The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-25
How Wireless Telegraphy and
Water Tight BulkheadS
Preserved the Lives of the Re-
public's Passengers.
SHE WAS KEPT AFLOAT
Hours After a Collision Which
Would Have Sunk
A Vessel Built on the Plans of
80 Years Ago.

New York, Jan. 25.-Wireless tele-
graphy, only a few years ago looked
upon with skepticism SO far as prac-
| tical results We're concerned, and
cIassed by the laymen weird some
thing whose benefits to humanity were
vague and erratic, has shown by the
| important part it played in the drama
| of the Atlantic ocean on Saturday that
| no great vessel should leave port I'M
| equipped with apparatus such as rem
dered invaluable service to the Whlte
| Star liner Republic.
With the 165O passengers taken safe
ly from the Republic and the Lloyd
Italian liner Florida, which rammed
her, due in this port today, and the
captain and crew of the Republic sue
! cessfully taken from the vessel just
before she sank last night, those VINO
have followed the details of the wreck
pause to think what might have been
had not the flashes from the stricken
liners instruments summoned other
vessels to her aid.
Never before in the history of mari
time disaster has the wireless tele-
graph been used to better effect and 1t
is predicted that steamship companies
will not be slow to take advantage OF
the object lesson with the installation
of instruments on all ships not here
tOfore provided.
some seamen there are who even go
So far as to say that had the Florida
been provided with wireless that the
collision would never have happened,
would have been able to locate each
other This is, however, a matter OF
conjecture which will be thrashed out
when an official investigation of the
wreck is made.
Watertight Bulkheads.
Men interested in ships and disasters
which befau them are discussing the
tight bulkhead. brought out par
ticularly prominent by the length of
time which the Republic remained
sorely crippled, Edward A. Stevens, an
authority on naval architecture, on
which subject he lectures before the
Stevens institute at Hoboken, Nj, said:
"A comparatively few years ago a ship
of the class in her day corresponding
to the Republic would not have f1oated
five minutes, and if so of her company
had been saved the crew would have
done we'll The Vile de Paris, about
35 wears ago, was hit by a sailing YES
sci under much the same conditions,
in calm sea at night and probably a
much lighter blow than the Repubhc
received. On the Vile de Paris there
was frightful loss of life-on the Re
public next to none.
Until more detailed reports are at
hand as to the extent of the injury to
the Republic it is of course impossible to
pass on a question of whether the loss
of the ship would be due to any made
quacy in the design of her water-tight
or any defect in their con-
struction or in the operation of the wa
ter-tight doors. The latter seemed to
have been promptly closed and to have
made it possible to keep the ship afloat
long enough to save all hands.
Previous Collisions.
Amy serious collisions. % or so years
ago. meant the immediate laundering of
a vessel I can recall the cases of the
Westphalia and the Elbe. both of which |
went down within a few minutes after
being hit.
Even if the advance in the design
and construction of this portion of a |
vessel had only resulted in keeping a |
ship af1oat a few hours after a coils |
ion it has accomplished a great result, |
especially when the ability to summon
help by wireless has been added to the
other safeguards of life af1oat. That
this efficiency in the internal sub !
division of a ship really exists can best
be shown by the results of the torpedo |
attacks in the late Russian-Japanese |
war The injury of torpedo is of the |
same nature as from a collision. But |
still the Russians were able to keep
their vessels afioat after having been |
torpedoed and to repair them suffi- |
GENTLY to get them again in line of |
batt1e''