Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 - 1953), Thursday 1 May 1879, page 2


To Protect our Rights - Not to Jnfringe upon those of Others. THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1879. LIGHTHOUSE AT CAPE NEL-SON. THE necessity for a lighthouse at Cape Nelson has been long admitted by the Government of the colony, but the want of funds it may be presumed has hitherto prevented its erection. At the meeting of the Borough Coun-cil, reported in our last issue, the Mayor brought under the notice of the members the recent visit of Captain PAYNE and Mr. STEEL, deputed by the Government to report on the prelimi-nary steps for the expenditure of £1000, granted in the last session of Parliament to make the survey for the site and buoy the sea coast in the im-mediate neighborhood of where the light is to be erected. This is all well in its way, but unless immediate steps are taken for the pre-liminary expenditure, the vote will apse, and before anything can be done to forward the erection of the light-house, a new vote must be taken. The Council, under the cir-cumstances directed the town clerk to write Messrs. COPE and TYTHERLEIGH, the members for the town and coun-try, urging the necessity for expedi-tion in the case, and we have no doubt that all will be done that can be done to hasten the movement of Ministers in the matter. Captain PAYNE esti-mates the cost at £12,500, but this the Mayor eonsiders an over-estimate, as the light-house will be built on the Cape, and no great depth has to be sunk for a solid foundation. But even if the work were to cost the amount estimated by Captain PAYNE - the inter-ests at stake should forbid any further delay, as the wreek of a single vessel, and the loss of life and property, which the erection of the light may possibly prevent, would probably cost the co-lony more than the estimated expendi-ture-and then there will be the satisfaction that the colony has done its duty in guarding as far as human foresight can against disaster. That there is great danger to vessels round-ing Cape Bridgewater under existing conditions, in the absence of a light at Cape Nelson, is apparent from the fol-lowing paragraph which we clip from the Age of the 28th ult. "A most singular display of magnetic attraction on the compasses of the steamer Rodondo took place after making the land on this coast, and it is as well that all masters of iron ships should be made acquainted with the circumstances, which are thus given in Captain Donaldson's report:-' Cape Bridge-water was sighted at two p.m. on Friday last. A set of azimuths was taken to correct the course to Cape Otway, when the error was found to be 14 deg. west. The night was cloudy and thick afterwards, so that no land could be seen, and on the following morning, as neither the land nor light at Cape Otway could be seen, another set of azimuths was taken, when the error was ascertained to be 10 deg. east, or nearly two points and a half deviation from the previous afternoon. Had the vessel been run on the deviation as made off Cape Bridgewater she must have gone in very dangerous proximity to King's Island. The compass used on board had given the greatest satisfaction on the previous portion of the voyage.'" The magnetic attraction on the com-passes off the Cape Bridgewater coast line, as observed by Captain DONALD-SON, has been long known; and; unfor-tunately, it is not iron vessels alone that have suffered from the peculiarity. Several wooden ships have been wrecked west of Cape Bridgewater, and there is no accounting for the wreck of the s.s. Barwon unless the magnetic attraction of the compasses of that unfortunate vessel is taken into account. The mariners best acquainted with the dangers of the coast line be-tween Adelaide and Melbourne say that the best possible way to guard against the dangers of magnetic at-traction on the compasses of all ships, whether I\iron or wood, is a light-house at Cape Nelson, and, under such cir-cumstances, the question ceases to be one in which not only Portland, but the whole colony of Vic-toria, is directly interested. The theory of mariners is that with a light on Cape Nelson, vessels coming east from Adelaide after passing Cape Northumberland, would, on losing that light, be able in a quarter of an hour at the most to pick up the light on Nelson, and once that light was lost it would allow that the vessel

for Melbourne was in dangerous prox-imity to Cape Bridgewater, the master would, with a large ship, have little more than time to clear Discovery Bay, and get into the proper course for the Otway light, which would be conveni-ently picked up shortly after the Cape Nelson light was passed. Under all the circumstances and all the dangers connected confessedly with the non-erection of the lighthouse at Cape Nelson, and considering that the ques-tion is more national than local, we would suggest that the Portland Bor-ough Council should take immediate steps to address a fresh circular to all the Boroughs, Shires and Chambers of Commerce in the colony, asking their immediate co-operation in urging on the Government the immediate and pressing necessity of having the Cape Nelson Lighthouse erected with as little delay as possible. With the re-cent experience of the Rodondo, and the terrible fate of the Loch Ard in recol-lection, any further delay in the erec-tion of a Nelson light will be not only dangerous, but criminal.