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ZUM AI Rulings on Marine Matters LD 7 Hints to Navigators B = = Improvements to Waterways Z a = = a 000 G N THE annual report of the su- I pervising inspector general of the steamboat inspection service to the secretary of commerce for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1915, the statistical record of work shows cer- tificates of inspection issued to 7,232 steam, sail and motor vessels and barges, aggregating 5,612,031 gross tons; 321 foreign passenger steam vessels, aggregating 2,111,008 gross tons, were inspected; 18,412 officers of all grades were licensed; 62 steam vessels were granted letters of ap- proval of designs of boilers, engines and other operating machinery; 91 government vessels were inspected and 1,681 boilers in or for United States government steamers and buildings were inspected. Re-inspec- tions of passenger and ferry steamers made ‘by boards of local inspectors numbered 3,120. Assistant inspectors tested 2,962 marine boiler plates at the mills and also inspected there a large number of steel bars for braces and stay bolts in marine boil- ers and several hundred plates for stock and repairs. Many. requests from other branches and departments of the government for tests of ma- terial at the mills were complied with and reports rendered to the proper officials. New life preservers inspect- ed numbered 161,335, of which 217 were rejected. Accidents Less in Number During the year, 5,022 applicants for original and renewal of licenses were examined for visual defects, 4,962 of whom were passed. Reports covering casualties and violations of law by vessels subject to inspection numbered 1,669. Acci- dents resulting in loss of life totaled 190, 42 less than the previous year. During the year 307,348,008 passengers were carried on steam vessels re- ‘quired by law to report the number of passengers carried. Dividing this number by 107, the total number of passengers lost, shows 2,872,411 passengers carried for each passenger lost. The total number of lives lost from all causes, passengers and crew, ion Service was 368. This does not include the big EAsTLANp disaster on July 24, 1915. The card index system used throughout the service is an important factor in connection with adminis- trative methods. The bureau appre- ciates that a card index system is but a paper record, and that it of itself does not prove that the inspec: tion is effective, but the system has proven a powerful instrument for the maintenance of a high standard of inspection. The practice of the serv- ice is that records shall be made daily and reports rendered daily, rather than at the end of a month or a quarter or six months. Thus, there is always immediately available the very latest information in regard to all of its operations. A most important means of ob- taining uniform administration and improving the work of the service has been through the efforts of the traveling inspector. His chief duty is to ascertain whether the local in- spectors have been correctly inspect- ing vessels; and that his appointment is justified is proven by his reports, for numerous instances of defective and imperfect inspection have been discovered. The force of inspectors employed in this service is believed to be too small. For several years the bureau has in its estimates pointed out the necessity of additional inspectors. Also the salaries of inspectors and clerks have not kept pace with the money paid for similar service out- side of the government. As men be- come trained they leave. These con- ditions, unfortunate as they are, do not compare with that confronting this service in June, 1915, for it was necessary on June 10 to order that all re-inspections cease. The bureau’s plan has been to create in the office of the supervising inspector general a corps of experts, whose business it would be to ap- prove proposed hull construction. In order to do this, legislation is neces- sary. If the construction of a vessel could be so approved, there would result not only safe conditions with 75 reference to construction, but also more uniformity in the matter of correct inspection and construction. Unfortunate as was the disaster to the steamer EastLAnp, the matter of hull inspection and construction is one that has not been neglected, and as a result of that terrible disaster, it may be possible to obtain the larger ap- propriation necessary for a larger and more effective service. Closely connected with the proposi- tion of hull construction is that of the overloading of passenger steam- ers, a question also considered’ at length in previous annual reports. It is believed that violations of law by steamers in carrying more passen- gers than allowed by their certificates of inspection are comparatively few. The important question is, have the local inspectors permitted a steamer to carry a larger number of passen- gers than she should be permitted to carry? In this connection not only must the stability of the vessel’ be considered, but also the possibility of panic and the handling of the hife- saving apparatus in such event. The conclusion is that the original re- sponsibility rests upon the local in- spectors in the matter of passenger allowance. The bureau has endeav- ored to impress upon them the. seri- ousness of this responsibility and con- demns in unqualified language any exercise of their great authority with- out full appreciation of its serious- ness. Bureau on the Defensive While all eyes are turned toward stability tests for vessels, other perils as terrible should not be forgotten. The possibility of fires on excursion steamers always exists, and though there may be ary number of regula- tions in regard to fire-fighting equip- ment, the best way is to remove the cause and require fireproof construc- tion. This cannot be done until -con- gress acts, and the bureau most earn- estly invites attention to the necessity for legislation in this respect. .In connection with fires is to be con- sidered the transportation of danger-