THE TITANIC WRECK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10439, 19 April 1912, Page 1

THE TITANIC WRECK.

SEARCHING FOR THE DEAD. MESSAGE FROM THE CARPATHIA. ALL WOMEN AND CHILDREN SAFE. NEW YORK, April 18. A relief fund has been opened here. Colonel Astor's son has chartered a ■teamer to search for his father's body. The steamer Mackay Bennet has left Halifax with undertakers and clergymen aboard to perform burial rites. The oruiser Chester is now repeating a wireless message from the Carpathia. The safety of all the women and children is assured.

SEARCHING INVESTIGATION DEMANDED. LIFEBOATS AND THE " ALMIGHTY DOLLAR." WHITE STAR MANAGEMENT ATTACKED. NEW YORK, April 18. The Senate adopted a resolution demanding a comprehensive investigation of the disaster. Some of the survivors will be immediately summoned to Washington to give evidence regarding the inability of the officers to save the lives of all aboard. A Bill introduced in the Senate prohibiting liners entering or. clearing United States ports without sufficient apparatus to accommodate all the paseengera was referred to the Merchant Marine Committee. The chairman stated that evidently life-boats take up too muoh room, and the companies are chasing the " almighty dollar."- The "Yellow" Press hotly attacks , the White Star management and criticises the regulations of the British authorities. The steamship owners bitterly resent the comments and cast the blame on those demanding encroaching upon the life-boats' space*. The steamship America warned the Titanio of icebergs a few minutes before she struck.

KING AND PRESIDENT. AN EXCHANGE OF MESSAGES. LONDON, April 18. Th®< King, in a message to President Taft, deplored the terrible loss of subjects of countries so intimately allied by ties of friendship and brotherhood. President . Taft replied: "The appalling disaster has brought both countries into a community of grief through a common ( bereavement, Americans share the sorrow of their kinsmen beyond the seaa." All the European Courts have tendered sympathy. 1 A LINER IN THE ICE. THE TUNISIAN'S EXPERIENCES. LONDON, April 18. The Tunisian was twenty-four hours In the ice. Two hundred icebergs were seen. The vessel stopped at night and sent a wireless message to the Titanic at midnight on Saturday. TITANIC'S PASSENGERS. NOT LIKELY TO INCLUDE NEW ZEALANDERS. [From Our Correspondent.] WELLINGTON, April 18. It is unlikely that there were any New Zealandera included in the Titanic* a big list of passengers. The habit of the touring New Zealander is pretty well defined. Mr Horace Grammond, manager for Messrs Thomas Cook and Sons, states that as a rule New Zealand people leave here early in the year to catch the spring,, or at least the early summer in England, and that those who purpose visiting America usually do so in the summer time, and cold weather still prevails in America. Unless they had urgent business to transact, or it was imperative to make a dash for the colonies, via America, it is extremely unlikely that there were any New Zealanders on the Titanic. The fact that there is ice so low down as to be in the track of the big steamers proved that it was the "off" season for passenger traffic on the Atlantic.

It is said that many stewards, who were on the White Star liner Corinthic, when she Jast visited New Zealand, were sent to join the Titanic at Liverpool. To-day all the vessels in port and various shipping companies flew their bunting at half-mast, out of respect to those lost in the disaster. RESOLUTION B¥ FORESTERS' CONFERENCE. At the Foresters' Conference this morning, Brother W. H. Smith (Wellington) moved " That this conference of delegates, representing all the districts in New Zealand of the Anoient Order of Foresters assembled in Wellington, expresses its heartfelt sympathy and condolence with the bereaved and sufferers in the appalling disaster which befel the White Star liner Titanic, and we further wish to place on record our appreciation and admiration of the officers and crew and also the male passengers, who so nobly sacrificed their lives for the women and children."

The motion was carried in silenoe, all the delegates standing.

MESSAGE FROM MR FROSTICK.

NOT ON BOARD THE TITANIC

Mr J. A. Frostick. of Christchurch, #cho is on a visit to Great Britain, has gent a cablegram from London to friends in Christchurch, stating that he was not on board the Titanic. He does not state that he had intended to travel by the Titanic, although it Jg known that it was'his intention to trisit the United States about this time. It is thought that he may have feared that friends in New Zealand might think he had taken a passage on the Titanic, and that he sent the message to re-assure them. MARINERS INTERVIEWED, OPINIONS OF SEAFARING MEN. [FROM OUR Correspondent.] DUNEDIN, April 18. Referring to the disaster, a sea captain informed a "Star" reporter that he was satisfied that in the Titanic's case it was an end-on collision. The terrific impact of a vessel of, roughly, 40,000 tons, going at the rate of over 20 knots an hour, and striking against a solid, immovable body, such as an iceberg practically was, was really inconceivable. The whole structure of the colliding vessel would be dislocated, st to speak. Watertight bulkhead doors would be thrown out of alignment and the consequent leakage would bo enormous, although the indicators used and found reliable in ordinary cases would continue to register these bulkhead doors as being still closed. The watertight bulkheads would 110 doubt collapse themselves from the enormous pressure to which they would be sub'

jected. The collision would crumple up the forward bulkhead and the water would then rush in and be operating within the vessel. Would the bulkheads stand, the pressure? No, he did not think so. He could not see how they could, even provided they were not strained by the wrench imparted to the whole mechanism of the vessel by tho collision. The vessel's draught would be about 30ft, and as tho water poured in forward she would settle lower and lower, and as she settled the prossuro against the internal bulkheads would increase enormously. He could quite understand how the shock of the collision would put the whole ship out of working order, twist and strain portions of the structure and generally disable her to such an extent, that she would be unable to withstand tho inrush of the relentless sea. No, be certainly did not believe that the Titanic ripped her bilge out against the iceberg after the. collision. Ice was not a piercing substance. With a sliding blow, ice was slippery. Only by a direct impact would ico pierce a ship. PROBABLE CAUSE OF THE COLLISION The Banks of Newfoundland on which the catastrophe occurred are notorious for fogs. It seems reasonable to suppose that fogs were a factor .in this case. Field ice on a dark, cloudless night is discernible at a distance of from five to eight miles. Icebergs are observable at a greater distance, for, instead of merging with the horizon as is the case with field, ice or drift ice, the icebergs stand out like dimly luminous centres in the blackness of the dark but unclouded night. In the fog, on the other hand, tlie iceberg would suddenly loom up ahead, may be at,a distance of ono hundred yards or so. Imagine how long it would take a ship steaming over twenty knots an hour to reach an object ono hundred yards oi so ahead. Why, before the warning call from the man on the lookout had time to reach tho officer on watch on the bridge the leaping leviathan would smash into tho obstruction. It was very truo that a ship steaming at that rate would promptly answer her helm, but it was also true that in the case of an object looming up ahead in a fog the collision would occur before there was sufficient time to spin the steam or hydraulic wheel over, let alone to shift the rudder and alter the ship's course. Catastrophe is at any time only seconds away from a high-speed vessel or even a low-speed vessel steaming ahead in a fog. It was a matter of comment that western ocean liners were rarely delayed by fog. Nowhere were fogs more prevalent. Drastic regulations were needed on all the seas in respect to fog speed. A ship should not he allowed to travel at more than four knots per hour in fog, observing all the precautions imposed in respect to sounding syrens. If a ship would not steer when steaming at the. rate of four knots, then she should stop altogether. It was better for her to wait a week for the fog to lift than to become a wreck. Tho present instance supplied evidence of the horror of shipwreck. Shipowners should be fined heavily in case of their vessels being known to exceed the speed limit in fog. The ship-owner was the man with whom the remedy lay. Fining a captain in snoh a case was merely tampering with the outside of a sore that really needed healing measures applied at the core. A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.

The cajptain interviewed had seen ice towering up ahead in the Western Ocean. He was then A.B. on a Western Ocean passenger liner. On the evening in question he was told that the sea temperature was rapidly falling towards freezing point. The temperature was taken every half-hour. Although the temperature ot the sea was falling at an alarming rate the Speed of the vessel was not reduced. As the darkness closed in in the middle watch the A.B. was on the forecastle head on the lookout, when he saw an iceberg loom up ahead. He yelled to the offioer on the bridge, and that officer and the captain, who was also on the bridge, fell over each other to get to the telegraph and ring full speed astern, but it was done, and as the eea foamed angrily round the vessel as the result of the reversing of the engines from full ahead to full astern, the vessel slowed, but the iceberg wa« now unobservable and the captain asked the lookout man to point it out. The A.B. looked for it in vain, and waft about to admit that he had been mistaken when right ahead and so close that he could almost have jumped on to it from the ship, was the iceberg. The engines drove the vessel astern, and presently came a warning cry from aft of ice astern. The vessel was stopped. As_ daylight broke the vessel was locked in amongst ioe. How did she get in at full speed and survive ? She had to remain where she was as the ice was too heavy to attempt to plough through it. Then the Etruria hove in sight, and she only succeeded in escaping from being closed in also. Think what steaming through a fog in that vicinity would have meant. How are accidents caused P They happen so simply that only those who witness them can credit it. THE ATLANTIC COURSE; The Atlantic liners do not steam in a straight line from Liverpool, say to New York. The steamers going to America go to the north of that straight line, and the steamers returning to Europe keep to the south of the imaginary straight line stretching from Queenstown to New York. That deviation is observed in order to avoid collisions and no doubt the rarity of collisions in the Western Ocean is almost entirely due to the close observance of this rule of the road. These courses are altered at this season, the spring, in order to avoid the possibility of icebergs or drift ice coming down from the North. Traffic across the Western Ocean is regulated as accurately as vehicles in the street are by the London policeman. OTHER VIEWS. Another master mariner was of opinion that the apparent lack of lifeboats to sufficiently accommodate the crew and the passengers on the Titanic may have been due to a number of the boats having been damaged in the collision with the iceberg. The terrific impact of the collision would probably bring down the masts, maybe the four funnels as well. That might account for the apparent lack of boats to carry away passengers and crew from the sinking ship.

THE SHORTAGE OF BOATS. Yet another seafaring man discussed the matter with a reporter. This man, who is regarded as an authority in maritime matters, said he had seen a picture of the Titanic, and she only carried 18 lifeboats, and as each lifeboat carries 40 people, that made a total boat-carrying capacity of 720 persons. He understood that steamers with watertight bulkheads were deemed unsinkable ever since on© of the "Citys" (probably the City of Paris) was towed into port a number of years ago with both her engine-rooms full of water as the result of a mishap by which a damaged connecting: red pierced the bottom and as hor bulkheads kept her afloat a vessel was then deemed uiisinkablej and so far as he knew it was not afterwards considered necessary to carry lifeboat accommodation for all the passengers. He was, however, not absolutely certain that ho was right, but he thought it would be

found to be somewhat similar to what he had stated. SOME AUCKLAND INTERVIEWS. [Per Press Association.] AUCKLAND, April 18. The Titanic disaster has caused interest in the custom and practice in regard to the provision of boats on ocean-going steamers. With a view to ascertaining what the New Zealand regulations are the Superintondant of Marine (Captain Fleming), was seen. He made a definite statement that ho vessels, coining under the jurisdiction of the New Zealand Government, are allowed to leave any port in the dominion with less tha,n the full provision of life-saving applianoes the law allows. Incoming vessels, Captain Fleming stated, are not inspected here, but would have to be equipped in accordance with the regulations at Home before they would be allowed to leave port. The Superintendant of Marine added that in case of vessels having bulkheads like the Titanic, certain exemptions are allowed by the Board of Trade from the regulations governing the number of boats to be carried.

From representatives of large local shipping companies reassuring information was gained that no risks are taken as regards safeguarding the lives of those who travel to and from New Zealand in then- vessels.

Few steamers are adequately provided with boats in the opinion of Mr R. F. Bell, travelling associate of Mr Havelock Wilson, secretary of the British Seamen's Federation, who was seen on the subjeot. He said that no doubt ships nowadays are well built, but ha declared that when it comes to a question of accommodation in boats in "the case of possible mishaps, the answer often is that such'safeguards are unnecessary. For the largest vessels to carry a sufficient number of boats to take the full complement of passengers and crew, would only entail reserving more deck space, said Mr Bell. The tendency was, however, to crowd in passenger accommodation on modern vessels to such an extent that there was little space for anything else. So far as the Board of Trade was concerned he looked upon it as practically useless as at present constituted. It consisted, he said, of permanent officials, and he was of opinion that the survey of ships sometimes went lets far than it should go. He thought the question of life-saving appliances should be dealt with by the Advisory Committee of the Board of Trade, and not by the permanent officials of the Board.