704 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



As a preventive means, submarine soimclsignaling has proved 

 itself to be of immense value, especially where the mariner is sur- 

 rounded by his most dangerous enemy, fog. It is well known that 

 during fog both light signals and ordinary sound signals become 

 very unreliable, whereas the state of the atmosphere has no effect 

 upon sounds transmitted through the sea. The first submarine bell 

 was installed in 1901, and to-day there are about 140 fixed bell sta- 

 tions and over 1,000 vessels fitted with listening apparatus. 



The important questions of freeboard, subdivision, and lifeboat 

 accommodation have all received a considerable amount of attention 

 in recent years, and special committees have lately been appointed to 

 investigate each of these intricate problems, so that nothing that 

 human skill can devise may be left undone to secure the safety of 

 human life and property intrusted to the vessels of our mercantile 

 marine. 



The 1892 bulkhead committee set as its highest standard the ability 

 to remain afloat with any two adjacent compartments simultaneously 

 flooded. The Campania was one of the first vessels to comply with 

 the conditions laid down, and the Scot was also a " two-compart- 

 ment " ship. Since that date not many ships have fully met the 

 requirements, which were found in most cases to interfere too much 

 with passenger and cargo facilities. The new Empresses on service 

 in the Far East and the new Allan Liners have been made into " four- 

 compartment" vessels, and it is more than probable that the new 

 bulkhead committee will set a higher standard of safety than its 

 predecessor. 



One of the most appalling dangers at sea is that of fii-e, and in 

 recent years many new systems of meeting this emergency have been 

 introduced. The now universal replacement of candles and oil- 

 illumination by electric light has eliminated one of the most frequent 

 causes of conflagTation, and should fire occur, systems of piping 

 led into every part of the ship can quickly convey water, steam, 

 carbonic-acid gas, sulphurous vapor, or the exhaust gases from the 

 funnels so as to deprive the flames of the oxygen which is their life. 



In the course of my remarks I have made no reference to failures, 

 as these have been but rare among so many notable successes. Never- 

 theless much has been learned from failures, as each one, if read 

 aright, indicates something to be avoided in future work. The solid 

 progi-ess recorded, with but little assistance from that manual labor 

 which to-day claims to be the sole producer of wealth, has been the 

 inevitable result of the persistent intellectual effort, amounting at 

 times to genius, of the many men whose names are as household 

 words among us and will live imperishably in the annals of our pro- 

 fession. It is impossible to review the history of marine construction 

 without being forcibly impressed by the greatness of the debt we owe 



