To pay well is, after all, the true
way to get good servants. Why do British sailors desert to the
American service? Because they are better paid. And having so
deserted, they unfortunately cannot again procure employment under the
British flag without producing a register-ticket, which, of course,
they cannot do. Thus, picked men are permanently lost to the British
navy. Besides offering higher wages, it might have proved extremely
advantageous to open nautical schools for youths desirous of going to
sea. According to existing arrangements, the sailor--like the French
workman with his _livret_--is considered to be a child not fit to take
care of himself; and the law interposes to say he shall do this, and
do that, under a penalty for neglect of its provisions. This is to
keep sailors in a state of perpetual tutelage; and being at variance
with the principles of civil liberty, it is to be feared that the
practice can lead to nothing but mischief.
As to wrecks, the cause of the chief disasters seems as often to be
imperfect construction of vessels and imperfect stowage, as anything
else; while loss of life for the greater part arises from a deficiency
of boats, and the means of readily unshipping them.
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