Omaha daily bee., 1889-12-05
THE OCEAN.
"A Novel and Daring Plan of an
American Engineer.

American Engineer.
Captain John p. Walker, United
States army (retired), has laid before
the International marine conference Mt
Washington, a plan of transoceanic
lighthouses and refuge stations, to
which, as a civil engineer, he has de-
voted much study, says the New York
Herald. Captain Walker says:
My idea is to secure land on the south
beach of Staten Island ana start q hotel
to be called the Neptune hotel No. 1;
this for a base OF operations, and from
that point establish a line OF deep.sea
light houses and hotels, or houses of
refuge across the ocean, connected by
Geographic cables and supplied with
boats, tugs, launches, steamers. and
sailing craft, constituting, with their
crews, a deep-sea messenger telegraph
and life saving SERVICE. which
ocean and afford communication
with all passing vessels and assistance
in case OF need; which would pick up
boats from shipwrecked or abandoned
vessels and give all vessels the late st
information, daily or hourly, from sea
and shore, SO that that the navigator,
sailor and traveller at sea could have his
daily papers, with all their multifarious
information and news, almost as perfect
and complete as if on shore. The gem
eral idea of the stations was that they
would start from the simple basis of the
light beacon, or bell buoy, and gradually
ing lighthouse, to the grand floating
ocean hotel. or house of refuge, and
deep-sea lighthouse and life-saving sta
ton to the mid or interocean grand har-
Dor of refuge, with its wharves, store
houses and docks, whore ships, tempest
tossed and broken, could take refuge
from the storm and be repaired and re-
fitted, and where travellers could stop,
if it pleased them, and take the benefit
OF sea air for any indefinite period.
AS to icebergs the patrol vessels will
look for them and destroy them by
quick acting, destructive agencies-dy-
Mantle, powder, etc.-or by towing or
pushing them into warm attitudes,
where they will melt and disappear.
The winds and the waves are to be met
as they are now, by vessels strong
enough to withstand their ordinary
power
When a chain of lighthouses shall be
established across b Ocean, or in any
direction in which many ships and YES
sells sail, ships and vessels gong in OPP
posite directions will keep on opposite
sides of said line or lines, and thus in Il
~ b'So ASeSN' P"o'chp OI5
at sea.
SUBMERGED LIGHTHOUSES.
The deep sea lighthouses thai will
probably be found ~best-aside from large
ships or floating hotels-will be one in
which the main body of the structure
will be submerged below the action of
the waves and only a comparatively
slender shaft with the lighthouse
proper at its summit, out of reach of the
waves) will be exposed to their
(the waves) action, thus giving greatest
stability. The submerged section to
contain rooms for stores, supplies OF all
kinds and for living purposes, and to be
lighted probably by electricity, and to
be supplied with engines for pumps
both air and water, and to furnish the
motive power for elevators and lifts for
boats and for the fog-horn or siren and
bells, etc. OF course the shaft would be
provided with a stairway within and an
elevator, perhaps, according to the size
OF the house, it DeIng one OF the possi-
bilities of such a system that the differ
emit stations might vary in size accord
ing to location and requirements. The
superstructure Of the larger ones TO be
OF different size, not only for lighting