FOR THE CHILDREN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13742, 6 May 1908, Page 9

FOR THE CHILDREN.

JACK'S OCEAN TRIP. O.ve night last summer, when a -.' transathtntia * liner was steaming at i>p«»od in mid-. Atlantic. Jack, an eight -year-old hoy, hi> was travelling to Southampton with. bl» *' parents', woke up suddenly from .sleep and looked out of his stateroom window. . _,„'• A bright full -moon was shining. There, was not a cloud in the. sky. About throw miles away .to the south-east lib saw a steamer' with several rows of glittering porthole*. He watched it intently until it disappeared: in ' the direction opposite to the one his *lc»fiWr * was taking. Suddenly he became conscious:'; of a slight vibration, such a* he felt when the steamer was under way in the daytime, , and then it dawned on him that the. ship In* [ had seen in the distance and the one he was on were both moving along at a lively rate. ' This wad the first knowledge he bad. that steamer* did not slop their engines at night. • For a while he lay awake pondering over what he thought was a dangerous custom, th« f running of a steamer at full speed ill the dark. "'■'■ >• '

'Ihe next morning .lack met the captain at breakfast, and asked why tho ship did not stop when it grew dark. The captain smiled, and, patting him gently on the head, said: "My son, it is as easy to cut through the dark air as it is through the light. You know the ocean is a big place, and we can S*o the lights of a steamer or a wailing vessel , almost as well at night as in tho daytime.? We have to slow down often enough i\i heavy:' weather and fog, without stopping our on». Bines at night, simply because it is dark.' , ,1/ we did stop wo would have no place to anchor —tho ocean -is too deep for thai-ami w«( would drift out of our course."

After this Jack and captain became gie.it friends, and every morning they talked of the sea and the running.or ships," and by the time they reached Southampton Jack liad learned many interesting things. One morning, when they .were walking up and down the sun deck, which is the highest deck of a steamer, Jack said: "I know trams run at night; but, you see, they run '' on tracks. They can't go wrong, unless they ' bump into another train or jump tho track." ~" '" Well, my boy,!' ~ replied the captain; ships run in tracks, too. . Only a ship has' . no mils and her roadbed is wide enough .' for a hundred ships to steam along abreast..Ihe course of the transatlantic steamer has no way stations with lights and semaphore!*' to Jot the captain know the way is clear, of there is, a wreck ahead. There are no sign* " to tell him he's in the transatlantic track. He figures that, out by tho science of navigation, and ho always knows his position relative to some point on the coast, just as tho engineer of a locomotive knows how fur he is from a station. * There are what we call " the eastbound traefoand tho westbound tryick.-i ; : these tracks or lanes are about a hundred miles apart, and by this arrangement there is ' lltlo or no chance of a head-on eollbiion between an east bound and a 'westbound steamer. -.■.■.,■.., ~, s ■ ,■'/, a *..u -.„ •• •. ■■ : -■. ■''?<•' The captain also said that he frequently knew where steamers were, although ho could not see them, .leek thought this impossible until the eaplin reminded .him that steamer, ■; could communicate with one another bv wireloss telegraphy when over two hundred mile* '.> apart. Ho said that wireless communication vas a great aid to navigation, and told him how <H , White Star liner. Alnjevtio ™ « warned many steamers of a dangerous ~Wc lantic track '" th ° ca * tl,ou » d «ra»s«tJack was delighted wheta 11,,. captain picked up-a pad of paper „ nt i ~M 0~M 0 a sketch of the wo imaginary tracks or lanes, 'making «£2 to represent 10 ° 12 "* m d ™* « - steamers. - lu . ur ■»« ..cast and west bound -- souttrn 8 " 1 ! 10 Majestic on her wav «« Southampton," said the captain, ■■„!„ W to a VSv ,'h 6W Y °, k - *« ™' oIS " ,rfl,nf ' *««to hoe dav «i«,, d hy !\ cr crow ' iinfl oa a foggj flay Una wreck would be a bar] thiria to l.^v» ton'tho feS' reported »V he ttlmpl ion me Majestic reported to the wf. fi *hom,l «S to all the r f""° rU ' <l A 1"^ 1 »'"»: her Tn Ut BtCftll ?? rS tl '«t were following Wei; ;Ji iT P harp lookwt &* *»« ctcielict, an although many. steamer* canw dose to it all succeeded in avoiding it" ■ Heavy weather set in soon after the canam made .the sketch and lasted until X • oio .I, u-k was unable to learn how steamer channel t ' r °" g, \ 'l™*™ l * «" d »«rro« channels. Tho captain had prom to fell him, but he was too busy Hotline tho steamet safely to port. to do as he bar] agreed client fr' *' 1 tra » Batlft »««o b'ner is widely / •:■ sofTr » - l', n ' m x °" "'""Ml"*" Reamer; -. (it a„ shore observations arc concerned : U.ie may make a trip to Europe and sco V nothing throughout the passage except a - ' great.mdigo ocean, where the '^- V mw « ,].„ ' - water on all sides 'm far' as ere can scf Look in any direction and the ocean seem; a,• r ,-] !r . vaKt tab,o '^ £ hlw > 'Grounded by ■ , a circular horizon. ■•" •*-'-■ But nearly all the coastwise «teamm rim sufficiently to the coast ,o cnTwe „ " , to sco and at some time of the day! « ,1 while ,he capfam, of tho cousiwi*e ; t ;. ™ r . the lighthouses on shore and the bgiushiiw . aticbprcd off the dangerous shoals »' lu,i? The Department of Commerce and Labour spends great sums of money every v «.» r in ' the maintenance of lighthouses 'and lightships along the .coast of the United States" there is hardly a harbour or waterway on • the Atlantic or Pacific coast or in.'UkvGuH of -Mexico (hat ,V i.avigah!.. for ..earners that the Lighthouse Hoard has not equipped '. with buoy* ami lights, to help the navigator* to hiKt their way safely lit all hours of ,j, :.:-;; flay or night. This includes the Great Lakes' and the big rivers. The coastline is divided ' into 16 districts, each being in charge of n united States naval officer as inspector"' arid'-"• an officer from tho United States army" as engineer. ; .... ' All channels are marked by: red buoys on ' the starboard or nghthend side when covins ii^ from sea, while the black buoys mark "tho '''■ ' ten. or port side. All midchannel obstructions are marked with danger buova having , black and red transverse stripes. Home time* storms drive these marking' from their moorings, and it is the duty of th« lighc- '- house ' inspectors ; and .engineers" replat-o ; them and inform : navigators of the tempo- '' rary change of position. Lightship* .have- ; . sometimes broken from their anchorages and drifted seaward, but, this, rarely happens. ' . there are buoys equipped with gaslights that = ■ j:; burn day. and night for three months, while others are equipped with a bell that rings with the slightest action of the waves. Much " could be read of the lighthouses along the coast, but no amount of rending would gl v« - ■ the ambitious boy a better idea of the light* . along the coast than a trip on a coastwise, steamer, .- ; - ■■ ■.''^:■■:"''■■■