LIFE-SAVING AT SEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18297, 13 January 1923, Page 10

LIFE-SAVING AT SEA.

SOME INGENIOUS DEVICES ELECTRIC ALARM GONGS. Life-saving devices which have not yet been installed on any other liner are carried on the liner Avon, which sailed recently from Southampton for Buenos Ayrea. These fixtures were tested in port and found to, bo extremely effective. ,' In the first place, signs to the number of 28 have been placed on the decks of the liner, each indicating the location of the boat stations. • These signs are' extremely ingenious, for they show quite as effectively at night-time as in daylight, without the addition of ■ any light to illuminate them. This effect has been obtained by a series of prisms which reflect stray, rays of light, including sea phosphorescence. Another notable innovation has been the fitting throughout the ship of electric gongs manipulated from the bridge. Twenty of these have been installed in various portions of the passenger accommodation, while the remainder have been installed in the crew's quarters. These alarms, which will be utilised for announcing preliminary boat drills, when the vessel leaves the port, and also for the purpose of giving alarm in cases of disaster, possess many advantages over other warning signals, inasmuch that the noise they make when put into operation is unlike any other sound which might be met with at sea. When, once set' sounding they continue to ring until stopped from the bridge. The comnnny has also placed- a notice, printed in English, French and Spanish, in the cabins of all the passengers, calling attention to the boat stations and giving instructions as to action to be taken in case of emergency. - .'