“From my seeming marine habits his Lordship has desired me to state what occurs on the subject of lights. If we need this on the Forth and Clyde, you must be in a worse state in the Thames. I have no doubt you had this under the notice of your House. I think there should be two lights, one in each bow, but under deck, in order to keep the lights entirely out of the view of those on deck. I am not for interfering with their head sails. I would have them licensed like stage coaches, and placed under the inspection of an officer of the navy, not below the rank of a lieutenant. Six or eight officers might do the duty for the whole United Kingdom for a time.”
The accident seems to have led to a further investigation into the general question of the saving of life in cases of shipwreck on the coasts of Scotland; and on this subject Mr. Stevenson made the following replies to the queries submitted to him by the authorities:—
“Query.—Are shipwrecks frequent on the coasts of Scotland and its islands?”
“Wrecks between the Firths of Forth and Moray are more frequent than on any other part of the coast of Scotland. This may probably be accounted for by the great number of vessels passing and repassing along that coast. In the month of December 1799, a strong gale from the south-east occasioned serious disasters on these shores, when upwards of seventy sail were wrecked on the eastern coast of Scotland, and many of their crews perished. This lamentable catastrophe was the means of causing lifeboats upon Greathead’s plan to be fitted out at St. Andrews, Arbroath, Montrose, Aberdeen, Peterhead, and other places, which have been found highly useful in saving the lives of mariners. This gale was also the immediate cause of the erection of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, which may be said almost entirely to have prevented shipwreck, so frequent in St. Andrews Bay and the entrance of the Firth of Forth in general.
“From the Moray Firth along the shores of the mainland to the entrance of the Firth of Clyde, wrecks cannot be said to be very frequent, although the navigation is rather difficult; but the safety of shipping on this coast depends upon the great number of excellent natural bays and harbours upon it.
“In the Orkney and Shetland Islands few seasons pass without wrecks occurring. On the Lewis and Western Hebrides shipwrecks frequently occur.”
“Query.—Are the coasts of Scotland in general well provided with the means of giving assistance in case of shipwreck, or are they deficient in such provision?”
“The coast of Scotland is provided with no other means of saving the crews of vessels than the assistance they accidentally meet with from the inhabitants along shore. The only lifeboats established are those at the ports already mentioned.
“If Captain Manby’s apparatus was generally known and applied upon the coast, it would be found highly beneficial.”
“Query.—Are any instances remembered of total shipwrecks where lives lost might have been saved by the lifeboat or by Captain Manby’s apparatus, at the distance of 350 or 400 yards off the coast?”