for rewarding the preservation of life in such cases as the Board of Trade may direct, and for remunerating persons in connection with wrecks, casualties, and salvage with which the eighth portion of the Act specially deals.
Wrecks. The inquiry into wrecks, though still requiring amendment, is not the least important part of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854. It has proved of immense value to the State, and combined with the new law of admeasurement, and, of course, with that wholesome rivalry free navigation has created, has done much to improve the quality and equipment of the merchant vessels of Great Britain, and has, at the same time, tended to the safety of life and property at sea. This part of the Act provides, that whenever any ship is lost, abandoned, or materially damaged, especially in cases where life has been sacrificed, the Board of Trade may[1] institute an in-*
- [Footnote: when President of the Board of Trade, in 1854, the value that such an
institution was likely to prove, he recommended a small Government subsidy to aid it during its struggle for existence. His approval, more than the money voted, was then of great advantage, and he must now look back with no ordinary satisfaction to his thoughtful and generous recommendation. Nor must I withhold from Government the credit due to it for establishing that almost equally valuable and useful contrivance, the Rocket Apparatus, managed by the Coast Guard, under the directions of the Board of Trade, and supported from the Mercantile Marine Fund.]*
- ↑ I have frequently thought it would be desirable to institute an inquiry into all losses at sea, where reliable evidence can be obtained. I should have every loss recorded, with a brief notice of the cause of loss, and this record should either be open to the inspection of the public, or published annually by order of Parliament. It would be instructive and valuable, and would, I think, tend to materially lessen disasters at sea, by distinguishing those which arose from unavoidable accidents and those which might have been avoided. Indeed, so strong are my convictions on this subject that, if spared for a few years longer (which I can hardly hope to be, as I am physically myself
