LIFE-SAVING AT SEA.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1566, 9 October 1912, Page 7

LIFE-SAVING AT SEA.

• , i BOARD OF TRADE RULES. BOAT QUESTION RAISED AGAIN , Djr Telurach-FJ'Mi Association—Cocyriirlit London, October 7. A debate took place in the llouso of Commons to-d.-iy regarding the Board of Trade's new regulations for safety at sea, which were issued recently iu consequence of the Titanic disaster. Lord Charles Bercsfordi M.P. for Port* moutli, raid the first necessity was to in ! crease the floatability of vessels. He do \ prcealwl Ihfi Board of Trade interfering with the designs of ships. Mr. Sydney liuxton, President of (ho Board of Trade, slid they could not de- ! pend on floatability; they must insist on approved life-saving Appliances for nil aboard. Shipowners, ho added, were unnecessarily apprehensive, as to the eficcf of tho rules in regard to stability. BOATS V. BULKHEADS. DEPARTMENTAL RED TAPE. A cable mes.sngo at tho beginning or last month, stated that new Board of i Trade shipping regulations had beeu issued, ami were to operate from January 1. They provide that foreign-going passenger and cargo vessels must bo provided with sufficient life-b'jat accommodation for all aboard. . The number of boats under davits will depend on the length of a vessel instead of i(s fonmtgr as in (he past. The existing collapsible boats must be replaced by life-boats. The rule decreasing '.ho number of boatn to lie carried where, eliicient water-tight compartments are provided is abrogated. It is bid down that steps must be taken to secure eliicient boat-hands. An interesting letter on the Hoard of Trade mid the life-boat question was contlibiitcd recently to the "London Times" by Mr. K. S. Wilcox, M. Inst. C.E., Mr. Wileox said.— "1 am sure it will'lie of interest to put : on record how I lie wiously considered views of an experienced and successful navigator were '.submerged , o»;ing to the , ignorance, the conceit, the red-tapedness, ' the yoii-be-diinincdness of n branch of a t.ioverniueul Depart input—views which had they been reasonably accepted would have, resulted in the saving of every toul on board the Titnnic. "1 refer to the convinced opinion of my • late brother, Mr. H. (!. Wilcox. R.X.R.. ■ lato principal ollicer of tho Board of | Trade iit Liverpool. "About fifteen or eighteen years ago t some disaster occurred which brought into prominence the question of boat accommodation to be provided on ships, and he , took up the position that every ship' ought to carry enough boats to float every [ soul on board. / "His maxims were: (1) You cannot lee ; islate for a violent storm: everything then , is "in the lap of the gods.' (2) You can«ot legislate for a bad list: everything then depends on the abilities and energies of those hi command. (3) Accidents aro sure to happen occasionally when the safely of all on board will depend solely i on the. boat accommodation, allowed (o tho ship. , : "His view was that in such .a case ae ; No. :! all that was necessary was to float every soul, with two or three in each' boat capable of controlling her, keeping her head to the wind, olc.; and that the boiits should spread themselves.out four or five miles apart across' tho sea-lanes to pick up tho first ship possible. He went a, j Little further, in tint he advocated each , boat 'having a curtain fixed under tho gunwale and stowed in a tight roll, which,, when occasion demanded, could be •unrolled and held head high behind them bj the passengers sitting round tho boat tc keep out breaking water as far as pos. sible, and that each boat should carrj a sea-anchor enabling it (o ride head to wind. .. .; "How much' eosf.er present-day conditions, when all that is necessary is that a reasonably powerful launch should keen • all boats in tow, head to wind, as near as possible to where the last Marconi messages were sent and acknowledged! When Bulkheads Fall. The White Star Lino have, recently de. cided to put. inner skins in their mvtf fhips in order to guard ogainst a repetition of the Titanic disaster. , A writer in the Manchester "Guardian on the i ideal of the "unsinliablo ship Mid recently: "II is one tliinjc to provide a , bulkhead and quite another to bo sure that it will stand the test of disaster. It is difficult indeed to make a flat surface like a bulkhead stand the strain of free - water in largo quantities dashing about in n heavy sea, and difficult, too, to en- ; sure that "when the crisis comes it will . maintain its absolute hold of the ships side. There are many passenger steamships afloat which would float, on paper, with any two, or even more, of their compartments flooded if such flooding were to l>o effected in dock, but the Iroublc is that the flooding in tho real . thins is enused by a violent impact whicli not onlv effects local damage but strains the whole fabric of the ship, .lhe outside . .plating being disturbed, the vessel may . begin leaking at the | seams of her skin- ; plate?, and the bulkheads all over the ship niav be shifted somewhat from thwr | clo'e contactwith her skin. Thus water lwins to appear in other compartments than those aclunlly injured, and the fires ; and the pumps are gradually drowned out. i Then Ihi most extensive bulkhoading will not <ave the ship; il can only extend Ihn period before the final catastrophe comes.