Evening journal., 1893-04-03
NEWSPAPER OPINION.

what Happened to the Naronic.
New ork World.
1t is still Of interest to inquire what
may have happened to the Naronic. Her
disappearance suggests possibilities of
disaster TO ocean liners which have been
regarded as eliminated by modern con.
struction If such possibilities exist it
is worth while TO find ont, If we can.
what they are,ain order that inventive
ingenuity may make provision against
them The first thought with respect to
the NarOnic is that she must have
foundered at sea But experienced off
GERS and ship builders reject that theory
absolutely. The Naronic was a shin of a
class which, it is maintained, cannot
founder in any sea She was only a
freight boat, but she was built as strongly
AS the passenger steamers. She was pro.
vided with full supply of steel bulkheads.
and had an adequate crew No
seaman will admit that such
a ship can be overcome by
any stress of weather, or even sunk by
collision unless struck full in the mid
ship section. Even were her bow and
stern stove in at once or cut clean away
her hulk should float. But it is row Ger
tain that the Naronic was not sunk in
collision. No other ship has reported
such an accident, and no other ship with
which she might have collided is missing.
AS she had twin screws and twin en-.
gines, separated by a water tight bulk.
head, she could not have been disabled
by any engine accident. Finally she has
not gone ashore on any coast. If she had
we should have learned the fact weeks
ago What then can have become of herr
She may have taken ire, of course. but
that is extremely unlikely. None but
electric lights were used in her hold and
there is no danger against which ships
ofiicers are more vigilantly watchful
than fire Lightning does not harm great
ships of steel. There may have
been a steam-boiler explosion. That
is danger scarcely thought of
nowadays, because improved construc-
tion has rendered explosions so rare as
practically TO put them out of ,the ordi
nary reckoning. Still wherever there is
a steam boiler under pressure boiler ex
plosion is always possible. Aud a boiler
explosion occurring in the depths of an
ocean steamers hold might tear her SO
completely to pieces as TO send her tc
the bottom almost instantly. Again,
there was reported yesterday the dis
| cOvery OF dynamite IN the hold of vessel
put there for the purpose Of destroying
her Only a few months ago cargo oi
cotton which was being put on board q
vessel at Hoboken was found to be full
Of matches-plaeed there apparently fol
the purpose of causing a fire at sea
The public still remembers witt
horror the man Thompson, whC
deliberately constructed an inferna
machine with clockwork arrangement
to destroy a ship at sea for the sake o.
insurance money May not the Naroni
have been the victim of some such mis-
creance as this? May there not be occs
sion in her disappearance for the adop
tion of some new precautions in the in
spec ion of cargoes before placing then
in ships holdsg Speculations on thi
subject are by no means idle It is de
sirable to inquire into every possibilit,
as to the cause Of this great steamers
loss, so that every door of danger ma
be shut. Sir Thomas Brassey wisel
said that every appliance we have TO
safety in travel is the direct outgrowtl
Of disaster properly improved.