

 those quoted above, coming from those in high places, 

 and pregnant with the weight of authority that usually 

 attaches to such utterances, are mainly responsible for 

 the general laxity and half-heartedness which are so 

 characteristic of the Board of Trade's officials in respect 

 to colour-blindness. A perusal of the records of inquiries 

 into collisions at sea, or of the courts which settle 

 questions of maritime and commercial law arising there- 

 from, reveals an astounding amount of conflictory 

 evidence as to the relative positions of the colliding 

 vessels as judged by their side-lights. It would be more 

 charitable to suppose that the witnesses examined were 

 colour-blind, rather than guilty of wilful and deliberate 

 perjury. In such cases the question of a look-out's colour 

 percipience is never discussed. An examination of the 

 witness on the spot, as to his capabihty of discriminat- 

 ing between the port and starboard lights of a ship, 

 would set at rest the question of his physical competence 

 to assist in elucidating the problems under considera- 

 tion. 



The Dutch Government has long been alive to the 

 dangers accruing from induced colour-blindness — I use 

 the term induced in contradistinction to congenital — and 

 adopt the most drastic measures to prevent a colour- 

 blind officer from holding a position in their mercantile 

 marine. Among other qualifications necessary to pro- 

 cure a warrant empowering a man to act as mate in the 

 merchant marine, the royal order requires : — 



" Colour perception perfect for transmitted light in one 

 eye, and at least one half in the other, according to 

 Donders's method." 



Also that " the report and declaration of the expert, as 

 required in the above, shall be considered valid for one 

 month only from the time the test is made." 



