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1903-] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. 27 Problems of Lake Transportation By LIEUT. W. H. FROST, U. S. Navy. There is a deep-seated conviction in the minds of lake sea- men and vessel owners that a good pilot in charge of each vessel is all that is needed to insure her safety and make quick passages between her ports of call. If this conviction was held by but one of these classes with the other either neutral or opposed to it, the present danger would not be so great; at least, we could venture the hope that the problems I shall discuss would work out them- selves in the near future. With the fancied security felt by both classes today, and the strong opposition which will be presented by lake-men to any change of existing conditions, time and ex- treme patience will be necessary to bring about any suggested im- provement in present methods or customs. That there is need of improvement is demonstrated by an ex- amination. of the list of marine casualties and loss of life on the lakes, which occurred within the scope of the operations of the life saving service alone during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1902, Of the total of 237 lives lost the greater portion could have been saved by proper precautions; of the 235 marine disasters, involv- ing a property value of nearly five millions of dollars and a total loss of well over a half million, it is safe to say that more than half were due to preventable causes. In the matter of stranding alone it would scarcely be claiming too much to assert that three- fourths of these disasters in thick weather are due to negligence, carelessness, or professional ignorance of the master, or other avoidable causes. In a former article in the Marine Review I made the state- ment that the day is not far off when transportation companies will require their masters and mates to be navigators, in a limited way, as well as pilots in order to lessen the chances of disaster to their properties and to run their vessels with the greatest econo- my. To say they are navigators would be a travesty on the word. There are, of course, individual: instances of masters who are just as capable of navigating their vessels to meet all local re- quirements as of piloting them, but these instances, unfortunately, are very few. These few individuals are deserving of every praise which can be showered on them, for they are fighting for knowl- edge against direct opposition from those of the class who have not the energy, ability or desire to learn, and from the indirect op- position of their owners by reason of their apathy and indiffer- ence. There is much excuse for this attitude of the owners; for important affairs of business as freight, charters, etc., are tangible to them, while questions of the sea are so technical and difficult to understand that when brought to their attention they are apt to term them visionary and lay them aside without further thought. But what can excuse the lakemen themselves for the attitude they assume? They are willing to "let well enough alone," as they term it; but is.it "well enough?" Because one is afraid to show the vastness of his own ignorance is no reason why he should at- tempt to turn his neighbor from a course beneficial alike to himself and his employer. My hope is to show that no custom or method connected with this subject in vogue on the lakes is "well enough" when there is such decided room for improvement. It is suggested that changes might be instituted either by (1) the lakemen, (2) the vessel owners, (3) the insurers, or (4) the federal government; and when the others recognized the need their cordial co-operation would be tendered toward the consum- mation of the desired reform. ' ee. Perhaps, theoretically, the solution of the difficulty would be for the lakemen to improve themselves; but without the incentive of future gain or pressure from the owners this theory will never work out in practice. It is too much to expect men who have 'spent most of their lives in a struggle for little more than bare existence to take an initiative of such importance, especially when they can see no real necessity for it. What is good enough for one master, who has been lucky in keeping out of scrapes throughout his career, is good enough for another; and so on throughout the list, till we recognize the wall of indifference that confronts us. If vessel owners continue their present indifference this obstruct- ing wall will never be crumbled away except with the utmost pa- tience, perseverance and energy on the part of the men them- selves, It must be conceded that many of the masters and mates on the lakes are fine pilots, if that term is used in a restricted sense. Keen sight, good judgment and a thorough knowledge of all navi- gable waters compose their stock in trade, and with this limited - stock they have performed their work for years in a manner that could not be excelled by pilots in any waters of the world. This very success has been the means of holding them down in the same rut in which they have been running for years. The owners them- selves view the situation as one which has been brought to a cer- tain level by years of experience and think any proposed changes not worth the while so long as they are fairly successful finan- cially, and the underwriters pay up without too much trouble when disaster occurs. Such indifference is soon observed by the lake men with the result that nothing is done by either side towards improvement. What actually does happen is that these men retro- grade and unblushingly acknowledge it. No body of men can be held at a high point of efficiency unless pressure is kept on them by their employers or substantial inducements offered for improvements. : : It might not be out of place here to mention and discuss a few of the subjects in navigation with which all masters should be on as intimate terms as with the alphabet: (1) the compass and its compensations; (2) pelorus or dumb compass or any in- strument for taking bearings; (3) parallel rulers; (4) deviations; (5) variations; (6) lead and line, and sounding machines; (7) azimuth and tables; (8) deviation tables; (9) laying off courses and bearings on the chart; (10) the barometer; (11) laws of storms and preparations to meet them; (12) use of oil and sea- anchors; (13) fogs; (14) methods of finding ship's position in fogs, snow, mist, or thick weather generally, or when near land; (15) a few laws of magnetism and the relation of the compass to the earth's and ship's magnetism. This seems to be a formidable list but in reality is not be- yond the learning powers of any reasonably intelligent man. IMPORTANCE OF THE COMPASS. Of all instruments used in navigating a vessel, by long odds the most important is the compass with its accessories, and most unaccountably, it is the least known or understood, not only by those who use it but by most of the equipment officers of the transportation companies. The same mystery surrounds the com- pass as other magnetic or electrical instruments and the depth of this mystery seems unfathomable to the average-minded sea- man. A little study of these instruments and the laws of mag- netism would soon dissipate the fog that surrounds them. and give to the mariner the full confidence in the compass which it deserves. Deviations and variation are so intimately connected with the compass that a study of the last must necessarily embrace the other two. And while deviation is generally known to the seaman as the error of the compass due to local attractions, and variation due to something outside the ship, neither subject is fully under- stood. Their existence is acknowledged and sometimes they are correctively applied to courses and bearings, generally by a rule of thumb without knowing or inquiring into the reasons why. If owners and seamen had even a superficial knowledge of the sub- ject their fancied security from disaster, after a compass adjuster has performed his work, would be displaced by a wholesome knowledge of the exact effect of such adjustment. How can any sane man suppose that an adjuster is able to compensate a com- pass so that it shall be errorless under the varied conditions of sailing? But herein lies a real danger--a blind confidence born in the mind of the master that his compass needle points to the magnetic north, or the true north as far as he knows, whether he _ be loaded light or to his greatest draught. If his compass is ad- justed when he is on an even keel he soon finds something radic- ally wrong with his courses when his ship is drawing 12 ft. aft and 1 ft. forward. A little study would put him on his guard and show the error to be a natural consequence of converting what was formerly horizontal iron into two components, one vertical and the other horizontal. A series of observations under different condi- tions would teach him that his compass would be correct only when his ship was in exactly the same condition as when the ad- justments were made. A highly magnetic cargo would then have no more terrors for him than simple ballast. Too often compasses are placed in pilot houses without taking any of the surroundings into account. I have found them boxed- in just forward of the iron spindle of the steering wheel with the end of the spindle less than 18 in. from the center of the compass ; others with wire tiller ropes directly under them; another with a wire forestay directly over and so near that a notch was cut in the box for the passage of the stay; others surrounded by brass trimmings, and apparently free from the influence of any iron er steel in the immediate neighborhood, but these trimmings were found to be mere coverings to hide these temporary and perma- nent magnets; and almost without exception these compasses were placed with their lubber lines at an angle with the keel line of the ship. So varied were the faults found, some of minor but most of great importance, that I cannot venture nor is it necessary to go over them in detail in this article. Those mentioned, how- ever, go to prove that the compass is not understood by the men who are using it, while the ignorance displayed by builders and owners is simply woeful. If there are any excuses to be offered by the masters and pilots for their contribution to this state none can be made by builders; nor is the weight of this responsibility much less upon the owners. The latter take too much for grant- ed; they expect a builder to solve every problem connected with a ship as well as to build her, while the builder, on his part, believes his work is only to place a complete ship in the hands of the own- er; and then these two place upon the master the responsibility of working out his own salvation in running her. And run her he must in all kinds of weather or the first time he reports he is brought up with a round turn for his delay. : Let us suppose that the compasses are installed in their proper places and the ship ready to sail. A compass adjuster adjusts them as best he can by sprinkling magnets, some fore-and-aft, some transverse and some even vertical around the pilot house. Although it is a well-known fact to all navigators that in a new ship her magnetic character changes for the first year or two and then settles down to a normal state, no thought is given to it after the adjuster leaves her, but the master sails on and on regardless