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Stability Is Vital to Satety Take No Chances The freighter RairukuU Maru grain laden out of Boston capsized in a storm 180 miles off Halifax, Nova é Scotia on April 21, 1925, with the loss of her entire crew of 48 officers and men United States Requires Inclining Tests for Passenger Ships lated by municipalities for the protection of buildings against fire, the very least that can be said upon that subject will easily con- vince any one that the surest way to prevent fire is not necessarily by the use of fire-fighting ap- paratus, but by the construction of buildings that do not burn with facility. If an examination be made of the general rules and regulations pre- scribed by the board of supervising inspectors of the United States steamboat inspection service, it will be seen that there are numerous provisions in those rules and regulations looking to the inspec- tion of equipment on board ship, and in this re- spect also the least that can be said will show that the best way to insure safety on shipboard is to commence with the ship itself as distin- guished from its equipment. Vessels float in water, and the very first thing to be considered is whether the vessel, when con- structed in a shipyard, is going to float with safe- ty, that is to say, with safety, leaving out of con- sideration at first the possibility of storm and stress of weather. In other words, whether the ship itself has been constructed with proper sta- bility to insure safety to those who are to travel upon her. For, if this factor be overlooked, of what avail is it to have bulkheads in the ship, of Winter rules and regulations may be formu- 317 what avail is it to have fire hose, to have life- boats, to have life preservers, or in fact, any and all of the equipment and paraphernalia that goes with the vessel? If the annual reports of the supervising inspector general be examined, it will be found that for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910, the supervising inspector general suggested and recommended the advisability of passing upon ship construction. While that recommendation has not been acted upon, a system has been adopt- ed in lieu of that proposal which, while not ac- complishing to the utmost the result desired, yet has accomplished a very material and construc- tive good in now enabling the supervising inspec- tor general to determine whether vessels have the proper stability. Rules Specify Stability Tests Section 16 of rule VII, general rules and regula- tions prescribed by the board of supervising in- spectors, provides that: ‘When inspectors have any reason to question the stability of any vessel under their jurisdiction, they shall require the owners of the vessel to make inclining tests on such vessel, under the su- pervising inspector general. On and after July 1, 1924, every passenger or ferry vessel of 500 gross tons or over, propelled by machinery, and every passenger or ferry vessel intended to carry 50 or more passengers, in either