The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1920-06-12
MAY Use, RADIO
II PILOT SHIPS
Plan to Guide Vessels Through
The Golden Gate by
Wireless.
CONFIDENT OF ITS SUCCESS
Navy Department Working on "DoubIe-
Track" System Which Is Expected
to Become Reality in
Few Years.

Washington.-A 'double-track rail-
road" guiding ships from all parts of
the world in and out of San Francisco
bay, through the Golden Gate, as
safely in fog as in clear weather!
That is the seemingly incredulous
task upon which the navy department
is now working. It will be a reality
within a few years, or if congress be
lenient, by next January 1.
Commander H. w. Mccormick, Pa
cifc coast radio material officer at
Mare Island, has asked an appropria-
ton for the laying Of radio plotting
cables from San Francisco's water
front, distance of seven or eight
miles out through the Golden Gate.
Unless the appropriation of the wire
less section Of the bureau of steam
engineering is trimmed too severely at
Washington, the funds will become
available July 1; the necessary sup
plies will be requisitioned Immediate
ly, and the vessels calling at San
Francisco will be electrically guided
into the harbor before next January.
Confident Of Success.
The use of radio pilot cables is still
in the experimental stage, Commander
Mccormick said, but naval officers are
confident of it's success. Only one ex-
pertinent has been heretofore con-
Quoted in the United States, and that,
at New York, operated successfully
until the cables were cut by dragging
anchors.
The equipment for the double
track consists primarily of two heav-
lily insulated cables, costing approx
mately $4,000; a transmitting station
and coils on both the port and starboard
sides Of ship. One Of these cables,
on the right-hand side Of the channel,
outbound, will flash "O-UT' at all
hours of the day and night, and the
other, on the left-hand side of the
channel, outbound, will flash I'm"
An automatic key system will perform
this labor.
With the aid Of the recently estab-
lished radio compass stations, or by
other accurate methods of navigation,
ships will be made to pass over the
desired cable. When the sound
waves Of the induction coil show equal
intensity on both the port and the
that he is directly above the pilot
cable. By holding his vessel so that
these waves remain equal, he can
bring his ship into harbor through a
dense fog as readily as IN clear
weather.
Advantages of Service.
The use Of this service will save
the losses accruing when many ships
lie out at sea, waiting the lifting Of
the fog bank to come into the bay,
Commander Mccormick said. The ex-
pense of necessary installations upon
the hull of a ship would be slight in
comparison with the advantages to
be gained.
"Eventally, believe, all the chief
harbors will have radio pilot cables
and all ships will be equipped to avail
themselves of the service" Com
mander Mccormick declared. "As for
San Francisco, it will be a matter Of
only a few years until the cables are
laid, even if the appropriation is re-
jected this year. In addition to the
navy vessels, which will, Of course, be
equipped to follow the cables, I ex-
pect that practically all ships calling
regularly at this port will quickly in
stall the induction COILS"
Commander Mccormick said there
was a likelihood that the first appro-
priation would be sufficient for the
laying of only one cable. In this case,
he said, a signal like rs. F. would be
given, and both inbound and outbound
vessels would follow the same cable
San Francisco Bulletin.