New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-04-30
SCOFF AT OCEAN TALE
Story That Shippers "Fake"
Records RidiCuied On All Sides.
IMPOSSIBLE, SAY CAPTAINS
Cunard Official Specifically De-
MES Charges Against Mas
ter of Mauritania.

A, article entitled "The Man on the
Bridge" which appears anonymously in
the Nav issue Of The Atlantic Monthly
In which the captain Of the Cunard liner
Mauretania is accused Of taking her log
records. was looked upon I'm all steamship
Offices Yesterday as a joke. The various
steamship agents and many OF the promi-
nent transatlantic captains now in port
said the article was too absurd for crit
cism.
In extracts from the article which were
published yesterday the writer said that
the average captain was overworked,
thereby putting i'm jeopardy his ship and
the lives Of his passengers Moreover, he
wrote that II was common practice Tor
transatlantic captains to shorten their
course about a hundred miles by deviating
from the accepted lanes Of the long course
agreed upon for general safety when the
ice Is breaking and drifting south by nearly
all tho big lines Processing to he an Of
ficer of a transatlantic liner. familiar with
conditions. the writer declared that neither
nc nor any Of the Mauretsnis's officers be
leved that she made an average speed of
26OS knots on her last record run. Her
record was 26Os He branded this record
as a fake"
Captain Passow Of the American liner st.
Paul said yesterday that II was foolish to
suppose that captains would deviate from
prescribed courses and that any change
of course would certainly be apparent to
the captains Of other liners and so re-
ported
Captain Cannons OF the Atlantic Trans
port liner yinnetonka laughed at the con-
tentions of the magazine article. and
did not hesitate to say that it was without
foundation.
Herman Winter. Of the North German
Lloyd line said IL would be impossible for
captain to fake the records of passage
and escape detection For the benefit OF
all the lines" he said. land for the general
safety of ocean traffic the steamship COM
panies exchange logs for reference, and
each line knows the course of not only Its
own ships. but those OF its competitors.
We have a board Of navigation in Bremen
composed of nautical experts. and this
body goes over infinitely all the observa-
tions and records made by every steamship
captain Of our line.
If steamship of our own fleet or any
other fleet is found 10 be out of its proper
course. this observation is recorded in the
log turned over to the board i'm Bremen
and the company reports at once TO the
owners of the vessel The captains have
no object in taking records. and il they
had the first offence even would mean dis
missaI.
Charles + Sumner. local agent OF the
Cunard Line. in discussing the charges
said
THE party writing the article claims to
be an officer of a transa tlantic line. I
fancy he could hardly have reached the
responsible position Of captain or he would
he less ready to impugn the honesty OF his
brother shipmastcr, and moreover, cap
tain of a British steamer II presume equally
true in German and French liners) he
would understand that to do what he sug
gests would require a false entry in his
official log This, Under the British law, is
a misdemeanor punishable by very severe
penalty.
ION the Mauretania no officer is called
upon to stand over four hours watch-four
hours i'm watch and eight hours for rest.
Tho captain will keep on watch with his
officers as weather conditions suggest 10
him as necessary. The Mauretania, when
making the record OF 26Os mot 26Os as
stated in the article was westward bound
and on the short course. so that the some
what elaborate explanation of how the
master cut down his distance b. going the
short course and logging the distance Of
the long or southern. course is pure fabrl-
cation.
The rules Of the Cunard Line are most
arbitrary and exacting as to observing the
agreed track routes No consideration would
he shown captain who deviated from
them. II IL came to the knowledge OF the
directors that any CUnard captain had
failed strictly to observe these rules he
would surely be removed from his com
mand. and. moreover, he could hardly
change his track without being seen by
steamers Of other lines, who would very
quickly report the fact to their home office |
which would surely lead to complaints and
Investigations. which. if found true would
result in the censure and disrsting Of the |
offending captain
Such criticisms about brother officer
and well known and popular steamship
company are in keeping with the character
Of person who would launch such state !
ments upon the public without affixng his
signature as an evidence of good faith"