Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-06-05

1T is not pleasant duty to criticize
the conduct or comment upon the
shortc omings of others, but the plain
truth should be told. 5 t III s IS,
MANY; of the witnesses of the i'll.
fated vessel before the committee saw
plainly the light which Captain Lord,
of the Californian, says was displayed
for nearly two hours after the aoci-
dent, while the captain and some Of
the officers Of the Titanic directed the,
lifeboats to pull for thae light and re-
turn with them and ply boats to the
side of the ship. /: !, I. E s2''iiE5 1
|>YS$"Why did the Californian display its
Morse signal lamp from the moment
or the collision continuously for nearly
two hours If they saw nothing? and
the signals which were visible to MT.
Gill at 1880 and afterward. and
which were also sen by the captain
and officer of the watch, should have
excited more solicitude than was dis
played by The offers of that vessel,
and the failure Of Captain Lord TO
arouse the wireless operator on his
ship, who could havek easily ascer-
tanned the name Of the vessel in dis
tress and reached her in time to avert
loss of life: places a tremendous re-
sponsibility upon, this y officer from
which it will be very difficult for him
to escape. Had he been as vigilant
in the movement of his vessel as he
was active in displaying his own sig
nal lamp, there is very strong prob
ability that every human life that was
sacrificed through this disaster could
have been saved. The dictates Of
humanity; should have prompted vigil
ance under such conditions, and the
law Of Great Britain giving effect to
article 2 OF the Brussels convention
In regard to assistance and salvage
at seaSis as follows: 81 Il I
j''The master or person In charge
Of a vessel shall, So far as he can do
60 without serious, danger to his own
vessel, her crew. and passengers Ut
any, rende r assistance to every per
son. even If such person be a subject
of Is foreign state at wal. with Y his q
majesty. who is found at sea In dan
ger Of being lost, and II he fails to
do so, he shall be guilty Of a misde-
lmeanor. n e n, 4 y
The committee in its report declares
that regulations must be made and en-
forced 50 that ali ships shall have
lifeboats enough to provide Tor all the
passengers and members Of the crew.
1t declares that at least four sea-
men should be detailed for duty in
each tboat and that there should be
jdetailed for duty In each boat and
thatstbere should be at least monthly
lifebpat drills. S45 nssJ5.ta5s - sl
n The urgent recommendation is that
before sailing, all the passengers
should sbe assigned to the lifeboats
and that each passenger should Il be
able to learn from a notice posted in
his state-room just which 3lifeboat he
lis to go to in time. Of danger. It is
recomme that-all large steamers
shall be equipped with searchlights.
4 One chief recomme ndation is that II
American regulations laid down by
law are not complied with by steam;
ship companies that they be denied
admission ito American ports.
The committee believes that strin-
/ gent regulations should be made gov.
Lerning the use Of / the wirelesS tele,
graphic, that wireless operators should
be on duty on steamships constantly,
that some provision should beTmade
for keeping the nature OF messages
secret and that means be employed to
keep amateur wireless operators from
interference with regular and emer-
gency IN essages. 4, "a '5;,s
It is believed as result OF the COM
mittee's report that congress Will act
In line with the recommendations
made and that this country will do. Its
part in the duty Of making ocean trav-
cling passengers safer