SAFETY OF TRAVEL ON MODERN LINER.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2481, 17 May 1909, Page 7

SAFETY OF TRAVEL ON MODERN LINER.

(By E A. Stevens, Vice-President of the Society of Naval Architects , and Marine Engineers.)

Every year a thousand ships are lost at sea. Most of these, it is true, are sailing craft. The number of passenger vessels propelled by steam, however, which are destroyed at sea annually is aondliugly large. And yet, in spite of this fact, the safety of the passenger on a modern ocean liner has been so often demonstrated by statistics that, theoretically at least, it will be quite generally admitted. There is, however, to many minds, something appalling in a catastrophe at sea. Death by drowning, we may argue, is not specially painful, but still we recoil from the very idea. Those few minutes 't hopeless struggle after the ship has gone down present a picture over which none of us cares to linger. The awe of the sea which so many feel may, perhaps, oc a matter of instinct, but whether it be or not, it does exist and persist. The Church has special prayers and hymns for “those in peril on the sea,” and they are often used in her public worship. None has yet introduced a praVcr for those exposed to the much greater risk of a trip by rail, say to Chicago, or the, by comparison, positively reckless hazard of an afternoon spin in a forty-horse-power motor car. Notwithstanding this awe of the sea, comparatively few of the passengers on a modern liner know anything about her safety, and even fewer of those who have knowledge of the subject apply that knowledge in choosing by which ship they sail. That many possess this knowledge and willingly incur what risk there may ho in shipping on a vessel not provided with all the modern safety devices, is proof of the truth of my opening statement. There is, however, always a demand for more knowledum on a subject of such immediate persona! interest to so large a number. To a desire to satisfy this demand is due the following short account of the important safeguards to human life which, of late years, have been titled to ships. The dangers to which a ship and ail on board are exposed arc, indeed, manifold in character, even if the risk a~s to any one actually happening is remote. V ithiu (lie memory of man there has been both danger and loss of life and of property at, sea from high explosives, from escape of poisonous fumes, from failures of boilers, piping and engines, from tire, from grounding, from collision with derelicts, with icebergs, and last and greatest, with other ships. Better practice in a design of construction and equipment, based on the experience of the past, has eliminated or greatly reduced many of these dangers. Those of grounding and collision are the principal ones to-day, and the main interest in safeguards centres around those designed to prevent these accidents or mitigate their results.

Before considering in detail the means whereby safety is sought, 1 would draw attention for a moment to the general characteristics of the devices for this purpose, These divide themselves naturally into three classes:

First, those whose object is to prevent accidents to the ship; second, those which aim at saving the ship with her passengers from loss, after the accident ; third, those which aim at saving the lives of passengers and crew, after the loss of the ship has become inevitable. The proverbial superiority of one ounce of prevention to a pound of cure is nowhere more evident than in the case of a ship at sea, and along this line much has been done in recent years. Of what wireless telegraphy can do to-day, we have heard much of late. No man can be sure of what will bo in its power tomorrow. Of one thing we may be sure, the full benefit of this" invention will not be realised until its use on passenger ships, at least, is obligatory, nor until international regulations prevent the meddlesome interference with even the most important business that now so seriously detracts from its usefulness. This interference., whether arising from a mistaken sense of humor, from pure curiosity, or from conflict between rival companies, is to-day a serious matter. _ As a preventive of collision and grounding, wireless telegraphy to-day plays an important part, and wireless telephony may to-morrow bo its serious rival. I he recent case of the Republic and the Florida shows that even when the electric power plant is out of commission, the wireless can still be worked efficiently from storage batteries. This means that the apparatus could be used on any ship without necessitating the presence of a power plant. A present defect in wireless is the inability of the receiver to detect the direction and distance from which the message has been sent. It seems the general opinion of experts iu this branch that the defect is an inherent one, but those who have watched without taking part in the development are scentical as to the so-called impossibilities of wireless telegraphy. ’ Whether this defect can he eliminated or not, there is at hand to-day a very efficient system of signalling, whereby both the direction and distance between the sending and receiving stations can bo estimated with sufficient accuracy foi the purposes of navigation. The system is the so-called Submarine Signal. As usually applied to a ship it consists simply of a receiving apparatus, there are two tanks of a few cubic feet capacity, each fastened to the “skin” of the ship, one on eacn side, near the bow. These tanks are tilled with sea water, and iu each ol them a pair of microphones are suspended 1 . These microphones connect with the pilothouse or bridge. The sending apparatus is a submerged hell, tuned to a high note. The sounds of this bell can bo perceived at a distance of from eight to ten miles. It is a peculiar fact that water is a better and more trustworthy transmitter of sound than the air. The sound of a fog-htmi will often be inaudible, even in still weather, at a distance of two or three miles, when its nominal range is eight or ton. The Submarine Signal is not liable to this disturbance. It has been installed, generally, as a receiving system, since the beginning of this century, on most of the lawc vessels in transatlantic service, and as a sending apparatus on light-ships both on this coast and in Europe. There is no reason why it should not he installed nS a sounding apparatus on all ships where its use would enable vessels approaching each other in a fog to become aware of each other’s approximate distance ana bearing. . . . Recent improvement in navigation, in-, determining the ship’s position, consists mainly in the perfecting ot apparatus. The oldest instrument of navigation is tne compass, and its study and improvement are still going on. The old ship log has disappeared from the Atlantic steamship. Its phdo was first taken by the indent towing log, succeeded by special logs, iu which the speed is obtained from the pressure of the water against the open end of a submerged pipe. A more careful observation' and systematic recording ot the revolutions of the screw form, peyhaps, the most trustworthy method of determining a ship’s position by dead reckoning. Sounding machines to indicate the approach to shore are so perfect that soundings are taken without slowing the vessel. A very ingenious device in the nature oi a submerged kite, whose submergence can be regulated at will, has been devised so as to ring a signal on striking bottom. This device has not, however, reached practical application to higher speeds We hear much of the unshakable ship, and it seems hard to think how some of the latest productions of the shipbuilders could be sunk, and yet no ship is to-day probably safe against foundering from any thinkable •combination of untoward conditions, , The most efficient protection _ against foundering is internal subdivisions by

water-tight bulkheads. In the well-known Lusitania and Mauretania this has been carried 1 to an extreme. There are two fore and aft and three cross-ship bulkheads in the boiler space, and four crossship bulkheads and the coal bunker bulkheads, besides those in the boiler space. These spaces are the danger zone, not only on account of their size, but because their flooding puts the power-plant out of business.

With a subdivision carried to this extent means of access below the water-line between compartments is necessary, and the doors for this purpose must be capable of being closed under any condition. But few years ago this closing was done by hand. It is now done either by electricity, compressed air or hydraulic power. Bearing in mind that the engine and boiler room force have no desire for a device that will either increase their arduous task or coop them below decks without hope of escape, and that it is always in man’s power to render any mechanical device ineffective, any successful door closing system must not seriously obstruct the passages necessary for working the ship under normal conditions; must give some notice of its action; must close doors slowly, but with absolute surety ; must allow of doors being opened by men below after having been closed from the bridge, and must automatically close them after such opening. If for any reason a door in a. bilged compartment has not been closed from the bridge, it should close automatically before a dangerous amount of water can pass through. All of these requirements arc met •■•n most, if not all, of our modern liners. Besides all these the actual closing <f doors is shown by a tell-tale on the bridge, so that any failure is at once made known. The doors on the Republic worked properly, and their doing so undoubtedly saved many lives. What happened ?n her case may happen again. It is doubtful whether any ship can absorb the energy due to the blow delivered by the weight of 10,000 to 20,000 tons moving at the speed of ten knots, without so dislocating her entire structure as to destroy the water-tightness of bulkheads and their doors. In such a case it is merely _ a question between the respective capacities of the bole in admitting and of the pumping plant in removing water. The chief engineer of the Republic is quoted as saying that two good pumps might have saved the ship. In the high-power ships of to-day the amount of water pumped through the condensers becomes enormous. In the Mauretania it has been estimated at 300,000 gallons an hour at the normal speed of the circulating pumps. These pumps can be speeded up and are fitted to draw from the bilges in case of need. Besides these, however, the bilge pumping outfit of a liner is capable of dealing with vast quantities, if it stays in commission, and therein lies the risk. Much has been learned as to the necessary strength of water-tight bulkheads. The question does not lend itself very well to a mathematical discussion, but the investigations carried on by the bulkhead commission in England some ten years ago, and by the naval authorities of this and other countries, have given a mass of information from which the strength of the bulkheads can be very fairly determined, under the conditions of test; what the conditions after a collision may be is the question. It must be remembered that as ships grow in size the efficiency of the subdivision naturally increases, and the danger of such dislocation of a bulkhead as to cause leaking rapidly diminishes. In other words, mere increase in size, if accompanied by proper design and construction, furnishes an easy means of increasing safety. In spite, however, of all precautions, the best equipped modern ship may receive fatal injury either in collision or by Grounding, and it may become necessary to take to the boats. In such a case, the requisites are an adequate supply of safe boats and satisfactory means of launching them. As vessels naturally increase in size, a portion of such increase takes place by the addition of decks. The number of persons carried per square foot of water-line area increases, while the capacity for carrying boats does not increase in the same ratio. Some comment was excited in the case of the Republic on account of the fact that the boat equipment was not large enough to cany all persons on board. It is doubtful whether this is the case in any ship carrying a large number of passengers. The largest lifeboats ha\e a capacity of from forty to fifty people, and if the total complement be taken at 2400, it will be seen that from fifty to sixty of such boats will be required. The question arises how such an outfit of ordinary boats could be provided. The folding boat in its latest form seems to meet this demand to some extent, but still leaves much to be desired, and life-rafts are difficult to handle. The ordinary lifeboat of to-day is practically the same as for a number of years in _ the past. Ihe menans of launching the lifeboat, however, have been improved. The old davit had may drawbacks. Most modern ships are generally fitted with some improved type of apparatus for this purpose, as the quadrant davit. The boat can be more quickly lowered, and takes t v e water further from the ship vith this form of davit than with the ordinary typo. Both of these are important matters in getting the boat clear of the ship. Releasing gear’s of various types are now on the market.

The loss of the General Slocum some years ago called'special attention to the subject of life-preservers. While this apparatus is not likely to save many lives in collisions on the open sea, in the case if grounding it is probable that it would prove of value. A modern type of life-preserver furnishes a much lighter and more compact belt than those of block cork, without any loss in floating power. Most ships are equipped with a device for prelecting a line ashore in case of grounding, and for transferring passengers over it by means of the breeches buoy. Where this apparatus has been used it has demonstrated its efficiency to a remarkable degree. It has lately' been adapted for use from a vessel, and a revenue cutter thus fitted is now stationed on the Pacific Coast, me general adoption of such a means is one of the possibilities of life-saving in tho future. Until the full report on the loss of the Republic is published it will bo unsafe to venture any final omnions upon the question of whether the conditions existing in her case were as severe _ as any ship is likely to meet with. It is also premature to venture views upon the reasons of her foundering. It must be remembered, however, that she was a modern ship cf large size, designed and built by competent engineers of the highest reputation, and handled with skill and bravery. Lessons will undoubtedly be derived from the experience in this case. How far, however, changes in construction and design could have prevented her loss must, for the present, remain a matter of uncertainty. There is no doubt that the ship was well handled, and it is well in closing to draw attention to the fact that, however perfect life-saving apparatus may be, its value greatly depends on tho men working it.

The Chinese play poker like fiends. That’s because it fits them. Strange to say, says a writer in the American Magazine,- of all’ the trash tve’ve put up to thorn the game of draw poker is the only thing that fits the Chinese character at every turn. It’s as if they had spent all these years jiist to perfect themselves for that game. It appeals to them, it’s philosophical, it’s got sense; and so they play it, inscrutable, smiling with pleasure in their hearts