Some critics contend that the loss of the boat was due to the gyroscopic action of its turbine engines. They believed that the turbine at the stern of the little ship held that portion of the craft in a rigid plane, while the anterior portion of the ship, caught in the trough of a wave, broke away. That the ship broke in two is certain; but competent engineers have denied that gyroscopic turbines could have had any share in its destruction. According to their view, the turbines of a ship are powerless to exert the gyroscopic action in question, because their axes are fixed and they thus have not the opportunity for secondary oscillation to which I have referred. Meanwhile there are other equally competent mechanicians who believe that the vibration or oscillation of the body of the ship itself may suffice, under certain circumstances, to give the turbine precisely such freedom of motion as will enable it to exercise a powerful gyroscopic effect. Dr. Schlick himself contends, and seems with the aid of models to demonstrate, that such a gyroscopic action is exercised by the wheels of a side-wheel steamer, which revolve on a shaft no less fixed than that of a turbine. If such is the case, there would seem to be no reason why a turbine-engine may not at times exercise the power of a tremendous gyroscope, such as it obviously constitutes. The question must find practical solution at the hands of the naval architects of the immediate future, as turbine engines are now in use in several of the largest steamships afloat, and others are being installed in craft of all descriptions. THEORETICAL DANGERS OF THE GYROSCOPE It should be said that engineers disagree as to the practical utility of the Schlick gyroscope. No one questions that it steadies the ship, but some critics think that its use may not be unattended with danger. It has been suggested that under certain circumstances--for example, the sudden disturbance of equilibrium due to a tremendous wave--the gyroscope might increase the oscillation of the ship to a dangerous extent, though ordinarily having the opposite effect. The danger from this source is probably remote. There is, however, another danger that cannot be overlooked, and which marine architects must take into constant account. What we have already seen has made it clear that the revolving wheel of the Schlick gyroscope, to be effective, must bear an appreciable relation to the mass of the entire ship. Such a weight, revolving at a terrific speed and oscillating like a tremendous pendulum, obviously represents an enormous store of energy. It was estimated by Professor Lambert that a gyroscope of sufficient size to render even a Channel steamer stable would represent energy equal to fifty thousand foot-pounds--making it comparable, therefore, to an enormous projectile. Should such a gyroscope in action break loose from its trunnions, it would go through the ship with all the devastating effect of a monster cannon ball.