SAVING LIFE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20184, 29 February 1940, Page 2

SAVING LIFE

SUDDEN SINKINGS NO WARNING GIVEN RAFTS ON BRITISH SHIPS The cabled announcement published recently that Germany is repudiating the London submarine convention, which has a provision that -steps will be taken for the safety of crews of merchant ships before being torpedoed, comes as tardy acknowledgment by the Nazis that British ships can be torpedoed without warning. Many British and neutral vessels already have been lost in this way and a sign of the times has been the appearance recently at New Zealand ports of ships equipped with rafts which can be' launched at a moment's notice. In the early stages of the (war. cablegrams recorded a number of sinkings of British merchant ships by submarines after the U-boat commanders had expressed fulsome regrets and duly provided the masters of the steamers with brandy and other comforts before seeing the crews safely in their boats. The present barbarous attacks give little chance to many ships and have resulted in heavy loss of life among complements who have gone down with thenvessels. Advice to Shipowners * The British Ministry of shipping recently advised shipowners. and masters that under the present circumstances it is important tnat British shins in areas where there is risk of danger from enemy action should be provided with some form of life-saving appliance which could be immediately available should the vessel sink very rapidly. Sea-going passenger ships are already provided with buoyant apparatus which would be free to float clear if the vessel should be sunk, and recent experience has shown the importance of having similar equipment on cargo ships. The owners of all British sea-going vessels, except those engaged in trades remote from war dangers, have been strongly urged by the Ministry of Shipping to provide the ships with rafts or buoyant apparatus sufficient for all persons on, board and equipped with self-lighting lights or sorrle other form of self-acting illumination which will guide men in the water to the appliance and also bring rescue to the spot Readily Launched The Ministry has given owners a design of an emergency raft which should afford support for at least 20 persons, but rafts need not comply to any-particular design as long as they are suitable. A British ship at present in New Zealand waters was fitted with rafts by her owners before leaving England, the appliances being made from drums securely held by wooden frames. The rafts, two of which are on each side of the ship, are held in the rigging near the bulwarks, in a position from which they can easily be cast overboard. It is an important, rule that rafts should be stowed in positions from which they can readily be launched overboard and where they will be free to float off in the event of the vessel’s sinking before they can be launched. Ship-owners - have been warned against stowing them on hatchways, as the hatch-covers arcliable' to be blown off by the explosion of a torpedo or mine.