Kukri
Well-known member
From an industry website...
Dear Sir,
In placing the steamer ******* temporarily under your command, we desire to direct your attention to the Company's regulations for the safe and efficient navigation of its vessels and also to impress upon you, in the most forcible manner, the paramount and vital importance of exercising the utmost caution in the navigation of the ships and that the safety of the passengers and crew weighs with us above and before all other considerations.
You are to dismiss all idea of competitive passages with other vessels, and to concentrate your attention upon a cautious, prudent and ever watchful system of navigation which will lose time or suffer any other temporary inconvenience rather than incur the slightest risk which can be avoided.
We request you to make an invariable practice of being yourself on deck and in full charge when the weather is thick or obscure, in all narrow waters and whenever the ship is within sixty miles of land, also that you will give a wide berth to all Headlands, Shoals and other positions involving peril, that where possible you will take cross bearings when approaching any coast, and that you will keep the lead going when approaching the land in thick or doubtful weather, as the only reliable proof of the safety of the ship's position.
The most rigid discipline on the part of your officers must be observed and you will require them to avoid at all times, convivial intercourse with passengers or each other, the crew also must be kept under judicious control and the look-out men carefully selected and zealously watch when on duty, and you are to report to us promptly all instances of inattention, incapacity or irregularity on the part of your officers and in others under your control.
Whilst we have confidence in your sobriety of habit and demeanor we extort you to use your best endeavours to imbue your officers and all those about you with a due sense of the advantage which will accrue not only to the Company but to themselves by being strictly temperate, as this quality will weigh with us in an especial degree when giving promotion.
The consumption of coals, water, provisions and other stores, together with the prevention of waste in any of the departments, should engage your daily and most careful attention, in order that you may be forewarned of any deficiency that may be impending, that waste may be avoided, and a limitation in quantity determined on, in case you should deem such a step necessary , in the interests of prudence.
Should you at any time have any suggestions to make bearing upon the improvement of the steamers, their arrangement, equipment or any other matter connected with the service on which they are engaged, we shall always be glad to receive and consider same. In the event of a collision, stranding or other accident of a serious nature happening to one of the company's steamers, necessitating the holding of an Enquiry by the Managers, written notice of the same will be given to the Commander, who shall immediately on receipt of such notice hand in a letter tendering the resignation of his position in the Company's Services, which letter will be retained pending the result of the Enquiry.
We have alluded, generally, to the subject of safe and watchful navigation, and we desire earnestly to impress on you how deeply these considerations affect not only the well-being, but the very existence of the Company itself, and the injury which it would sustain in the event of any misfortune attending the management of your vessel, first from the blow which would be inflicted to the reputation of the Line, secondly from the pecuniary loss that would accrue, (the Company being their own insurers), and thirdly from the interruption of a regular service upon which the success of the present organisation must necessarily depend.
We request your co-operation in achieving those satisfactory results which can only be obtained by unremitting care and prudence at all times, whether in the presence of danger or when by its absence you may be lured into a false sense of security; where there is least apparent peril the greatest danger often exists, a well-founded truism which cannot be too prominently borne in mind.
We are,
Yours Truly.
(Issued to White Star Line masters, circa 1912)
Dear Sir,
In placing the steamer ******* temporarily under your command, we desire to direct your attention to the Company's regulations for the safe and efficient navigation of its vessels and also to impress upon you, in the most forcible manner, the paramount and vital importance of exercising the utmost caution in the navigation of the ships and that the safety of the passengers and crew weighs with us above and before all other considerations.
You are to dismiss all idea of competitive passages with other vessels, and to concentrate your attention upon a cautious, prudent and ever watchful system of navigation which will lose time or suffer any other temporary inconvenience rather than incur the slightest risk which can be avoided.
We request you to make an invariable practice of being yourself on deck and in full charge when the weather is thick or obscure, in all narrow waters and whenever the ship is within sixty miles of land, also that you will give a wide berth to all Headlands, Shoals and other positions involving peril, that where possible you will take cross bearings when approaching any coast, and that you will keep the lead going when approaching the land in thick or doubtful weather, as the only reliable proof of the safety of the ship's position.
The most rigid discipline on the part of your officers must be observed and you will require them to avoid at all times, convivial intercourse with passengers or each other, the crew also must be kept under judicious control and the look-out men carefully selected and zealously watch when on duty, and you are to report to us promptly all instances of inattention, incapacity or irregularity on the part of your officers and in others under your control.
Whilst we have confidence in your sobriety of habit and demeanor we extort you to use your best endeavours to imbue your officers and all those about you with a due sense of the advantage which will accrue not only to the Company but to themselves by being strictly temperate, as this quality will weigh with us in an especial degree when giving promotion.
The consumption of coals, water, provisions and other stores, together with the prevention of waste in any of the departments, should engage your daily and most careful attention, in order that you may be forewarned of any deficiency that may be impending, that waste may be avoided, and a limitation in quantity determined on, in case you should deem such a step necessary , in the interests of prudence.
Should you at any time have any suggestions to make bearing upon the improvement of the steamers, their arrangement, equipment or any other matter connected with the service on which they are engaged, we shall always be glad to receive and consider same. In the event of a collision, stranding or other accident of a serious nature happening to one of the company's steamers, necessitating the holding of an Enquiry by the Managers, written notice of the same will be given to the Commander, who shall immediately on receipt of such notice hand in a letter tendering the resignation of his position in the Company's Services, which letter will be retained pending the result of the Enquiry.
We have alluded, generally, to the subject of safe and watchful navigation, and we desire earnestly to impress on you how deeply these considerations affect not only the well-being, but the very existence of the Company itself, and the injury which it would sustain in the event of any misfortune attending the management of your vessel, first from the blow which would be inflicted to the reputation of the Line, secondly from the pecuniary loss that would accrue, (the Company being their own insurers), and thirdly from the interruption of a regular service upon which the success of the present organisation must necessarily depend.
We request your co-operation in achieving those satisfactory results which can only be obtained by unremitting care and prudence at all times, whether in the presence of danger or when by its absence you may be lured into a false sense of security; where there is least apparent peril the greatest danger often exists, a well-founded truism which cannot be too prominently borne in mind.
We are,
Yours Truly.
(Issued to White Star Line masters, circa 1912)
.......coordinates the operations since this boat. These two conversations, very interesting, are to be read below, but also, to listen with a version tarduite and images taken in the night of Friday to Saturday, on the site of Swiss newspaper TSR.
