It was well known that, as
the whistle instrument was enlarged, the sound became more and more a
roar. He would have ships use all their boiler power in sounding a
siren, so that the sound could be heard at a distance of not less than
two or three miles in any weather. With such a signal as that there
ought to be, not absolute safety, but collisions would be more easily
prevented. He was glad to say that a universal system of buoys had been
practically arranged, thanks to the Duke of Edinburgh and his committee,
so that, as soon as an old system can be changed to a new one, all the
buoys would bear one universal language.
Admiral Pim pointed out that a red light would show four miles, while a
green light was only visible for two miles and a half, so that, if a
green light were seen, it indicated that the two vessels were within two
miles and a half of each other.
Sir James Douglass said there was undoubtedly a weakness in regard to
these lights; and he held that in the manufacture of lights effect
should be given to the difference that existed in the various lights, so
that, by making the green light more powerful, it could penetrate as far
as the red, and in the same way making the red and green lights
proportionately more powerful, so that they would penetrate as far as
the white light.
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