Great Lakes Art Database

Marine Review (Cleveland, OH), 15 Aug 1907, p. 28

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a8 _ warnings to vessels as they approach the ports. At New York, for exam- ple, a vessel Coming from. the east picks up the Nantucket shoal; soon af- ter she has passed it she will hear the Fire Island warning, and before she has dropped that® she will catich the warning notes from Sandy Hook, which will guide her right. up to the Sandy Hook bell-buoy. Vessels. fitted -with a receiving apparatus have been known to go straight into New York ia "thick fog, whereas other. vessels " have had to lie to at an enormous expense of coal and loss of time. Canada is launching out, and has al- ready five lightships and one shore Station, and-theré is every chance, - now that they have started the use of bells, that navigation will insist on the number being increased. In Europe the most go-ahead country in this' re- spect is Germany. Here already the Kiel, Weser, Elbe, and six other light- ships are either in operation or being fitted. In. France. two experimental stations for submarine signals proved the, utility at Boulogne Cherbourg. There are also two in Denmark. In England, perhaps ow- ing to her ancient institutions, only one such station has so far been es- tablished, on the North West Light- ship at Liverpool, but the necessity for increasing the stations is gener- ally recognized. Of the ships that have been fitted with receiving apparatus, the principle lines using the system are: North-German. Lloyd, 13. ships; Hamburg-American, 12 ships; Holland- America, 5 ships; Cunard Line, 8 ships; Canddian Pacific, 13 ships; French Line, 3 ships; White Star, Pittspare 5S. S. Co.,.12 ships; Metro- politan-New York, 6 ships; Boston- Philadelphia, 4 ships; American Line, 4 ships. A total tonnage of 1,341, 210 of ship- ping now has receiving apparatus fitted. The English government, and the German and French governments have approved and adopted the sys- tem for various classes of vessels, in- cluding submarines, pilot boats, and steam yachts. H. M. King Edward's yacht Victoria and Albert and H. M. the Emperor William's Hohenzollern are in this list. There is no doubt that the results obtained by vessels demonstrate the extreme utility of the submarine bell as an adjunct to coastal navigation in thick weather. To quote the words of the report made by a committee of officers of the royal navy to the British admiralty. "The fog signals at present in use cannot be depended on to be heard under _course because she is uncertain. have -- and 13 ships; Trae Marine Revigw all conditions, even at two. miles' dis- tance, and a vessel failing to make out a fog signal may be on.a safe course, and in her estimated positon, yet she must stop or anchor or alter' her 'The submarine bell increases the range at which the fog signal gan be heard by a vessel until it approximates to the range of a light vessel's light in clear, weather; and, moreover, its bear- ings can be determined with quite suf- ficient accuracy for safe navigation in fog from distances far beyond the reach of aerial fog signals if the ves- sel is\ equipped with receivers. To double or treble the distance at which fog signals can be heard is a great advantage to shipping, and the facility of determining the direction of sound signaling is in itselfa very valuable dis- "covery. The installation of submarine | bells in light vessels must come sooner or later, as is proved by. the rapid extension any nation has given it who has adopted this system in one or two light vessels. Those who wait long- est will incur the greatest loss in the meantime, both in ships and lives and through delays to shipping, which would otherwise be avoided." A few practical illustrations of the use of our system of signaling may be of interest. is made from a letter written by the master of the Kaiser Wilhelm II, of the Norddeutscher Lloyd Line: "On the entrance of the Kaiser Wilhelm II today into the Weser, the submarine bell on the Outer Weser lightship was "heard with the starboard receiver one point to stdrboard at a. distance of about 10 knots. | fog, with light S. W. wind and calm sea. The course .was changed one point to starboard, whereupon the bell, after this change of course, was heard only with the port receiver, so that it was evident the lightship must be located about one point ahead as a result of this change of course which was proven later to be correct. The fog signal of the lightship was heard 13 minutes' later than this, and in the same direction from which we _ had already received the bell signal. We sighted the lightship about 3:19 p. m,, and passed the same about 3:25 p. m. close by, on the port side. Shortly after the first location of the submar- ine signal we passed three ships which were not equipped with the submar- ine signal apparatus, and which were still seeking to find the Weser Light- ship. The certain location of the posi- tion at a distance of about 10 knots, in a heavy fog, again proves the extra- ordinary usefulness of the invention The following quotation | There was a thick for the safety of navigation in all kinds of bad weather." On another occasion, a German pas- senger steamer, approaching the Wes- er, ran into fog. As no bell was heard from the outer light-ship, a mes- sage was sent by wireless telegraphy, asking that the bell might be set. ring- ing. At the light-ship there was no sensible fog and the bell had been si- lent. When it was rung the steamer heatd it at-.once;. and - shaped. her course with certainty. 'At Cherbourg the steam-tender to the German liners calling there has been fitted with a bell, hung in a com- partment flooded with sea-water. When fog prevails, she proceeds out- side to meet incoming steamers, rings the bell, and is heard on board the steamers, which thus determine their position and find their way into port. These few examples, out of many that might be given, bring home the value of the system to those who have not had practical éxperience of its working. I would most seriously rec- ommend anyone interested in practical navigation not to be satisfied with the few words I have been able to give you today, but to arrange to test the apparatus himself. There is nothing which brings home the utility of an appliance like. practical experience. Submarine signals will, undoubtedly, prove to the seaman an aid such as he has never had before in navigating in a fog; it will also prove a source of economy to ship owners by effecting savings in time, coal, and working ex- penses. Shipping companies in these days cannot afford to neglect any op- portunity of utilizing labor-saving and economizing apparatus. Nor can any government authority afford to neglect a safeguard to navigation. Pressure brought by the leaders of the shipping world upon their respective govern- ments, will eventually lead to the es- tablishment of submarine bells on lightships, and at lighthouses and sta- tions. I look .forward to the day when all the principal ports along dan- gerous coasts will ring out their warn- ings to vessels that they are approach- ing dangerous spots; when every ves- sel of a reasonable size will be fitted not only with receivers, but possibly also with bells of their own, so that one ship will be able to locate another in a fog, and that each will beable to locate its exact position with respect to fixed points; when ships will be able to enter ports without the risk of the calamities of which the papers report several each stormy and foggy day; when loss of life would be minimized and fewer vessels sunk through ram-

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