Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-02-21
CROSSES OCEAN IN BIG EGG.
Test of Lifesavine Craft in Jour
ney of 5000 Miles.

Gloucester, Mass. recently Alter
a remarkable voyage across tie
Atlantic the vessel put into ST
Johns. n. f., few weeks ago. She
came from Aalesund. Norway, and Was
bound TO the st. Louis exposition by
way of New York, the Atlantic coas.,
and the Mississippi river. But as the
worlds fair closed before she reached
St Johns. it is probable that her voy-
age will end at New York.
The l1radd is the egg strapped life
boat invented by Captain Olaf Bruie,
and he planned his long voyage to
says she is She had travelled nearly
5000 miles when she reached ST
johns. having gone as far north as
latitude Ga. and the run occupied 100
days or twice as long as Brude ex-
pected.
The boat is n gigantic g-shaped
structure, floating on it's side and en-
circled by a horizontal belt, which
serves both to fend her hull off from
wharves and ships. and also, like Il
bilge keel, to diminish her oscillations
in heavy sea. She is built of steel
an eighth of an inch thick, the belt be-
ing of wood.
The vessels extreme length is eight
cen feet and her vertical diameter a
midships eight feet, but she has a dou-
BILE bottom, the inner one serving as
a level floor and reducing the interior
diameter to six feet so that a tall man
is lust able to stand upright. The
1aI s,,tA
four compartments filled with fresh
water and kerosene oil, which help to
ballast her. An extra aid to stability
is a centerboard keel, which when low
cred, increases her mean draught of
81. to 81 feet and greatly aids her
sailing powers.
The boat is propelled by a large la
teen SAIL attached to a mast twenty
feet high, fixed in a tube in the for
ward part of the upper half of the
shell. The summit OF the ccnical raft
is fitted with low railing, and with
this, during the voyage, long sweeps
We're rugged by means of which the
crew could row her in calm wealth
err
Aft rises connica1 tower or hood
trance to the boat is behind the hood,
a hole two feet in diameter and clos
ed with a hatch with a water tight
cover.
The vessels interior is a large
apartment embracing the entire hull
and capable of accommodating twenty
persons comfortably and forty if
crowded. On both sides, fro m end to
erld run benches of seats that also
form lockers for the storage of food,
clothes and supplies. She can carry
stores and water for twenty persons
for four months, and can supplement
her water supply by a huge canvas
receiver, like an inverted umbrella,
which is set up on deck in rainy
weather and from which nose leads
are carried. Kerosene is used for
cooking and heating.
She is the conception of Capt. Brude.
He is only %. Between the age of Z
and 10 he lived with his parents in
New York. Then he returned to Nor
way for five years, and since that time
has been serving in ships of British
and American register, having been a
quartermaster on the United States
transport Mcpherson during the Gu
ban war. He has been two years
working out his idea.
He sailed from Aalesund on Aug. Z.
six week and went north to catch the
northeast breezes but this season was
marked by an absence of such winds,
tho he believes it has proved the util-
ity of his craft more comp .etely than
he expected.
What he claims for this boat is that
she is absolutely unsuitable, that she
can sail as the ordinary lifaboat, that
her occupants are sheltered and COM
Portable in all weathers. that her voy-
age can be Indefinitely prolonged
without risk to those on board She
can hang from a steamers davits like
into the vortex of a sinking ship she
must come to the surface again because
of her buoyancy. Then She costs less
than two life boats and can carry tour
times as many people.
Leaving the Aalesund with tn re
seamen-Thorsen, Johansen and Mad
Brude headed her for the
-Four days later, 220 niles
off the Norwegian coast. she was chas-
ed by a whaler, which took her for
Il sleeping whale. She worked north
to within ninety miles of Iceland md
along the sixty-fourth parallel to
within $50 miles of Greenland, tom
that point turning south % fetch up
at ST. Johns.
Her voyage was ATTENDED by furious
gales. Rarely could the crew SHOW
themselves above deck. Gale after
gale ragged, and for days the sail would
be furled and the little craft allowed
to drift.
Ventilation was secured by opening
one of the ports on the lee side of the
lookout. Even when at the worst per-
iods, hurricanes compel'c them to
close the ports her crew stc77Fea
tilation and fresh air thru IL
mast.
AS matter of fact, nc apprehea-
sion was felt by the four men on board.
She was as light $ a cork. as dry as
bottle and as safe as a line"
The only serious mishap. aside from
the Bleaching near Gloucester, was the
breaking of the mast in gale, which
forced them to unstep the butt ana re-
place it with the top, a spar only
about twelve feet high and forbidding
any canvas but a trysail. When IN
good trim at first she could make six
and a half knots and sail within four
or five points of the wind, but after
this mishap she could do little better
than drift and make a little westing.