“Of all the heavy afflictions incident to a seafaring-life, shipwreck is the most disastrous. For what can afford a more affecting spectacle than those poor way-worn mariners, who, on their joyful return from a long voyage to the bosom of their families, are unhappily cast away at the very mouth of the harbour! To behold them, in this perilous situation, conflicting with the merciless waves; clinging to the broken planks, or with uplifted hands and piercing shrieks imploring aid with all the eloquence of ineffable woe!”
These impassioned words begin the sobering report, An Essay on the Preservation of Shipwrecked Mariners, written in 1799 by English physician Anthony Fothergill. It was awarded a prize by the Royal Humane Society, whose directors noted that it was “a very able and scientific performance, happily enlisting Philosophy in the cause of Humanity.”
Fothergill began his Essay with accounts of shipwrecks that happened near the shore. One was the wreck of the Britannia in the West Indies in 1792. A laconic entry in the Marine List of September 11, 1792, issued by Lloyd’s of London, the famous insurance market, drily states: “The Britannia, Woodyear, from St. Kitts to London, is lost at St. Kitts.” Fothergill recounts the real horror of it. The ship, with 30 people aboard, struck a sandbar near the shore and “soon broke to pieces.” Most of the people were washed overboard, but Captain Woodyear – who could have saved himself by swimming to shore – remained on the wreckage trying to save two women, a child, and several men. An attempt to send a rescue boat failed, so relatives of the victims had to watch helplessly from the shore as the captain and the others drowned. “Next morning,” Fothergill concludes, “the beach was covered with dead bodies that had been cast on shore in the night!”
According to Fothergill, there were several problems leading to shipwrecks in the first place: storms, unseaworthy (“crazy”) vessels, and human error. He suggested ways to predict hurricanes and other storms. He made many recommendations to improve the seaworthiness of ships and new safety features such as lifeboats (which had only begun to come into use in the 1780s). He also expounded upon the proper conduct of the captain and crew in preventing shipwrecks in the first place, and the critical importance of maintaining discipline and order during a disaster in order to increase the chances of survival.
Fothergill noted that most shipwrecks occurred near the shore, but often potential rescuers on land could not get to the ship. He posited a number of different ideas to accomplish this, such as a long rope fired toward the ship using a skyrocket, a large bow and arrow, or a musket. He even suggested, “Might not Dr. Franklin’s experiment, with a large paper-kite, deserve a trial, especially in the direction of a fair wind and lee-shore?” (Fothergill was apparently a great admirer of Benjamin Franklin; he mentions Franklin several times in the Essay.) Fothergill also emphasized the importance of being able to swim, a skill that, surprisingly, even many sailors of the time did not have. And he urged the establishment of temporary asylums for “distressed mariners of all nations” who survive shipwrecks.
Shipwrecks continued to be a serious problem well into the 19th Century, but improvements in shipbuilding and technology eventually made sea voyages far safer. Thanks to the volunteers at Distributed Proofreaders and Project Gutenberg, you can get a glimpse into early modern efforts to prevent these disasters and save lives.
This post was contributed by Linda Cantoni, a Distributed Proofreaders volunteer.
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