STRUCTURE OF VESSELS AS AFFECTED BY DEMAND FOR 



INCREASED SAFETY. 



By William Gatewood, Esq.^ Member. 



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



New York, December 11 and 12, 1913.] 



In view of the general interest which has been taken recently in the subject 

 of safety of travel by water, culminating in an International Conference on Safety 

 at Sea, it was thought that a short paper in the Transactions of this Society 

 touching on some of the problems involved would not be amiss. 



The dangers of the sea in times past were so great that a safe return from 

 a voyage was a subject of public thanksgiving. It is still so considered by many; 

 but the progress in the arts of shipbuilding and navigation, and the safeguards 

 provided in the way of lighthouses, etc., have rendered travel by water actually 

 safer than travel by land. 



There is, however, at the present time a demand for greater safety, and this 

 demand for increased safety is natural, and is the indirect result of the advance 

 in civilization. Human life was never considered so precious as at the present 

 time. Look at the prominence now given to the prevention of disease, and com- 

 pare it with conditions which prevailed a century or two ago. Look at the peace 

 conferences and disarmament plans, at the employers' liability laws, and even at 

 the courts, which are loath to condemn even murderers to death unless they are 

 hardened criminals. 



The natural tendency of the general public after any calamity involving 

 great loss of life is to forget that absolute safety is impossible of attainment, and 

 that the progress on which we pride ourselves cannot be made if the handicap is 

 imposed that no risk of any kind shall be taken. The precautions which should 

 be taken in any undertaking depend in great measure upon the disadvantages 

 which are incurred concurrently with the precautions taken. For instance, if to 

 insure the saving of one-half of the loss of life which occurs annually on our 

 railroads, it were necessary that all passenger and freight trains should run at 

 half speed, the public would not stand for the change, as the effect on the business 

 and private life of the country would be considered intolerable. 



Further precautions in connection with the safety of vessels would seem ad- 

 visable then, only where they do not interfere so seriously with the present methods 

 of conducting business and pursuing pleasure as to be considered a detriment to 

 progress. The unsinkable vessel must be commercial, or it will find no place in 

 the merchant marine of this or any other country. The problem that is presented 

 at the present time is, therefore, to build vessels which shall be as safe as it is 

 possible to make them, consistent with the requirements of their trade. In other 



