The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1886-11-10
SrakERS OK STEAMSHIPS.
some :,catu-r. OF the Lives Of alcn W no Worn
iiar; 10 tiur,: s'""rosc.


some Features "t the Lives Of Mtn " no " OF
HARD 10 duc! r""rosc.
How long DO stoliers iivc?' asked
Tribune reporter Of an engineer OF on
of the swiftest ocean racers that ply be
tween this country and England.
''As long as anybody, was the uneA
pected reply.
.'Eow 10 they ike their work.
'.ir they don't like their work, the,
get out: there are plenty willing to TAX
their places" was the answer. But 1t i
hard to persuade the average landsnal
that tie stoker'S lie is not shortened b.
constant exposure to the extremes G
temperature. Transatlantic passenger
who have braved the intense heat OF tht
furnaces and visited the fire room Won
der hov men can endure such Q hfe ever
for !; VOYAGE. The stokcrs work fonl
! hours at & stretch, hemmcd III bctwceI
i TWO long lines Of furnaces that keep The
+ temperature ordinarily at l20 degrees
sometimes sending it as high as 100
The space between the furnaces is sc
marrow that when the men throw IL Goa
they must take care when they swing
back their shovels, lest they should burn
their arms on the furnaces behind them.
Ii.c only means Of ventilation IS one
large air pipe that reaches down into tho
centre of the stokcrs quarters, and on
big steamer the men have to take The
air in patches On great ocean steam
er Like the Umbria. the men come on in
gangs OF eighteen stokers and twelve
coal passerS, and the ''watch', lasts four
hours. The Umbria has y furnaces,
which require nearly $50 tons of coal a
day, at cost of almost $40, eco per voy-
age. One hundred and four men are
employed to man the furnaces, and they
have enough to do. They includc the
chief engineer, his three assistants, and
ninety stokers and coal passerS.
The stoker comes on to work wearing
only thin undershirt, light trousers
and wooden shoes. On the Cnbria each
stokrr tends four furnaces. He first
rakes open the furnaces, tosses in the
coal, and then cleans the fire; that is,
prizes the coal apart with a heavy iron
bar, IN order that the fire may burn free
~. He rushes from one furnace to
another, spending perhaps two or three
minutes at each. Then he dashes to the
air pipe, takes his turn at cooling of,
and waits for another call to his furnace,
which comes speedily. When the
s.watch" is over, the men shuttle Of,
dripping with sweat from head to loot,
through long, cold galleries to the fore
castle, where they turn in for eight
hours. -Four hours OF scorching and
eight hours sleep make up the routine
OF a stokerS lie on q voyage.
The reporter ran across group Of
stokers il West Street, and had chat
with one Of them. u went to sea as q
coal passer when I was fourteen years
DID," he said. ''Then l got to be q
stoker, and l am now twenty-eight. y
The speaker was about six feet in height,
and weighed $50 pounds or more. His
face was ruddy with health, and his eyes
beamed with good nature. His robust
appearance was in strong contrast to that
OF some of his mates who had Just land
ed from a voyage, q pale, streaked out,
Gstless-loohing set Of men.
Chow do we stand the WORK? Well
enough if We get plenty to eat. But the
work is terribly hard, all the same. It
comes hardest. Of course, on those who
don't follow it regularly. They are the
fellows who get played out so badly. l
heard once of a young English doctor
who came over here on visit. He got
out Of money, and was ti,at proud that
lie wouldn't send home ior some. So
he worked his way back as a stoker, and
got sickness that he cJ1ld never get
rid OF. But if we get plenty TO eat, and
take care OF ourselves, we are all right.
Here's q mate of mine nearly seventy
years old, who has been a stoker all his
life, and can do as good work as I can.
Stokers never have the consumption,
and rarely catch cold"
''Why do you appear more healthy
than the other men here?" asked the re-
porter.
"Well, I have been on land now about
two weeks, and these men Just came oil
the ship. You see, when we finish our
watch at the furnaces, We are just cover
ed with sweat, dirt and oil, and we have
to wash the stuff off with warm water.
Washing so much with warm water gives
us that streaked out look that makes
people think we are being killed with
consumption. But after we have been
on land three or four days that lcok dis
appears, and the men look natural
again. We get more ventilation than
the old timers used to get, but we don't
have any too much. 1 tell you, when |
used to go down into the tropics 1
wanted to keep under the air pipe all l
could. Nowl go to England and back,
and have four furnaces to tend. Four
hours is Just about as much as we can
stand before the fires. 1t uses some Of
the men up so badly that when the
watch is over they can just crawl 10 the
forecastle, and throw themselves on their
hunks without washing bit. But 9th
ers Of us don't mind it so much. We
heat our water, take a wash, and then
have pipe or two before turning in. -
What do we eat and drink
'NIe have hash, all the oatmeal We
want, coffee and other good things"
CHOW about the grog?"
s:Well, the fact is that the grog was
knocked of about eight years ago on
the English and American lines. The
truth is the men got drunk too much,
and grog did them much harm. When
l used to take my grog I'd work just
like lion while the effects lasted. I'd
throw in coal like a giant and not mind
y .,:a,:l.ol "a,