History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 3 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

His first resolution, 1870.

It was in the Session of 1870 that Mr. Plimsoll[250] first submitted his views to Parliament respecting the loss of life and property at sea, by moving a resolution calling in general terms for legislation on this subject, as if no legislation had, up to that period, been even attempted, still more carried out. I cannot but commend the laudable objects he evidently had in view, but, on that occasion, they were, so far as I can judge from the Reports of ‘Hansard,’ somewhat vaguely expressed. Nor did he even then mention (as if ignoring or unaware of the fact) that, in that very Session, Government had introduced the stringent Bill to which I have just referred respecting unseaworthy ships. His resolution, requiring a compulsory load-line and the survey of all ships, was withdrawn.

The Government, however, spared no exertion to perfect the Shipping Code, which had twice been submitted to the consideration of Parliament; and having, during the recess, forwarded copies of it for approval and amendment to various Shipping and Seamen’s Associations throughout the kingdom, they again introduced it on the opening of the Session of 1871,[251] accompanied by a memorandum,[252] calling attention to the alterations which had been made in the existing laws. The Bill, as re-introduced in 1871, besides providing for the transfer of the supervision of emigrant ships to the Board of Trade, which was carried out in the following year, contained clauses for the compulsory marking the draught of water on the stem and stern of every ship, for recording the draught, for making it a crime to send unseaworthy vessels to sea, and for enabling seamen, charged with desertion, to obtain, with even greater facility than they had hitherto done, a survey of the ships in which they had engaged to serve. Indeed, it went still further, and, for the first time, gave the Board of Trade alone the power of preventing any ship from proceeding to sea if, in the opinion of its officers, there were defects in her hull liable to render her unseaworthy: a further provision was very properly added to prevent an owner changing the name of his ship without the consent of the Board of Trade.

Introduces a Bill, 1871.

Government measure of that year.

But in that year, 1871, Mr. Plimsoll, not satisfied with the course of legislation, introduced a Bill having the same objects in view as his resolution of the previous Session, which, however, was also withdrawn, Government agreeing to introduce a separate Bill, as they had been unable to pass their Merchant Shipping Code Bill, containing the clauses of the larger measure relating to draught of water and surveys. Accordingly, before the close of the Session a short Bill was introduced and passed[253] with these provisions, but with very little discussion, on account of the lateness of the Session. In this Bill the clause giving seamen charged with desertion a right to a survey, was justly modified by confining the right to cases where the complaint of unseaworthiness is made by one-fourth of the crew; or if they exceed twenty by not less than five, and to cases where a complaint of unseaworthiness had been made by them before quitting the ship. The power of ordering a survey was also given to naval courts abroad.

Mr. Plimsoll publishes a book, ‘Our Seamen,’ 1873.

Although these amendments had, as I have shown, been for some years contemplated by Government, and had been, in fact, submitted for the consideration of Parliament before Mr. Plimsoll expressed any opinion on the subject, they did not satisfy his demands; and in order that his views might become more extensively known, he published in January, 1873, a curious book.[254] It is of that sensational class which at present, either in the shape of novels or other works of a more pretentious character, evidently commands a large circulation among the light-reading public. But, besides its sensational character, it contains a great deal of information new to the ordinary reader, who, if he does not understand its technicalities, which Mr. Plimsoll himself does not seem to have very well understood, will be struck by its illustrations of decayed timbers, worm-eaten planks, and corroded bolts. It begins with a facsimile of a policy of insurance with the names and amount of risk attached, and the underwriters’ “slip” on which the policy was based, with the signatures crossed out as they were subscribed to the policy. His object in giving the numerous names in detail, and the amount of the liability of each, was, as he states, “in order to show how the responsibility is so divided and spread as to leave no one individual a risk large enough to be worth fighting to escape, even if there were adequate grounds for disputing the subsequent claim,” and, from these premises, he arrives at the conclusion that the interest of each underwriter is so small, that where a claim is made, it is not sufficient “to induce any one to fight a lawsuit in order to escape it,” even when there is “more than a suspicion of its injustice.”

Unfortunately his statement, on this point, is at variance with fact; for, though the risk of each individual may be small, their interest, as a body, in resisting unjust claims, and resisting them frequently in the most strenuous manner, is too great to allow such claims to be settled unquestioned. Mr. Plimsoll might not, however, have been aware that the Underwriters of Lloyd’s are thoroughly organised for the purpose of grappling with such matters, having their agents at all the principal seaports of the world, with every facility for readily obtaining information respecting the cause of losses, and the nature and character of the claims made upon them; nor of the important fact that they not merely resist claims, as may be frequently seen in our courts of law, but are occasionally prosecutors in the case of fraudulent losses. So that it is altogether a mistake to describe the Underwriters of Lloyd’s, much less of the marine insurance companies, as a weak body of men, whom a shipowner can “bully” into an unjust settlement.[255] The photographs he supplied were, however, so curious in themselves, and so novel to the public, generally, and especially to many members of the House of Commons, and his statements, though sometimes hap-hazard, were given with such evidently honest intentions, that his book attracted unusual notice.

But, however well-disposed the House of Commons may have been to listen to him, and to the recommendations in his book, the Bill he introduced for its consideration could not possibly be entertained with any regard to the great maritime interests of this country, nor could they be adopted without full inquiry; indeed, they were little short of a transfer of the construction and management of the whole of the shipping of Great Britain from the owners to some department of the Government, which was to survey every ship built, and every ship sent to sea.