Smyrna times., 1873-04-16
MiSceIIU2 10 e D. us.
ITO the Editor the New York TribuneI
How the Atlantic's Passengers Might
Have been Saved.

SIR: When the Mississippi was burned at
sea some time ago and nearly all her boats
were smashed in the effort to cast them loose,
or we're swamped the instant they struck the |
water, wrote you a private letter (which you |
published) suggesting that ships be provided |
with life-rafts instead of these almost useless |
boats. did not expect that the Government |
would jump at the suggestion, and | was not |
disappointed. The Government had business !
on hand at the time which would benefit not
only our nation but the whole world mean
the project of paying Congressman over again
for work which they had already been paid to
do that is to say, the labor of receiving Credit
Mobiler donations and forgetting the crcum.
stance. But that shining public benefit being
accomplished, why cannot the Government
| listen to me now :!
| The atlantic had eight boats, of course-all
steamers have. Not one of the boats saved
human life The great cumbersome things
were shivered to atoms by the seas that swrp;
over the stranded vessel And suppose they
| had not been shivered, would the case have
been better? Would not the frantic people
have plunged pell mell into each boat as it
was launched and instantly swamped il? They
always do. But life raft is different thing.
All the people you can put on it cannot swamp
it. Nobody understands davitf falls but a
sailor, and he don when he is frightened; but
then some wise man can throw him after it.
The sort of life-raft l have in my mind is an
|, American invention, consisting of three in
: flated horizontal rubber tubes, with plat,
form lashed on top. These RATS are of all
sizes, from a little affair the size of your back
i door, to raft % feet long and six or eight
e feet wide. As you remember, no doubt, two
men crossed the Atlantic from New York to
i London, some years ago, on one Of these RATS
= lo4 khol Inf I1akr q untalA
= men. Nine such RATS would have saved the
Atldatic'S 1000 souls, and these rats (fullS
! inflated and ready for use) would not have Oc
s cupied as much room ON her deck as four o
g her lubbery boats; hardly more than the room
IF of three of her boats, indeed. Her boats wer'
q probably 80 feet long, seven feet deep, an(
:. seven or eight feet wide at the gunwales.
d You could furnish ship with medium AM
y fulsized rafts-an equal number of each-ant
s pile them up In the space now occupied b.
I'd four boats and then you could expect to sav
d all her people, not merely dozen or two
N They would sail away through storm, slttin
'"e high and dry from two to four feet above th
to tops of the waves. In addition to the raft
IN the ship could carry boat or two, for pre-
I'd miscuous general service, and for the drownin
=: of old fogies who like old established way
Oh You could attach raft to a ship with te
N fathom line and heave it overheard on the lt
on SlQe IN tue rOuROeSC sea (anu IL can IAll al
foT f0T way but right side upl, and there it will
Ct aud ride the waves like duck till it receiv
an its freight of food and passengers-and tht
9rs 9rs you can cut the line and let her go. But
md you launch boat it usually falls upside dow
be and if it don't, the people crowd in and swan
nj; it. Boats have sometimes gene away safe
The with people and taken them to land, but su
O' accidents are rare.
: to l am not giving you a mere landsmal
1ty views rpon this raft business; they are
.ed views Of several old sea captains and ma
ippi whom | have talked with, and their vo
cam gives them weight and value. Our Cove
q s@d ed ment has so many important things to atte
{ az to that we cannot reasonably expect it
o"ts bother with lte-rafts, and we cannot reasona
I1s nths expect the English Government to bother W
ten them because this admirable contrivance il
hun Yankee invention, and our mother is not gi
to adopting our inventions until she has
~ time to hunt around among her documents
.rd discovered that the crude idea originated "
herself in some bygone time-tben she ado
it and builds monument to the crude or
nator. England has our hfe-ratt on exhibit
idses in museum over there (the raft that IN
Iess- the wonderful voyage), and heaps OF pei
post have gone in every day for several years
zss Of paid for the privilege of looking at it. Pert
eI 10 many bereaved poor soul whose idols lie s.
me Or and dead under the waves that wash the be
!, acts Of Nova Scotia may wish, as do, that it
ucted Deen oh eAhlollloh ou pOdiu Ih0 Oeht
bstsn: Atlantic. MARK TwAI
t: and HARTFORD, Conn, April s, 1873.