Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-11-23
OCEAN TRACING RISK.
WHY THE COMPANIES ARE OPPOSED
TOTS CONTINUANCE.
It Entails Increased Expense and IL u
Hard On the Working Forces Below
and Other Causes
New York Times

their transatlantic races, the travelling
public can look back With a sense OF re-
lief at the risks it has run and the dan
gers to which it has been exposed in'the
frantic, though altogether human, efforts
to "break the record" There is charm
about ocean-racing that few travellers OF
either hemisphere can resist, and, yield
ing to that charm, captains have driven
their splendid steamers through dense
fog banks, day and night, at speed OF
twenty or twenty-one knots (twenty-four
or twenty-five niles an hour, along a
track known TO be beset with thousands
OF dangers.
Faster and faster steamers have been
built. Regardless OF the dangers to be
encountered and actusted by the desire
TO render a certain line OF even par
ticular ship famous. every Iexpedient
has been resorted to in driving the
vessel madly along. The most effective
advertisement a steamship company
could get last summer was that OF
"breaking record" or cheating its
rival" aud so long as human nature re-
mains what it is there will be those-in
number legion-who will flock to the
champion flyer.
TWENTY AND TwENTY-oNE KNOTS.
To go from fourteen to eighteen knots
is a comparatively easy matter in a ship
OF the length OF the Atlantic liners, but
to increase that speed to twenty and
twenty-one knots and keep it there re-
quires almost superhuman efforts. Thi:
is why Atlantic racing has risen to the
dignity OF an art developed and aided
by the resources of science; guided
modified, and utilized by men OF
profound practical knowledge based
on accumulated experience. The
lulls Of such ships as the Teutonic, the
Etruria, the City of New York, and the
Columbia have been designed not only
to slip through the water with the leas
possible effort, but to Withstand the
worst assaults of sea and wind. Within
they are palaces, and without they are
castles. Their engines and boilers are
the most perfect, as well as the mos
gigantic, examples of steam machinery
They are sailed by men to whom the
Atlantic is as well known as Broadway t
q policeman. In their engine-rooms ar,
men who have absolutely nothing left t.
learn in the arts and mysteries of gettinl
the last foot-pound of useful work on
of their machinery. The struggle is {
magnificent but dangerous one.
A steamer OF 10000 tons going at thu
rate OF twenty knots an hour woulC
strike with on energy of 10000, OOO,O 600
foot pounds. There would not b.
enough Of it left to make q horseshoe
nail. The great mass of travellers ar
ignorant of the fearful risks which sur
round them under such circumstance
and rest contented in the assurance tina
they are in good hands. Well-traineC
eyes and ears are continually strained t
detect the first sign of danger. Every
thing that intelligence and wstchfulnes
can do to add to the security OF the shil
ia, Of course. exercised, But that sh
does not collide with some of the ice
bergs, derelicts, or other vessels alonI
the route. is, in many cases, due to goo
luck rather than carefulness. This ]
borne ont 10y the many "narroy
escapes" that arc chronicled every sum
mer.
DANGER FROM COLLISION.
The greatest danger TO which goo'
steamship is subjected in crossing th
Atlantic at top speed Is that froT
collision, a danger increased ten-fol
whens.running through q fog. 1t be
comes a question OF chances-the chanc
whether another vessel happens to be o.
the same track at time when the shi
is passing over it. In the Nizcaya dis
aster there was no fog. 1t was a clea
night, on broad ocean, and yet the tw
vessels crashed together as they migl
have been expected to do only in crampe
quarters or in a terrific storm. Thel
"chance" was one in "A thousand or
million, where in a fog it would hay
been only one in hundred.
II has been urged by some skipper
that the greatest safety for their ship
in fogs is obtained at high speeds
They contend that if there is a zone q
100 miles Of fog they shall run half th
chance of meeting in that area vessC
running in the opposite direction II tn
ships each cover 1t in five hours than
they take ten hours. They hold ths
the faster ship steams the more she
under command of her helm the taste
she goes the more quickly will her rut
der act. While the latter part of tn
argument relating to the reliability {
the modern steam-steering gear is large
" true, the argument as a whole strike
many shippers as fallacious. If the
slow down, they urge, they will hay
time to get out of the way. This is esp'
cially true in the case OF submerged ic'
bergs, where crash at full speed, SO
twenty-knots, would leave nothing {
the ship, passengers, or freight exceI
bills of lading. freight receipts, and IL
surance policies.
The machinery of these racers of til
the sea presents many special points fc
consideration and doubtless led to th
conclusion on the part of the steamshi
companies to abolish the system Of higt
power racers. Steam of 100 pound
pressure (which is carried by the triple
exp ansion engines) has temperature
37lo. This is dangerously near Oh
point at which the friction Of pisto
rings become excessive. Furthermor,
this great pressure entails the use Of 81
tremely heavy boilers, and heavy
weights are Objectionable in Atlanti
racers. Another consideration is that {
the men who run the engines. No bod
of men has cause to be more grateful fC
the suspension of the ocean race
than the iremen and engineers. TIL
high pressure end of the engine-rooI
in big ship under full power is alway
intolerably hot. especially on the middl
platform, where the men are statione
to look after the fabrication OF the eros
head and piston-rod. Every rise In th
pressure OF steam has made the forwar
end of the engine-room worse and wors,
The steam-pipe, though well-covered
becomes so hot that it cannot be touched
The radiation becomes cruelty intens'
Having been on duty in such place fc
. one hour, a man becomes spent wit
heat and runs TO thrust his head into
| uy;n1aou m,.o -oeuIt 81 thof abort inta,