CHAPTER XXI
It was 20 dial.
High up in the air and swiftly sped the Orion.
At the bow rail stood Junius Cobb and Hugh. Each was silent, histhoughts far away; the one in the present, and the other in a former,period of the world's time. How their thoughts contrasted! Hugh,bright in his hopes for the future, meditated on the renown and glorythat would attach to them all should their great undertaking provesuccessful. And then, was she not now informed of his mission? and wasshe not watching and praying for his safe return?
Ah! was he not to be envied?
But the other--Junius--how ran his thoughts? Back, back years before,he was wandering, among old scenes and old friends so dear to hisheart. His head bowed upon his arm, he gave no heed to his friend'spresence.
On, on they sped; the whir of the propeller alone breaking the awfulsilence that surrounded them. The night advanced; the darkness cameupon them.
"Are you not too cold, Junius?" asked Hugh, after watching for a momenthis companion, and noticing a slight tremor of his form.
The words, though lowly spoken, fell upon the ear of the other as if avoice from the unknown world had shouted out his doom; so still wasall about them that a whisper even seemed to vibrate back until it hadswelled into a harsh, discordant cry.
With a quick, shaking movement, Cobb raised his head, and turned towardthe speaker: "What is it, Hugh? you spoke to me, did you not?"
"Yes; I asked if you were not cold. For ten minutes have we stood herein this freezing temperature, each busy with his own thoughts."
"Yes; I am cold," came the reply. "And, cold as my body may be, mydear friend, my heart is colder. I would that I could shake off thesedepressing feelings, but my mind will wander. Even now I thought howeasily, how swiftly, and painlessly man could from this air-shipterminate a distasteful and annoying existence. Yes," looking into theother's eyes, "yes, one has but to throw himself over this rail, andlife passes from him without a pang."
"And do you call that a painless death, being crushed upon the earthbelow into a shapeless mass?" asked Hugh, with a shudder, glancing overthe rail.
"Yes, Hugh. Death from falling from a great height is perfectlypainless. Let me explain it," warming to the subject, and losing someof his melancholy in the prospective discussion of a scientific theme."Let me tell you why such is the case. We are now 10,000 feet above theocean, are we not?"
"So I read the barometer, a quarter of an hour ago," answered Hugh.
"Well, no matter; let us assume that we are at that elevation. Now,what would be our velocity falling from this point upon reaching thesurface of the earth below?"
"Really, I could not answer that question without working it out," theother returned.
"Well, it would be just 802 feet per second," said Cobb. "And thatvelocity at 500, 1,000 and 5,000 feet below us would be 179, 253, and567 feet, respectively, per second. A human being falling is, for aninstant, convulsed by a terrible, awful feeling; not a feeling of pain,but rather a feeling of apprehension. This fear, this apprehension, isbut momentary, I say; it lasts during the first second of the descentonly, or for a distance of about sixteen feet. After this first secondthe senses become confused, circulation of the blood is retarded, afeeling of rest, a sense of pleasure, pervades the whole soul. Thisstate of ecstasy, which it should really be called, increases as thevelocity of descent is accelerated, until the mind can no longer enjoythe delightful sensation, but loses all knowledge, all thought, allfeeling, and insensibility ensues. This condition of the senses isproduced when the velocity of the body has attained a rate of 400 feeta second, or at the fourteenth second of descent--about 2,480 feetbelow the point of starting. The cause of this is, that the lungs nolonger perform their function; they fail to take in the quantity ofair, and consequently the oxygen necessary to fully renovate theblood. The velocity being so great, the air is pushed aside by thefalling body, and fails to surround that portion of the body notdirectly in the line of descent, with air at the normal pressure. Theair supply being thus diminished, the blood leaps through the veins,rushes to the brain, and the mind knows no more. A human body of 175pounds weight falling from this height--10,000 feet--would reach theearth at the end of the twenty-fifth second, and would have, at thatmoment, a velocity of 802 feet per second."
"There would not be much resemblance to a human being left," ejaculatedHugh, intently interested, and looking over the rail as if he alreadysaw the body falling toward the earth. "No." Cobb shook his head in adecided manner. "No; I should say not. The body would strike the earthwith a force of 146,000 foot pounds per second, and would become buta shapeless, pulpy mass." He ceased speaking a moment, as if lost inthought, then quickly added: "But enough of this subject. Let us take aturn on the forward deck, and then retire to the cabin."
The two men moved forward, and crossed to the starboard side of theOrion. Here the air was a trifle warmer, or, rather, the wind causedby their forward movement was less strong and piercing. The greatperpendicular rudders of the vessel were inclined two degrees to theleft to overcome the northern currents, which came strong and cold.
It was now 21 dial, and the earth below seemed covered by a blackpall. Around them were silence and darkness. No moon was visible,and the gloom below was only relieved by the beautiful sky, with itsthousands of twinkling stars above them.
Stopping at the rocket box, just to the right of the rudder chains,Cobb laid his hand upon the rail, and gazed fixedly into the depthsbelow; and then, raising his eyes toward the horizon, he pointed hisfinger forward, and exclaimed: "Hugh, what are those bright lights awayoff in the ocean, and this one, almost under us?"
Hugh looked in the direction indicated, and also leaned over the rail,and noted a beautiful, brilliant light almost underneath the Orion.Hesitating a moment, he cried:
"Why, Junius, those are the Atlantic stations. We can seeone--two--three of them. Yes, I am sure; and there is one behindus," pointing to a light directly in their rear. "Yes, they arethe stations. That one behind us must be the first one, and thisunderneath, the second, from Newfoundland; that would agree with ourposition, which, I take it, is about a hundred miles east of the land."
"Atlantic stations! Do you mean that these lights are on stationaryvessels in the ocean?" asked Cobb, intently gazing at the bright lights.
"Yes; those are ocean stations for the relief of distressed vesselsand shipwrecked people. You see the lights; this one under us, and theone toward the west, and those two to the east. Ah! there is another!see it? away down on the horizon. That makes five. By Jove! I doubt ifever before five of these lights have been seen at the same time by oneperson!" with a pleased expression on his face.
Cobb viewed for a moment the brilliant light, which was apparentlygently swaying to right and left just beneath him, and then his eyespassed along the line made by the others. The second light was quitebright also, but the third seemed faint. The fourth light appeared asa star lying just on the edge of the ocean. Indeed, were it not forthe fact that the Orion lay exactly in the line of the stations, andfor the further fact that no stars were visible so low down toward thehorizon, the light might not have been noticed at all.
"How far apart are these stations?" he asked.
"They are placed at intervals of fifty miles," returned the other.
"Then, that light away down near the horizon is nearly 150 miles fromus?"
"Yes."
"And our elevation now is 10,000 feet, you say?"
"So I observed it, as I told you, some fifteen or twenty minutes ago."
Then, after a moment's silence, Cobb exclaimed: "We are rising. Wecannot be less than 12,500 feet above the ocean."
"How do you make that out, Junius?" asked Hugh. "I don't think we haveascended 2,500 feet since my last observation."
"It is easily answered," said the other. "The curvature of the earthand the refraction of light necessitate an elevation of 1,430 feet forone to see an object on the surface at a distance of fifty miles. Tosee
this light, distant 150 miles, our altitude must be at least 11,500feet."
"Yes?"
"Yes. Let us go inside, and see if I am not correct, and then I wantyou to tell me about these stations," touching the other on the arm,and then moving aft.
Once in the cabin, the barometer was consulted, and found to read 19.29inches, or an elevation of 11,581 feet. Cobb again asked his friend toenlighten him concerning this new invention, the lights of which he hadseen twinkling and scintillating away toward the east.
"I cannot tell you much, Junius, for I am not well posted on thesubject. These transatlantic life-stations are set on a line extendingfrom St. John's, Newfoundland, to Land's End, England, or nearly on thefiftieth parallel of north latitude. Perhaps there may be somethingrelating to the subject among the books in the chart-room. Excuse mebut a moment, and I will look." Saying which, he arose and passed outto the pilot's house. A moment later he returned, bearing a pamphlet inhis hand.
"Here we are, my boy," he exclaimed, as he shut the door behind him."Here's quite a history of these stations. I found it among thenautical almanacs and charts in the pilot's room."
Opening the first page, Hugh displayed three wood-cuts of one of thetransatlantic life-stations. The first cut showed the station in itsnormal position upon the surface of the ocean; the second showed itpartially submerged, during a storm, and the third gave a cross-sectionof its interior. Handing the book to Cobb, he said: "You can read ityourself, for everything is explained therein, I think." The other tookthe pamphlet, and settling himself back in his chair, read of thiswonderful adjunct to a safe traveling of the great Atlantic highway toEurope.
There were, across the Atlantic Ocean, from Newfoundland to England,thirty-eight marine life-saving stations. These stations were, in allrespects, similar; a full description of one answered for all. Inthe pamphlet which Cobb read, were given the details of Station No.14, situated in longitude 37 degrees 5 minutes west, and latitude 49degrees 50 minutes north. He read:
"HISTORY OF THE TRANSATLANTIC LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
"In 1923 a joint commission of Great Britain, France and the United States, met in the city of Washington for the purpose of devising some means toward making travel across the Atlantic Ocean more safe and sure than was possible under the circumstances at the time. Vessels of the finest description and of great tonnage were traversing a well-known route continuously. Accidents had occurred, which it seemed could not have been prevented, whereby a great number of lives had been sacrificed and vast property lost.
"Great factors in the calling together of this commission were a series of terrible accidents in the years 1919, 1920, and in the fall of 1922.
"On the 15th of July, 1919, at 23 dial, or as they then reckoned time, 11 o'clock P. M., the City of New York was struck by lightning, in latitude 49 degrees 10 minutes, and longitude 31 degrees 14 minutes. Despite the endeavors of a well-trained crew and every facility for extinguishing fire, the vessel burned and sunk; 2,167 souls who were aboard of her at the time took to the boats. Of this number 914 only were rescued, or ever heard of. Those who were rescued had sailed over 450 miles before being picked up. The supposition is that the distance from land was too great for them to overcome with the limited amount of water and food aboard the boats, and had land, or some station, been within reasonable distance from the scene of the accident, all would have been saved.
"A most peculiar case was that of the City of Providence in 1920. This vessel was one of the finest of the American transatlantic passenger steamers, 600 feet in length, with a tonnage of 16,000. She left the Mersey on October 7 of that year, with 3,465 souls on board. On the morning of the 9th, at 4:12 dial, a terrible accident occurred; two of the thirty-six boilers burst, the concussion causing nine more to explode. The vessel was torn almost asunder, her bulkheads broken, and the water poured into the ship. Her engines were wrecked, and the engine-room flooded. A vessel of ordinary construction would have sunk immediately, but the Providence, having every improvement, and a great number of water-tight compartments, continued to float. Torn and broken, she lay upon the ocean perfectly helpless.
"The strange but sad continuation of this disaster follows:
"The City of Providence, making the trip across the ocean, as she usually did, in four days, carried provisions for but eight days. After the explosion the ship drifted at the mercy of the currents and wind.
"It was four weeks after the disaster when she was found by vessels sent out to look for her, in latitude 44 degrees 12 minutes, and longitude 31 degrees 16 minutes. Seven boats' crews had left her to seek aid; her passengers had been cut down to rations, and finally every vestige of food had been consumed, and starvation and thirst commenced their deadly work. Out of that host of people on the Providence when she sailed, only fifty-four lived to tell of the terrible disaster. Four of the boats were never heard from, and only twenty-seven persons were found alive on the ship. During all these weeks that the Providence drifted about, she twice crossed the line upon which the life-stations are now situated. Had these stations then been in existence, every soul on board of the ill-fated vessel would probably have been saved. How it could be that a vessel of the Providence's size could have escaped the notice of the hundreds of ships passing in that latitude is a problem none can solve; that she did, is a fact, for no report of her was ever made until she was sighted by the relief vessel sent out to search for her.
* * * * *
"These terrible disasters, taken in consideration with the great advantages which would accrue were there stations at intervals across the ocean, led to the creation of the commission.
"The commission met on the 19th day of June, 1923, and made proposals for plans for these stations. On the 11th of December of that year the commission selected, from the plans submitted, those of Mr. Cyril Louis, of California.
"These plans were for a huge cylindrical vessel, sitting upright in the water, and surmounted by a tower one hundred feet above the water line. The vessel proper was a cylinder; its base, a plane; its top, the frustum of a cone, surmounted by a tower upon a tower. The cylinder was eighty-three feet in length to the water line, the cone nine feet high, the first tower fifty one feet above the frustum of the cone, and the second tower forty feet above this. The cylinder was made of boiler iron in three layers of one-inch plates, and covered on the outside with aluminum plates a quarter of an inch thick; the diameter was thirty feet, and the vessel was divided into eight stories by floors of one-inch steel. The first, or lower, and second chambers were fourteen feet high; the next twelve; the four following, ten; while the top chamber, under the cone, was twelve feet to the frustum. All of these chambers, except the first, were divided into water-tight compartments by steel bulkheads. The second chamber had eight compartments; the third, two; the fourth, fifth and sixth, four; the seventh and eighth two. The first, or main tower extended down through the cylinder to the top of the third chamber, and was eight feet in diameter. It was necessary to pass through this tube to gain entrance to any of the floors. Access to the different compartments of each floor was by means of doors closing water-tight. The chambers were for use as follows: the first contained 10,000 cubic feet of fine sand--1,300,000 pounds--or so much of it as was needed to bring the surface of the water to within three feet of the cone. This chamber was peculiarly constructed; water-holes permitted free access to the surrounding water, causing the sand to be saturated. Ten capped openings in the bottom were manipulated from the engine-room and office, and by means of which any amount of sand could be quickly dropped from the chamber into the ocean, thus decreasing the weight and increasing the buoyancy.
"The second chamber was the water-chamber, and was divided into eight separate compartments. Water could be admitted into any one, or all, by suitable levers worked in the engine-room. Pipes from each compartment were connected to the pumps
in the engine-room, thus permitting of the compartment being quickly emptied of its water. The capacity of the eight compartments was 10,000 cubic feet, or 64,000 pounds of water.
"The third chamber was the engine-room. Here was all of the machinery used in operating the station: The main engines for the pumps (pipes from which ran to every compartment in the cylinder), for the fans for circulating fresh air; dynamos for electric lighting, pumps of the condensers, and, last, the three propellers, which were situated on the outside, on a level with the engine-room floor--two at 180 degrees apart, their faces parallel to the diameter of the cylinder, and the other at right angles to them and ninety degrees from either. These propellers were used to prevent any rotary motion of the cylinder.
"Until lipthalite had been discovered--and it is now used--petroleum was the fuel for these engines, the vapors escaping through a tube extending to near the top of the first tower. Within the engine-room was a set of dials and bells which would give instant warning of the entrance of water into any compartment, tubes and telephones to all parts of the vessel; dials for pressure, submergence, state of electricity; levers for opening sand and water ports, etc. The fourth and fifth chambers were for stores and material.
"The sixth contained the kitchen, mess, etc.
"The seventh was the dormitory, while the eighth was the officers' cabin and office. Natural light was admitted into the last two chambers through bull's-eyes.
"The office was provided with every instrument necessary in operating the station, and from it the sand and water ports could be opened.
"The first tower was eight feet in diameter, tapering to five feet at the top, and fifty-one feet high. It was made of two-inch steel rings, six feet wide, firmly riveted together, the whole covered by aluminum plates.
"The entrance to the vessel was through the tower, at the top of the frustum. A spiral stairway led to a port at the top, through which the upper balcony was reached. Bull's-eyes admitted light to the interior during the day.
"The upper tower was forty feet high in the clear, setting down fifteen feet in the first tower, and was twenty inches in diameter, of one-inch cast steel. The interior of this tower was divided into a central pipe of ten inches diameter, surrounded by four pipes in the quadrants of its area. The central pipe was used for raising the electric lamp, of 25,000 candle power; the other pipes were, two for the engines, to carry off the vapors, etc., one for receiving fresh air into the vessel, and the other for carrying off the vitiated air.
"Upon the side of the cone was a complete life raft, provisioned and ready for instant use, and so fastened that it could be launched at a moment's notice.
"The station was anchored by a three-inch cable, pivoted at both ends to prevent twisting. In the center of the cable were electric wires terminating at the bottom of the ocean in a large coil. This coil was laid upon one of the old Atlantic cables which had been abandoned after the invention of the sympathetic telegraph.
"In the office were a set of instruments, and communication was by induction to the cable below, and thence to each end and to each station.
"The normal submergence of the vessel was to within three feet of the cone. The exceptional, or rough weather, submergence was to within two feet of the top of the tower.
"The weights were as follows:
Pounds. Shell of vessel 1,200,000 Cone 106,000 First tower 163,000 Second tower 12,000 Seven floors 176,000 Bulkheads 100,000 Bracing and iron-work 100,000 Engines and machinery 200,000 Stores for 100 persons (six months) 75,000 Stores for vessels 50,000 Cable 260,000 --------- Total weights 2,442,000
"The normal displacement of the vessel was 57,225 cubic feet, or 3,664,000 pounds. This displacement, less the weights, gave an excess of 1,200,000 pounds, which was compensated for by the sand in the sand-chamber--the capacity of that chamber being 1,300,000 pounds.
"During stormy and rough weather, to decrease the pressure of the winds and waves upon the towers, and to increase the stability of the vessel, water could be admitted into the water-chambers, and the vessel would sink until the water line was within two feet of the top of the first tower, for the displacements to be overcome were:
Pounds. Three feet of the shell 135,000 Cone 180,000 First tower 149,000 ------- Total 464,000
"The capacity of the water-chamber being 677,000 pounds, there was a large excess over this displacement; this excess was to compensate for loss of weight by stores being used, taken out, etc.
* * * * *
"The station carries a flag at its peak, by day, with its station number thereon; at night it shows a 25,000 candle-power light; its interior, also, is lighted by electricity.
* * * * *
"The plans of Mr. Louis were accepted, and in less than three years a line of thirty-eight stations were placed across the Atlantic Ocean.
* * * * *
"It was agreed between the nations that each should contribute a third of the cost ($12,000,000), and that salvage for person and property, at a fixed and just rate, should be demanded from every nation whose flag may be succored by one of these stations; and further, that should war intervene between any of the nations contracting, the line of stations should remain unmolested, and should not be used for purposes of war."
Cobb dropped the pamphlet by his side, and pondered over the greatinvention of which he had just read, and which he had seen.
"And have no accidents ever happened to these stations from ice-floes,collisions, or faulty construction?" he finally asked, turning towardHugh.
"I believe there has been but one noteworthy accident," the otherreturned. "An immense ice-floe caused Station No. 5 to slip her cable,and run away--an easy matter for her, as her propellers give her aspeed of about five miles an hour. Of course her cable was lost; butshe was saved, and was picked up and reset by the lipthalener whichcontinuously plies along the line."
It was now nearly 23 dial, and Cobb arose, and consulted the speed dialof the Orion.
"Hugh," he said, "please have the course changed to due north; we arenearly on the fortieth meridian, and should now make direct for CapeFarewell."
The other passed up to the pilot's house.