SUBMARINE SIGNALING AND A PROPOSED METHOD OF SAFE 



NAVIGATION IN FOG. 



By Commander F. L. Sawyer, U. S. N., Member. 



[Read at the twenty-second general meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held in 



New York, December 10 and 11, 1914.] 



The subject of safety at sea is of vital importance in all questions of design 

 and handling of vessels, and the methods for prevention of loss of life and prop- 

 erty at sea has at least as great an interest to this Society as has the question of 

 minimizing the effect of collision or wreck by subdivision, extra boats and other 

 remedial measures after the accident has taken place. 



The purpose of this paper is to present a proposed method of avoiding col- 

 lision when navigating in fogs. 



It is unnecessary to emphasize the great danger which constantly confronts 

 the navigator handling a vessel at sea in foggy weather. 



All who have actually had the experience of handling vessels at sea realize 

 that at the present day the largest and safest vessels under all other conditions 

 become an ever-present danger to themselves and others the moment fog is en- 

 countered. A certainty of safety no longer exists. A chance of disaster impossi- 

 ble to avoid is ever lurking in the impenetrable fog in which the vessel finds itself 

 immersed. 



Of all the perils of the sea, fog is by far the greatest remaining unconquered. 

 Storms have largely lost their terrors due to the size and staunchness of modern 

 vessels. Rocks and shoals are generally well surveyed and charted the world over. 

 Lighthouses and lightships guard the coasts. 



Fire has lost most of its former dangers due to steel hulls, watertight com- 

 partments, efficient fire apparatus and the use of electricity for lighting. 



Danger from icebergs is confined to a small area of the ocean. Accidents 

 from this cause have heretofore been comparatively rare, and this danger is now 

 minimized by the establishment of the Ice Patrol. 



Danger from fog has, however, continuously increased. The loss in vessels 

 during the ten years' period from 1893 to 1902 has been stated to have reached 

 1,000, approximately two each week, with loss of over $57,000,000 in property 

 and 530 lives during the same period. During the present year, among the many 

 losses due to fog, all will recall that on our own coast the Monroe was sunk by the 

 Nantucket with the loss of 41 lives, and the Empress of Ireland was lost with 1,033 

 lives in the St. Lawrence, the latter involving loss of life two-thirds as great as 

 that sustained by the Titanic disaster. 



