4- Sunday, March 3, 1985 - North Shore News : rather disgusting item drew my ‘attention the other day. Japanese. shipbuilders have developed. a,device that will do away with ’ the traditional role of the helmsman. 7 It’s a ‘voice- recognition microchip, one of the spin- offs of .Very. Large-Scale In- tegration computer technology which threatens to make, secretaries, at least those : who take dictation, obsolete as well. / Instead of. standing, legs braced, on the bridge against the tilt of the decks as spray ‘whirls’ arowad: him and. the _- bow. is buried in giant green ‘waves, the: helmsman of, tomorrow.. will. simply :sit" there muttering instructions *; into a microphone. ' Somehow, the idea of a guy. with his hands in his pocket, saying.‘‘Four degrees to starboard, robot,’’ brings _ to mind: more a. picture. of - Captain Kirk .on the bridge - of: the ‘Starship’ Enterprise. : than | anything : out of Jack CAPILANO MP > Mary Col.” “Tins has, called on. the. federal government to carry out- a j of the Cana- * received: an overwhelming . . mandate. from across "the - country . for: change and ; London or Herman Melville or Joseph Conrad, y’know? The culprit in this case is Hitachi, the electronics con- glomerate which is ‘already testing. a freighter which basically dvesn’t have a wheel! I mean, is nothing sacred? ° I remember once beizg in< volved in a caper at sea in which a sleepy helmsman coming on watch at 4‘a.m.,’’ somewhat » hung-over, was “ greeted in.-the galley by 2. ‘sozzled skipper. who handed “him the big wooden wheel that steered the ship. We'd ‘dismantled it, you see, while leaving the autopilot to take veare of business. The. look on-the “helmsman’s face, as he slow- ly and painfully came to! terms with the fact that the Collins’ her statement. “was' expressing: the concerns “of, the ‘people of B.C. by... questioning system which allows: &: group _ Of . non-elected raen :: and women “to frustrate the will of. the _government + Which’ senewal. ” ; ‘The role of the Senate has : ‘come under .fire in. tte/ last few weeks as a result of the’ refusal on the ‘part. of ‘the: iberal-dominated .; national body | to allow passage of Bill - av bill providing | bor-' rowing authority to the gov- Applications are k being received for a | grades 9- 12. Please contact the school: | office. Saint THOMAS. AQUINAS | HIGH|§CHOOL .. ‘Bai West Keith Road North Vancouver, Be: . ably a vision of the future. ‘pilots in their midst, the coast resist autopilots to motion “followed in. mid-- | February when she said she. the’: present wheel was in his hands, not connected to anything, even though he had only mae it as far as the galley, was one of the great moments in maritime comedy... None of us suspected for a moment that this was prob- | Not that the demise,of the helm should come as a sur- prise. The moment sailors opted to accept automatic the’; f handwriting was on the hull. Old seadogs who travel this ddy, on the grounds that more accidens: occur when the helmsman is down below ‘ getting