Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/510

 *poses has been advocated by many persons besides himself. But would Government inspection, even if practicable, remove or materially tend to mitigate the evil? A very large proportion of the vessels owned in the United Kingdom are now classed either at Lloyd's or elsewhere, and are periodically inspected; and to the possibility of extending this system, a much more feasible one than any extension of the principle of Government supervision, I shall hereafter refer. Unless a vessel is classed, an underwriter, as a rule, will not take a risk on her, and, unless she is fully insured, it is not the interest of the owner to lose her. In the case of clubs or mutual associations, it would be impossible to have a better watch kept on the vessels admitted, as each member and each person connected with these associations adopts, for his own interest, if for no higher motive, every possible precaution, as, in the event of loss, he becomes a sufferer.

However great the evil, and however lamentable the losses annually occurring on our shores, any very material extension of the legislation now in force, can do little to remedy them. The remedy is in the hands of those persons who are most deeply interested, in that they are certain to become the heaviest sufferers from every loss. It is true that no ship ought to be allowed to proceed to sea which is unseaworthy, but it is the business of all insurance associations to see that the vessels they insure are seaworthy; and no punishment Government could inflict for neglect, would be heavier than that which the owner of an uninsured ship sustains when she is lost, or than that which falls on members of clubs, who admit worthless