Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1898-11-09

stalks Either Of these substances is
forcsd down in the Golfer under hy-
draulic pressure, and such is it's elas-
ITCHY under moisture after this that a
shot fired through the Golfer is closed
up again as soon as the infowng
water sets free the expansive power OFT
the tightly packed fibre.
Perhaps If the Maria Teresa had
been provided with the latest in Golfer
dams Old Glory would have flown from
her peak for years to come
Ought not her bulkheads kept her
afloat?"
mot necessarily. There is too much
reliance placed in bulilheads that are,
strictly speaking, water-tight. For IN
stance, when blow is delivered on
the vertical line Of the bulkhead botn
compartments I'll with water, and II
they are large overcome the buoyancy
Of the ship and sink her. This was
what happened to the French liner
Bourgcgne some time ago. The COLI
sion blow was struck on the line of
bulkheads. / believe that eventually,
and for the preservation of life on pas
ships, that the use of
fibre filed Golfers and cellular COM
etructlon will be required, not only by
law but by the demands OF humanity.
This thing of retiring for the night
into d luxuriously fitted up state room,
and then falling asleep only to be
ruedly awakened by an awful crash
the pleasant anticipations of the travel
before you, thoughts of home and loved
ones wishing you at the very moment
q safe journey-all in an instant
changed to fight On the cold wet decks
above now filled with shrieking men
and women. pushing, trampling and
tumbiGng into the frail cockle-she,l
boats hanging at the davits. And why?
Simply because the ship cannot float
for half hour filed with water. This
would not be the case If the ship were
provided with a sufficiency Of air cells
to sustain the displacement-in other
words, the weight OF the ship.
Nature points a way for this. Look
at the sap cells of a tree and the M ~
is at hand. Enough air is containe
in the tree to sustain its weight in
water no matter in what direction a
fracture may come. so it should be
with ships carrying human cargoes.
The horrible possibility OF helpless
women and children rushing from their
beds to fling themselves into a cruel
sea is, to say the least, a stain upon
the inventive progress Of this or any
other century.
Il remember. and so do you, ac-
counts from time to time Of lumber
laden vessels becoming derelict, with
perhaps their entire bows stove in and
filed with water, not only remaining
afoat but also drifting thousands 81
miles away from the scene Of their col
lisions reported now, at North, then
at South, again on the coast of Ire
laid, them in mid-ocoan, making their
way acrces track.ess deeps and with
no guiding hand at the helm. This is
the meaning OF the cellular construc-
ton of a passenger steamship as against
the fairly proved unreliable bulkhead
construction. In every ship built, nc
matter what the size, sufficient air can
be obtained with small enclosed cells
to sustain the ship filled with water
just precisely as the inhnitesimal.y
small air cells in a cargo of timber
will sustain a ship even if her entir,
bOw is kn-cked off. tt is surprising
when it is tested how tremendous be.
comes the lifting power of small guam
, titles of air under water. The ratio il
not 1 to 1, but mere nearly / to 1000
, or a pound OF air will easily lift z
thousand pounds i'm weight. recall
now of having lifted a schooner once
over a long shoal down on Smyrna
creek with -four coal oil barrels arr
tight and dashed to keel, two forward
and two aft.
NOW, to get back TO the Mari.
Teresa. She should, instead of trying
to come north at this time of the year
have been sent toHavana, where there &
= splendid new floating dock, and over
. hauled, and riveted and steam tested
q AS it is. pang Of disappointment
swept over the land last Sunday whel
the news came that the finest shll
q Spain could produce, and ours by RICH
OF conquest, now lies a hopeless wrecl
three miles under the waters OF the AT
q lantic, and almost at the very spo