SAFETY AT SEA.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1767, 4 June 1913, Page 8

SAFETY AT SEA.

THE TITANIC AND AFTER.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE.

| As twelve months liavo elapsed Bince tho Titanic went down, tho London correspondent of the Melbourne "Age" has sent his journal an interesting record of what steps have been taken to profit by tlio lessons taught by that harrowing disaster. It has to 1m admitted, ho says, that America has dono more to prevent a similar accident involving heavy loss of life than England has done. Tho American Congress has passed a law compelling all passenger liners to carry wireless telegraphy installations, and also two operators, so that there will always bo ono operator on duty. Passonger steamers leaving American ports must carry sufficient lifeboats to .accommodate overy passonger and every member of tho crow, and also pwvide a life preserver of cork for every person on board. Thero is no law compelling liners leaving English. ports to have wireless telegraph installations, but tho shipping companies in their own interests have equipped their vessels with tho wireless apparatus. Thero 'is no provision that two operators shall Ibo carricdi but an invention has been patented which, when .fixed to tho wireless apparatus, will enable the international distress signal to "cut out" all other wireless messages at sea, and sot a loud 6iren in operation, so that even if tho wireless operator on' board any vessel within rango of tho signal is asleep tho cry for aid will bo heard all over tho ship. . It is generally assumed that tho British Board of Trado has drawn up regulations which provide that sufficient life boats must bo carried to give accommodation for all tho passengers and crew, but according to the editor of "Siren and Shinping," this is not the case. In an article which ho contributes to tho "Weekly Dispatch," ho writes: "The public demanded that every ship should carry 'boats for all.'- Tho board, while professing to comply with- this request, lias framed a set of regulations which wander all round tho point at issue without over coming to grips with it. Practically the new rules amount to this, that if tho ship owner finds it convenient to equip his vessel 'with, an adequate number of boats under davits, ho must so equip her, and that if ho does not find it convenient, he vrill bo excused. There are exemptions here, and alternatives there, till- ono's mind bccomes in a whirl through trying to follow them all, Furthermore, after having opened tho ball with tho imposing announcement that every foreign-going passenger steamer shall carrv lifeboats in such number and of such capacity, as shall be sufficient to accommodate tho total number of which _is carried, or which the ship is certified to carry, whichever number is tho mentor, the ingenious department later slips in what it calls a 'general rule,' which would enable it to allow any vessel _ to go to sea without having a single lifeboat on board."

Tho ship builders have been against the proposal to provide sufficient lifeboats for all the and crow. They have contended that it involves seriousstructural changes in ships to find room for tho boats, and these changes affect tho stability of the 6hips. It is said that the oaptains of some of tho larro Atlantic liners havo wept tears of mortification at tho way in which the app?arance of their boats has been "disfigured" by the largo number of lifeboats that are now carried. The ship builders aro continuing to direct their attention to tho construction of unsinkable ship?. The}' beliovo \thnt this can ba nchieved by building ships with' a double bottom and subdivided longitudinal bulkheads. It was thought that tho Titanic, which was fitted with a double bottom and 1 transverso'bulkheads, was an unsinkablo ship, but sho met with disaster. Tho Oiympic, which is a sister ship to tho Titanic, was withdrawn from the Atlantic trade recently and fitted with an inner skin. In all ■ probability tho Olympio would not sink if she mot with tho samo accident as befell the Titanic.

Both tho British and tho 4 raCT ' l!nn Governments havo taken steps to warn shipping regarding tho movements of tho ice lioes which at this time of tho year split up and float southwards in tho direction of tho shipping routes across tho Atlantic. The British Government, in co-operation with somo 'of tlio leading shipping companies, has fitted out the whaler Scotia as an ico observation ship, and sho will communicato warnings to steamers bv means of wirolcss fliossages. The United States Government has sent out tho two revenue cutters Seneca and Miami with instructions to patrol tho Grand Banks (Newfoundland), and they will co-operate with the Scotia. It was tho fa t ct that an ice floe had travelled further fjnith than usual which resulted in tho Titanic striking an iceberg.