Thus was the chief lesson drawn from the Titanic shown within a year to be very much less—for all its value—than a certain security against wholesale death at sea. And now we have the frightful case of the Empress of Ireland to emphasize this point. The Empress had life-boats; but so swiftly fell the shattering stroke—they could not be launched. The accident occurred in a quiet river, where, had there been time enough, these life-boats could have saved every man, woman and child on board in the most orderly fashion. In a word, the life-boat “cure” would have been perfect had the conditions of the Titanic disaster obtained.
LIFE-BELT DRILL
Now the cry is “life-belts,” and a universal knowledge of how to use them. We are told that very few of the bodies recovered from the Empress were encircled with life-belts. Very probably if all the passengers who could get to the decks, and so were not carried down in their cabins, had worn life-belts, most of them would have remained afloat in the water until rescued. But possibly they never thought of life-belts; and it is a fair conjecture that many would not have known how to put them on if they had thought of them. Most passengers take the whole voyage on a “liner” without once studying out how best to attach to themselves the life-belts which hang ready for them in their cabins.
A life-belt drill would be an excellent thing for the first day out. The passengers would find it entertaining, and they could each in this way learn that the particular life-belt which belonged to him, was in order, and what to do with it if an alarm came. A little instruction of this sort, and every passenger—at a midnight outcry—would be more anxious to get on his life-belt than his clothes before he rushed up on deck to see what was the matter. If a life-boat drill is necessary for the crew, a life-belt drill is necessary for the passengers.
MR. NIXON SUGGESTS REMEDY
This is only one of many suggestions arising out of the Empress of Ireland disaster. Mr. Lewis Nixon, the shipbuilder, believes that hundreds of lives might be spared in sea disasters with an efficient life-saving suit that would keep persons warm when in the water. He said it was perfectly possible to have a life-saving suit that would be comfortable for many hours in the coldest water.
Mr. Nixon declared that to jump from a deck high above the water filled most persons with terror, and he mapped out a safety slide which could be shot out from the deck of a vessel in a few minutes. Moreover, Mr. Nixon asserted that a light ray that will penetrate a fog must be worked upon by scientists, and he added that he had expected to see before this a direction indicator.
GIANT RAFTS
The shipbuilder asserted that he still thinks that vessels will be built with the upper after structure constructed after the fashion of a giant raft. He said that from what he had read there seemed to have been ample warning in the instance of the latest disaster to have prevented the crash if proper precaution had been taken.
“With every loss of a vessel we look for lessons, find them each time, and then ignore them,” said Mr. Nixon. “The Titanic had one weak spot, the edge of a berg struck the vessel exactly there, a combination against which the odds were almost infinite. This lesson, it is true, was heeded, and later vessels will have double bottoms to above the water line.