The New York herald., 1879-02-03

and everything that goes aboard must pass above IT,
1t with the Sides There Are ports, but each
has separate % m Sa Inc coal
Captain eager said that in port the bilge valves
were kept open but at sea they were always closed.
OTHER LINES
Visits to the Saratoga of Wards line the State Of
Nevada. of the State line; the City of Washington.
of the Alexandra line. and the office Of the Clyde
Of the state line il found that the companies
nave no formal regulations concerning the ouikhead
openings The matter is left to the discretion OF the
officers.
FROM THE uSDrnwRIrEns' srAsDroINr
An attorney for large number OF marine under
writers consented to be interviewed the subject in
hand The reporter asked-
of so many first Class steamers which are supposed
to be armed with watertight bulkheads and to pos
sess ample pumping power r.
81 think that the difficulty Is the same as that
which has been found to exist in the iron war;
The communication between the compartments is
kept open for facility of passage from part of the
ship to another the doors become corroded from the
danpness and satiness of the air and when the dan
ger comes it discovered that it is impossible to
close them. Just to illustrate this statement let
tell you OF something which happened in the Russian
navy. where my brother. from whom derive the in
cident, holds the rank Of engineer. The imperial
heet was lying at anchor IN the Gulf of Finland
when the Grand Duke Constantine suddenly caused
close her bulkhead doors Then he entered boat
and rowed to each of them in turn and he found
that in not one had his order been obeycd. The
doors were so rustcd that they could not be moved
Since then rule has been established. and 1T is now
observed in the Russian Navy that tho valves and
doors between the compartments shall be thoroughly
tried at least once week
INFERIOR FREIGHTERs
There is great deal Of distrust among insurers
concerning class OF iron steamers which arc now
coming to American ports. They all belong i'll Great
Britain We understand that about 1850 of them have
owing to the Interruption by and other causes,
OF their legitimate traffic. During the period of
their dleness they have been growing weaker every
day. Iron hulls will not keep as wooden ones will.
Many Of them were built for the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean. and were never, even when new:
strong enough for the Atlantic service The loss of
interest and the cost Of repairs to the have
been great that they starting them out by the
hundred to all parts of the navigable world No
knows what evils they may have sustained while
laid up That is the great trouble with ships.
You cannot discover their points of weakness
so quickly you those of o wooden
ship, and ii anything is wrong with them it is
likely to be much more serious. too. If the plates
are the least bit loose. for instance they cut OFF tho
rivets and the ship falls to pieces have no doubt
that great many of the vessels of whose fate we
suddenly I'LL with water i'll mid-ocean and down they
CO. nobody knowing what is the matter.
are very badly constructed. beinr only intended in
the first instance to be sold English insurance COM
panes are looking upon them with suspicion and
fuse to take any risk in them, especially when they
laden with grain. Only the o her day OF them
arrived here with her cargo damaged because her
deck was too light. There is also great danger in
iron ships which carry water as ballast. Whenever
they pitch into heavy sea the shock is likely to
cause the water to burst the tank and produce terri
'Is not the English inspection sufficiently stringent
to prevent the sailing of such vessel for Atlantic
ports!'
'No; it does not insure the proper construction of
ships in those respects.
CRAZY ENGLISH BOTTOMS
From another gentleman in the employ of marine
underwriters. veteran sea captain, whose present
duty is to inspect in the interest Of the insurers
vessels arriving at this port, confirmation of all the
above statements was obtained and many new details
that are OF interest
"My impression has lately been' said he 'that
he wb nnu sci horaf fraioh htivy
are not first class. and entirely inadequate III
strength to Withstand the heavy weather which they
must encounter on the Atlantic in the winter
months. The majority of them have been built for
some special purpose; many of them to navigate
freighters and speed is object with them their
engines are of small power. They are generally
ployed to carry gram aud when they loaded deep
and encounter head gales 1t is impossible for them
make any progress and the full of their engines
hardly hold them up with their head the sea.
They cannot act as sailing vessels, because they
haven't sufficient canvas They are in fact monde
scripts The steamer Bermuda, which recently
lost belonged to this class The captain ordered the
engines to be worked ut their utmost power and yet
she did not move ahead, but went broadsdes upon
rock. That shows that she lacked the ability take
OF herself The materials of these ships are
light, and their whole construction is wrong. The
majority of them are open-waisted. The space be-
nous weight of waller. about thirty per cent Of the
ships tonnage, and when she is boarded by big sea
1t is almost sure to swamp her before it be
shipped.
''Most Of these steamers heavily encountered
with debt. their Legitimate waterways having been
closed to them for several years. Their owners in
them high as they can. and are probably bet
ter pleased that they should be lost than they would
be at any other result. The trade between United
States ports and Brazil is largely done with them,
and they scarcely ever make q voyage without their
cargoes being damaged 1t is only by employing
such bottoms as these that the English compete
with Americans in this coastwise carrying traffic.
Have you any criticism to make upon the first
class European steamersY"
'None, except that have heard OF instances Of
their sailing with their bulkhead suices open"
Gould you name the steamer and the occasion?'
"No, SIR
NAVAL ENGINEER's VIEWS.
Mr. Sinclair Stewart, chief engineer tor the Ameri-
can Shipmasters Association conceded with all the
views just expressed. He sad:-'The bulkhead
valves in iron steamships should be allowed to
remain open except when they are used vents for
the water"
''When inspecting steamer have You found
the cargo doors or the valves open when they ought
to have been cosed?'
'T never have"
''Supposing the compartment containing the
engine and boilers to be disrupted do you think
there would be enough buoyancy IN the other COM
partments to sustain ordinary iron Steamship"
.'if she were loaded. no. The compartment amid
ships would contain about seven hundred and fifty
tons of water, which. added to the weight Of the
cargo would certainly suffice to sink her.
How could this fault in the construction Of iron
steamships be remcded?"
"By having double bulkhead between the engine
room and the hreroom In great many steamers
there is none at all. and in steamship IL there
more than one The space between could be used a.
a coal bunker. The fireroom should be little
further from the engine room than ii gen.
orally Is now. Coal from smaller bunkcrs
could be used first. keeping this large space
for the greater part of the voyage tightly enclosed.
1 think that longitudinal compartments would be
better than the lateral oncs but the engine would be
an obstacle In the way of their use IN steamers
they arc ut present constructed. longitudinal,
waertight bukhcad travcrsing the lateral bulkheas
through the centre of the ship from stem to stern,
would greatly lessen the chances OF sinking. would
also recommend that all iron stc ,msps have iron
decks. An engine mparts different pulsation to
different contiguous materials. That of wood differs
from that OF iron. and this lack OF harmony cannot
but be injurious to the whole structure"