NEW LIFE-SAVING RAFT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2991, 31 January 1917, Page 7

NEW LIFE-SAVING RAFT

NEW ZEALAND JIAEINER'S . ' DEVICE. \ Recently a good deal of attention has been given to the indention of rafts and/varying success has attended tho inventors. In these days of submarine outrages, involving immediate action to escape from , a doomed ship, any invention calculated to save life is of particular interest. Perhaps the latest! invention in. the life-saving raft line, and one which has every prospect of ;becbming a success, is that of Captain 11. Williams, a veteran sailing master, well ■ known- on. the-New "Zealand coast, and until recently in-command of the Horning Light, 'a vessel which is to take up lightering operations' at Wanganui. Private advice received in Wellington yesterday, and. handed over io a Dominion reporter, : states that Captain Williams is endeavouring to obtain the approval, of the Board of Trade, and also their permission for the raft in question'to be used on board ships aR part of the life-saving appliances required to be carried. Captain Williams has !ong had the idea that the rafts at present carried by mercantile marine are not so efficient as .they'might be, and. he therefore set himself to make a raft embodying many 'advantages not possessed by other types. A demonstration wa» given at Lyttelton of the raft recently.. The raft is oblong in shape, with a pointed bqw. and stern, and is constructed of' metal.'cylinders of 22 inches in diameter. There are sixteen airtight chambers, so that if one or more should become damaged, the raft would have her buoyancy little affected. From her hexagonal form she is adapted for rowing, and for this purpose she is fitted with rowlocks and, oars. A mast can also be erected, and for tho. greater safety of • passengers, stanchions and ropes can be placed in position completely round the raft.' Provisions ana water are carried ■in special compartments, estimated to sustain on allowance thirty people for a period of fourteen days. There are also rockets and a rocket signal apparatus provided, as well as ropes sail, masts, rowlocks) ■ etc, all of which are placed in secure positions, hut ■at the > same time in places easily accessible in whatever position tho raft may roach the water. It is also immaterial how she may float in tho water as regards rowing or setting the sail, as both sides are fitted.up with the necessary conveniences. In fact, top and bottom are a duplication of each other. At the demonstration, 17 people sat on the raft, and she showed little difference in her draft. Her length is 15ft. Bin., and breadth 7ft. Bin., whilo she stands about 2ft. 6in. high;