The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-21
AOOvER'S Dept.
'INSPECTS LIFE
BOATSOF VESTRIS
Maryland Has Enough
to Save Herbie
Continued from Page One

Continued from Rage One
70 test the tackle and the davit gear
ng. They are satisfied with merely
swinging the davits over to the side,
dipping one boats tackle few
inches down and then they call it
day and thank the skipper for
giving them grub and hard liquor
md go home.
Huh! You see that Munargo's
,oats all over the side for the first
ime in history! Never before have
he inspectors required that all the
)oats swing free. Every boat that
ails out of this harbor has davit
rear frozen with rust so badly that
takes six men with axes to chop
t free if it has to be swung in
hurry.
Lines Rot, But Who Cares?
Then there's the tackle. The line
S run from the boats thru the
heaves of the gearing (pulleys) and
he most of it is kept coiled under
over. The part under cover may be
itrong and in good condition, out
he outside end is rotten from the
Weather. If it is not properly tested
" swinging the boat low over the
ide, Christ only knews whether the
inc will stand the strain or not
When the ship is sinking and people
ire put into the boat.
"The inspectors don't care and the
company don't care, yet Il we sail
rs kick we are put in irons for
nutiny and if we try to save cur
ives when the ship goes down, we're
allied cowardsl
What Do You Mean, Safety?
"Some ships have a double line of
ife-boats, one above the other, and
hose underneath never are disturbed
BY inspectors from one years end
0 another. Inspection!
"This supposedly superior life
,oat davit, the Weyland Patent! It
not any better than the rest when
is allowed to get frozen with rust
md the tackle is rotten and the boat
tself leaks. But the Vestris didn't
rave even that poor excuse of a
lavit.
Money, Not Safety, First
"The best kind Of davit is used
IN the Morgan line to the Gulf along
he coast. By releasing the tackle
he boat swings over the side auto
natically in three minutes. 1t showed
is worth when the Gel SOP was cut
n two right here off the statue of
liberty.
"Rut the shipping trust don't like
10 use this better davit, because it
,equires space, its base runs down
20 the lower deck. That takes room
md room can be used to make money
.arrying passengers and cargo. What
;he hell do the companies care for
safety as against cash!
Lifeboat drill, supposed to be held
1T sea, is a joke, but not funny, if
you know what the sailors know,
md what the writer also knows from
experience in many seas. Once a
week perhaps, or once in three
weeks trip, all hands are called up
10 lifeboat drill. Men go out on trips
,aking months and never know when
they finish what is their station or
,oxsy r., xxyo1-k a iifehpat
Specialization Causes Danger
When the writer was on the Lam
oort-Holt liner Vauban, sister ship
20 the Vestris, bound for Buenos
Aires two years ago, kitchen and
lining room stewards scrambled into
life jackets and milled around on
1eck hunting up their supposed sta
lions, most of them untitled by the
specialization forced upon them as
constant servants waiting attendance
On passengers to know much of
what to do or how to do it.
The davits were swung around but
that was all. Not sign of loosening
the tackle or letting even one boat
take even the weight Of one man
down the side to the water. Just
a form pulled off to kid the passen-
gers!
Beat Drill Only A Form
"There simply wasn't any organic
alton on the Vestris," says a sailor,
'but neither is there any on any
other boat. Green hands may jam the
tackle in the gearing by pulling the
line thru the outside sheave, or they
don't know how to reef the tackle
Or splice it when it breaks from be-
coming rotten by exposure. That's
not their fault, but the company's,
which merely goes thru the motion
If boat drill, and doesn't allow the
men time to learn how to work the
boats in case of emergency.
We showed the sailors the story
sent by the British News Agency,
Reuters, to England, saying that
The Vestris "sank because the. Negro
firemen refused to keep up steam in
the boilers" and that Captain Carey
did not send an S. o. S. sooner be-
cause there was no need for it,"
Liars and Their Lies
"Hell, would you look at that!"
exclaimed a seaman. "The starboard
boilers were under water and the
fire in them put out before the fire
men came on deck. And that the
captain did not send the S. o. S.
soon enough is darned well proven
hv the fact that the CAPTAIN him