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SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA.

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SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA. The first report of the Board of Trade Committee on Bulkheads and Water-Tight Compartments, presided over by Sir Archibald Denny, Bart., will be universally regarded as one of the most use- ful contributions in recent years to the science of naval archi- tecture. Not only is the subject one of predominant importance to the safety of life in ships, but it is one in which it must be con- fessed there was required both close investigation and some co-operdinion, perhaps rectifi- cation, of ideas. The complacen- cy with which all assumed that the individual efforts of scientific shipbuildings bad at last pro- duced an unsinkable ship has been completely shattered. Great ocean liners and the most modem of battleships, accepted in each case as the best that could be conceived and con- structed in respect of pivision in- to separate water-tight com part- ments, have succumbed to the admission of the sea through the skin of the ship. Notable ins- tances of the ineffectiveness of bulkheads, all anterior to the appointment of Sir Archibald Denny's Committee, prove the need of the investigations con- ducted, aad intensify the hope now that at last there may be set out a sound scientific basis for improved practice in this most important element in the design of the modern ship. All indica- tions point to the fact that success has been most .eagerly searched for. The terms of reference went broad. The chair- manship of the Commission could not have been filled by one of greater experience, alik in research, practice,and tactful management. The members of the Committee were representa- tive of all classes of marine construction, and were each imbued with the proper spirit of judicial inquiry, and brought to bear on their work wide know- ledge of prevailing practice and of the problems to be solved". Much experimental work was also undertaken. Finally, the fact that the report is unanimous must carry weight with the Goverdment in enforcing the recommendations—with the ship- owners in agreeing to the adop- tion of the proposals, and with the public, who, after all, are most immediately concerned in the ultimate issue. Already this view is supported by the fact that a preliminary report, made for the International Conference for the Safety of Life at Sea, which met a year ago, was of great utility in the preparation of their recommendations with re- gard to the spacing of transverse bulkheads and matters relating to subdivision.

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