Shipwreck by Sam Willis

Author:Sam Willis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRANSPORTATION / Ships & Shipbuilding / History
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2015-07-06T16:00:00+00:00

Battling the Elements

For those who were wrecked, cork life-jackets had been available from 1854, while in 1890 the first steam lifeboat was launched, showing herself capable of reaching over 9 knots in her first trials. Ten years later, the first steam lifeboat tragedy occurred when the James Stevens, one of the very earliest such vessels, capsized just offshore from her station in Padstow, on the north coast of Cornwall. Eight of her crew died, including her four engineers. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) immediately stepped in and granted £1000 for the immediate relief of their families.

Also, from the 1850s there was a rapid growth in the bureaucratization of seafaring. Ships that were unable to manoeuvre easily – such as telegraph-cable laying ships, or fishing boats carrying heavy nets – were given right of way. Sailing ships were to carry lights to identify themselves, as were steamships. It therefore became possible to gauge the capabilities of another ship at night, and therefore reduce the likelihood of collision. Rules for navigation in fog were also introduced. There were now legal requirements for the regular inspection of passenger liners, and there were standards of health and safety that had to be met. Distress signals were decided upon and international agreements drawn up.

On the largest and best-equipped vessels from 1881, electricity powered deck-mounted searchlights. Originally intended to illuminate torpedo boats, which made their audacious attacks under cover of night, they were also used as lights for search and rescue. Closely linked with the introduction of electricity was the science of weather forecasting, as by means of underwater telegraphic cables, news of storms could travel faster than the winds themselves. By the last quarter of the 19th century it became possible to track atmospheric changes across large portions of the globe. The introduction of the Beaufort Scale in the early years of the 19th century had also made it possible to describe weather and sea conditions accurately and uniformly. Together, it now became possible to monitor large portions of the globe’s weather, and as more data was collected concerning weather history, so our understanding of weather systems grew, along with our ability to predict it.

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