The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1912-05-30

for nearly two hours after the acct.
dent. while the captain and some OF
the, officers Of the Titanic directed the
lieboats to pull for thae light and re-
turn with them and ply boats to the
side of the ship
why did the Californian display its
Morse signal lamp from the moment
Of the collision continuously for nearly
two hours II they saw nothing? and
the signals which were visible to Mr..
Gill at 1890 and afterward, and
which were also sen by the captain
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 have 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 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 sea is as follows: K.
"The master or person in charge
of vessel shall so far as he can do
so without serious danger to his own
vessel, her crew, and passengers df
any, render assistance to every per-
son, even II such person be a subject
of a foreign state at war with his
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-
fneanor."
The committee in its report declares
that regulations must be made and en-
forced so that all ships shall have
lifeboats enough to provide for all the
passengers and members of the crew.
1t declares that at least four sea
men should be detailed for duty in
each boat and that there should be
detailed for duty in each boat and
that there should be at least monthly
lifeboat drills.
The urgent recommendation is that
before sailing all the passengers
should be assigned to the lifeboats
and that each passenger should be
able to learn from a notice posted in
his state-room just which lifeboat he
is to go to in time of danger 1t is
recommended that all large steamers
shall be equipped with searchlishts.
One chief recommendation is that II
American regulations laid down by
law are not complied with by steam,
ship companies that they be denied
admission to American ports.
The committee believes that strin-
gent regulations should be made GOT
erning the use of the wireless tele-
graphic, that wireless operators should
be on duty on steamships constantly,
that some provision should be made
for keeping the nature of messages
secret and that means be employed to
keep amateur wireless operators from
interference with regular and emer-
gency messages.
1t Is believed as result of the COM
mittee's report that congress will act
in line with the recommendation
made and that this country will do its
part in the duty o: making ocean trav-,
cling passengers safer.