The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-12-04
VESSELS THAT
WON t SINK
Correspondent of the Seamen's
Union Says They Are
Feasible.
Honolulu, November IS, 1905.

| TO the editorial article IN your issue OF
Saturday. November %, 1908, in which
YOU make several queries as to the pos
! sibility of constructing vessels that
would be almost absolutely unsuitable
| in the event of collision, running on un-
charted rocks, or from any other cause
that would make the hull of an iron
or steel passenger vessel become pune
tured fractured, torn or damaged IN
such manner as to allow the ingress of
sea water to such an extent and in such
volume as to place the lives and prop
erty on board in capitalization, think
T can best serve the cause of the in
formation solicited by taking your ar
ticle up seriatim.
l. In your first query, as to why
any passenger vessel should sink, I'M
less cut in two or irretrievably smash
ed below the water hne,' is, for the
simple reason that shipowners do not,
nor will not, unless Congressional legis-
Iation is made to compel them, have
their vessels constructed in such man
ner that the chances of sinking after
a collision would almost be totally OBJ
liberated.
To illustrate the practicability of
making large passenger vessels unsink-
able, l would state that the Canadian
Pacific Railway Company's Empress -
Line, that plies between British Column
bia, China and Japan, are so constructed
that sinking from collision is impossi-
BILE.
In the first place there is longitu-
dinal bulkhead of steel running from
forward to right aft, and this fore-and-
aft bulkhead is divided into seven
athwartshIp compartments, with water
tight, rubber-packed steel doors, that
can be opened and shut at any time to
allow the handling of cargo, fuel, bag
gage, mails, etc, and in addition to this
magnificent device for the safety of
life and property at sea, the vessels are
x
machinery that operate absolutely in
dependent of each other, and l have
been on board of one of those vessels
se,sA-- yrr.-rrS TTuGrI=Tno- po-s--=I--a,
gines temporarily broke down and the
vessel (the Empress of JAPAN made
1Ia4 knots per hour with her starboard
engines working alone. So, Mr.. Editor,
you will easily arrive at the undeniable
extra expense in the construction of our
oceangOing carriers is taken into consid-
Grafton by our shipowners the safety of
life and property at sea will be insured
to such an extent that loss of life at
sea through collisions will rarely, if
ever, happen, and such lamentable, but
preventable, catastrophes will be a
thing of the past
2. Your query as to whether, ''with
a well regulated system of alright
compartments the average wreck might
be kept afoat indefinitely, is answer
ed in query No. l, with the exception
that it would not be necessary to have
alright compartments, as vessel with
from three to seven water tight COM
partments, would in most cases retain
its equilibrium, and buoyancy, even if
from two to four compartments were
rent asu4der through the impact of col
lision, which in most cases would be
almost impossible.
3. The question as to having perma-
nent eaissons placed in a vessel, during
her construction, could be very easily
eliminated, if athwart-ship compart-
ments were introduced.
4. In inquiring, as to whether it is
fact, that "safety is sacrificed to
make more cargo and passenger room,'
l, without hesitation or prevarication,
positively assert, that such is really the
case, and as the "proof of the pudding,
is in the eating of it, l would ask
any person, who doubts my word, to
take a look at the quarters ALLOTTED
to the crews, of ninety per cent. of our
merchant marine vessels, and if they |
do not discover that through the avari- |
eipuoAANoo VI lllt bNItts Lpl lLC almighty
dollar, the aforesaid quarters are in |
many instances and respects inferior to |
some hog pens and stables, then let |
them take up the bayonet of falsity |
and impale me with it.
>. In asking els it true that the |
unsuitable ship, so long promised, is
but an iridescent dreaml'' or the i'm
agination of a heat-oppressed brain, I !
would say, that when Congress wakes
mp to the fact that the safety of the
public of the United States
needs, demands, and is entitled to more
than passing consideration, and legis-
ation, and that the efficiency, as well
rs the complement of the officers and
men, that man our vessels be legalized
n the Statute books of the United
States, then, and not until then, shall
We be able to take our place. as second
20 none, amongst the maritime nations
If the earth.
With profound apologies and earnest