326 Report of the Committee on Colour-Vision. 



accordingly. The discrepancy in the statement was so great 

 that many persons uncharitably charged the master of the tug 

 with being intoxicated, although no evidence was offered in 

 support of the charge. By this accident ten persons lost their 

 lives. Upon a visual examination of this officer under the rules 

 during the past summer, and during which time there had been 

 no question as to sight by the Sergeant of the Marine Hospital 

 at Norfolk, he was found to be colour-blind, two examinations 

 having been accorded him, with an interval of ten days between 

 them." 



A second case is mentioned in the Shipping and Mercantile 

 Gazette and Lloyd's List, dated 29th June, 1881 : — 



"The pilot of the City of Austin, which was lost in the 

 harbour of Fernandia, Florida, last April, is proved to be colour- 

 blind. In this way it would appear he mistook the buoys, and 

 his mistake cost the owners 200,000 dollars (£40,000). An 

 examination showed that at a distance of more than six feet he 

 could not distinguish one colour from another. The physicians 

 attribute the defect to an excessive use of tobacco. The services 

 of the marine surgeons were tendered to the local authorities 

 without fee two years ago, but were declined." 



A third case is recounted in a letter from Messrs. Macintyre 

 & Co., Liverpool, shipowners : — 



" Our ship Carbet Castle collided in the South Channel, bound 

 from Dundee to Cardiff, in 1879, with the T. H. Ttamien, due, as 

 far as we can make out, to the colour-blindness, or short-sighted- 

 ness of the chief officer." 



The following account is written by Captain Coburn, who was 

 for many years in the employ of Messrs. Leach, Harrison and 

 Forwood, of Liverpool, and is to be found in the Mercantile 

 Marine Reporter, vol. xiv, No. 162 : — 



"The steamer Neera was on a voyage from Liverpool to 

 Alexandria. One night, shortly after passing Gibraltar, at about 

 10.30 p.m., I went on the bridge, which was then in charge of 

 the third officer, a man of about 45 years of age, and who up to 

 that time I had supposed to be a trustworthy officer, and compe- 

 tent in every way. I walked up and down the bridge until about 

 11 p.m., when the third officer almost simultaneously saw a light 

 about two points on the starboard bow., I at once saw it was a 

 green light, and knew that no action was called for. To my 

 surprise, the third officer called out to the man at the wheel 

 ' port,' which he was about to do, when I countermanded the 

 order, and told him to steady his helm, which he did, and we passed 

 the other steamer safely about half a mile apart. I at once asked 

 the third officer why he had ported his helm to a green light on 

 the starboard bow, but he insisted it was a red light which he had 

 first seen. I tried him repeatedly after this, and although he 

 sometimes gave a correct description of the colour of the light, 

 he was as often incorrect, and it was evidently all guess work. 

 On my return, I applied to have him removed from the ship, as 



