WHEN SHIPS WOULD ASK THEIR WAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2527, 20 August 1902, Page 70

WHEN SHIPS WOULD ASK THEIR WAY.

WARNINGS CAN NOW BE SENT

UNDER WATER. Great improvements are to-day being made in apparatus of various kinds for warning s-hips at sea of danger. The Americans, in. particular, are fast pressing foi-ward with) such - matters. Here is illustrated one o£ their latest ingenioiis devices, with which our authorities are now experimenting, for on the other *ide of the Atlantic it has proved most successful. A buoy floating on the wares is anchored by guy chains running down to sunken iron, ''mushrooms" or weights. Bolow i-he buoy hang 3 a large bell, which is struck by mcana of an electric wiro. The bell being submerged, the sound of ita striking can ba heard on board ship at a much greater distance than if it hung in the open air; au<J, at the same time, the persistent notes oB the boll will not annoy people on the adjacent shore.

A mile away the warning sound' can bo heard through the water and the hull of an approaching vessel, but when a "receVwng instrument" of some sort is used more remarkablo results aro obtained. The naval officer seen in the right-hand minor picture is simply applying 1 hi« ear to a rod held in contact with his vessel's hull, and doingso lie can hear the bell when yet three milea from it. On the left you see a sailor listening through what is eimply a length of gaepipo, -with a widenod-out end closed by a disc of tin. The bell can thus be heard for over three miles. With an electric "receiver" and telephone, the notes of tho bell can be "tapped" up to 12 miles. And these new methods of keeping watch can, of course, equally well detect the thudding Bcrew of the enemy's yet far distant torpedo boat or submarine. By this system, also, in the dart or during fog, ships may be guided tbrougk the entrance to difheujfc channel*. In the second

lutlo picture the two bell-buoys shown are moored so that coming in must pass between them. The black buoy's b&ll strikes two stiokes, the chequered buoy'e bell three strokea, each bell at the same moment. When the ship seen is midway between. the buoys, the listener on board will hear both bells exactly at the same time. But supposing- the shin to be too near the chequered buoy, then three iiotes will ba heard before two notes, giving warning that; to safely enter the channel the vessel muft get more to the left of the picture. If, However, two notes are heard first, the helmsman must, on the contrary, steer more to the picture's right, till both the beila are heard at once. As might be expected, full particulars as to the buoys and what their bell notes mean aro issued through the usual official sources to all uawgaioiY.

George Wi hmgion, tl>at great good man, Who never told a lip, The Independence War began, And broke tho mutual tip Tliere'a truth in what we stjto below, The proofs are very ture, For if you want your cough to go, _ Tuko WOOP3' GflfiAT PltfPSMWini QmWk