ABSTRACT
In 1836 the problem of safety at sea had first been placed before Parliament and the nation by the Select Committee on shipwrecks. The credit for securing the appoint ment of the Committee as well as for the reforms suggested in its report belongs to James Silk Buckingham, who was the first spokesman in Parliament for the cause of marine reform.2 Most of Buckingham’s early life was spent in the merchant navy. He went to sea as a boy of ten, and at the end of his seafaring career he commanded a ship in the West India trade. From the time he left the sea about 1817 until his election to Parliament in 183 2 , he was occupied as a journalist, traveller, and lecturer. His first journalistic venture, the Calcutta Journal, begun in 1818 , ended in 1823 with a severe financial loss when Buckingham was expelled from India and the publication sup pressed by the Governor-General for his outspoken criticisms of the Government of India. For the next decade he was occupied with other journalistic ventures in England. With a background of seafaring, and an interest in social reform, it is not strange that, after his election to Parliament, he sought to remedy the conditions faced by seamen. After making a strong effort to force the government to abolish impressment, Buck ingham turned his attention to the causes of shipwreck. In the report of the Select Committee of 1836 , which presented a comprehensive plan for the professionalization of the merchant service, Buckingham enumerated the causes of maritime disaster that were then costing the nation the lives of some 900 seamen and an estimated .£2 ,836 ,000 in property annually. It was neither humane nor financially sound to allow the con tinuance of these losses arising from the poor construction of ships; from the use of unseaworthy vessels ; from the incompetence of masters and mates too young or too poorly educated for their responsibilities; from drunkenness among officers and sea men; and from the system of marine insurance which led owners to neglect ordinary precautions for safety.3 Before steps could be taken to improve conditions under which seamen worked and to ensure greater safety at sea, two pre-requisites had to be met. The first and more essential was to vest in a single department of government the sole responsibility for the enforcement of statutes regulating the merchant service. The second, the compilation of a code of maritime law, or at least a consolidation of exist ing enactments, some of them dating to the days of Elizabeth I, was to be one of the first duties of the proposed board, which was to consist of experienced officers from the Royal Navy and the merchant fleet, shipowners, and shipbuilders elected by the Admiralty, shipowners, and Trinity House.4 The board was to establish standards of qualification for seamanship. All who desired to hold responsible position on board
ship were to pass examinations designed to test their competence. Government offices were to be established in the ports at which captains were to sign on their crews, thus eliminating the evils arising from dependence upon boarding-house keepers and crimps. Nautical schools were to be established. The new board was to be financed by fees charged for the registration of ships and for granting certificates to masters and mates. These steps, Buckingham was convinced, would greatly improve the merchant marine, making it the safest and most efficient in the world.
