NOTES ON LIFE-SAVING APPLIANCES. 141 



the weather. A further development in this davit which is now being attempted, 

 is the production of a satisfactory oil and water-tight ball thrust bearing, so that 

 this bearing may be kept full of oil and at all times protected and lubricated, just 

 as the screw is protected and lubricated by the sheath. 



Mr. J. Rowland Gardner, Member: — ^I have listened with considerable inter- 

 est to Mr. Forbes' notes on life-saving appUances. It would appear from this paper 

 that the writer's experience has been limited mostly to experiments with the Wehn- 

 type davit, which is well designed and very efficient, and a few other types of davits 

 of inferior design. I say inferior design, because there are davits of the various types 

 mentioned that fulfil all of the requirements laid down in this paper. Among 

 others might be mentioned the Norton davit. Mr. Warren T. Berry has made some 

 interesting experiments with this type of davit. 



There is another type of davit touched on in this paper, viz., the round-bar 

 davit, that is turned by a worm and wheel. This device is passed over as being of 

 soem assistance but has but one reach or overhang. This is not correct, as with this 

 type of gear a lifeboat can be placed anywhere within the range of outreach of the 

 davit from a point where the gunwale of the lifeboat is flush with the side of the 

 ship in the extreme throw of the davit. 



This particular boat-handling device referred to is the Irvine handling gear. 

 The rapidity with which a lifeboat can be handled with this gear was illustrated in 

 a recent collision between our steamer Commonwealth and the Norwegian tramp 

 steamer, Volund. This collision happened about one o'clock in the morning on 

 September 26, 1908. Immediately after the collision a boat crew from the Common- 

 wealth was called, a lifeboat launched, and the entire crew of the Volund, consisting 

 of fourteen men, were rescued by the Commonwealth boat before the Volund sank, 

 and when it is considered that the Volund sank six minutes after the accident, 

 there can be no doubt of the efficiency of this lifeboat handling gear. 



I happened to be on board the Commonwealth on the night of this collision, 

 and to my mind, far more important than gear for handling lifeboats or even the 

 lifeboat itself, is to have vessels so designed that it will be well nigh impossible for 

 them to founder. 



Next to the design of the ship is the necessity for a trained crew. With a 

 trained crew there are many types of boat-handling gear that are efficient, and with- 

 out a trained crew, the best and most elaborate boat-handling gear will be inefficient. 



There is another matter Mr. Forbes drew attention to, however — the time re- 

 quired to seing the old-type davits out from the boat ; and I want to say that the 

 United States law is very clear on this point and requires that "All lifeboats shall 

 be fitted with such davits and gear as will enable the boat to be safely launched 

 in less than two minutes from the time the clearing away of the boat is begun." 



Even the old type of swinging davit fulfils this requirement when operated by 

 a properly trained crew. 



