The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1886-01-15
Life UNDER WATER.
An Old Engineer Relates Some OF his Ex-
perience.

~SCe'~SSS
perience.
s'Life under water monotonous, ehp
Well, 1 guess not. At least, I don't
find it So. I've been there fourteen
years off and on, and have always man.
aged to find enough to occupy my time
and attention. The speaker was an
engineer on one of the great ocean
steamers, and as he made that remark
to a reporter, while standing on the
pier, before his vessel, he readjusted his
loose blouse with an awkward jerk, and
gave his head confident twitch.
ga fellow needn't let time lag on him
anywhere if he only has his eyes open,"
he added. Nov, to some it would
seem almost unbearable to watch the
continuous throb of the machinery of a
large steamer and hear nothing but the
everlasting sclick. click of the piston
rod and levers, but to me they all sound
like music. I've become partly dulled
and insensible to them. but even now I
often sit still and watch and listen to
their never varying beats with that sort
of satisfaction which a musician feels
when he runs his fingers mechanically,
yet skillfully, over the keys of his
instrument His satisfaction arises
from the fact that he has the instrument
entirely under his control, and mine.
comes from similar cause. With "a
touch of my finger could propel
thousands of tons at almost any speed
through the water, or send hundred
lives into eternity. Indeed, I feel that I
am the only responsible party on board
for the lives of the passengers, and 1t
remains with me to keep my machinery
in such perfect condition as to withstand
any ordinary sea or rough storm.
sand again take pride in keeping
everything around me shining like bur-
nished gold. If a. spot of grease or dirt
gets on the rods or handles of any part of
the machinery it can not escape my
notice long. 1 go over every part of the
engine room twice day, and rub the
brass and steel rods with as much pleas
ure as though 1 owned the steamer
myself. sometimes amuse myself in
keeping record of the number of miles
we run an hour and comparing it with
the records of previous trips. have
on book in the efigine-room curious
table of dates and figures, which shows
to me the exact time for every mile
made by different steamers which have
engineered across the ocean for the last
fourteen years. If anything more than
usual occurs / jot it down op-
posite the date, and SO make a
sort of diary of it, 1t speaks volumes to
me, and recalls many interesting menu
2rfesE EQr, ginsta2ae, j was looking
opposite November 10, 1876, q reference
to visit from Cinnamon. The incident
was recalled to my mind in moment,
and laughed heartily over it to myself
This is what it meant. One day while
lying in port we were visited by several
Cinnamon who were anxious to inspect
the ship. They were an ignorant set,
and had never seen any machinery
worked by steam. The Captain was a
good-natured fellow and allowed them
to come below, although they expert
enced some doubts as to the advisability
of SO doing. They were very timid,
and it took some time for me to convince
them that the machinery was harmless
Finally | got two of them to come close
to the heavy driving rod, which you
know on large vessel is an enormous
piece of iron. Suddenly without warn
ing, it gave q start forward, and, accom-
panied by loud puff of steam, leaped
fully ten feet above their heads. Angry
at my assistant for letting on steam
without my knowledge, 1 turned to
speak to him when my attention was at
tracted toward the stairway. The last
two Cinnamon of the party were MAX
ing frantic endeavors to jump up half a
dozen steps at time. The rest had
disappeared, and before could get on
deck the whole crowd had got into their
boat and started for the shore. No
amount of persuasion could ever get
them to return to that ship which they
claimed was alive. II was mean
trick, but it has afforded me many q
good laugh since. IN Y Tribune.