The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-03-01
Below Decks on q Trail Trip.


 Below Decks on Trail Trip.
 The engines roar. the pumps move
 back and forth with q sharp click al
 each stroke, and the air-pumps shriei
 and puff, and the engineers force rusf l about in what seems at first hopeless confusion, but which soon takes on a
 look of ystem. Every man has his duty | to do and does 1t well. The engines re- | quire close and careful attention, as enough might happen to ruin all. The l slightest carelessness or inattentior ! might have the most serious results l Occasionally, though, no amount of care ! can prevent bearing or cross-head l from heating, particularly If the ma 1 chlnery is new, has not sufficiently worn | itself to perform it's duties, and Is being run at a high rate of speed. To pro- l vide for this contingency there is all ] ways arranged a convenient system of pipes, from which cold water can be di' rected at a moments notice upon which l ever part of the machinery shows signs of heating. In addition to this, there are
 many couplings where hose can be con nected for use in reaching the more in-
 accessible and rapidly moving parts, At such time excitement runs high in 1 the engine rooms. The engines are probably working at almost full power and moving rapidly, so if the heating parts cannot be cooled sufficiently they will have to be shut down, and the run be lost. The rush and roar of the ma l chinery, the tremble of the ship as she l is forced ahead by the immense horse power transmitted by each shaft the hurry of the engineers force, each one of whom has constant and important duties to perform, all add to the ex- citement. Water pours in torrents on the heated parts, and it strikes the | flying engine is thrown in all directions. The engine-room floor swims with oil and water, and the oil thus thrown on the cold water pipes congeals and com pletely covers them, looking like snow upon the trees after a heavy storm. Lucky now are the men who wear oil skin suits, for nothing else will keep out the flying water; those who are not so prepared are drenched in an in- stant, and though by the thermonmeter the temperature may be far from cool, there is chill in the icy water and soaked garments and a discomfort in the oil and salt in one's eyes that are far from pleasant. But let us step into the fire room a moment and notice the difference.
 As we go through the air-lock, with It's double doors, one of which must be closed before the other is opened, to prevent loss of air-pressure in the fire room, the roar of the engines changes to rhythmic and steady beat, muffled and deadened into an almost soothing sound The fire room. as we step in from the light outside, seems dark and shadowy, and dusky figures of men pass here and there across the light from the open ashpits. In the bulk head opposite us is small door, and through this shovelful after shovelful of coal Is thrown by men in the bunkers beyond; from there 1t is thrown in a pile against the bulkhead directly in front of the boilers, from whence it is passed into the furnaces as occasion requires. The ffreman's task is no easy one, and it requires considerable skill to fire a boiler properly, keeping the fuel we'll and evenly distributed over the grates The "water-tenders" have to keep watchful eye on the water gaug- es, for fear of allowing the water in the boilers to get too low, thereby caus- ing an explosion. The huge furnaces fairly devour coal; and when, for the purpose of feeding in more, the furnace doors are opened (throwing a red glare through the room), we can see the white-hot fuel heaped clear to the crown of the furnace and the flames that leap halfway up the smoke-stack rush wildly ut,impelled by the 10, GOO cubic feet of air per minute furnished by the blowers, which we hear spin- ming overhead with steady whr The amount of coal burnt by large vessel running at full speed is almost incredi- ble. Some of the great Atlantic liners burn from $50 to 400 tons day, and some of our cruisers, were they run con- stantly at full speed, would burn nearly as much. While the blowers are run ming the fire rooms are generally com paratively cool, though there is great difference in ships in this respect, some being very comfortable, while the tenn perature in others gets very high, up to 120 degrees to 125 degrees, say-too warm for comfort.-William Floyd Si- card in Harper's.