COLLISIONS, MARINE. 



137 



the rate required for steering. This can be 

 accurately determined for each vessel. The 

 present English law requires steam-vessels to 

 have both a steam-whistle and a fog-horn, and 

 in a fog to go at moderate speed and sound 

 their whistles frequently. Masters neglecting 

 the rules are liable to prosecution, and in the 

 event of a collision are punishable for willful 

 neglect. 



Signal-Lights. The use of electric lights is 

 not regarded with much favor by seamen. It 

 is not yet proved that the electric light will 

 penetrate a fog much farther than the ordina- 

 ry lamps, in such a manner as to indicate its 

 distance and location. It would probably ob- 

 scure the red and green side-lights, unless they 

 could also be provided with electric lamps, and 

 the colored side-lights are considered absolute- 

 ly indispensable. If colored electric lights 

 could be produced, and the electric light should 

 prove to be sufficiently clear and distinct to be 

 made out at a greater distance than oil and pe- 

 troleum lamps, the risk of colliding with other 

 steamers and large vessals carrying electric 

 lanterns would be lessened, but the danger of 

 running down smaller craft which must use 

 the ordinary lights would be enhanced, as the 

 blinding effects of the electric light would ren- 

 der it difficult to distinguish the colored lights 

 in the neighborhood of one lighted with elec- 

 tricity. There is danger also of confounding 

 an electric top-light with a light-house lantern. 

 More practical is the suggestion to hang the 

 white light of a ship as high as possible, and to 

 maintain a watch at the mast-head in foggy 

 weather. The fog is usually thickest near the 

 surface of the water. 



Sound-Signals. The proposal of a system of 

 sound-signals to indicate the course of ves- 

 sels approaching one another meets with gen- 

 eral approval. By combinations of short and 

 long blasts, on the principle of the Morse al- 

 phabet in telegraphy, sixteen of the thirty-two 

 directions marked on the compass, which 

 would be sufficient for all practical purposes, 

 could be readily and. intelligibly signaled. If 

 only eight points of the compass were em- 

 braced in the signals, the advantages would be 

 unquestionable, and every sailor would under- 

 stand the signs. George Read, in England, 

 has devised a simple apparatus for automati- 

 cally signaling the course of a vessel by means 

 of colored lanterns suspended from the ends of 

 a spar which changes its position in obedience 

 to the movements of the helm. 



Steering-Gear and Brakes Certain improve- 

 ments in construction have been proposed 

 to enable steamers to mind their helm more 

 readily, or slow up more quickly. The ship's 

 brakes proposed by two or three different in- 

 ventors will accomplish either object. They 

 consist of two strong plates fastened by hinges 

 to the ship's sides, opposite each other, and 

 are ordinarily folded forward against the side 

 of the vessel ; but the chains holding them can 

 be paid out until they stand at right angles 



to the wall, and quickly reduce the momentum 

 of the ship. If one only is released, it acts as 

 a rudder to turn the course of the ship to that 

 side. A brake of this kind, designed by John 

 McAdam, of New York, consists of a flat rect- 

 angular plate of iron on each side of the ship, 

 close to the rudder. When folded, these fins 

 fit into the dead-wood. Powerful springs, 

 worked from the pilot-house by a trigger, 

 draw the pins which hold the brakes in place, 

 and the pressure of the water immediately ex- 

 tends them until they stand at right angles to 

 the sides of the ship. A windlass winds them 

 back again. When tried in November on the 

 steamer Florence in New York harbor, going 

 at a speed of ten knots against the tide, they 

 brought the ship to a dead stop within her 

 own length, the engines being reversed at the 

 instant the brakes were applied. 



A second rudder in the bow, which can be un- 

 fastened in foggy weather, but is ordinarily a 

 rigid continuation of the keel, has been suggest- 

 ed as another contrivance for improving the 

 steering capacity of ocean -steamers. A third 

 device is the lattice-keel, which has been used 

 for many years on river-steamers in the Weser 

 and Elbe. The stern part of the keel, called the 

 dead-wood, consists of grating instead of solid 

 plates, so tnat in turning the greater part of the 

 water passes through the openings and offers no 

 resistance to the sidelong motion of the ship. 



Water-tight Compartments. The complete 

 avoidance of collisions is impossible. Con- 

 sequently means must be provided to diminish 

 the dangers in case of collision. Naval iron- 

 clads are constructed with double hulls, be- 

 sides water-tight compartments. In the large 

 passenger-steamships it is usually attempted to 

 render the ship secure from sinking by dividing 

 the interior into water-tight compartments by 

 vertical walls or movable doors. These com- 

 partments must not be so large that the filling 

 of one or two of them with water will sink 

 the ship, the walls must be strong enough to 

 withstand the pressure of the column of water, 

 tight enough to prevent the escape of water 

 into the neighboring compartments, and, if 

 adjustable, they must be closed at the time of 

 danger. These conditions are rarely fulfilled, 

 and there is probably no iron steamship which 

 would not sink if struck by a ship in certain 

 quarters. 



Life-saving Appliances. The number of life- 

 boats usually provided is sufficient to hold all 

 hands on trading-vessels, but on the passenger- 

 steamers which cross the Atlantic there is not 

 davit-room for boats enough to seat the pas- 

 sengers and crew. Moreover, it often happens 

 that only the boats on one side or in one part 

 of the ship can be lowered. Cork jackets and 

 swimming-belts are of little value when acci- 

 dents occur in mid-ocean or in winter. The 

 laws require that life-preservers should be pro- 

 vided in sufficient numbers, and kept unfast- 

 ened in handy places. The life-preservers 

 which must be carried on the Atlantic emi- 



