NOTES ON LIFE-SAVING APPUANCES. 135 



times when it is not advisable that a boat should be released the moment 

 it is water-borne. 



As to the means of supporting the boat while being lowered, or in other 

 words, the davit, certainly during its across-ship motion control is absolutely 

 necessary. I have seen round-bar davits swing out their boats with great 

 rapidity and I have seen them come inboard again with equal rapidity — and 

 with disastrous results. Any davit which is not locked absolutely in its 

 entire travel seems to be almost criminal to use for deep-sea work. The 

 quadrant davit, of which I have spoken, is absolutely fool-proof. But one 

 thing can be done and one man can do it. It requires no previous experience 

 as the operation consists in simply turning a crank, and even our good friends 

 from the farms know how to do this from their experience with the grind- 

 stone for their scythes. The one objection is that the two davit-arms do 

 not go out simultaneously, but one can with perfect safety be sent outboard 

 ahead of the other and no concerted action is necessary. In fact, I have 

 personally swung out a heavy lifeboat with a quadrant type of davit, 

 swinging first one and then the other. In the matter of lowering, I cannot 

 convince myself that it is not possible to have a system so simple that one 

 man can control both ends of a boat with perfect safety, nor do I see that such 

 mechanism need be very complicated, yet I am faced with the assertion of 

 one of the great experts in lifesaving apparatus, Mr. Axel Welin of London, 

 that a simple bollard is preferable on account of its absolute simplicity. 

 Of course this is true, but is not this simplicity offset by the fact that to pay 

 out a fall requires some nautical training, which may not always be available, 

 and a properly designed lowering device might obviate this skill; yet it would 

 take some mental effort, some experience and some coolness to handle the 

 lowering device which I have suggested. 



On October 22 and 23, the U. S. transport Kilpatrick was used by the 

 Board of Lifesaving Appliances to test out the various designs of davits, 

 releasing devices, lifeboats and rafts, etc. Probably no set of experi- 

 ments ever made was more interesting or instructive. Unfortunately the 

 weather was far too good to put to a severe test the apparatus which was 

 fitted. 



The tests began with swinging out the Lundin lifeboats which were 

 nested on the upper deck, 33 feet from the water, Welin davits being used ; 

 these are of the quadrant type. The boats proved most seaworthy and 

 thoroughly satisfactory in every way. A most interesting experiment was 

 tried by suspending one of the boats about 6 feet above the water and passing 

 a line to the tug Reno, which hauled the boat out about 6 feet and allowed 

 it to swing back against the ship's side. In no way were the lifesaving quali- 



