TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 671 



that they turn in a path which is a spiral whose least radius is seldom less than 

 two or three times the lenjrth of the ship. 



Ships are from four to ten times as long as they are hroad. The target a ship offers 

 to he struck by another, is from four to ten times as large when the broadside is 

 offered to the blow as when the stern is offered ; and the efiect of the bow of one 

 ship on the broadside of another is much more destructiTC than wlien bow strikes 

 bow. 



The movement of a ship in turning mvay fi-om another which is crossing her 

 course from ahead imder the ordinary conditions precedent to collision, tends to pre- 

 sent the maximum, and the most tender target to be struck, and it destroys the possi- 

 bility of reversing a wrong movement. The movement in turning totvrinh a ship 

 under like conditions tends to present the minimum and the least tender target. 



No idea could be more natural to the unreflecting tlian to suppose that turning 

 away fi-om an approaching danger was the proper way to avoid it. What alone 

 makes this dangerous are the limits by which the manojuvring powers of ships are 

 controlled ; and the fact that their transverse section is so very much smaller than 

 their longitudinal section. 



It is the same with these opposite movements in fogs. The tendency of the 

 seaman is to turn away from the fog-signal which denotes on his right or left an 

 approaching ship, but such a movement is always a precedent of collision. 



Minor causes producing a further ultimate cause of collision are found under the 

 following conditions. Ships approaching one another as described are seldom equally 

 distant, either in space or time, from the point at which their courses would if produced 

 intersect ahead of both. If the ships have equal manoeuvring powers, the one which 

 is farthest from this collision point, as it has been called, is much more capable of 

 avoidino; a collision than the one which is nearer. If the distance apart of the ships 

 is small, it becomes absolutely impossible for the ship whicli is nearest to the point 

 to avoid the other, while it is easy for the ship which is furthest from the point 

 to avoid the other by turning towards her. The modern law takes no account of 

 these conditions, which the old rule of the sea fully recognised, and in half the 

 number of cases forbids, as far as it does anything at all, the ship Avhich alone has 

 the power, to make the movement which is necessary to their mutual safety. 



Minor proximate causes leading up to and producing these ultimate movements 

 and conditions, and through them collisions, are found in the multiplicity of dis- 

 tinctions which exist in the law. The rule of the road at sea has grown to be very 

 complex, and in the anxious state of mind produced by possible collision, the seaman 

 sometimes calls up and acts on the wrong rule. No one who has ever been subjected 

 to this anxiety will readily blame the seaman who makes a mistake. 



Another minor cause proceeds from the complexity and indefiniteness of the 

 appliances which have grown up under the law. This latter being complex and 

 various has necessitated differences and distinctions in the lights and signals, not in 

 themselves necessary and leading to constant mistake. The latest development of 

 this complexity is for the present in suspense ; but it is remarkable that a single 

 white light has under the present law no less than four totally different meanings, 

 and yet if the wrong meaning is attached, a wrong movement and a collision may 

 follow. In some signals by sound, the timbre of the note is the only distinction, while 

 there is nothing to prevent that present distinction from becoming obliterated. 



The removal of these causes of collision is only difficult in practice. Changes 

 in rules which are international would be required, but as changes have often been 

 made before, and even quite recently, while some are still pending, there can be no 

 real difficulties. If the conditions and movements antecedent to collision were 

 authoritatively stated and classified, it would be seen to be easy to alter the law so 

 as to aim directly at their removal. 



Nor is it difficult to see what the nature of the change would be. There would 

 be a i-eturn to the sound rules and teaching of the old law, a removal of the com- 

 plex distinctions and the complex appliances which the new law has made nece.«sary, 

 and a simplicity of rule which would never mislead the seaman called on to act 

 rightly in moments of supreme surprise and apprehension. 



