PREVENTION OF disasters at sea

New Zealand Tablet, 23 March 1911, Page 541

PREVENTION OF disasters at sea

The installation of wireless apparatus on the U.S.S. Company s vessels and the proposed erection of wireless stations in various parts of New Zealand direct attention to the many devices that have come into use of recent years Tor the prevention of accidents at sea,, and making K,. by modern steamships as safe, if not safer, than traveling by land. The whole world is familiar with lifeboats, life-preservers, and water-tight bulkheads, but there are few V en - among travellers, who have an-w idea of with tlfn, ?f , tlevcos a modern passenger steamer carries nldm+T object of making the lives of those on board S' secure. The unsinkable rather than the unbeatconVimW 5 UP f It the b , ject for . whldl the great marine constructors of the world are striving to-day. Speed is l r cfpr!+t ntly A ficed for safety, but steamship owners and Snf +i y is never sacrificed for speed. However much o f truth there may be in this, every official, engineer, lonhnii+ °r em P lo / of . a steamship. is constantly on the ventW fety devices and the originator of such in-W-««l a |ways _ sure of a respectful hearing. Let him his t device. ° Ut & plausible case and the company will test

Btearnshin bndg Fvi S m t i 1 f brain ? r nerve centre, of the tain controls +l 10m l* 1 ® budge and its wheelhouse the captain controls the whole anatomy of the vessel. He is as sure y in communication with every part of the ship by

means of a network of telephone wires and speaking tubes as is the brain in communication with all portions of the human body by means of the nerves. It is in the wheelhouse that the safety devices centre. Upon its walls are dials and switches and groups of colored lights, telephones, levers, and strange looking instruments whose use no landsman could guess. Although without the spectacular features of wireless telegraphy, the submarine signalling apparatus is of inestimable value as a safeguard to steamships, especially in foggy or thick weather. This is a simple appliance based on the well known principle of water as a conductor of sound. The apparatus on board consists of a box-like contrivance resembling the receiver of a telephone affixed to the outside hull of the steamship, one on the port and one on the starboard side. Connecting these with the wheelhouse are telephone wares terminating in a telephone ear-piece. On a polished dial, through which the wires pass, are the words ‘.Port’ and Starboard,’ in a small ebony switch. When the switch is turned to ‘Port’ only sounds on that side may be heard, and vice versa. In each of tthe boxes affixed to the hull is a bell, which in foggy weather is automatically sounded by electricity. Lightships and lighthouses are equipped with similar apparatus, and the ringing of the bells has been heard at distances varying from three to fifteen miles. The sounds are so clear that when the vessel so equipped is at anchor the washing of the waves against the hull and the striking of bits of driftwood is plainly heard in the wheelhouse. Steam-steering gear has greatly eased the manoeuvring of the giant steamships. Formerly six, eight, or even ten men were required at the wheel during bad weather. Now' th ® great rudder, weighing many thousands of pounds, and 600 or iOO feet distant, responds to the lightest-touch Oi the quartermaster at the wheel. „ - • i 20 ,’ OOO or 27,000-ton steamship swings from side to side like the needle of the compass as the wheelman spins the heel which controls the steering gear operating the rudder. It is estimated that the pressure exerted by the water against the rudder in turning from starboard to mnnn 11 a lar S e steamship going at 23 knots is equal to 1 • Y.V P°V. n - 111 sounding fog warnings on the pipes or whistles, it is necessary that they be given with regularity and without intermission. To provide for this there is an electrical clockwork arrangement which at stated intervals sounds the great whistle, which can be heard for miles, and which travellers say is the most fearsome sound that ever entered human ears. That this electrical fog-horn or whistle arrangement is of the very greatest importance to the safety of liners at sea can be easily seen, as most of the collisions between vessels on the ocean are due to running blindly under heavy fog. . . *= Just below the ' automatic pipe signal is a switchboard used for calling the crews to stations, fire, collision, boat 01 for any other occasion. Higher up is s square brass box in which there are holes, behind each of which is 'a red or gieen electric globe. By watching these the captain, or watch officer, can tell instantly whether or not Ins side lights are burning, for the instant one of these goes out the box becomes dark. g S - • Another simple device is that for releasing the life rings at the sides and stern at the cry of Man overboard F As soon as this cry is heard or signalled to the wheelhouse the watch officer turns a small wheel, electrically releasing all life rings If they all fall clear a red globe flashes g a case just above the wheel. . The life ring in the rear bears a tube containing a chemical which ignites as soon as it is wet and thus causes a flame to flare up as soon as it touches the water. This may be seen at mgS for a distance of from two to eight miles. Telephones with ear pieces as big as dinner nlites connect the wheelhouse with the engine-rooms TI platcs so constructed that the voice in the etSue room mly heard twenty feet away from the telephone in the wheel House, but during the roar of a storm the ear-pieces are necessary. pieces aie