Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-03-24
SAFE TO GO TO SEA.
Modern Science Robs the Ocean Of
Most Of Its Danger.


!, Most Of Its Danger.
; In the olden days, before the COM
ing Of steam vessels, a voyage across
the Atlantic was a tedious and haz-
ardous trip. When a white-sailed
ship set out to cross the ocean no one
er side or not.
J With the coming Of the steamships
much Of the tediousness and some Of
the danger that characterized the
voyages made by the sailing vessels
was done away with, and ever since
there has been constant improvement,
until now one Is practically as safe
on one Of the giant ocean liners as in
ones own home.
Each OF the dangers that made
travelling by sea so hazardous has its
remedy in some safety device. Even
seasickness will be banished in a
short time. 1t is thought, by the ap-
plication Of the gyroscope principle.
The gyroscope Is wheel that Is
placed in the hold Of a vessel, where
1t revolves rapidly and does away with
the rocking and rolling motion Of the
ship. 1t has already been tried sue
cessfully on small boats and on cars
| that run on one rail. The wonderful
instrument, 1t has been found, causes
the car to remain upright and pre-
vents the ship from rolling in rough
water.
| In former days the list Of catas-
trophies on the ocean resulting from
collisions, fires and storms was large.
Nowadays thousands Of men and wo-
men cross the ocean each week with
no thought Of danger. The wireless
telegraph has eliminated many of the
dangers of navigation, and the pic
turesque figure of the wireless opera
tor at work at his post on the high
seas has been exploited to the full.
Probably the greatest danger that
the old navigator had to cope with
was fog. He could tell his direction
by compass, but with thick, i'm
penetrable gray blanket Of fog OBJ.
scuring his vision he frequently had to
literally feel his way through the
water. An iceberg, white and omin-
Gus, was apt to block his path; he
was likely to lose his way and run
his ship aground or collide with an
other vessel. Now the big ships are
practically immune from these dan
gers.
On each ocean liner there are two
small, box-like affairs attached to the
sides Of the ship under water. Day
and night, and in storms and clear
weather, these boxes are sending
warnings to the man in the wheel
house. Inside each box Is a small
and delicate instrument that receives
and records were vibrations just as
the wireless telegraph records air vi
brations.
| Wires run from the box to the
wheelhouse, where the findings of the
instrument are reproduced by the
ringing of the bells. The automatic
recorder picks up the vibrations from
the booming of the surf on rocks from
three to fifteen miles away. The
presence Of lightships, fog stations
and the churning Of screws on other
steamships are all recorded.
| II by any chance a collision did take
place and the water came pouring
through the sides Of a ship a remedy
could be instantly applied and the
vessel would be in little danger. The
modern water-tight bulkhead divis-
ions of steamships have been i'm
proved so that they can be operated
in few seconds and in the face Of the
greatest opposition. Formerly, when
a collision occurred or ship struck
rock, the water gained such head
way through the rent made in the
vessels side, that doors could net be
closed. Nowadays electrically -operat-
| ed doors are used. These doors are
controlled by steam or compressed air.
In addition to the bulkhead divisions
many Of the modern vessels are
equipped with double bottoms.
Thus, when a modern liner by any
bottom is penetrated and the ship goes
on its way as II nothing had hap
pened. Powerful pumps that will lift
5000 tons Of water in a few minutes
are always in readiness and connect
with the space between the two bot
toms.
To warn the captain Of the ap-
proach Of icebergs in foggy weather
at night, when he could not see them,
sensitive thermometer Is attached to
the. side Of the vessel below the wa
ter line. On approaching an iceberg
there is always an appreciable lower
ing of temperature.
Before the introduction Of modern
safety appliances fire was the most
terrible thing that could happen on
shipboard. Frequently flames would
make great headway before even
boats could be lowered, and the un-
lucky passengers had to choose be-
tween swimming for their lives or be-
ing burned to DEATH. Now a fire is
practically an impossibility on an
ocean liner.
The most effective fire services in
the world are on ships. Extraordinary
as 1t may seem, an ingenious device
has been put into use which rings an
alarm before the fire has actually
started The fire alarm is a mechan-
ical device. All parts Of the ship
are wired and thermometers are To-
Gated at various points. When the
temperature in the vicinity Of one Of
these instruments gets so high that
ignition Is likely to follow the wires
fuse and create an electric current.
Then bells ring throughout the ship.
while a red light on a dial In the
wheelhouse gives the alarm there.
Although the devices on ocean liners
for the prevention Of danger are large
ly automatic, they are dependent on
one man, the officer in the wheelhouse.
The present-day liner has been rightly
called a floating city, and the man