The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-04-30

20 .ba Greater economy in operation
There was practically no limit 10 ehe
siz. Of a transatlantic liner, Nixon
said so far as the shipbuilder was
"nnrarnad and a ressel eight times as
,aroa &c the Titani, would REQUIRE
o,h. four times as much power ..
Thai reason the companies Wouid 'Fhu
to buiId bigger and bigger Slips uhiil
limit OF harbof capacity Wa
reached. or some other means o. lhHu-
ing passengers and cargo was oefiseo'
~ an s.OOo-ton ship, for example
could be operated DIS cheaply as four
looD-ton ships. Nixon explained, the
company would naturally choose the
~S,0C0-tOn SiZe.
nixon found no reason TO critcllse
the owners of the Titanic because she
was equipped with only twenty me-
boats. capable at the outside OF hoiu.
inc 1000 persons, or less than hat1
Of those on board. Iifeboats on a big
liner are, according to Nixon. a matlef
of sentiment as much as anything
else.
The number of l1eboats carried by
the Titanic undoubtedly conlpllen
with IT, law" said he, and II there
is to be any criticism 1t shoulu De
criticism Of the la W, not the oH,paht
| AS q matter of fact, llfeooats co nov
solve the problem OF safeguarding
! passengers III q 't -
would not last long in rough weather.
And there is the additional problem
Of Wnara to put them. To be OF any
use, they must be kept where they
can be lowered to the water at q
moments notice. You can't store
them away and eXpect TO get AT them
in an emergency. Practically every
bit of available space on the p
decks is now set aside for lifeboats,
and it would be a real problem TO
know where to store enough to &C
commOdaIe every man, WoIna II
child on board.
Besides, we don't get the sailors
nowadays that We used TO. | mean
the men who know how to handle the
lifeboats. | believe that all llfeboats
should tie equipped With power en-
gines instead Of oars. IN an ordinary
crowd Of men YOU viii find nowadays
ten men who understand how to u
an ordinary gasolene engine to one
who can do anything with an oar IN
a high sea. The sailors of former
times had been trained Oh sailing
ships and were real sailors. The sea
men on the big liners today are pick
cd up on the waterfront. and feel
safer on their big ships than in the
iifebOats.
Mos Of the lifeboats in the Gov
Life Saving Service are be-
ing equipped with engines. I think
the same ought TO be done with the
boats carried by the big liners. You
t could get men among the passenger:
who understood how to run them
t Nixon Went on to say that he hat
, long been in favor of equipping biz
: liners with score Of A detachable hoa
f or raft big enough to keep afloa
r with as many people as were unabl
S to crowd into the lifeboats. He ha,
never worked out the idea, Du
thought it would be perfectly prac
s ticable. For instance, a certain por
e ton OF the stern SuperStructure Of tn
e Titanic. he said, might have bee
made detachable. so that when tn
0 ship began to sink it could be floate
o free and afford safety for the tim
& being for those who had been left o
board. !
Say a platform as wide as th
!. ship, twelve feet deep, and thirt
feet or SO broad, covering the ster
portion of the ship. could have bee
- cut loose and floated off into tt
e sea on skids,' aid he. 1T woul
~ lave been able to bear 125 TOT
g without sinking, and that would
- about the total weight Of the LAT
: or more men, women and childre
N who could not get into the boats. :
long as they could keep afloat uni
:. nelp came, that was all that W;
necessary. | think such a devil
=. wOu!d prove more satisfactory thu
III lifeboats."
= Regarding the various ~suggestio,
that have been made for detectil
en- icebergS at sea, Nixon had little
pc say. The suggestion that searchligh
n should be used by all steamships,
at thought. was OF little value.
IN BY the time the most powerf
ne ~searchliSht revealed the presence of
us submerged iceberg said he,
would be too late. The searchlig
lot would not be able to spy an icebe
10 at sufflcient distance even in Gle
IN. weather to be OF much service
h micTothermometer invented
Prof. II. T. Barnes, of McGill Tnive
an sity. Tor the purpose Of detecting il
OF berSS did not appeal Inuch to Nike
n either. This device. which consi
briefly of a Thermometer placed /,
ct below the water lima Of h;r eL;D-