STABILITY OF LIFEBOATS. 143 



The work which was done was done entirely under my supervision, from start to finisli, 

 no commercial organization had anything to do with it other than the furnishing of the boats, 

 and the reports were not transmitted to any organization or individual previous to this printed 

 report which 3'ou see here. 



Mr. DuBosque speaks of the leakage, and that is really the whole meat of the matter. 

 Undoubtedly, if the boat had not leaked, she would have shown a better stability curve. 

 There is no question about that. There are, however, two questions involved which are per- 

 tinent. One deals with the wooden construction, when subjected to normal wear and tear in 

 sea service, and is : — Is it possible to make wooden construction so permanent that it will al- 

 ways remain watertight ? A boat of this type must be absolutely watertight, otherwise there 

 will be free water in the large, unsubdivided bottom compartment of the boat, and the moment 

 you have free water in this lower pontoon it has a disastrous effect on the stability. Further- 

 more the leakage is unseen, is insidious in its action and cannot be controlled by bailing as in 

 an open boat. 



The other question is : — Was it fair to consider boat No. 4 as a boat representative of 

 its type, and in a condition which it might reasonably experience in service, rather than as 

 possibly an abnormal or a damaged boat? I thought carefully about this, and decided in the 

 affirmative, because, as I have stated, the boat was new and was obtained through legitimate 

 channels in the normal way ; it was presumably entirely ready for service, and came to us in 

 that condition. It was obtained several weeks previous to testing, and had not been tam- 

 pered with in any form from the time it was purchased until it was tested. Perhaps a domi- 

 nating fact in my decision that the craft was in a condition similar to what it might meet in 

 service, was a statement which is made in the catalogue describing this boat, and which I will 

 quote verbatim. It is as follows : 



"A 20-foot boat, even when filled with water, will sustain over 4,000 pounds, a 26-foot 

 boat, over 8,000 pounds (fifty-three persons) even with its sides torn, its plugs lost, its 

 bottom crushed. * * * Its construction is such that it cannot capsize even if all the pas- 

 sengers it will hold are crowded against one rail." 



With a statement of that sort it did not seem unfair to the boat to consider it, not an 

 abnormal boat, but typical, and in a condition not unforeseen by the builders. 



The Chairman: — The next order of business will be the reading of paper No. 12, en- 

 titled, "Change of Shape of Recent Colliers," by Naval Constructor Stuart Farrar Smith, 

 U. S. N. In the absence of Mr. Smith, the Secretary will read the paper. 



The Secretary read the paper. 



