DISCUSSION ON TWO PRECEDING PAPERS. 23 



I wish to call attention particularly to these two sentences. With the best intentions 

 possible, sometimes our legislators are apt to draw wrong conclusions, and a demonstration 

 upon the calm waters of the Potomac River does not necessarily reproduce the conditions of 

 storm on the Atlantic in midwinter. 



There is another sentence in the second paper which I would like to correct. On page 

 11, top of the page, it says: — 



"Furthermore, an International Conference is to be held at London later this year to 

 consider uniform load lines and deck loads, and Congress has provided for American repre- 

 sentation at this Conference which will consider more particularly cargo vessel problems." 



The United States originally provided for a Commission to attend the second, and to my 

 mind, perhaps the more important, conference. The members of the Society may not be 

 aware that the present Senate refused to appropriate anything towards the expenses for the 

 delegates to this Convention, and this action was taken before the war broke out. So, as it 

 stands at present, the United States will not be represented at the conference on load lines 

 unless some change is made in the legislation on the subject. 



Mr. J. HowLAND Gardner, Member: — I have read, with a great deal of interest, Mr. 

 James Donald's paper on the "Application of Subdivision Rules Adopted at the Interna- 

 tional Conference," and I believe that he should be congratulated on this very interesting 

 contribution on this most important subject. 



There are one or two questions I would like to ask for my own information. The first 

 is : Did he use the factors of permeability, as outlined by the London Conference, in making 

 the calculations? I presume, of course, that this was done. I would also like to ask if he 

 cares to express an opinion as to the practical correctness of these factors. It is interesting 

 to note to what extent the question of bulkhead divisions has been considered by the United 

 States Government, although this question has repeatedly been brought to its attention. Our 

 chairman, Mr. Stevenson Taylor, could tell you of repeated efforts on his part to persuade 

 the United States Government to adopt proper rules and regulations for proper bulkhead 

 spacing and construction. In the new rules just published, the subject of bulkheads occu- 

 pies less than one page; rules regarding life preservers occupy two pages; fire apparatus, 

 four and one-half pages; boats and rafts, thirteen and two-thirds pages. The rules and 

 regulations are apparently formulated to provide for possible escape in case of disaster 

 rather than the idea of preventing the necessity of escape by proper hull construction. The 

 findings of the London Conference do not apply, nor were they ever intended to apply, to 

 American coastwise trade. The following was therefore suggested at a recent hearing in 

 Washington : — 



"A great deal has been said and many pages written on 'safety of life at sea,' and yet 

 the real safety of the vessel with proper arrangement of bulkheads has received only a pass- 

 ing comment. The rules govern the spacing of bulkheads, but are silent in regard to depth 

 except that bulkheads must extend above the deep load line. It is perfectly possible to 

 build a vessel that will in every way comply with these rules and regulations, but she will not 

 float if one principal compartment is open to the sea. The unsinkable ship has yet to be pro- 

 duced, but vessels should be so constructed that they will withstand ordinary collisions. It 

 is not only necessary that they float when one or more of the principal compartments are 



