Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-07-14

shift, almost automatic, TO work stimuli
taneously with the slowly lowering life
boats and receive. perhaps at the last
moment Of the plunge. the terrified REM
nants.
Such are these devices
Such is the Mitchell torpedo. whose sue
cessful trials attracted great attention
at Liverpool in the year 1908!
Nothing doing ever since. What were
they waiting for, to get a move on? Ev.-
IDENTIFY a good Earring catastrophe.
Well, they have had 1t.
In appearance the Mitchell is a long
torpedo. with little doors and windows
which can be Theoretically closed. Pre-
sumably half a dozen of these long, slen-
der, submarine looking apparatus will be
kept lying snug around the promenade
deck While the boats are being lowered.
those who cannot hope to go in them can
pack themselves inside a Mitchell tor
pedo which can be thrown out from the
deck at height of thirty feet, dive into
the water and bob up serenely at dis
lance OF fifty feet from the sinking ship.
IF the Bourgogne had been furnished
with such canoes on July 4. 1885, half
those who persisted might have been
saved says the inventor. Mr.. James
Mitchell OF Arrow river, Manitoba.
Its advantages are: automatic right
ing; IL the Mitchell goes down with the
ship 1t will bob up of itself on the sur
face; filled with passengers 1T can be
thrown into the sea from height with
out fear of injury: 1t can be thrown from
the back of the ship at high speed; 1t can
be attached to an abandoned ship; it
The Daily Post and Mercury Of Liver
pool of June Is, 1909, contains a long ac-
count Of its trials. made at the wharf OF
the Allan line dock. Canada 1t Is TWEEN
ty-f1ve feet long, five feet In its greatest
diameter, drawing very little water. It
can carry twenty-four persons who can
live and breathe in It's interior. On board
q passenger ship 1t is fixed on the prone
made deck by means Of q rope. which can
be cut from the inside. AT the trial the
sliding doors worked perfectly; there was
not a drop of water on their clothing
after eight persons had been towed four
miles in ii, practically half under water.
Will you ever have chance in one?
Certainly not.
AS the Army and Navy Journal OF
April 20, 1902. agrees, the unsuitable
transatlantic liner does not exist. and
neither public nor companies desire safety
for all.
The French Transatlantic Line (Havre- !
New York; has just adopted the Matson
raft as Simultaneous and extra refuge,
in addition to and apart from lifeboats.
This latest arts and trades prize-winner
is the invention not Of a naval officer or
mariner, but of a maitre-dhotel, or but
Ter, Of the French line. This raft OF
galvanized sheet-iron. unsuitable ana
impossible to tip over, can fall into the
water either side up: refugees who have
got on 1t, no matter how. have only to
lift the movable flooring and find safe
refuge-knd OF unsuitable rim like tho
edges OF a boat. The device for launch
ing this raft Is one of its strong points.
A single passenger can do II, oven when
the ship inclines at an angle OF forty de-
grees. Zone person. in six seconds. can
throw six Matson RATS into the sea: thaA
Is to say, enough to save 400 persons"
One steamship owner told . naval OH
Ger that II his ships installed completes
life-saving appliances they would not att
tract q single passenger.
The public wants only speed and
luxury.
Perhaps when all is said and done. 10
may appear that the speed craze Of the
age. which is shown by the death-defying
risks taken by automobilists and motor
boatmen. has a large part In making the
public indifferent to danger. an indiffer-
ence reflected In the ship companios'
catering only to the love OF speed md
luxury. STERLING HELLO