Up to that time vessels were sent to sea scandalously
overladen. There was no fixed loadline as there is now.
Cargoes were badly stowed; no bagging was done. The fitting
of shifting boards was left pretty much to the caprice of
the master, who never at any time could be charged with
overdoing it, but rather the reverse. I am speaking now more
particularly of steamers, though to some extent the same
reckless disregard for human safety existed among sailing
vessels. It was necessary, however, that commanders of
"windjammers" should be more painstaking in the matter of
having their cargoes thoroughly stowed, and that adequate
bulkheads and shifting boards should be fitted; for the
shifting of a sailing vessel's cargo was accompanied with
the possibilities of serious consequences. Sailing vessels
cannot be brought head-on to wind and sea, as steamers can,
and the weather may be so boisterous as to make it
impossible to get into the holds; and even if these are
'accessible, the heavy "list" and continuous lurching
prohibit the trimming of the cargo to windward.
But the great loss of life was not altogether caused by
allowing rotten, leaky, badly equipped sailing vessels to go
to sea, nor by the neglect of commanders of both sailers and
steamers to adopt reasonable precautions for the purpose of
avoiding casualty.
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