Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1900 — A YEAR OF DISASTER. [ARTICLE]

A YEAR OF DISASTER.

\v Aggregate of $1,000,000,000 Lost at f-ea During; 1900, Since the establishment of the hydrographic office at Washington there has been no record of maritime disasters so appalling as the one for the present year. The report for 1900, which will be issued by this office shortly after the close of the present year, will be a narrative of collisions, explosions, wrecks and, in fact, of all the dangers to which the men who go down to the sea in ships are exposed. It will show that almost 400 craft of every* description have been lost in the Atlantic ocean within a short space of twelve months, and that the damages will aggregate $1,000,000,000. The number of ocean steamers lost has been of course a source of great concern to ship owners. To the more thoughtful it means that within the next few years steps will be taken to secure greater safety to passengers and freight shippers. Nearly every steamer lost has been well equipped with machinery of the latest pattern and manned by a large crew, but although navigation hafs reached its present high state of development, it does not seem able to cope successfully with the mighty power of the elements. The terrible storms arising in the West Indies are strangely enough coming farther north every year, and these, their violence little abated by the long distance traversed, are greatly feared by sailors. Fogs, hidden rocks and collisions are other causes of this enormous destruction.