The weather was too rough for the
fine tug-boat, 'The Skirmisher,' to come so far out. So, after swinging
about till 10 o'clock, we moved slowly on, crossed the bar about half-
past 11, and were off the northernmost dock later on. Here the usual
process of hauling the ship round by the aid of the tug took place, and
then the further process of putting the baggage on board the tug, in
advance of taking the passengers. I was fortunate in being taken off
the ship in a special tug-boat by some friends, got to the landing-
stage, where the baggage is examined by the Customs, and, a carriage
waiting for me, was at the Central Station at Liverpool at one o'clock.
But, with all these comfortable arrangements, I had lost at least seven
hours, and had missed all morning trains. The other passengers, I fear,
did not get through for two or three hours later, and those for London
would be lucky if they just caught the 4 o'clock train.
"It would not, I am told, be prudent to take a ship of the size and
draught of 'The Etruria' over the bar till two hours before high water
on a flowing, and one hour after on an ebbing, tide. Thus, for such a
ship - and the tendency is to build larger and larger vessels - the
margin, even in moderate weather, is probably three hours out of the
twenty-four, or, in other words, exclusion from the port for twenty-one
hours out of the twenty-four, more or less.
"Lancashire will soon have to say whether its manufactures and commerce
are to be tied to the bar at Liverpool; and, in the new competition of
ports, a port open at any time of tide must ultimately draw the trade
and traffic.
"Before the Committee of the House of Commons, on Harbour
Accommodation, on which Committee I had the honour to sit, it was
proved that every country in Europe, having a sea-board, was making and
improving deep-water harbours, - except England.
"Take the case of Antwerp, which is already attracting traffic to and
from the great British possessions themselves by reason of its great
facilities.
"Liverpool is a place where the dogma of absolute perfection is
accepted as a religion. But some of us may be pardoned if, in both
local and national interests, we must be dissenters.
"That the bar may be made better instead of growing worse is obvious.
But the great cure is by cutting through the peninsula of Birkenhead
and obtaining a second entrance to the Mersey, always accessible, and
obviously alternative. This was the advice of Telford seventy years
ago, and 'The Times' has called public attention to a practical way of
working out the Telford idea, planned by Mr. Baggallay, C.E., and laid
before the Liverpool authorities - in vain.
"I may add that if our ship had called at Holyhead, the London
passengers might have left Holyhead on Saturday evening instead of
Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, a difference of a day.
"I beg to remain very faithfully yours,
"EDWARD W. WATKIN.
"Northenden, Oct. 18, 1886."
Some Liverpool cotton broker wrote to me to say that I had forgotten
that there were two tides in the twenty-four hours. Nothing of the
kind. There was one word miswritten, and, therefore, misprinted, which
I have corrected: but the broad fact remains, and why my compatriots in
the broad Lancashire district do not see the danger, I cannot
comprehend, unless it be that some of them are up in the "Ship Canal"
balloon, and others, the best of them, are indifferent.
Steaming along, after leaving Moville, we passed Tory Island, the scene
of many wrecks, and of disasters around. It has a lighthouse, but no
telegraphic communication with the shore at all.
I wrote a letter about that to the Editor of the "Standard." Here it
is: -
"TORY ISLAND.
"SIR, - Newspapers are not to be had here, but as this good ship is only
a week out from Liverpool, and five days from out of sight of land to
sight of land, I may fairly assume that Parliament is still discussing
Irish questions.
"Thus I ask your indulgence to make reference to a question which is
decidedly Irish, but is also Imperial, in the sense that it affects the
lives of large numbers of persons, especially of the emigrant class,
and is interesting to all the navigation and commerce of necessity
passing the north-west extremity of Ireland.
"If your readers will refer to the map they will see, outside the
north-west corner of the mainland of Ireland, Tory Island. It was on
Tory Island that 'The Wasp' and her gallant captain were lost, without
hope of rescue, for want of cable communication; and Tory Island itself
has excited the interest of the philanthropist on many occasions. On
Tory Island there is a lighthouse, with a fixed light, which can be
seen sixteen miles. Not long ago, as I learn, a deputation from the
Board of Irish Lighthouses went all the way to England to beg the Board
of Trade, at Whitehall, to sanction the expenditure of eight hundred
pounds, with a view to double the power of the light on Tory Island.
Perhaps the Board of Trade, after some interval of time, may see their
way to do what any man of business would decide upon in five minutes as
obvious and essential. But that is not the point I wish to lay before
you. My point is, that while the lighthouse on Tory Island is good for
warning ships, and may, as above, be made more effective, no use is
made of it in the way of transmitting ship intelligence.
