Safety of Life at Sea

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 674, 28 May 1929, Page 9

Safety of Life at Sea

BOATS AND RAFTS ON LINERS

essons From Titanic Wreck

British Official 'Wireless Received 11 a m . RUGBY, Monday, THE subject of boats and other life-saving appliances on passenger ships lias been under consideration by the committee of the International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea, which now is sitting in London.

At the previous International Confei'ence, held in 1914, which followed the loss of the Titanic, very great public interest was centred in this question of life-saving appliances. The lifeboats on the Titanic were sufficient for 1,17 S persons, but only 652 left the Titanic in the boats out of a total of 2,201 persons on board. The popular demand was for boats for all. The conference made provision to meet this demand. The convention of 1914 did not come into operation as a convention, but the national regulations adopted many of the convention provisions, and for some years past practically all oceangoing passenger ships have been required to comply with the convention standard as regards the number of lifeboats carried. The experience gained since 1914, however, has shown the prime necessity for boats being carried so as to be readily available for launching, and it has also proved that where this requirement is not complied with, the provision of a large number of lifeboats may be a source of danger. The Life-saving Appliances Committee has, therefore, kept before it two main principles—firstly, that all life-saving appliances on the ship shall be readily available; and, secondly, that they shall be adequate. On these matters the committee’s proposals are: (1) That every lifeboat on board should be so carried as to be readily available in an emergency, and no boat should be carried -which will im-

pede prompt handling of the boats that are available. (2) That these readily available boats on ocean-going passenger ships should provide accommodation for all persons on board. In addition, the committee proposes that buoyant apparatus be provided, which will float in the sea and provide persons with something to which they can cling, if, by reason of the rapid sinking of a vessel, it has been impossible to get them away on the boats. Such apparatus is a definite additional measure of safety, and is to be provided in a determined proportion to the number of persons on board. Regarding the use of life-rafts it has been found that on certain special voyages life-rafts have proved to be of greater service than boats. The committee contemplates that administrations might, if they are satisfied that rafts will he more useful than boats, allow rafts in substitution for boats over and above a certain specified minimum accommodation in the lifeboats, such minimum being sufficient to ensure that in the North Atlantic passenger trade, and in most of the other trades, lifeboat accommodation will be provided for all. In view of the improved reliability of motor-lifeboats, the committee expresses the opinion that, where more than a certain number of lifeboats are carried, one or more should be motorboats fitted with wireless installations and searchlights.