A perusal of the evidence given in those inquiries which take place relative to the loss of ships, under the Mercantile Marine Act, would lead to the supposition that defective charts were even a greater cause of wrecks than compass defaults; but this is not the case. The fact is, incorrect charts afford an excuse for a master who may have lost his ship, which is but too readily accepted by the members of courts of inquiry and of courts martial. The defence set up for the wreck of the _Great Britain_ steamer, in Dundrum Bay, on the east coast of Ireland, was, that St. John's Light, placed two or three years previously, was not inserted in the most recent charts of the Irish Channel procurable at Liverpool, and that consequently it was mistaken for the light at the Calf of Man. But these two lights are at least thirty miles apart, and it is monstrous to suppose that a steamer should be so much out of her reckoning within a few hours of leaving port. Again, in the more recent case of the wreck of the _Madrid_ steamer, off Point Hombre, at the entrance of Vigo Bay, several masters were examined, who stated that they had invariably passed equally close to the same headland, in reliance on the correctness of the chart. "Under these circumstances," said the Court, "the loss of the _Madrid_ cannot be attributed to the wrongful act or default of the captain." His certificate was therefore returned; and, at the same time, he was informed that, as a general rule, "150 yards is not a sufficiently wide berth to allow in passing headlands." We should think not; and furthermore we imagine that, if the omission of every insignificant rock close to shore, in government charts, is to be taken as an excuse for shaving a dangerous headland, we may expect to hear of many repetitions of the disaster. The _Orion_, wrecked on the west coast of Scotland, and the much-abused _Transit_, in the Banca Strait, owed their fate to the unseaman-like love of hugging the shore.