inexact and
none could have been minutely circumstantial. I have read the reports of
the _Times_ and the _Daily Telegraph_, and no others. What stands in the
columns of these papers is responsible for my conclusion--or perhaps for
the state of my feelings when I wrote the _Illustrated London News_
article.

From these sober and unsensational reports, I derived the impression that
this collision was a collision of the slowest sort. I take it, of
course, that both the men in charge speak the strictest truth as to
preliminary facts. We know that the _Empress of Ireland_ was for a time
lying motionless. And if the captain of the _Storstad_ stopped his
engines directly the fog came on (as he says he did), then taking into
account the adverse current of the river, the _Storstad_, by the time the
two ships sighted each other again, must have been barely moving _over
the ground_. The "over the ground" speed is the only one that matters in
this discussion. In fact, I represented her to myself as just creeping
on ahead--no more. This, I contend, is an imaginative view (and we can
form no other) not utterly absurd for a seaman to adopt.

So much for the imaginative view of the sad occurrence which caused me to
speak of the fender, and be chided for it in unmeasured terms. Not by
Captain Littlehales, however, and I wish to reply to what he says with
all possible deference. His illustration borrowed from boxing is very
apt, and in a certain sense makes for my contention. Yes. A blow
delivered with a boxing-glove will draw blood or knock a man out; but it
would not crush in his nose flat or break his jaw for him--at least, not
always. And this is exactly my point.

Twice in my sea life I have had occasion to be impressed by the
preserving effect of a fender. Once I was myself the man who dropped it
over. Not because I was so very clever or smart, but simply because I
happened to be at hand. And I agree with Captain Littlehales that to see
a steamer's stern coming at you at the rate of only two knots is a
staggering experience. The thing seems to have power enough behind it to
cut half through the terrestrial globe.

And perhaps Captain Littlehales is right? It may be that I am mistaken
in my appreciation of circumstances and possibilities in this case--or in
any such case. Perhaps what was really wanted there was an extraordinary
man and an extraordinary fender. I care nothing if possibly my deep
feeling has b