SEEKING SAFETY AT SEA
ONE MORE TRAGIC LESSON -- RESULTS OF TITANIC DISASTER -- LONDON
CONFERENCE ON SAFETY AT SEA -- LIFE-BELT DRILL -- GIANT RAFTS --
LIFE-SAVING SUIT -- STORAGE BATTERIES FOR LIGHTS -- DOUBLE HULL
ABOVE WATER -- SUBMARINE BELL -- REGULATION OF TRAFFIC
WITH the sacrifice of another thousand human lives in the sinking of
the Empress of Ireland the world has received one more tragic lesson
in solving the problem of achieving safety at sea. Drastic rules
governing navigation in narrow, much-frequented passages in times of
fog are expected to result. Perhaps, as George Uhler, supervising
inspector general in the service of the United States, said, "there is
only one safe way for vessels to navigate a fog, and that is to stop
until the weather clears."
RESULT OF TITANIC DISASTER
The foundering of the Titanic in 1912 eclipsed all previous disasters
and led to much searching of heart as to the means of providing better
security at sea. Inquiries were conducted in New York under Senator
W. A. Smith of Michigan, and in London under Lord Mersey sitting as
Wreck Commissioner with five experts as assessors. In both cases
recommendations were made that liners should have boats for all,
regular boat drill, more efficient wireless telegraphy arrangements,
and improved sub-division in construction. Lord Mersey's report showed
that six out of fifteen of the main compartments of the vessel were
damaged, that the ship filled and went gradually down by the head
without capsizing, and recommended improvements as mentioned and
supervision of ship designs. The recommendations of improvements were
generally endorsed by the Merchant Shipping Advisory Committee of the
Board of Trade, who did not however concur in the matter of
supervising ship designs. The Board of Trade appointed two
committees,--one (Bulkheads), with Dr. Denny of Dumbarton as chairman,
to consider the best means of improving the sub-division of new ships,
the second (Boats and Davits), with Professor Biles as chairman, to
consider questions relating to design and handling of boats, supply of
motor boats, etc. The Board of Trade also laid draft rules before
Parliament requiring (1) great increases in the number and capacity of
boats to be carried by all classes of passenger vessels, and (2) the
submission of the designs of new ships for examination of stability,
proposed sub-division, etc.; and the Board also took steps to secure
international agreement as to wireless telegraphy and all questions
affecting safety at sea. The draft rules went considerably beyond the
recommendation of the Advisory Committee, and met with very serious
opposition from many quarters, but many steamship companies proceeded
even before official action was taken to supply boats for all on
board their vessels, while the White Star Company announced that
improved sub-division would be built into the "Britannic," and that
the "Olympic" would be similarly improved.
LONDON CONFERENCE ON SAFETY AT SEA
As a later result of the Titanic disaster a conference of maritime
nations was called in London and a safety-at-sea treaty drawn up. The
question of submarine signals between vessels, such as might have
prevented the latter catastrophe, was discussed in the conference; but
the treaty adopted does not require the equipment of ships with these
devices.
An important decision of this conference was that a continuous watch
should be kept by all vessels of over thirteen knots speed carrying
more than two hundred passengers and making voyages of more than five
hundred miles between two ports, and by all other passenger ships when
more than five hundred miles from land, and by all cargo boats on
voyages that lead them more than a thousand miles from land.
When everything possible has been done to prevent accidents, it
remains to reduce to a minimum the life and property loss attendant on
such accidents as will happen even to the best of ships and
navigators. There are three important items to be considered in this
regard: first, means of calling help from shore or from other vessels;
second, devices for escaping safely from a sinking vessel; and, third,
means of so constructing a vessel that it will not sink no matter how
hard hit.
EACH TRAGEDY HAS ITS LESSON
From each appalling tragedy of the sea we laboriously spell out some
lessons which are to teach us how to escape these strokes of fate for
the future. Then comes another tragedy, and shows us the futility of
these dearly-bought lessons. From the Titanic, we deduced that what is
needed is a plentiful supply of life-boats and life-rafts. Given
enough of these to easily carry all the passengers and crew, and so
terrible a disaster as that which engulfed this peerless ship would,
we believed, become impossible. Then came the tragedy of the burning
Volturno, and practically all those who were "fortunate" enough to get
into the life-boats were drowned, and all who stayed with the burning
ship were saved.
Thus was the chief lesson drawn from the Titanic shown within a year
to be very much less--for all its value--than a certain security
against wholesale death at sea. And now we have the frightful case of
the Empress of Ireland to emphasize this point. The Empress had
life-boats; but so swiftly fell the shattering stroke--they could not
be launched. The accident occurred in a quiet river, where, had there
been time enough, these life-boats could have saved every man, woman
and child on board in the most orderly fashion. In a word, the
life-boat "cure" would have been perfect had the conditions of the
Titanic disaster obtained.
LIFE-BELT DRILL
Now the cry is "life-belts," and a universal knowledge of how to use
them. We are told that very few of the bodies recovered from the
Empress were encircled with life-belts. Very probably if all the
passengers who could get to the decks, and so were not carried down in
their cabins, had worn life-belts, most of them would have remained
afloat in the water until rescued. But possibly they never thought of
life-belts; and it is a fair conjecture that many would not have known
how to put them on if they had thought of them. Most passengers take
the whole voyage on a "liner" without once studying out how best to
attach to themselves the life-belts which hang ready for them in their
cabins.
A life-belt drill would be an excellent thing for the first day out.
The passengers would find it entertaining, and they could each in this
way learn that the particular life-belt which belonged to him, was in
order, and what to do with it if an alarm came. A little instruction
of this sort, and every passenger--at a midnight outcry--would be more
anxious to get on his life-belt than his clothes before he rushed up
on deck to see what was the matter. If a life-boat drill is necessary
for the crew, a life-belt drill is necessary for the passengers.
MR. NIXON SUGGESTS REMEDY
This is only one of many suggestions arising out of the Empress of
Ireland disaster. Mr. Lewis Nixon, the shipbuilder, believes that
hundreds of lives might be spared in sea disasters with an efficient
life-saving suit that would keep persons warm when in the water. He
said it was perfectly possible to have a life-saving suit that would
be comfortable for many hours in the coldest water.
Mr. Nixon declared that to jump from a deck high above the water
filled most persons with terror, and he mapped out a safety slide
which could be shot out from the deck of a vessel in a few minutes.
Moreover, Mr. Nixon asserted that a light ray that will penetrate a
fog must be worked upon by scientists, and he added that he had
expected to see before this a direction indicator.
GIANT RAFTS
The shipbuilder asserted that he still thinks that vessels will be
built with the upper after structure constructed after the fashion of
a giant raft. He said that from what he had read there seemed to have
been ample warning in the instance of the latest disaster to have
prevented the crash if proper precaution had been taken.
"With every loss of a vessel we look for lessons, find them each time,
and then ignore them," said Mr. Nixon. "The Titanic had one weak spot,
the edge of a berg struck the vessel exactly there, a combination
against which the odds were almost infinite. This lesson, it is true,
was heeded, and later vessels will have double bottoms to above the
water line.
"But the slowness with which she sank misled in other directions. It
is true more boats are now carried because the passenger is entitled
to his chance, even if the combination of slow sinking and calm is not
in the doctrine of probabilities likely to occur frequently. But more
boats if they cannot be launched are an aggravation in a heavy sea and
on a vessel with a heavy list.
LIFE-SAVING SUIT
"It's true we do not build vessels to collide with one another, yet we
have had many collisions of late. We build to avoid fire, yet fire
still stands out, to my mind, as the great peril at sea.
"But let us read our lesson from recent wrecks. In all many have been
lost who might have been saved with an efficient life-saving suit.
"It is not only necessary to have the man in the water kept afloat
until relief comes. We all know of the grewsome sight of numerous
corpses floating on the ocean, dead from exposure, after the loss of
the Titanic. It is perfectly possible to don a life-saving suit that
one can be comfortable in for many hours in an icy sea.
"It may be said that such a device is too bulky to be carried and that
it will not often be used. Yet if such devices had been available the
greater part of the passengers of the Titanic and the Empress of
Ireland would now be alive.
"Boats are being improved all the time, and all will soon have power.
"Have you ever noticed a lot of people coming out of a theater where
there were plenty of exits? Can you imagine what it would be to take
them down in a number elevators, even if the number of elevators were
ample, in time of panic?
MORE INDIVIDUALISM IN SAVING
"Then think of a vessel, pitching and tossing, with passengers in
terror, unused to ship passageways and stairways, and expect them to
be embarked in orderly fashion in a short time. More and more is it
impressed upon me that there should be more individualism in life
saving.
"Recent happenings have shown that relief can usually be had as a
result of calling by wireless.
"So the passenger, even though thrown or landed in the sea, could be
buoyed up by the hope of ultimate relief if he felt reasonably safe
from death by drowning or exposure during the time taken by the relief
ship to come. So I think we must adopt a life suit which will keep one
warm as well as afloat. There should be exhibitions daily on deck,
where passengers should be shown how to don such suits, and those who
had never done so should be required to don them.
CHUTES DOWN SHIP'S SIDES
"Since, under certain conditions, which have been of frequent
occurrence of late, safety lies in getting afloat, there should be
regular chutes down which one could slide and be delivered clear of
the vessel. When one thinks of jumping from the deck of a vessel as
high as a house the terror of contemplation results in demoralization
just at a moment when the keenest wit is needed. Of course, this does
not argue that we must not have the best boat and boat-lowering
equipment possible.
"The safe transfer of all passengers into the life-boats is, of
course, the most desirable outcome, but, as we see, this is not always
possible.
"A side-wiping blow delivered by such a vessel as the Storstad would
sink almost any vessel, though I am inclined to think that the heavy
scantlings of large vessels like the Lusitania, the Imperator, or the
Vaterland, would break off the stem of a vessel so much smaller and so
localize the damage.
"Our aim must be of course to keep them apart. Years ago I endeavored
to have experiments made with various kinds of light rays with a view
to fixing the courses of Staten Island ferry boats in fogs.
"There may be found if not a light ray a dark one that will penetrate
fog and, while we have no light-ray transformers like current
transformers, if they do penetrate, their presence can in some way be
made manifest.
"I have expected before this to see some direction indicator, to the
end of which I called attention when the Titanic sank. But in this
last accident there seems to have been ample warning of approach and
enough knowledge of location to have prevented disaster, were proper
precaution taken.
STORAGE BATTERIES FOR LIGHTS
"Of course we must hear both sides, but personally I am far more
disposed to lay blame when two vessels collide than when one collides
with a berg or a derelict. In a channel where sea room is limited and
currents due to enormous tidal rise exist, more than the usual care at
sea should be exercised.
"There should be on all passenger vessels storage batteries that would
light up enough lights in passageways and about the decks to enable
passengers to move freely and special colored lights, well understood,
to show the means of reaching the upper deck.
"These are the lessons. They have all been known all the time, but
heeding them can only be arrived at through crushing disaster that
will hold the attention of travelers by sea long enough for them to
show their appreciation of the lines which best safeguard life at sea.
"After all, the transatlantic lines will provide such safety as modern
ingenuity may evolve, and they will install devices in deference to
demands of the traveling public. The difficulty is that the greater
part of such public are fatalists when they go to sea."
DOUBLE HULL ABOVE WATER
Alexander MacGregor, engineer commander, retired, Royal Naval
Reserves, who lives in Inverness, Scotland, after a lifetime on the
seas of all the world, declared that such an accident as befell the
Empress of Ireland spells certain and quick destruction to any
steamship of the prevailing type now engaged in passenger as well as
cargo traffic.
"Double hulls extending well above the water line are the only
safeguard for the ship, and individual unsinkable garments for the
passengers their only certain protection," Mr. MacGregor said. "I knew
the Empress of Ireland. She was of the same construction type as the
Titanic. She, and practically every other, except four of the largest
passenger steamships out of New York, has only a double shell far
below the water line, a protection only from damage about the keel. It
cost more than $1,000,000 to reconstruct with a double hull one of the
biggest transatlantic service steamships after the Titanic went down.
The expense and great reduction of cargo capacity have been a bar to
general adoption of that type.
"Under the rules of the sea, the Empress of Ireland appears to have
been properly at a standstill and the collier steaming on in the dense
fog against the rule. If the Empress had a double hull it would have
been practically impossible for the other to have torn out both her
shells, which usually are built four feet apart, and opened up all the
bulkheads.
"Passenger vessels navigating narrow waters like the St. Lawrence
should have life-saving apparel close at hand for passengers. Boats
are of no use if you can't get to them. Few men could last long in the
icy waters of the St. Lawrence at this season."
Mr. MacGregor for eighteen years was marine superintendent of the
Dominion Atlantic Railway, whose steamships plied between New York,
Boston and Nova Scotia. He retired a few years ago.
SUBMARINE BELL
Another opinion is that the use of the submarine bell would have
prevented the collision of the Storstad and the Empress of Ireland.
The bell is in use on lightships, but sea-going vessels use only the
receivers, and the utility of the warnings by sound under water
between approaching vessels is not appreciated. Many think that
publication of the facts would aid in making the use of the apparatus
compulsory, and point to the time when those who could spread the
knowledge of the useful wireless system hesitated to "do anything
that would advertise a patented article." The report of the American
Commissioners to the International Conference on Safety of Life at
Sea, touching on submarine bells, says:
"While the American delegation was convinced of the value of submarine
bells, it did not press their compulsory use, as this bell is patented
and sold only by one company. In the official recommendations (No. 5)
the use of this bell is recommended by lightships on important outside
stations where fog is frequent. Congress has appropriated money for
this purpose in the United States."
The question has been raised by Mr. William Spiegel, whose patent on
the submarine bell was granted in 1888, whether the fundamental
invention is longer protected by the patent laws. His patent was
bought up about five months before its expiration in 1905. But whether
or not subsequent and patentable improvements have been made, if the
bell will prevent collisions in fog it should be used, and, if
necessary, its use should be made compulsory.
REGULATION OF TRAFFIC
It is probable that the wider investigation of the disaster will deal
with traffic regulations or their absence which made the collision
between the Empress and the Storstad possible. There are no
regulations separating the paths of eastbound and westbound steamers
in the St. Lawrence, although at the point where this collision
occurred the river is nearly thirty miles wide and the depth of water
ample for the whole distance across. The Empress of Ireland had gone
out from Father Point and was proceeding down the river at a distance
of three miles from shore, which is apparently the custom. The
Storstad, with her 11,000 tons of coal, was steaming westward at about
the same distance from shore, and this, too, seems to have been the
custom. Cargo-carrying tramp steamers have equal rights with passenger
ships in the St. Lawrence, and the path along the south shore off
Father Point and Rimouski seems to be common to both classes of
traffic both eastbound and westbound. It is not so long since the
Empress of Britain, sister ship to the lost Empress of Ireland, ran
into the collier Helvetia, but in that case the collier came off
second best. Obviously, we must have more painstaking rules for the
navigation of the Gulf and River.
The 32 pages of illustrations contained in this book are not included
in the paging. Adding these 32 pages to the 319 pages of text makes a
total of 351 pages.
Transcriber's Note
Minor punctuation errors have been repaired.
Hyphenation has been made consistent.
The Salvationist Hymn originally appeared on page 100. It has been
moved so that it is not in the middle of a paragraph.
Page 117 references Alfred Ernest Barlow as being a lithogist. This
should probably be lithologist, but it is preserved as printed.
On the assumption of printer errors, the following amendments have
been made:
Page 31--pulle amended to pulled--We pulled around and picked up
...
Page 36--rest amended to best--... the blame for the disaster
should best be suspended ...
Page 55--Amy amended to Army--A member of the staff band of the
Salvation Army, ...
Page 65--controled amended to controlled--... and controlled the
situation was marvelous.
Page 70--in amended to into--... was disinclined to go into the
part he had played, ...
Page 103--life-perserver amended to life-preserver--Major Atwell
hunted for a life-preserver ...
Illustration facing page 105--ANDERSON amended to ANDERSEN--CAPTAIN
ANDERSEN
Illustration facing page 105--Anderson amended to Andersen--Captain
Andersen is seen on the bridge ...
Page 126--Norwewegian amended to Norwegian--The Black Diamond
Line, a Norwegian firm, ...
Page 151--occurrred amended to occurred--... who was on the
bridge when the collision occurred, ...
Page 158--sumptously amended to sumptuously--... on the lower
promenade deck was sumptuously appointed, ...
Page 195--on amended to an--... messages, "Struck an iceberg,
C. Q. D."
Page 219--with out amended to without--... really without the
necessity for the order, ...
Page 231--LINES amended to LINERS--MANY LINERS HEAR THE CALL
Page 257--omitted word 'of' added--"Are you one of the Titanic
survivors?"
Page 265--Franenthal amended to Frauenthal--Efforts were made to
learn from Dr. Henry Frauenthal ...
Page 273--passsengers amended to passengers--... as most of the
passengers saved were women and children, ...
Page 305--instal amended to install--It is Mr. Nixon's plan to
install a gas engine ...
The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page.
Other illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are
not in the middle of a paragraph.