The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-03
SHIPS TOO BIG FOR PILOTS.
They Find Difficulty in BOARDING the
New Giant Ocean Liners.

New Giant Ocean Liners.
St. Louis Republic
The immense size OF the new ocean giant.
the Celtic has raised serious question
among pilots and steamship men generally.
The Celtic is nine stories in height. and
five stories of the nine are above the water
line. What interests the pilots u.s. how can
they get up the side OF this giant without
the expenditure of enough energy to run
sawmill for several minutes? This is
really a serious question. The climb is a
hard one. Imagine scaling the bare side OF
ave-story building on a Mapping wrig-
CLING ladder Of rope, IL requires strength
ana skill: just how much of the former Is
shown by the fact that within a compare
lively short time two pilots have fallen
dead Of heart disease on the deck after
making the climb These deaths did not
occur on the Celtic; there are other big
ships up whose towering sides it Is an
awful job TO climb Among these vessels
| are the Deutschland. the Oceanic, the Cam
pania. the Lucania and the Wilhelm der
| Crosse. None OF them is as large as the
Celtic, but each is a giant
1t is not an easy thing to climb a short
distance on one OF these rope ladders. The
ships do not stand still like "A house. They
pitch and roll. Pitch and roll No. l sends
| the pilot swinging far away off the side OF
the ship like a pendulum. Pitch and roll
No. brings him back quickly and slap!
he goes against the iron plates. As most
i Of the pilots are elderly men and inclined
TO heshiness. the ascent of a big ship is not
| viewed with unmixed delight by them.
In New York harbor, Alfred Baudier and
| John Canvin, pilots, paid with their lives
| ~ n Rn la.lep hoy
| dropped dead almost on the instant that
| they reached the deck. Baudier had his
| hand stretched out TO grasp that OF the
| ships captain when he fell. Both had been
| suffering from heart disease. and the viO-
| lent exercise 81 climbing killed them.
| ID. y. Nash, secretary OF the New York
| Board of Commissioners of Pilots has been
laboring for long time with the steamship
companies 10 provide an improved type OF
| ladder. The one that is used commonly con-
| sists simply Of four ropes. with knots a
/ intervals TO hold the little footboards in
| place. A person can climb up on these lad
| GERS, but so can person stand on his head.
| There are, however. occupations more com
| Portable than either of them.
favorite idiOsyncrasy OF the common
| rope ladder is not only TO sag To one side
| and then the other. but it also writhes like
| a serpent with indigestion. Then usually.
| when the pilot is half way up the thing
adds new trick 10 the others u begins
| to twist Sometimes il twists slowly some
| times il twists so fast that il spins like A
| top. II happens so often that a pilot is
| thrown while mounting one OF these things
| that it is the invariabe rule for the yawls
! to shoot away from the side of the shin as
| soon as the pilot has begun climbing. This
| is done so that if he falls. he shall fan into
soft water instead OF a hard boat
| Some OF the steamship lines have adopted
| an improved ladder in response 10 Mr.
| Nash'S suggestion. They have horizontal
iron rods placed along their ladders at in
| the right kind Of ladder is yet 10 be found
| on most ships. 1t is the one that the
| pilots want, and it certainly seems a wish
| that is modest enough. for their design does
| not resemble "A grand staircase by any
means. They desire ladder of the common
| rope ladder type, but they want the foot
| boards made oval instead Of square. and
Just above each footboard they want an
| iron rod, so that they viii have something
| to hold on with This ladder would be fair
ly steady. and while IL is not SO luxurious
that IL threatens to make steamship board
ing from a sailbOat fad, IL will at least
save the pilot from being treated TO daily
teetotum experiences.
The past year has seen great changes I'm
the problem confronting pilots Ships "a
out now with drafts that far exceed any
thing that ever had been thought possible.
In 1887, when there was pronounced agita-
ton looking TO the widening OF the main
| ship channel a New York to 200 feet and
its deepening to thirty-five feet. well-in-
| formed shipping men said that there was
| no doubt that in time ships would draw
| from twenty-eight to twenty-nine feet OF
| water regularly, and that some few might
even draw thirty feet.
| This was considered a daring prophecy,
but in the year just ended the following
drafts were recorded at New York by The
pilots and forwarded TO the board Of en-
| gineers of the United States army. who
have charge Of the harbor improvements:
Patricia. 81 feet inches; Deutschland. 81
feet; Bulgaria, 81 feet; Cimric, 81 feet;
Minnehaha, 30 feet inches; Belgravia. 81
feet inches; Minneapolis 50 feet inches:
| Mnnehaha, % feet inches; Graf Walder-
| see. 81 feet; Minneapolis. 81 feet 3 inches:
Patricia, 81 feet; Minnehaha. ~ feet !
| inches; Minnehaha, 50 feet inches: Mime
haha. 81 feet inches: Minneapolis, % feet
| 2 inches. Under these circumstances IL is
| only a matter Of short time before the
channels Of the harbor absolutely will have
| to be deepened and wdened.
| The pilots are extremely anxious for i'm
! provement They have found the burden
| of plotting increased UNNECESSARILY by the
knowledge that few OF the big ships that
| they guide out have water enough under
their keels. and that some day a great
vessel going out or coming In across the
bar i'm a storm, will strike when a big
, | wave Ships from under her