The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-09-30
Barnaeles.

Barnaeles.
"Come and see them scrape the
barnacles off from the bottom of big
iron steamer" said an employe of the
Pacific Mail Company to a reporter of
the Chronicle recently. "You wouldn't
think it, but it's one of the biggest
items of expense in the repairs of these
steamers" continued he. ''It's an
operation that every ships bottom goes
through after every third trip across
the Pacific, and you know that the lit
tie creatures which give us so much
trouble are thicker and attain their
growth more rapidly in Pacific waters
than they do in the Atlantic"
The reporter and his informant were
in the vicinity of Hunters Point dry
dock, and on entering the yard the
City of New York was seen high and
dry on the supports, and a large num-
ber of men, each with triangular-shaped
scraper of hard metal in hand, were
working on her. These scrapers had
handles attached to the center and
were ground on each of their three
edges. The sound of the scraping re-
sembles that produced by masons'
trowels in spreading mortar, though
much louder, and there was also q
hacking and cutting noise occasionally,
as some more obstinate bunch of barna
cles clung with greater tenacity than
their neighbors. 1t was a wholesale
slaughter of these parasitic animals,
which in some spots incrusted the bot
tom of the ship to the depth of an inch
and half to two inches.
"They are only small clingers. these
barnacles," said the Pacific Mail man,
''but like tieas on nervous individual,
they are very much in the way, though
they are little"
''To what extent do they damage the
bottom of an iron ship?" asked the re-
porter.
1T isn't for the damage to the ship
so much as the way they impede its
progress that they are complained of, !"
was the reply.
"How much time each d.; of sailing
would this steamer lose by having a
coating of barnacles on her bottomP"
''From fifteen to twenty-five miles. $"
ado they not grow thicker on wooden
bottom vessels than on iron?"
''Yes; but they are not SO thick on
copper bottoms, apd that is one of the
chief objects in having vessels copper
bottomed The barnacles do not like
the poisonous natsre of the copper and
do not begin to cling to it until it has
been partly neutralized by the action of
the salt water. Iron ships can not. of
course, have copper bottoms, as the ex-
pense would be too great in making a
solid bottom of copper, and there is no
satisfactory way of attaching the
sheeting. To partly obviate the tend
ency of barnacles to colAct on iron
vessels strong solution of verdigris is
now mixed with other ingredients and
used on the bottom below the red water
line, and for this reason all the lower
outside surface of the steamers of this
company now have green color, such
as You now see they are putting on the
underside of the New York STEM"
The reporter watched the process OF
scraping and observed that as fast as a
large circle of the barnacle covered
surface was cleaned and the red iron
rust was made visible underneath, it
was washed clean by another set of men,
who were followed by the painters with
pots of steaming mixture from furnaces
along the ships side. Over each OF
these furnaces was tank filled with
green liquid that bubbled and hissed
and sent forth an odor which one could
not but consider poisonous from the
nature of the compound whence i,
issues.
How long does it take for a gang Of
workmen like this to remove the barn.
acles from ship?' asked Che reporter
"About two days. Sometimes they
put on as many men as can work con
veniently on 81 vessels bottom. You
see the idea is to save expense, 1t costs
vessel from $500 to 81, 900 day, ac
cording to her tonnage, to lie or
this dock, and the men who do the
| work on this steamer are furnished by
the Mail Company, and are instructed
| to push the job as fast as possible. II
would cost the company as much dock
age each day if only two men were EN-
ployed in cleaning bottom as it woulC
if there were 100 at work"
"Does the green mixture that they
are now applying act as preventive
| against the accumulation of the barna
| oles?'
"Only in a measure. 1t require!
but few months for the salt water t.
dissolve it and eat into the iron and
form rough, rusty places, where the lit
tie clingefs gather and grow. They
spread very fast, and to a considerable
delsh when vessel is lying still fol
an extended period, but often on the
trip to China and returning vas
number will spread themselves all ovel
a steamers bottom. 1t is sometimes ,
mystery how they collect so easily whel
a vessel is in motion"
| 'Are there not other and eflectua
means for preventing their presenceP'
There may be, was the reply, ''bu
they have not yet been discovered. A
thousand different preparations hav'
been tried, but none of them are o
much account, if we accept the verdi
girls compound, and that is far from
satisfactory. Afortune awaits the lucky
man who can discover comparatively
inexpensive and at the same time dura
BILE mixture which, when applied to ,
ships bottom, will render it so distaste
full place of residence to these barna
cles that they will no longer infest it. ;
San Francisco Chronicle.
GEpMAN nEMACR ATS