Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-11-25
FOR WRECKED BOATS.
AN IMPROVED LIFE RAFT FOR YES
SELLS IN DISTRESS AT SEA.

Amy Lifeboat That Answers All the Re-
quirements of a Ship About to Founder.
! Some Objections to Most Boats. "
In the many methods adopted to prevent
loss of life at sea- the use of lifeboats and
life RATS has not yet proved very success
full, and it is doubtful if any great ocean
steamer carries lifeboats with sufficient
capacity to float the crew and the passen-
gers. If the vesse' should go down at sea
the in~adequacy of these lifeboats would
be manifested i'll several ways.
In a moderate heavy sea it would be a
difficult undertaking to lower them sue
cessfully from the davits. and almost an
lmposslblllty to land the passengers in
them If once Aoated. The roll of the ship
and the swells of the sea would very likely
capsize them. Should they, however, es-
cape destruction SO far the sudden sinking
of the huge steamer would undoubtedly
draw them down into the terrible vortex
and swamp them.
If a steamer is stranded upon a deserted
coast, and attempts are made to land the
crew upon the beach, an ordinary rough
surf would make the lifeboat of steamers
an Insecure craft for the purpose. Manv
instances are recorded where the boats
were quickly swamped and finally washed
upon the beach with the crew half dead
and drowned.
For men-of-war the lifeboats are still
less adequate to meet sudden emergencies
OF this character. Ammunition must be
landed without getting wet, and the sailors
must be transported to the shore in num-
bers on short notice. Previous to the bonn
parchment OF Fort Fisher some forty boat
loads or the fleet were dumped into the
SURF while he troops were landing on the
beach near Cape Fear river,
A life raft has been invented at the Kit
terry navy yard, in Maine, which is de-
signed to surmount all these difficulties
ana which nay be used for war vessels
and for big ocean steamers. The raft -
sembles in general shape that of a cata-
maran, and it will be impossible to sink or
swamp itFexcept in the heaviest kind If
sea.
The raft consists of two long floats made
OF fobin bronze and about the size and
shape of canoes. These two floats are g.
curely fastened together by metallic bands
and t1anges SO that the heaviest strain in a
rough sea cannot part them. The level
platform is constructed over the ton with
seats and rowlocks attached. A mast and
sail can also be quickly used if the float ia
cast away upon the sea. Inside the hollow
floats lockers are built for storing water,
ana provisions, and in the toughest surf
they could not get wet. On warships arms
ana ammunition could be stored in these
water tight compartments.
A sudden collision which might break
into the water tight floats would he the
only way to swamp these improved life
RATS. Each raft could sustain fifty per.
sons in a rough sea, and in the event of be-
ing cast away upon the ocean during a
storm the mast and sail could be used as a
drag and by means of oil, always kept in
one OF the compartments, the "combinp"
OF the seas could be prevented from doing
any great harm.
When the storm was not raging the mast
ana sail could be put up and the lifeboat
would make falr time in almost any direc-
tlon' carrying its load of people lightly
over the rolling waves. In landing upon a
beach the rough surf could easily be ridden
by a raft of this nature, and the resc,,ed
people could be safely landed upon tho
shore. ~
The improved life raft is not perfect in
every sense of the word yet, for its weight
and cost make it impractical for manv If
the ocean steamer to carry it. Their size
and shape, however, are such that thev can
be slowed away without occupying much
more room than the old fashioned lifeboat
which all the vessels are compelled by law
to carry.
So light and buoyant are these metal
RATS it is estimated that not even the
heavy suction of the sea when q large
steamer went down could draw them into
the vortex with sufficient power to swamp
them. NO other lifeboat of any descrip-
lion mas ever been supposed to be able to
"ltnstand such q strain upon her floating
powers. They are thus practically incapa-
BILE OF swapping, and this is one of the
greatest dangers experienced when steam
ers become total wrecks at sea. Nearly
every month some terrible calamity at sae
illustrates the need of some such ~ioatinr
raft to prevent shipwrecked crews .ani
passengers from going to the bottom of the
ocean.
TIT question Of launching the RATS and
then of landing the passengers on them
has been considerably discussed. with
both the raft and the disabled steamer
rolling heavily in the sea this would be M
mean work to undertake., but it has been
proposed to launch the float and then "a
send the passengers down what Is com
monty known as the London fire escane y
The passengers would by this means n
shot down an inclined and inclosed plane
to the very deck Of the raft. This work
would be performed over the stern Of the
vessel, where the rolling would be less se-
we're than elsewhere.
The use OF oil for calming the seas dur