SHIPWRECKED SAILORS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 54, 18 May 1942, Page 5

SHIPWRECKED SAILORS

HAVE NEW DEVICE TO REPAIR MACHINE GUNNED LIFEBOATS Ship's crews and passengei~s cast away upon the high seas need no longer be kept constantly at work, baling out with anything from emptytins to hats to< keep their splintered and bullet-riddled boats from being, swamped. A new plugging compound which completely fills any hole or crack, however irregular, is now available for every lifeboat in Britain's Merchant Service. The compound, a fibrous material, has only to be kneaded for a minute or two to phigi up the leak and make the boat seaworthy. It has ai binding effect, settling and hardening in water. First experiments with, the materia,! were carried out by knocking a hole in a large barrel filled with salt water. The leakage was stop* ped at once. A "Saving Life at Sea display now touring many big English towns includes eight model lifeboats and a glass tank filled with water in which the public tests the new compound by making holes in the models and plugging therri up. Britain's Ministry of War Transport and the Admiral,ty have both approved ot the device as a temporary repair compound for use ia the temperate zone. Tests are at present being carried out b»yi the Royal Engineers; as the compound may be most useful for bridging establishments and pontoons. Dominion, Colonial, and Allied .Governments are also interested) in it-: no country, other than Britain., itiakes anything like it.