Evening star., 1914-07-12
the latitude permitted master during
fOggy weather
Manning the Lifeboats.

1t has been suggested that article
81 or the convention and article Al of
the proposed regulations introduce a
new classification of seamen. to be
known as 'certificated lifeboat men,"
and that these provisions of the con-
Vention do not make for safety at sea.
The articles referred to do not intro
duce new classification of seamen.
unless the word 'seamen" be taken to
mean any member Of a ship crew. Put
this matter was thoroughly discussed
among the nautical members of the
American delegation, and conclusion
was unanimously reached that when it
become necessary to abandon a vessel
at sea and take to the ships boats for
safety it Is necessary that those boats
be lowered and handled by men who
were competent to do that work. 1t
was recognized that an able seaman
of today is not the able seaman OF
thirty years ago, and even the fact that
man is an able seaman as UNDERSTOOD
thirty years ago Is no guarantee OF
his competence as boat hand.
In lowering and manning boats, ana IN
taking care of passengers IN boats,
what is needed is COMPETENT poat
hand, and not necessarily seaman.
as the term is generally understood. a
seaman should be good boat hani,
but not infrequently he has had little
experience in boats At the same tilne
there are many men in the hreroom
force and in the stewards force on
modern steamers who have had consld-
cradle experience in boats ana II these
men are competent to handle poats
there Is no particular reason why the
ship should be obliged to employ add1-
tional men to man the boats when
these men are at hand and COMPETENT 10
perform that service.
Therefore, 1t was provided that there
he In, he vessel
comes under the terms of this conven-
ton a certain number of "certiflcated
lifeboat men, for each boat or raft. ac-
cording to the size of the lifeboat or raft:
but in no case can there be less than
three certificated boatmen to each life
boat or life craft. 1t then becomes
necessary to define what was meant oy
"certificated lfeboat man. and the
convention provides that he is to be
member Of the ships crew who holds a
certificate issued under the authority of
the government. and that the applicant
for such certificate must prove:
That he has been trained in all the
operations connected with the launching
of lifeboats and the use of oars; that he
is acquainted with the practical handling
Of the boats themselves, and. further,
that he Is capable of understanding and
answering the orders relative to lifeboat
service"
Under the convention, therefore, each
government undertakes to see that on
board the ship there shall be sufficient
number of certiticated lifeboat men to
provide three for each lifehoat and life
raft that each vessel is required to
carry. and further that each government
undertakes to guarantee that these GER
tificated lifeboat men are competent in
the launching of lifeboats. the use of
oars and the practical handling of the
boats themselves, and can understand
orders relative to lifeboat service.
If the men provided for manning life
boats are competent to handle them. it
is immaterial in which department of
the ship they are employed when the
emergency occurs which makes it nee
essary to resort to the lifeboats. 1t
does not seem logical to require that
man must be actually employed in the
deck department of a vessel before the
can be selected to handle a lifeboat,
when there are plenty of men in other
departments of the ship who are COM
petent. If those men in the ships COM
pany who are technically known as sea
men, are the only ones from whom can
be selected the men to man the life
boats in an emergency, it would seem
logical that only the men employed in