EMERGENCY AT SEA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 5 January 1931, Page 9

EMERGENCY AT SEA

Strong objection to the design of the main stairways in passenger liners was expressed by Mr E. F. Spanner, addressing the general meeting of the Northeast Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, at Newcastle, on the disembarkation of passengers in emergency at sea. In emergency, the vessel might not be floating upright; she might be rolling and pitching; the passengers had to be evacuated or disembarked from a pre-determined disembarkation deck; and the passengers had to be disembarked into boats swinging from points high in the ship, and partaking of the movement of the ship. He hoped that, at some early date, naval architects would realise f f hat grand stairways, wide-stepped, imposing, spacious and ornamentally balustradcd entrances, were next-door to absolutely useless asi ways of escape for persons three or four decks below the boat-embarking deck — on a ship with a list of 15 deg. Even with a list of no more than 71, deg. the women and children, the old and ailing would find it impossible to get up those stairways. .Successfully to negotiate a series of inclined wide-stepped stairways in unfavourable circumstances would tax the powers of a fit man. It seemed to him essential that passenger spaces should be provided with proper escape stairways of restricted width, sloping in a fore and aft direction, and well provided with stout handrails, so that no necssity arose for the use of a large main stairways for escape purposes. Even so, there would be need that the number of such stairways that a passenger should be expected to negotiate to get to his boat should be cut down to a minimum. In other words, the boats sliouid be entered from a disembarking deck as low down as it was possible to arrange it.