284 SOCIETY NAVAL ARCHITECTS AND MARINE ENGINEERS. 



Chapter III. 

 SAFETY OF NAVIGATION. 



DESTRUCTION OF DERELICTS. 



For some years the Revenue-Cutter Service of the United States has been engaged in 

 the destruction or removal of dereHcts, which are usually lumber-laden vessels, though 

 occasionally a steel steamer with miscellaneous cargo, like the burnt steamship Volturno, 

 may become derelict. Roughly speaking the operations of this service have been to the 

 west of a line from Sable Island to the Bermudas, along the North Atlantic coast of the 

 United States, where such derelicts are usually afloat. Occasionally the revenue cutters 

 have gone eastward and southward beyond these general limits. The value and efficiency 

 of this service were appreciated by the conference, and Article 6 of the convention ex- 

 tends derelict destruction to the eastward, and provides that the cost of maintaining this 

 extension of the operations of the Revenue-Cutter Service shall be met by contributions 

 from the nations concerned in proportions fixed by Article 7, Great Britain paying 30 per 

 cent, the United States, France, and Germany each 15 per cent, and the remaining 25 per 

 cent being divided among other nations. From time to time other Government vessels of 

 the several powers will also destroy derelicts when the revenue cutters are employed on 

 other international duties. 



ICE PATROL. 



Following the loss of the steamship Titanic in April, 1912, the United States Govern- 

 ment sent the scout cruisers Salem and Birmingham to maintain a patrol to the north of the 

 North Atlantic steamship lanes to give notice by wireless to steamships of the southward 

 course of the ice and of zones made dangerous thereby. During 1913 the same service 

 was performed by two American revenue cutters, the entire cost for both years being 

 borne, of course, by the United States. The value of these services was appreciated by 

 the conference, and the United States was invited to assume this duty, together with the 

 work of destroying derelicts, on the same basis of contributions by the maritime powers 

 to meet the expense. 



ICE OBSERVATION. 



Skilled navigators and scientists are confident, partly as a result of the Arctic and 

 Antarctic explorations of recent years, that by a thorough study and observation of ice 

 conditions and formation, and of the Labrador and other currents, the natural laws gov- 

 erning the formation and movements of ice in the North Atlantic may be determined at 

 least to the extent of permitting approximate forecasts, similar to recent meteorological 

 forecasts, which will contribute to safer ocean navigation. The British Government sent 

 the steamship Scotia for that purpose during the spring of 1913, but, owing to temporary 

 handicaps and delays, its work was not as thorough as was desired. The conference re- 

 quested the United States to undertake this service in connection with the ice patrol and the 

 destruction of derelicts. These three tasks were deemed so useful that the conference 

 (recommendation 11, after final protocol) urged their establishment during 1914 and 1915 

 in advance of the enforcement of the convention. The total annual cost of the three serv- 

 ices, which will give continuous employment to two revenue cutters, has been estimated in 

 round numbers at $200,000, of which the United States is asked to contribute $30,000, 

 and other nations the remaining $170,000. , , 



