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38 DEVOTED TO EVERYTHING AND EVERY INTEREST CONNECTED OR_ ASSO- CIATED WITH MARINE MATTERS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Published every Thursday by The Penton Publishing Co. CLEVELAND. BOSTON <3 2055 055.5 ess .73-74 Journal Bldg. PUMA O rica s ceca ee 932 Ellicott Sq. CHICAGO Gos cess ens 1328 Monadnock Blk. CINCINNATI... 65. First National Bank Bldg. NEW VOR Ke conc.) 1005 West Street Bldg. PIT ERSBURG. 6c. peice ce a 510 Park Bldg. SHRAUT EB aia es ighca ceed 302 Pioneer Bldg. Correspondence on Marine Engineering, Ship Building and Shipping Subjects Solicited. Subscription, U. S. and Mexico, $3.00 per annum. Canada, $4.00. Foreign, $4.50. Subscribers can have addresses changed at will. Change of advertising copy must reach this office on Thursday preceding date of publication. The Cleveland News Co. will supply the trade P with the Marine Review through the regular channels of the American News Co. European Agents, The International News Company, Breams Building, Chancery Lane, London, E. C., England. Entered at the Post Office "3 -as Second: Class at Cleveland, Ohio, Matter. February 4, 1909, LIFE PRESERVERS ON MOTOR BOATS. Mr. has introduced: in the senate and Mr. Greene in the house, a bill requiring life preservers to be carried on motor boats. The bill pro- vides that there should be at least one life preserver for each person on board and that they should be so stowed _that 'their position may be known and that they may be readily accessible. Frye The owner: shall be lia- ble to a penalty of $10 for each life preserver lacking . or improperly stowed. The bill has already been re- ported unanimously by the committee on commerce of the senate and com- mittee on merchant marine and fish- erties of: the house.: It is the -out- growth of a number of distressing ac- cidents which happened to motor boats during the past season when a number of lives were lost. Undoubtedly in the majority of cases life would: have saved had preservers been within reach. Obviously one does not have to dwell on the dangerous qualities THE Marine REVIEW of naphtha and gasoline. When ig- nited on a motor boat there is prac- tically no recourse but to jump over- board. The subject has already been con- sidered by the appointed by the president last spring to formulate rules for safe-guarding life at sea and it will be incorporated in the report of the commission. How- marine commission ever, this report will be quite volum- inous and as it is quite unlikely that action could be taken upon it during the present brief session, the measure was: accordingly introduced to provide a specific remedy. Of course, the in- discriminate introduction of bills reg- ulating the navigation of motor boats would seriously cripple one of the great growing industries of the coun- try. It is therefore gratifying to an- nounce that the marine commission contemplates nothing further until its report is presented, when abundant time will be given to everyone to di- gest its provisions and to. suggest amendments. COMPULSORY WIRELESS AND OTHER DEVICES. As wireless aboardship telegraph equipment has been instrumental in preventing the destruction of consid- erable life and property at sea in the past few years there can be no doubt that 'the averted double disaster off Nantucket (and the recent narrowly enthusiasm of the press) is responsible the sudden equipment on all ocean-going passen- for demand for wireless ger steamers, or those making trips extending limited with ships and shipping are aware that there beyond a_ certain mileage. Those in close 'touch is hardly a day passes in which the "wireless" does not play a prominent getting helpless craft, so fully appreciate its part in assistance for some usefulness. It is only when some such disaster as the collision between the Republic and Florida practically in our liners occurs waters, however, that those not intimately acquainted with the mariners' life awaken to what --in justice to all concerned--are ab- solute necessities in the equipment of the modern passenger vessel, It is appalling to think that there. trans-Atlantic steamship are owners not sufficiently progressive, to put i mildly, to have equipment of this kind installed on their vessels, and that these vessels, with about one thousang souls aboard, when out of the range of vision of passing craft belonging to more progressive owners, have a slim chance of obtaining any assistance they may urgently need. The loss of the Republic, one of the trans-Atlantic ferry's finest, that under certain conditions, 1s a menace to mod- demonstrates the fact the non-"wireless" vessel, ern navigation in the steamship route. To say that passenger vessels were considered a triumph of the shipbuild- er's and navigator's art ten years ago, before the Marconi wireless came into force on the Atlantic, is to make a mighty poor excuse for ignoring the needs of the present day. Steamsnips were considered the acme of safety be- fore such improvements as water-tight bulkheads, double bottom, twin-screws, etc., were known in the shipyard. Per- haps it is just as well that competition is to a great extent responsible for the installation of each device conceded to be of practical value to the prevention of loss of life at sea. The intending passenger these days, when ipurchas- ing his ticket, seldom fails to make some inquiries along this line, with the result that the company owning the best equipped vessels usually gets his patronage. : The introduction within the. past few years of submarine signalling apparatus has done much to lighten the burden resting on the shoulders of the navi- gating officer. Many accidents due to. fog have 'been averted, and many hours--formerly spent in endeavoring to "pick up" a lightship or other point --saved by the use of this device. A clause in the latest issue of Rules by Steamboat Inspection Service practi- and the Regulations laid down cally fozces the shipbuilder and own- er tO recognize the fact that there are de- vices on 'the market and that the :life- several commendable boat-handling boat launching apparatus hereafter in- stalted will have to be of such design that boats can be rapidly and safely