The day doesn't go by that we don't see news of some allision (collision with a fixed object) in which a ship's captain doesn't smash his ship against some "uncharted" rocks, and the ship is left to the vultures of the local seaside population, until it is declared a "Total Loss" by the insurance gurus.
Well, how times have changed ! We seem to be going backwards in ship construction and durability. We were reading a classic book by Alan Villiers, a famous writer of maritime books --- historic non-fiction, in this instance.
In one chapter, he recounts the story of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, an engineer, designer, and builder, one of our personal heroes of the Industrial Revolution in early Victorian times.
Brunel acquired his reputation building England's Great Western Railway and several famous bridges. He turned his attention to shipbuilding in the earliest days of marine steam power, of which he was a fierce advocate.
In 1845, he built and launched the 322-foot long Great Britain, the first iron ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. "Contrary to nature" cried the naysayers ; "It will sink like a stone" was another frequent comment. With six water-tight compartments , six masts, and a 1,000 horsepower steam engine driving a six-bladed propeller 15½ feet in diameter, it had a top speed of 11 knots and a sustained speed of nine knots carrying 360 passengers and cargo, not bad, even by today's standards.
It acquired the reputation of being indestructible. It ran ashore on the Irish coast and lay there for almost a year, where she was subjected to the fierce storm winds for which that coast is infamous; she came off with hardly a scratch. Assigned to a continuous cargo-carrying run to Australia, she acquitted herself admirably for 30 years.
They converted her to a four-masted sailing ship; she survived the Cape Horn weather, carrying coal to the Falkland Islands until she was beached. Spotted in the 1960's by Captain Villiers, and contrary to the predictions of 100 years before, her iron hull was still intact.
What a contrast to the "We've gone aground ; passengers and crew Abandon Ship ! " philosophy that we encounter today. Query : Is modern ship design-and-build so much less robust that that of over 100 years ago, or is it the "Insurance will take care of it " attitude of litigation-fearful corporate ship-owners, captain, and crew ?
Either way, a sad commentary !
