26 DISCUSSION ON TWO PRECEDING PAPERS. 



Most ships when ready for sea are so laden that in many instances the "permeabihty" 

 would be much less than that which is assumed as the basis of these calculations. There- 

 fore, under the specific requirements of the Convention, the ship, in many instances, has, as 

 a result of these requirements, a safety factor. 



There were individual members of the Conference Committee who were not entirely sat- 

 isfied with the degree of rigor of subdivision finally adopted, but calculations in specific cases 

 will show that the degree of rigor established by the Committee was distinctly in advance of 

 anything now existing; and, I regret to say, when applied to many of the vessels in this coun- 

 try, would not give satisfactory results. 



The Convention covered a very considerable area of endeavor, as you know, and while 

 setting as high a standard as was felt to be practicable at that time, it provided numerous 

 avenues for still further improvement of conditions as knowledge was developed. For the 

 benefit of those who at first glance may say that the requirements of the Convention can be 

 easily exceeded, the Committee, after some illuminating debate, incorporated in the Conven- 

 tion an article (Art. X, Regulations) which not only encourages owners and designers to do 

 their very best, but provides the machinery by which they can be given, on the "safety certi- 

 ficate" of the vessel, a mark of merit or efficiency, as it were; in other words, wherever a 

 particular ship in its subdivision exceeds the requirements laid down by the Convention, the 

 owner can make claim to the proper governmental department, and, by furnishing the neces- 

 sary proof, can have made on his official "safety certificate" an entry of the extent by which 

 that particular ship exceeds the requirements imposed by the International Convention. 



It is possible that I am speaking rather more of the Convention than of the papers which 

 have been read this morning, but the papers of course refer especially to the Convention and 

 its work. Right here it may be pertinent to suggest that when our volume of Proceedings is 

 printed, it may be a very good thing to have printed as an appendix the full text of the Con- 

 vention, so that we may have in our transactions a permanent record of the complete text. 



I do not think it necessary to go further into the detail of the papers submitted, which 

 are largely descriptive and refer particularly to the work of the Convention. I may note, 

 however, referring to the abstract of the paper by Mr. Donald, whose preparation has been 

 admirably done, that in excluding coastwise vessels and those operating on the inland waters 

 of any country from the provisions of the Convention, we simply recognized a principle of 

 international law, that international agreements cannot regulate the domestic affairs of other 

 countries. It was clearly and pointedly indicated, however, in discussions, that any country 

 ratifying this Convention, and thereby insisting on certain provisions of safety in their over- 

 sea passenger traffic, would necessarily be obliged to make these provisions sooner or later 

 applicable to their own coastwise ships, and if quick action were not taken after ratifying the 

 Convention, I feel quite sure that public opinion would force action. 



And now just one concluding remark about unsinkability and the unwisdom of relying 

 too much upon the design rendering a ship unsinkable. The very best endeavor of the naval 

 architect may be nullified by ignorance or neglect on the part of those who operate ships. 

 Many devices are installed on passenger vessels at great expense with the specific purpose of 

 rendering these vessek safer under ordinary conditions of operation. I think it is common 

 knowledge in the experience of many of us that these carefully designed devices are often 

 allowed to become inoperative, or are so used as not to be ready for service when the emer- 

 gency arises. Therefore, in preparing for the President of the United States a memoran- 

 dum giving a synopsis of the work of the Committee, the chairman of the Committee on Con- 



