LUST FOR SPEED.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4, 2 May 1912, Page 3

LUST FOR SPEED.

INLFUENCE OX NAVIGATION

(Isy Geo. Hicks in Otago Daily Times.)

The appalling disaster caused by the

loss of the Titanic is certain to arouse ! another fierce controversy over the question of maintaining high speeds at sea during thick or foggy weather. The lust for speed is just as acute at sea as it is on land, and man has graduated through dire peril to achieve his consuming desire for speed, and ever more speed. On land he must have fast trains and motor cars thai can travel at a 60-mile-an-hour- gait, and the "bird men" smile gaily as they fly overhead, leaving both behind. True, there' is a grim, formidable death-roll at the back of if all, but the deaths of the pioneern are soon forgotten, 'and a fresh re cord seems only to inspire others te greater daring. High speeds on the ocean have only come into fashiop comparatively recently, and for mam a day the world marvelled at an 18 knot service across the Atlantic. Germany held that honour for a time with the Deutschland, but the keen rivalry between the White Star and Cunard Companies set a pace which got too hot for the rest of the world, and culminated'in the birth of the Mnuretanis and Lusitania, both of which showed the world that a vessel would have t; maintain a speed of more than 25 knots per hour to wrest the "blue ribbon of the Atlantic" from them. Reducing Speed.

To maintain such a high spe<>< throughout a six-day trip means ; vast consumption of coal, and tin mere human energy required to feci the furnaces can hardly be conceived as 'it is next to impossible to fire a!! of the boilers to their maximum eilJ ciency except with specially picket men and coal of the best quality. Realising these contingencies, the Whit. Star Co. called into being larger van sels, with a guaranteed speed of ovei 20 knots, the result being the Oiym pic and the Titanic, and fate has bcei unkind to both. The former narrowl; missed destruction a few months ag when the cruiser Hawke nearly slices her in half, and now the Titanic i. at the bottom of the sea before com pleting her first voyage. Although both vessels were so hugin size, a large measure of their sni portanco was due to their high speed The Olympic had her passenger accommodation taxed to the utmost dining her first few .voyages, and it i; safe to say that the vessel's great spaed was not the least attractive feature of the ship to all who booked on her. The same remark applies tthe Titanic, and, in fact, to every fas: liner running a regular time-table ser vice.. Bankers, merchants, theatrical companies and commercial men goner ally, together with men in other professions, regard the regular mail am passenger liners as time-table running machines. They book their engage ments weeks or months ahead with as much confidence as they would accept an invitation to dinner. The time-tables say the vessel will arrive at her destination on such and such a date, and its fulfilment is taken as a matter of course. if by an,- chance the vessel is a day late the outcry is not confined to her passengers. People on shore want their mails and merchants their goods—all on timetable time. Those who may feci 'inclined to make light of this statement have only to recall the short detention of the Warrimoo a few week; ago. During the 24 hours she lav safely at anchor waiting for the fop to lift, one might have imagined there were 500 passengers on board and 1000 anxious relatives on shore, if oik were to judge by the continual inquiry about the ship and the. probable dura tion of the fog. Other powerful influences are also at work, but the "ore going will suffice to indicate the pressure that is brought to bear upon th' captain, his officers, and engineers to make their vessel'arrive on time', and many a time a substantial wager at long odds has an appreciable effect upon a vessel's speed. As a matter of fact, it may safely be said that two out of every three male passengers on any liner will experience the peculiar effect produced by the mere chance of their vessel beating another by a. few hours or "minutes in the run to port. It is simply in the blood, this lust for speed, and must be accepted accordingly. Under normal conditions it imparts quite an agreeable zest to the tedium of a voyage at sea, but during heavy weather, or a thick fog, the average passenger quickly gets attuned to tno altered conditions, a;,d ten to one he becomes uneasy, if he is still in a condition te watch events, and take an intelligent interest in them.

It is a popular notion that all vessels reduce speed in a fog. They are supposed to do so, no doubt, but it is a well-known fact that this supposition is simply due to lack of knowledge concerning the real facts. The captain of the vessel knows perfectly well that his owners expect his vessel to arrive to the hour. Her passengers cherish the same expectations, which are shared by friends in port, and the port and harbour officials, to say nothing about the tide, mails, and numerous other factors all urging upon him to hasten his arrival, not once but every trip. In the chart room, every captain has a copy of the rules of the road at sea. 'Rule 10 enjoins shipmasters to observe a "moderate speed" during a log, but it is important to note that no particular speed is given. The definition of "moderate speed" has been held by the House of Lords and the Supreme Court of the United States to be such a speed as will enable a steam vessel to stop her way within the range of vision during progress through a fog. In other words, if the lookout can see only half a mile

ahead speed must he reduced so that the vessel may he brought to a standstill In that distance. Ju itself, the rule is alright so far as it goes, hut it is 11 notorious fact that it docs not ) have the desired effect, and there ir ample proof that the official warning 3 is completely disregarded in far too 3 many instances. Indeed, so pro- ■ Pounced has the speed habit becomej i in certain quarters, that ride 1(5 may • well he considered ultra vires. This ' is due to the belief that important > mail liners are too costly and the in--1 tei'cst at stake too great to he delayed i or hampered by a rigid adherence to the provisions laid -down to ensure ■ safety during a fog. In support of i this statement the following may be ; quoted from the London Times - “Wo all know very well that ships have continually to go at speeds which the Admiralty Court would condemn if any collision should occur. The observance of the 16th regulation in the spirit of its administration by the judges is simply incompatible with modern necessities. An Atlantic liner not infrequently runs through fog from port to port. Wore she to he so navigated that the Admiralty Court would hold her blameless in case of collision, she would not finish her voyage in three weeks.”

In the Irish Son and English Channel mail and pasenger services, also in the fast Atlantic services reckless navigation in thipk and foggy weather has developed to an extent that is jimply appalling considering the lives and property at stake. 'i ho average

landsman may well doubt the accuracy of the foregoing, but the available testimony is too authentic to be gamsaid. How many fishing smacks, luggers, schooners, barges, and tramps have been run down and sent to the bottom it is impossible to say, but the number must lie very great. One vessel—the Cfity of Home—is said to have cut down five fishing smacks whilst running full speed during a fog off the Newfoundland fishing grounds on her maiden voyage to New York. This statement was made by a master mariner of wide experience in the Atlantic trade, and though lacking official confirmation it serves to indicate the utter disregard of big liners of even the rudiments of careful navigation during fog, and the same remarks apply with equal force to vessels traversing ocean routes in latitudes where ice is adrift,. in the case of the Titanic.

Icebergs and Field Ice, Whdn the ice breaks away from northern latitudes' it drifts past the coast of Labrador out into the Atlantic, almost at right angles to the regular shipping routes, and m met with less evefy: spring or early summer. In clear weather field ice may he seen at night at a distance of five 01* six miles, anA large bergs are much further away; but it frequently happens, when large quantities oi ice meet the warm water of the Gulf Stream, that they give rise to dense fogs, and it is during the latter that navigation at even,slow speed bocoipes perilous. These conditions appear jto have confronted the illfated Titanic.,, She was a. new vessel, equipped ,\yith every known device to ensure safety, and, so far as human skill and science could achieve, she was unsiukable, and her construction fully justified the title. Now this magnificent monument of human skill —this embodiment of mathematical and mechanical genius—lies at the bottom of the Atlantic, leaving three continents to mourn and the whole world numbed and stricken with the suddenness and magnitude of the disaster. The latter easily overshadows any other marine calamity of a similar nature over recorded in history, and it remains for the Board of Trade inquiry to determine the actual cause of the disaster.

Humanly speaking, the disaster should not have occurred. The presence of ice in that locality was to be apprehended at this particular time, and demanded extra caution and prudence from every navigator in that vicinity. Vessels like the Titanic are not entrusted to men devoid of those attributes, and we may take it for granted that the Titanic was skilfully navigated; but skilful navigation is largely a matter of pot-luck when a vessel is driven at high speed in th" locality of icebergs, and the sudden disappearance of the Titanic so soon aft<*r the collision leaves little doubt that she was travelling at a high rate of speed at the moment of impact. It is even possible that she was being driven ahead full speed, simply hecause there was every inducement for the captain to do so. The Titanic wss a new vessel, crowded with wealthy passengers. A fast passage meant kudos for the captain and prestige for his vessel and it is safe to say there were hundreds of wagers amongst the passengers and officers as to the time she would take for the passage from

port to port. Whether ordinary prudence was ignored or not must he decided by the proper tribunal, but it must assuredly open up the whole question touched upon in this article. So far as the travelling public is concerned, it may be well excused for believing that rule 16 is practically a dead letter. That rule throws the onus upon the captains, who are also instructed by their owners to obey the regulation laid down for the safety of j their vessels, but there are other important factors diametrically opposed] to their fulfilment. Every captain I knows that his vessel is kept in commission purely as a profit-earning machine, and quick passages and prompt despatch mean better chances of pro-! fit for the owners and prospective promotion for their commanders. Ths Captain's Position, It is popularly understood that a captain has supreme command of his vessel. That is certainly true whilst the vessel is at sea, but before he leaves port he must take his instructions from the owner, or his agent,

and render a full account to one or both when die returns to headquarters. if Jus vessel makes a specially fast passage the fact is heralded by the press, and over and over again it is ' weli known that these fast passages have been made in spite of fogs. The ship has made a fast passage in spite of the fog—and all is well. And after all, it must In- conceded that the risks are not so groat as they appear at first sight. The ocean is wide, and even a large steamer is difficult to locate if she gets adrift with a broken propeller shaft, and by keeping clear of the usual steamer "lanes" another vessel may, and frequently does, go from pore to port without ever sighting another en route. This tends to allay the fear of disaster; one captain vies with another in his disregard of risks, driven to that course more by the exigencies of the service than personal desire. It would be idle to suggest for one moment that these men do not realise the risks they run. They know them too well ; but they also know that caution is apt to be regarded as timidity at headquarters, as well as elsewhere, and a timid captain neither commands respect from his officers nor advancement in his profession. Command of a large vessel nowadays calls for the highest qualities, and nowhere in the world are there finer men than those in command of the British mercantile marine. To their keeping is entrusted vast wealth and millions of human lives yearly, and the time lias arrived to give them a fair chance to follow their destiny untrammelled by the goading that now impels them to defy prudence in order to gratify the public lust for speed.

To achieve that end commanders must he made superior to their temptations. The law must define strictly what sheet! a steamer may travel with safety timing fog or in the vicinity of ice, and where the captain’s log book and the ongineroom log show that the law has been disregarded the ship’s owners should bo penalised by a stiff fine. In that case dismissal would be the captain’s penalty no doubt. It is useless to wait until a disaster comes along before putting a check upon reckless speed in a fog. Tim penalty should be enforced every time a vessel arrives safely, if it can be proved that she was driven at a speed in excess of that permitted by law. Until such a course is adopted, and made an international mandate, so long will the risk of disaster remain as it is at present.