44 APPLICATION OF BUOYANCY BOXES TO THE STEAMSHIP 



Approximately 12,000 boxes divided about equally between buoyancy boxes for 

 ship, or cargo where required. 



During the construction of the work, considerable discussion arose as to the 

 possible effect upon the stability of the ship when flooded in different compart- 

 ments, and the first intention of the committee was to flood the Lucia in dry dock 

 and determine her stability under all conditions of flooding, but, -/ery much to the 

 regret of the author, these tests were not carried out, and the Lucia was loaded and 

 sent to sea without any definite knowledge as to her stability or buoyancy in case of 

 total flooding. 



There was also much discussion pro and con as to the sacrifice of cargo space, 

 the claim being advanced that all the room occupied by the buoyancy boxes, both 

 for ship and cargo, was detracting from cargo space. In these discussions no con- 

 sideration was given to the fact that the Lucia had been fitted out to carry a cargo of 

 coal, and that ample space was left to load the Lucia down to her allowable load 

 line with this cargo, as not until the Lucia was ready to sail was it discovered that 

 no coal was available as a cargo. 



A careful analysis of the principles involved will show that the necessary reduc- 

 tion in cargo corresponds to the weight of the buoyancy boxes and has no neces- 

 sary bearing upon the room they occupy. 



In making this statement I am very well aware of the contention that ship- 

 owners will make of the persistent demand for more cargo space, but this demand 

 means nothing when applied to a single vessel. If this device were to be applied 

 generally, ships would simply be designed with sufficient interior space to allow for 

 the room occupied by the buoyancy boxes, and this would mean very little, if any, 

 hardship upon the designer, and any reasonable analysis of the economic problem in- 

 volved in the reduction of the risk will show undoubted advantages. 



On her first voyage to France the Lucia was hastily and very improperly loaded, 

 resulting in a comparatively light cargo and much more freeboard than was allow- 

 able. On at least two subsequent voyages, when loaded under the direction of the 

 writer, the Lucia went to sea loaded to her Plimsoll line, or greatest allowable 

 draught. 



Before the sailing of the Lucia on her first voyage, a Naval Advisory Board 

 was appointed, with Admiral A. G. Winterhalter as chairman, to report on the pro- 

 tection of the Lucia by buoyancy boxes. The report is too lengthy to review in this 

 paper, but can be found, by those interested, in the records of the Ship Protection 

 Committee. 



The question of stability was again gone into to some extent, and the opinion 

 expressed that the writer's method of calculating stability was at fault, the statement 

 of the report being as follows : — 



"The discrepancy is due chiefly to errors which Mr. Donnelly made in the calcu- 

 lation of the moment of inertia of the damaged water line, and in assuming that the 



