Show SENATE COMMITTEE REPORTS ON TITANIC the senate committee which inet inest at the titanic disaster is to be congratulated upon the judicial calmness and general fairness ot of its report to congress in dealing with a disaster which has brought so BO much sorrow to so large a section of 0 a community it would have been natural for a note of 0 bitterness to have crept into this official document wp we haa baat occasion during the session of the cc to criticize the general drift and tone of the examination as it was being conducted by the chairman senator smith we felt that he nas us eH eliciting cItIng too many personal and unessential facts and aad too little of that invaluable technical evidence upon which much of the future legislation and all future improvements in construction of ships must be based we suggested that the senator avail himself of the technical advice and prompting which could easl beasi ly be secried among amoling the many naval experts available in the navy department ent at washington for the purpose of this inquiry whose principal alm aim was to stimulate the general forward movement tor for the construction of practically unsinkable passenger ships senator smith took the wisest and most effective step in the whole course of 0 his investigation when he made a flying trip from washington accompanied by the chief naval constructor rear admiral watt wait climbed down into the stoke hole of the olympic an exact duplicate of the titanic and there had a heart to heart talk with the leading stoker who was in the forward boiler compartment of the titanic when the iceberg ripped open her plating under the practical guidance of 0 the chief constructor senator smith was quickly able to grasp the salient defects or of construction to which the rapid sinking of the titanic was due and both he and the committee are to be congratulated upon the fact that in the last two clauses of 0 their reco lations ions are included a set of clean cut structural suggestions which if carried out will render practically impossible another titanic disaster these two recommendations alone are ample justification of the course followed by the senate in commencing commend n 9 a federal investigation of the disaster at the earliest possible moment the fist recommendation is that all steel ocean and d ca n seagoing at t t snips carrying carrein g 1 0 0 or r more passengers should have a watertight water tight skin inboard ot of the outside plating extending not less than 10 per cent of the load draft above the full load waterline either in the form of an inner shell or of watertight bulkheads and this construction should extend from the forward collision bulkhead over not less than two thirds of the length of the ship the second recommendation is that all steel ocean and coastwise seago ing ships with or more passengers should have so spaced that lany any two adjacent compartments of the ship may be flooded without des the or stability of the ship watertight water tight ight transverse bulkheads should extend from side to side of the ship attaching to the outside shell the transverse f forward 0 r w a rd and abaft the machinery machi machin kry spaces c e s should be continued watertight water tight vertically to the uppermost continuous structural deck the uppermost continuous structural dock deck should be fitted watertight water tight bulkheads within the limits of the machinery spaces should extend not less than 25 per cent of the draft of the ship above the load waterline and should end at a watertight deck all watertight water tight bulkheads and decks should be proportioned to withstand without material permanent deflection a water pressure equal to five feet more than the ful height of tho the bulkhead bulk heads of novel dimensions or scant lings should be tested by being subjected to actual water pressure it Is gratifying to the scientific american american to note that the above safety requirements in the construction ot of ships are practically identical with those which were outlined in the article on the unsinkable ship which appeared in the scientific american of I 1 may nth albough the other recommendations of the committee are to our mind secondary in importance to those having to do with structural safety they are all to the point and cover fully the lessons which have been taught by this disaster the committee recommends that unless there is early reid revision slon of the inspection laws of foreign countries along the lines suggested in its report the existing reciprocal arrangement regarding the inspection certificates of foreign countries be terminated and that no vessel shall be licensed to carry passengers from ports of the united states until all regulations aad requirements ot of the laws of the united states have been fully complied with I 1 it is recommended that the statute be so revised as to definitely defina tely require sufficient lifeboats to accommodate every passenger and every member of the crew that not less than four members of the crew skilled in hand ling ing boats shall be assigned to every boat and that these crews shall be drilled in lowering and rowing boats boals not less than twice in each month it Is further recommended that passengers and crew be assigned to lifeboats before sailing the assignment ot of boats and the shortest route from stateroom to boat to be posted in every stateroom it is also recommended that every ocean steamship carrying or more passengers be required to carry two electric searchlights the committee finds furthermore that this catastrophe makes gla glaringly apparent the necessity tor for the regulation of radiotelegraphy radio telegraphy there should be an operator on duty at all times and direct communications should be provided cither by telephone voice tube or messenger between the wireless room and the bridge so that the operator shall not have to leave his station legislation is suggested to prevent interference of amateurs and some source of auxiliary power should be installed so as to insure the operation of the wireless plant until the wireless room is submerged scientific american |