Just before the World War started there was a movement under way to bring about an international agreement to change the dangerous shape of merchant ships’ stems as it was appreciated that the sharp, straight, knife-edge of the modern merchant craft had tremendous penetrating powers. The movement died a-borning when the exigencies of war laid much more stress on sinking submarines by ramming than on any considerations of reducing collision damage.
Once, when in command of the American Legion, the writer was having the ship wound round in the North Basin of the port of Buenos Aires to go alongside of the Italian liner Tomasso Di Savio. Tugs were doing the job, the engines not being used on account of the close quarters. A misunderstanding occurred between the docking pilot and the tugs. The ship, which was headed at right angles to the Italian, surged ahead slowly about 10 feet and bumped into the Tomasso Di Savio. The concussion was hardly felt but the sharp bow of the American Legion cut deep and did much damage. On many, many other occasions similar accidents have been observed by the writer and many others have commented on the terrific amount of damage that the bow of a merchant ship, even when the ship is moving slowly, can do when it collides with another craft.
But the small material damages due to the inevitable bumping of ships when moving around in congested ports is a small, small matter compared to the horrible results which ensue when a swift- moving ship strikes another on the side with its stem. The deep, dangerous gash in the stricken ship generally extends far below the water line and frequently causes a major disaster.
A few years ago the big passenger liner Fort Victoria was hit amidships when off the entrance to Ambrose Channel. She filled rapidly and sank before she could be beached on the near-by shore. The same circumstances led to the horrible loss of life when the Empress of Ireland was struck in the St. Lawrence River and sank so swiftly that over a thousand souls were sucked to the bottom in the catastrophe. Many other dire disasters could be cites to demonstrate the deadly character of the present shape of merchant ships’ stems. Not only are merchant ships susceptible, but even armored naval vessels are badly injured when struck by the deadly bows of merchant craft. The steamer, American Legion, heretofore mentioned, sank an Argentine man-of-war and also damaged at least one other man-of-war when its stem struck them in the harbor of Buenos Aires a short while before the present writer assumed command. Off the Isle of Wight, some years ago, the American Liner St. Paul struck the staunch British cruiser Gladiator and the Gladiator filled, rolled over, and went down so swiftly that many were lost though the beach was less than a quarter of a mile away from the scene of the collision. The curious thing about this latter casualty is that it was an almost bow-on collision (in which the cruiser was held at fault), the St. Paul, heading in almost the opposite direction, striking the Gladiator on the starboard side, shaving off about 50 feet of armor and fittings, and exposing the vitals of the vessel to the rapid inrush of the sea. On October, 24, 1933, in the Pacific Ocean, the cargo craft Silverpalm collided with the U.S.S. Chicago and though the engines of the Silverpalm had been stopped for over two minutes before the crash, the sharp stem of the merchant ship cut a 20-foot gash in the Chicago's side, extending from the water like almost to the keel.
When merchant ships hit anything they generally hit it hard because of the relatively small backing power that they possess and the difficulty experienced in making rapid changes from ahead to astern movement of the engine. This is especially true of turbine drive ships. The writer has commanded a number of merchant ships of various types with turbine drive and from careful observation beeves that the average effective backing power that they possessed was about 25 per cent of the ahead drive. The reason for this condition is, of course, economic. Backing power is not a paying proposition and is only utilized a small part of the time that a ship is operated.
This hard-hitting characteristic of merchant ships should emphasize the necessity of reducing the devastating effect of a blow struck. The suggestion offered several decades ago, which appears to have much merit, is that merchant ships be forced to have bows constructed with clipper stems so that the force of a blow, when it struck anything, would be expended above the water line. It was also suggested that the upper part of the stem above the water line be well rounded off in a bulbous shape so that its cutting possibilities would be greatly reduced. It was convincingly argued that, if ships were so shaped, many accidents that might well be major tragedies would be merely minor incidents. It is obvious that a blow that penetrates above the water line is less dangerous than one that cuts below, and it is also obvious that a blunt bow will not be as likely to cut as will a sharp one and in many cases will carom and sheer off where the sharp stem would cut in deep.
Clipper bows with bulbous upper stems would be more expensive to construct than would the present type but there is no doubt that much property and many lives would be saved if the suggested change were adopted. When the idea was first promulgated, it was urged that there be effected an international implementing agreement by which the port charges of ships constructed with the safety stems would be reduced to encourage the construction of this type of craft.