The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-06-28

One fortnights roll of marine
casualties due to fog has brought the
world W. short against the fact that
despite the advances made yearly III
insuring safety at sea, the sailor 5 most
dreaded danger is more to he feared
in his day Of rapid transportation and
large passenger lists than ever it was
IN the primitive days Of the sail
packet With cruel emphasis II has
been impressed upon the world that
practically thu only means ~ avoid
Ing peru ri sea ir time Of fog Is to re-
duee Roadway almost to a stapdstlN
That was the course followed il. old
DAYS Time was nor such 1u ehlect
with the otd-f1HTe captain, ,aud he
checked his vessels Roadway with
small part of the reluctance felt by the
man on the bridge Of a fast passenger
vessel with strict schedule Further
more, the limited number Of lives In
his care precluded the possibility of
such a sacrifice as foe demanded q the
( Empress of Ireland,
Fortunately, wireless te1egra ply has
interviewed 10 reduce thc loss after
damages have been wreaked by fog
Without the prompt summons of aid
by wireless. the Canadian Pacific liner
might have lost practically her entire
passenger list Ana similarly water
tight bulkheads, controlled from the
bridge. have played their part But
these agencies only serve To bring out
by contrast in each Of almost a dozen
miehap attribute Die to fog wiz hin the
past two or three weeks. how power
less human ingenuity has been to date
in apprisiHg the navigator I'm thick
weather of the dangerous proximity Of
lard or 3ther vessels
List Of Recent Accidents.
Although Some effort has hear mn lie
to lay the blame for The recent chap
ter Of fog accidents 10 coincidence or
q run Of bad luck, unbiased observers
need 60 back no further than the
gchanga which the fate of the Titanic
wrought in ocean navigation in the
way Of added caution. and the lesson
Of the Old Dominion liner Monroe,
cat down in the coastwise lane TO
recognize that the present fashion of
handling great steamships in foggy
weather is onen to criticism Since
the loss of the Empress Of ireland
eleven vessels have met with mishaps
more or less serious in the fogs which
have surrounded the British Isles for
several days, and which have been OF
marked frequency of late in these
waters, On June 10, at 1926 A. M
In a dense fog off the Massachusetts
coast. the Hamburg-American liner
Pretoria struck the American liner
New York, cutting a hole in the lat
ter vessel.
In British waters. on June IT. the
hospital ship Maine, presented to the
Isrit4sh nation by American women
during the South African war. went
ashore on the west coast of Scotland
Aid summoned by wireless saved the
lives of number of patients aboard
but the vessel was almost a total
wreck On the same day the Kaiser
l.
Lloyd. bound from Southampton for
New York, and the grain steamer
Incemore came together in fog. Both
vessels returned to port seriously dam
aged The Kaiser's thousand pas
sengers probably owed their lives TO
the watertight bulkheads, which kept
her afoat.
On June Is, the following day, the
steamship Buelow, of the North Ger
man Lloyd, from Japan with SOC pas
sengers. ran on the rocks in fog near
Portland Bill, England. Fortunately
the sea was calm and the passengers
were landed by tugs. but the liner sus-
tanned damage. The same day the
yacht Ttomana, belonging to Allison
v. Armour, Of the New York Yacht
club. bound for Southampton from
the Mediterran went ashore at
Chapmans Point, not far from St. AL
bans Head Wireless messages
brought tugs to her assistance. Lord
Dunraven's yacht Cariad also ground
ed in the same vicinity, and a naval
mine sweeper was stranded on Ather-
field Ledge, near Cowes. The loss of
the Scottish steamer St Nicholas in
Wick Bay. like the other accidents
mentioned, was attributed to fog, and
as if that were not enough for one
day, the Hamburg American collier
Etruria and the British coaster Copse-
wood crashed in the English Channel
before the day was done.
Generally speaking, of all the sea
dangers, fog continues TO be that
which gives most reason to be dread
ed Many are the sailors never I
known to quail at the fury of a gale |
who look upon fog with anxiety and
aversion. On the North Pacific coast
along the shores OF
Alaska, 1t is the extraordinarily dense
and frequent fags, that have levied q l
toll on shipping hardly equaled else
where in the world. There's not q 4
skipper along that coast bat is ac-
customed in the seasons whom fo8e are I
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