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East and West Bound Courses The Lake Carriers' Association is Quite Determined that the Vessel enrolled in its Memberships shall observe them HE.Lake Carriers' Association has begun a strenuous cam- paign to eliminate, if possi- ble, collisions due to fog in_ the open lake. Last spring the asso- ciation, at a meeting of its board. of directors, decided that all vessels enrolled in the association should fol- low separate courses on the Great Lakes. East bound ships are to fol- low an outside course and west bound ships an inside course. These courses have been plotted on the. general chart and are well understood by all masters. There have been many collisions of late in all parts of the world due to fog, and there is no question what- ever but that the general public is quite apprehensive on the subject. Atmospheric conditions on the lakes are such that fog is quite prevalent in the early summer months, and it was to obviate the necessity of ves- sels meeting frequently head to head that the Lake Carriers' Association established definite courses for east bound and west bound vessels. Sepa- rate lanes for east bound and west bound ships were long ago. estab- lished in North Atlantic trade, and the recent International Conference on Safety at Sea could find nothing to do in this respect that the steam- ship lines had not already done for themselves. It is precisely this same Situation that the Lake Carriers' As- sociation is desirous of accomplishing on the lakes, because the time' is undoubtedly coming when the general sovernment will make separate courses a definite rule. There can be no pos- sible argument as to the wisdom of anticipating such governmental regu- lation. Some Ignoring the Rule Notwithstanding the fact, however, that the association unanimously adopted the rule of outside and inside Courses, there are many masters sail- Ng vessels belonging to the associa- ton who do not observe the rule. Now the sole object that the association had in mind in making the rule was 9: sure greater safety in navigation. When collisions occur they are in- Yatlably between vessels meeting head 'ohead. "Such a thing as a rear-end Collision, while common enough on the railways, is unknown on the high Stas. There is no instance on record of a steamer running into the stern of another steamer in the open lake during fog. Obviously if steamers going in opposite directions are on courses several miles apart, they are not going to collide. The Pittsburgh Steamship Co. re- cently received a letter from one of its masters reading as follows: "T. have. oiven oa "great -deal of thought to 'Safety First', and steering the outside and inside courses is cer- tainly along that line for every one in the sailing business. It seems to me that it will cost many lives and a lot of property before we can get the 'captains in= line; and!: 1. think-at is time something was done. Meeting Head to Head "When one talks to a captain that does not run the outside and inside courses, the chief argument he gives us is 'I don't want our office to tell me how I should steer my _ boat.' Any one will have to admit one cannot do much with him by talking. When one looks back at the many collisions that have cost so many lives and property, it is plain that had the outside and inside courses been lived up to by all the masters, many of the collisions could have been avoided. "IT seem to have had a good deal of fog this season, and you would be surprised, with the small fleet in com- mission, to see how many boats we meet head and head and even inside of us. Coming up Lake Superior, say, from Whitefish. Point to Manitou Is- land, I have met no less than 15 boats, and I think, from a master's stand- point, if is time to, act. When Mr. Coulby, president of the company, received this letter, he caused a copy of it to be sent to every master in his fleet, commenting on it as follows: "T am very glad, indeed, to receive this letter, as it is evidence that all the talking we have done in years past about safety at sea, which means strict observance of pilot laws, using inside and outside courses, is begin- ning to bear fruit, and that our mas- ters are waking up to the fact that public sentiment will no longer tol- erate the violation of the law with its attendant risks to life and prop- erty. The papers are filled with acci- dents at sea through collision in fog and the general public are now going to demand that we do _ everything within our power to eliminate, as far as possible, this danger from our navi- gation. To Minimize Collision "IT have many times heard that the ° statement has been made (referred to by the captain) that the master does not want the office to tell him how he should pilot his ship. Men. making these statements do not seem to realize that there is a responsibil- ity upon the management to see that the men in charge of their ships obey the law, and any manager having knowledge of his captains willfully violating the law, such as running his ship in full speed in the fog, is, in my judgment, just as vulnerable to the most severe criticism as is the master himself. Sometimes I think the, masters lose sight of the fact that they are not only responsible for the safe navigation of their own ship, but they have an obligation upon them to so navigate their ship as not to jeop- ardize the safety of the crew and passengers of other ships, and it was with this thought that the _ vessel owners of the Great Lakes adopted the inside and the outside courses. Certainly danger of collision must be minimized if the ships navigating one of the Great Lakes do so with two definite lanes fixed, one to be used by ships east' bound and the other west bound. The question of the di- viding line between these two courses .has been fixed by a committee of the most experienced masters on the Great Lakes, and I am firmly con- vinced that if these courses are used by all the: ships, and the pilot rules governing navigation in fog are strict- ly adhered to, we should very rarely have a collision. The question as to whether it is going to take a few hours longer to make the trip or not, must never be considered and _ will never be taken as an excuse for vio- lation of the law. If I find any vio- lations of the rule, even though the ship may not meet with disaster, I shall feel it my duty to take such action, with reference to the navigat- ing officer, as though there had been a serious collision." There was some newspaper com- ment on this letter which caused