Report of the Committee on Colour- Vision, 327 



he was, in my opinion, quite unfit to have charge of the deck at 

 night, and this application was granted. After this occurrence I 

 always, when taking a strange officer to sea, remained on the 

 bridge with him at night until I had tested his ability to 

 distinguish colours. I cannot imagine anything more dangerous, 

 or more likely to lead to fatal accidents than a colour-blind man 

 on a steamer's bridge." 



A similar experience is thus related by Captain Heasley, of 

 Liverpool : — 



" After passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, the second 

 officer, who had charge of the deck, gave the order to ' port,' 

 much to my astonishment, for the lights to be seen about a point 

 on the starboard bow were a masthead and green light, but he 

 maintained that it was a masthead and red, and not until both 

 ships were nearly abreast, would he acknowledge his mistake. I 

 may add that during the rest of the voyage I never saw him 

 making the same mistake. As a practical seaman, I consider a 

 great many accidents arise from colour-blindness " 



In the collision which occurred in February, 1889, between the 

 steamship Nereid and the sailing-vessel Killochan, the vessels had 

 had each other in sight for at least two miles, and it was a per- 

 fectly clear night. The Times, in commenting on this disaster, 

 remarks, February 5th, 1889, that " all inquiries respecting the 

 cause of disaster lead to the same conclusion, that it was due to 

 one of those astounding errors of judgment on the part of one 

 or other of the navigators, which seemed to deprive all attempts 

 at reasonable excuse. Each blames the other." 



As we know that there are many colour-blind men holding 

 officer's - certificates, it will not be surprising if it were found that 

 the officer in charge of the steamship Nereid was colour-blind. 

 The explanation of the accident would be similar to that first 

 quoted, namely, that he mistook the green light for a red one, and 

 ported in order to go. as he erroneously would think, astern 

 of the Killochan. 



So long as colour-blind men are tolerated in the Mercantile 

 Service, these accidents will occur. 



Question. — But could not many of the people on board have 

 seen how these accidents occurred ? 



Yes, and the evidence in these cases is always conflicting. 

 Everybody will remember the loss of the Oregon. It was said 

 to have been run into by a coal boat. The evidence was contra- 

 dictory, the light seen being described as white, red, and green. 



But the idea of examining the men's colour- sight was never 

 thought of. In the following case the steamer Toronto on the 

 night of January 18th, 1888, ran down the Norwegian barque 

 Freidis in the Irish Channel, on which occasion thirteen lives 

 w r ere lost. The evidence given at the Board of Trade enquiry as 

 to the lights seen may be briefly summed up as follows : — The 

 captain, the mate, and the quartermaster saw first a red light 

 and then a green one. The look-out man saw no red light, only 



VOL. LI. Z 



