The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-01-12
lPhiladelnhia Recordl

In the olden days. before the COM
ing of steam vessels. a voyage across
the Atlantic was a tedious and hazard
GUS trip. When a white sailed ship
set out to cross the ocean no one
knew whether 1t would reach the 9TH
err side or not.
With h coming Of steamships
much Of the t~ediousness and some OF
the danger that characterized the
voyages made by the sailing vessels
was done away with and ver since
there has been a constant improve
ment, until now n is practically as
safe on one Of the giant ocean lin
ers as in ones own home.
Each Of the dangers that made trav-
cling by sea SO hazardous has it's rem
edy in some safety device. Even sea-
sickness will be banished in a short
time, 1t is thought. by the application
OF the gyroscope principle. The gy-
roscope is a wheel that is placed In the
hold of a vessel. where it revolves
RAPIDLY and does away with the rock
Ing and rolling motion of the ship.
1t has already been tried successful
~ on small boats and on cars that
run on n rail. The wonderful in
strument, it ha been found, causes the
car to remain upright and prevents the
ship from rolling in rough water.
In former days the list of catas-
AOk4ACS Ou tNO OCcdH IS6QlIi0H IIOHl
collisions. fires n storms was large
Nowadays thousands of men and wo-
men cross the e 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
Probably the greatest danger that
the old navigator had to cope with
was fog. He could tell his direction by
a compass. but with a thick, impene-
trable gray blanket of fog %obscuring
his vision he frequently had to lit
orally feel his way through the wa
ter. An iceberg. white and ominous,
was apt TO block his path; he Was
likely to lose his way and run his
ship aground OF collide with another
vessel. Now the big ships are practi.
[cally immune from these dangers.
On each ocean liner there are two
small. box-like affairs attached to the
SIDES OF h ship under water: Day
ana night, and In storms Inc clear
weather, these boxes are sending warm
ings to the man in the wheelhouse.
Inside each box is q small and deli
cate instrument that receives and re-
cords waves vibrations Just as the
wireless telegraph records air vibra.
tons.
Wires run from the box to the
wheelhouse. where the findings of the
instrument are reproduced by the
ringing of bells. The automatic re.
corder picks up the vibrations from
the booming of the surf on rocks from
three to fifteen miles away. The
presence of l%ightships. fog stations and
the churntnE of screws on other steam.
ships are all recorded.
II by n chance a collision did take
place n the water came pouring
pouring through the sides of a ship,
q remedy could be instantly applied
and the vessel would be in little dan.
ger. the modern water tight bulk.
head divisions of steamships have
been improved SO that they can be
operated in q few seconds and in
Inc a OF the greatest opposition.
Formerly whom a collision occurred
or q ship struck a rock. the water
gained such headway through the rent
made In the vessels side that doors
could not be closed. Nowadays cleo
trtcally operated doors are used. These
doors are controlled by steam or com.
pressed air. In addition to. the bulk. !
mead divisions many of the modern
vessels are, equipped with double bot.
toms. Il
Thus. when q modern liner by any
chance strikes q rock, only the outer
bottom Is penetrated and the ship Zoos
on its way 40 IL nothing had happened.
Powerful pumps that will lift 5000
tons of waterAn q few minutes are ri.
ways In readiness and connect with !
h space between the two bottoms. !