UNSINKABLE BOAT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 422, 11 August 1908, Page 4

UNSINKABLE BOAT.

A Strange Journey.

A peculiar little egg-shaped craft, resembling somewhat a submarine vessel, and flying the Norwegian flag, was the centre of attraction along the Thames when she was slowly towed from Doudou Docks to Westminster Bridge and moored outside St. Thomas’ Hospital one day last month. The strange vessel is the invention of Captain. Brude, a young Norwegian, who claims to have solved the problem of constructing a life-saving boat for passenger and cargo vessels, capable of resisting rough seas, cold weather, and hurricanes, with equal ease. A fortnight before Captain Brude left Norway/or Dondou in theUrsed (the Norwegian for Fearless), and he arrived at Gravesend with his crew of two —a sailor and a Norwegian journalist in the best of spirits. A newspaper representative boarded the vessel on her arrival and descended through a circular trap-door in the dome into a very comfortable cabin, in which the temperature was at least Sodegs. The living compartment is quite roomy, and fitted with a table in the centre and two upholstered sofas running along the oval-shaped walls.

The steering and running gears, and all the ropes were manipulated from within, as it would be utterly out of the question for the crew to venture outside in rough weather. The captain, a typical Norwegian sailor, fwety-eight years old, explained the vessel, and the object of his visit to Tendon. “We have had a fine crossing from Norway,’' he said, “ and I never feel safer ashore than I do on this little craft. The boat is absolutely watertight, and is capable of weathering any storm with any number of passengers,' according to her size. “ Our company at Bergen, Norway, are now prepared to deliver the same type of boat to hold forty passengers, which will probably suit the requirements of passengers and cargo steamers. “ Supposing a vessel is sinking, all the passengers have to do is to slip through the openings at both ends and wait for the ship to go down. The lifeboat may also be dragged down a few yards by the suction of the sinking vessel, but it will rise again triumphantly in a few seconds, and no one will be the worse for the experience. “As for sailing about on the high seas in this boat, it is as comfortable as a railway carriage. The longer and heavier the waves are the less we feel the motion. The most terrific hurricane becomes almost a delightful experience. “I am going to submit the Ursed to the test of experts appointed by the Board of Trade, and no doubt the result will be satisfactory. “From Tondon we go to Amsterdam and The Hague, and thence to Paris, in response to an. invitation from the French Government to demonstrate the invention.” A fortnight’s “cruise” across the North Sea in a 14-foot sailing vessel of this type would hardly appeal to the ordinary tourist, but the feat sinks into insignificance when compared with the voyage Captain Brude made across the Atlantic four years ago in a similar craft, only four feet longer than, the Ursed. The object of that trip was to establish beyond doubt the reliability and sailing capacity of- his boat in the worst - of the dreaded autumn gales, and in this the inventor claims to have succeeded even beyond all expectations. The nearest approach to a mishap ; on the 85-days’ voyage from AaleSund to Newfoundland, happened a few days after leaving when • a whaling vessel, mistaking the Ursed for sl whale, bore down on her full speed. Fortunately, the men on the whaler saw the Ursed’s signal in the nick of time.