All these people positively can't get away from them.
They shuffle about and groan around their davits. Whereas the obvious
thing to do is to eliminate the man-handled davits altogether. Don't you
think that with all the mechanical contrivances, with all the generated
power on board these ships, it is about time to get rid of the hundred-
years-old, man-power appliances? Cranes are what is wanted; low, compact
cranes with adjustable heads, one to each set of six or nine boats. And
if people tell you of insuperable difficulties, if they tell you of the
swing and spin of spanned boats, don't you believe them. The heads of
the cranes need not be any higher than the heads of the davits. The lift
required would be only a couple of inches. As to the spin, there is a
way to prevent that if you have in each boat two men who know what they
are about. I have taken up on board a heavy ship's boat, in the open sea
(the ship rolling heavily), with a common cargo derrick. And a cargo
derrick is very much like a crane; but a crane devised _ad hoc_ would be
infinitely easier to work. We must remember that the loss of this ship
has altered the moral atmosphere.
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