The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1910-08-05
TESTS Of LIFE
BOAT WATCHED
BY TRANSPORT
Army Officers and Marine Men
See IngersoII Tried Out
at Sea
Efforts to Upset Craft Are
Made in Vain by Crew
of Station

Spectacular tests of the Ingersoll
army officers. steamship officials and
life saving experts out to sea yester-
day morning as the guests of Major
Haldimand P. Young. depot quarter
master and superintendent Of the army
transport service, on board the trans
port Buford.
All day the big white boat lay at
anchor about a mile and a half off the
Cliff house beach. while the crew of
the Fort point life saving station and
members of the Buford crew tried
both the lngersou and the ordinary
life boats in an effort 10 ascer-
tain how they would conduct them
selves in moments Of excitement and
emergency.
The 6rst excitement of the day
came when the Ingersoll boat was
launched from the deck of the trans
port and the rope attached to the bow
refused to run out with the same
rapidity displayed by the stern rope.
In consequence, the men on the Inger-
soil, Major Scott. assistant to the depot
Quartermaster. the third officer of the
Buford, and FIVE men Of the crew,
clung in a perilous position for some
moments.
RESCUE EXPERIMENTS
Experiments were then made in
rescuing passengers from the ship by
q rope ladder, and in testing the carry
ing capacity OF the boats. Thirty-five
men, including cooks, mess boys, able
seamen and a miscellaneous 2ssort-
ment Of attaches Of the Buford were
pressed into service and compelled TO
act the part Of the rescued.
AS, the BUford, accompanied by the
Slocum, went out Golden gate in the
morning il was joined by Captain Nell
son and his crew from the Fort point
life saving station, who came out in
the power launch and life boat from
the station.
Early in the afternoon Captain Nell
son and his men made the test Of the
transport lifeboats by taking them
through the surf to the beach and
launching them again. Major Young
and the other observers following as
near the surf as possible in the launch.
The final features of the test were the
most exciting and interesting of the
day, when the life saving crew, aug
mented by Major Scott, made strenuous
efforts 10 upset the Ingersoll boat. They
flung themselves over the side and tried
by every means to get the bottom of
REVOLUTIONS IN WATER
An exhibition Of the methods of up
setting and righting their own life
Nelson and his crew, who turned their
boat bottom upwards, remaining be-
meath il, and then rolling il over They
made four complete revolutions with
the boat in the icy water, apparently
enjoying their wonderful work even
more than the spectators, who shiv-
cred with sympathy and excitement
The test Of the lifeboats was made as
the result Of an order from the quarter
master general Of the army. The In
Eersoll has been on the transports for
about eight years, but complaints. re-
Gently made. inspired a demand for a
thorough display Of all points. Although
no definite statements were made yes
terday. the consensus of opinion seemed
10 be in favor of the ordinary lifeboats.
The IngersolI boat is styled self
bailing" which means that there are
pipes through the air chambers in the
bottom Of the boat and as the boat fills
with passengers the water rises in the
bottom of the boat. This prevents
swapping. it is said, but the observers
remarked yesterday that a week at sea
with the water up to ones knees might
lessen the JOY of being rescued. There
bottom of the boat for women and
children; lying down is impossible, save
for bath. and it would be difficult to
carry stores.
HARD TO LAUNCH
The boat can not be upset, practic-
ally. in the surf, ii is said but it is very
heavy and extremely dificult to launch
from the beach on that account.
There are many very good points OF
the Ingersoll boat, it is said, but the
sea was so calm yesterday that the
test was pronounced hardly fair one
Among those on board yesterda J
were: Major H. P. Young and his as
sistants, Major W. S. Scott and Captain
z. A. Grant; Colonel d. NJ. Appel, Ma
jor George Blakely, Major z. NJ Lewis
Colonel A D. Kniskern, Captain T. K
FERGUSON, Captain w. NJ. Connell, Cap
tain W. f. Creary, Captain l. N. Hib-
herd, marine superintendent of the Pa
cifc Coast steamship company; Robert
Donaldson. assistant marine superin-
tendent Of the Pacific Mail steamship
company, and Captain Varney. chief OF
the life saving service of the Pacific