The Cairo bulletin., 1909-07-06
PILOTS OF THE GREAT LAKES.
PerpIexitles For inexperienced Men.
Devatiors of the Compass.

''The finest pilots In the world are
in the vessel service OF the Great
Lakes" said photographic Office
official. but in spite Of the magnitude
of these lakes and the volume OF ship
ping, there are the fewest possible
ravigator's in the seaman's sense OF
the term.
Give the average vesselman on the
Lakes clear sky and good weather
generally and he can be depended up
on to steer course to a nair: but
give him the thick fog, rain, snow
and the elements and he may know so
little of his compass as to place in
danger his vessel. cargo ahd crew,
simply through his ignorance of nayi-
CATION"
According 70 the reports of the
Hydroraphic Office 2l7 vessels Of all
kinds stranded in the Great Lakes in
1903, Causes for this have been ascer-
tanned in l5S cases and Of these nine
two strandings are reported as being
avoidabe he'd the naNigaturs done full
duty as such.
1t would be surprising to the aver
age landsman on he rims of the Great
Lakes to know how many young men
inst off the farms of the country are
wheelsmen and naYigatOrS of lake yes
sells Some OF them IN winter school
ing may have gained some KNOWLEDGE
OF the principles Of nayigatipu many
of them know little more than 10 feel
their way across the lake depending
upon the senses OF sight and hearing
to lead them into port. In dense fog
or binding rain or snow these pilots
might be better off if the WAeelhouse
were not provided with compass
In this Great Lakes region between
the eastern and western extremes Of
the Lakes there is a total compass
deviation Of Is degrees from the true
pole. At the port Of Chicago for eX-
ample, the compass needle points 3
degrees to the right Of the north,
though at other points on the lakes
the deviation is as much as lG degrees.
What the significance of such deyia-
ton is may be seen when, left IN
corrected, the navigator attempts to
sail by such a compass In one COM
pass point as considered by the
navigator, there are eleven and a
quarter degrees. Thus at certain
ports on the Lakes the magnetic COM
pass, uncorrected. may be almost one
point out of this true north on the
part of the wheelsmdn steering for a
harbOr 100 miles away will leave him
Or if he shall be trying to make the
mouth of a river only five miles away
in fog this incorrect compass by only
one point will cause him to run astray
twenty miles out of his reckoning in
thick weather is promising of almost
any Kind OF disaster.
In addition 10 this deviation of the
compass needle, however, the effect of
cargOes Of magnetic iron ore, Of
which so much is carried on the Great
lakes, may put the compass needle
even further of With the needle
several degrees out of the true north.
due to the influences of the magnetic
pole, the loading OF vessel with these
ores mas promise far greater com
plications to the sailor
Not infrequently the navigator who
recognizes the necessity of having his
compass corrected does SO with a car
90 of this ore in his hold He accepts
the correction made with due recOgni-
ton to the cargo and its influences,
after which he may shift to Il cargo
OF nOn-magnetic matter, which in
turn puts his compass out again. per-
haps leaving him with no thought Of
another correction as necessary.
Comparatively few of the wrecks Of
last year resulted in total loss Of the
vessels. but in the delays and dry
docking OF vessels for repairs the
money loss to owners, was enormous
ly heavy Chicago Tribune.