The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-05-03
GNOMEs OF SALT WATER.
The Grimy Specters that Fit Around the
Fires of Ocean Steamships.

Fires of Ocean Steamships.
A summer day at seal The smooth
water t1ickering with gray Fights aud
green shadows; the sky ike a ceiling
of gObelin tapestry under creamy
lacework of cloud; the big steamship
leaving $50 miles i day behind it as it
Skins lightly onward lovely woman on
deck, bewitchingly pale, in gay Tam
OShanter; men incidental to her vi
cinity and to sherry cobbIers; the
prize baby of the voyage On the cap
tain S Iouider; the "oId traveller for
ward over his pipe, aud the English
tourist in the smoking-room at paper
and brandy and water-everybody as
gay and lively and comfortable in the
sunshine and crisp. salt air as if the
ship managed itself and storm-sickness
and shipwreck were the CHASTITY fanta-
sizes of II dream. A charming and an
mated scene is the promenade deck on
such day.
clean and clipper down on the main
deck among the cordage, the grease,
the smells, and the sailor men. They
hang over the rail or forget their
home-sickness in a dance forward to
the music of the irrepressible accord
con. There is a bit of a hustle amid
ships, but few of the poor creatures
notice the two grimy fellows who are
dragging the limp form of a sooty
companion to the bulwarks out of the
engine-room door, It's only a coal
passer who has tainted in the fire.
room. With nothing on but shirt,
shoes, and trousers, the poor devil
| N NH of "a, Is
degrees, and after dousing him with
salt water to cool him off, they dose
him with brandy to brace him up. He
comes around after awhile and stag
gers off to his bunk. He'll probably
day the old traveller will win the pool
on the days run and everybody will be
| glad to know that 120 tons of coal
were burned and it's going to be fast
trip.
Down in the bowels of the big ship,
where ZOO horsepower boilers insa-
tiably clamor for their food of fire, ex-
| iSt a race of men to whom sea yoy-
! age is horror unSpeakable. They
are the eoal-passers and the fremen,
as necessary, obscure, suffering, and
patient as the mules in a coal mine,
whom they considerably resemble.
| Their number varies with the tonnage
of the ship and the size of the boilers.
| They get their food and lodgings and
from Sl5 to $50 month. and last
about three years; for the fire-room is
as hungry of life as the boilers are of
! tons of coal. Their lot is a necessary
evil. Nothing has yet been devised to
make the fire-room of an ocean steam
Ell habitable for a considerable length
of time, and the coal-passers live and
suffer and die as they always have
! done.
They are treated, too, with the ut
most consideration. They are divided
into two gangs and are on two watch
es of four hours each and off two of
eight hours each. But eight hours a
day in hot air furnace that shrivels
the skin and scorches the lungs, and
blasts the sight, is harder days labor
than the worst kind of manual work
elsewhere. 1t is nothing uncommon
for one of them to be carried out faint
ing. Nor uncommon for them to re-
store their exhausted frame with BRAN
dy. Indeed, spirits are meat and
drink to the coal-passers. Perhaps
they burn up the more quickly by their
use. But they manage to keep going
during the wasting fire.
A steamship of 5000 tons burden
has chief engineer, three assistant
engineers, nine firemen, and six coal
passers as the staff of it's fire-room.
Such u ship will burn from forty-fve
to fifty tons of coal day. In. the
smaller ships, particularly the freight
boats, the temperature of the fre-room
ia ant tO- he lower than in fhosp nf
too, depends upon the latitude and di-
rectlon of the ship. But under the
| best circumstances the life is exhaust
ing, and under the worst it is terrible.