The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Begin Study of Lake Loadline Government Committee Starts Investigation to Determine Strength .of Lake Vessels and Their Proper Load Draft INCE 1876, foreign-owned sea- S going vessels have been sub- ject to freeboard regulation, in one form or another, and in recent years a loadline mark, assigned by one of the leading ship classification societies, under government super- vision, has been made compulsory. Vessels on the Great Lakes have, so far, come under no such restric- tions... As. -a.result; no: data have been kept making it impossible to say how many of the losses among lake vessels have been due to over- loading. At a conference held some time ago in Washington by Secretary Redfield, the United States Government Com- mittee on Bulkheads and Freeboard, of which Rear Admiral D: W. Taylor, United States navy, is chairman, was appointed by the secretary in order that certain rules and_ regulations which were necessary for the assign- ment of freeboards for American ships might be recommended to him, with the idea that sooner or later a free- board law would be passed in this country. In order to properly carry out this work, the committee decided to form three subcommittees; one for the At- lantic coast; one for the Great Lakes; and one for the Pacific coast. The Great Lakes committee con- sists of H. N. Herriman, manager of the Great Lakes department, Amer- ican bureau of shipping, and H. C. Sadler, professor of naval architecture and marine engineering, University of Michigan, Ann. Arbor, Mich. They will appoint a subcommittee of repre- sentative shipowners, shipbuilders and underwriters to assist them in their work. The personnel of this com- mittee will be announced later. Realizing the benefit to be derived from a thorough investigation of the whole subject, upon which recom- mendations to the government. will be based when the work is completed, a fund has been subscribed by vessel owners, shipbuilders and underwriters, to defray expenses, and an_ office established at 870 Kirby building, Cleveland, under the direct super- vision of Mr. Herriman. Percy W. Keltie, naval architect, formerly in the employ of the United States shipping board and the Chicago Technical Board of Vessel Safety, is in general charge of the work of the office. Prof. Anders F. Lindblad, assistant professor of naval architec- ture at the University of Michigan, is now engaged in an investigation of the structural strength of the vari- ous types of vessels in service on the Great Lakes, this being a feature of greatest importance /in determining the proper load draft. Miss A. Eiben, secretary to the committee, is in charge of the records, In addition to considering the free- board, the committee will take up the matter of watertight subdivision and the investigation will be extended to cover loading and _ ballasting, stabil- ity, and structural details, such as deck erections, hatches, steering gear, etc.; also general statistics on Great Lakes navigation, covering all im- portant features. At the close of the season, a num- ber of conferences will be held, at- tended by shipowners, shipbuilders and masters of the vessels, at which ail of the above features will be fully discussed, As no data on the lengths and heights of storm waves on the Great Lakes are available, the following letter has been issued by the com- mittee and mailed to masters, re- questing that the information, which is very necessary to the committee in its work, be secured by the mas- ters and crews of the vessels. It will be obvious to all familiar with ship- ping that the work of the freeboard committee, designed to safeguard lives and property on the Great Lakes, is one of the most important ever undertaken in the interest of the owners, underwriters and crews. How to Find Wave: Height and Length HF. length and _ corresponding height of the waves is the prin- cipal factor in. determining, by calculation, the stresses to which the hull of a vessel is subjected in heavy weather. It is, therefore, desirable that we obtain data on this subject from actual observation of the storm waves. We believe, that if the mas- _ters and crews of vessels on the Great Lakes will kindly lend their assistance, observations may be taken by them practically without apparatus other than a trim gage, that will give us the desired information. We would require the following: First:—The length of the largest storm waves, from crest to crest, with their period, that is, the time in sec- onds taken by the crest to travel from point to point. Second:—-The heights of the largest storin waves, from trough to crest, if How Lake Masters and Crews Can Help I THE following letter to mas- ters of lake vessels, the Great Lakes subcommittee on bulkheads and freeboard suggests a simple method of determining the length aml height of storm waves. Data of this kind have never been ob- tained on the lakes and must be secured .before the committee can make recommendations . regarding the strength and loading of lake vessels. The letter and illustrations make clear the assistance which the captains and crews of lake vessels can give. All reports and infor- mation are to be mailed to the Freeboard Comnuttee, 870 Kirby building, Cleveland. 539 possible, or failing this, the height of the crest, taken at some station on the vessel where the corresponding height 1o the observer’s eye can be measured, either above the load line or from the keel of *the vessel. In order to standardize, as much as possible, the taking of this: data, we suggest the following system: First:—Length of Waves, Sketch A, Tig. 1. With the vessel head to wind and under as low speed as practicable, two observers to be stationed on the upper deck, the forward observer (No. 1) to take a position abreast the crest of a large wave, and the after ob- server (No. 2) to place himself abreast the crest of the wave, as it passes his position, the position of the observers to be marked on deck and the distance between the two measured, or calcu- lated by distance center to center of hatches. After a few trials, lengths of