CHAPTER VI,
SECTION I.—SHIP'S BOAT*
Boat Lowering
THE launching of a boat from a small ship at sea in moderate weather
is an easy operation as the crew, being few m number, are usually
experienced seamen, well trained and accustomed to team work. North
Sea fisherman often remain at sea for a considerable time, and they
convey in an open boat m all kinds of weather the boxes of fish to the
fast steam earners who run the fish to market And were it not that
this is the ordinary work-a-day business of these hardy and experienced
boatmen, the operation in stormy weather would be hailed as a feat of
practical seamanship.
In large cargo steamships the launching of a life-boat is a more
difficult job owing to the height of the boat deck above the waterline.
Cargo ships are equipped with life-boat accommodation under davits on
each side of the ship sufficient to carry all hands. Bigger boats are
therefore needed and these require heavier davit tackles, the awkward-
ness of launching the boats being further increased by the inexperience
of the crew who are seldom or ever exercised in real boatwork at sea,
their only practice being an occasional boat station and the lowering ,
of boats for inspection purposes in harbour.
The problem of ^carrying a sufficiency of buoyant life-saving appli-
ances in ocean passenger liners to accommodate all &ands is complicated,
not so much by the large complement of passengers and crew they may
carry, but mainly by the difficulty of providing stowage space to provide
boats for all and devising mechanical launching arrangements to get
the boats lowered down the ship's side, a distance sometimes of 50 fco 70
feet, and to get them clear of the ship's side in the event of a sudden
emergency call.
Legislation regarding life-boat and buoyancy equipment was
introduced after the loss of the Titanic in April, 1912. This 52,000-ton
liner foundered after collision with an iceberg in mid-Atlantic in calm
but hazy weather. The ship was not at first expected to founder and
83