The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-21
FEEDING A LINERS FIRES.
DOWN IN THE STOKE HOLE OF An
OCEAN STEAMER.

Kept in Motion From Port to Port
From the Brooklyn Eagle.
There is no one branch Of industry in
the mercantile marine about which so
little is generally known and the work
in which, in proportion to its great i'm
portance, is so little understood or ap-
ureciaied as the engineers department on
q great ocean liner. Prominence has been
given to the affairs of other branches OF
steamship service and it may, therefore
be Of interest to give a brief sketch Of the
81 duties &nd living of the men whose duty
it is to keep up steam and produce speed
on the vessels. The engineers department
Oh each of the great Cunard steamers.
Lucania and Campania, consists of 191
men, as follows: One chief engineer, q
engineers, ? refrigerating engineers, 2
electricians. storekeepers, boilermaker
donkey men, 20 greasers. 50 trimmers,
and 50 fremen. The Majestic and Teu-
tonic each require the services of from
100 to 10 men in their engine rooms. OF
this number 20 are engineers and 60 arc
fremen. Each watch is made up of at
least 6 engineers, 6 greasers, 20 hremen,
II trimmers and an electrician and grea-
sers under him.
The duties of a chief engineer are null
hilarious and oppressive, and. though he
does not keep watch, his trained ear Is
kept listening to the beat of the engines,
and at any time Of the day or night he
receives reports from his subordinate Of
1icers and issues orders accordingly. The
second engineer keeps watch eight hours
out of the twenty-four and has as his
companion the seventh engineer. The
third and fifth engineers keep another
watch and the fourth and sixth the other
or third watch. Under this arrangement
there is not q single moment when every
section of the engineers department IS
not under the supervision of the engineers
and there is not moment of the day or
night when a controlling hand is not
ready, in case of any irregularity in the
complicated mechanism of the giant en-
gines that propel these great liners. At
the big row OF steam guages and other
Indicators, where the telegraph diaIs con-
meet with the bridge an engineer is al
ways standing ready to answer the least
signal. Each set of officers, as a rule,
standard of steam and vie with the other
watches to obtain a record in the number
OF revolutions ~ ion q the screw But such
None put marfne engineers know how
a.0soluteay important it is to have compe-
tent men In The stoke hole of their YES
sells. Steam must be kept up and with
crew OF men who do not thoroughly I'M
derStand their business the engineers diff
work done in the stoke hole is of a very
eXhaushng character, 50 much so that
four hours at a stretch is the limit OF thine
required for their labor. Sometimes the
heat reaches lao degrees and any one not
used 10 1t would soon be FRUSTRATED The
stokers must therefore be men of excel
lent bodily strength and have the neces-
sary skill required in their particular line
of work. In the working of say seventy
FIVE fremen, the number is divided, making
three gangs of twenty-five each. The lot
going on at Il O'Clock noon work until
O'Clock, when the second lot go on and
Work until O'Clock, and then the third
lot go on and work until midnight, when,
after eight hours rest, THE first Dot go on
again, and so the operation is repeated
during the entire voyage. Thus there are
always two sets of men in the fo'castle and
one set of men at work, though in an
out at any time. About twelve men of
each watch on duty are deputed to attend
10 the Tires, the remaining number doing
the trimming business, which consists OF
bringing coal from the bunl1ers ready for
the stokers shoyel l,,,,, and sending up the
even worse than that of the others, as
they have to make their way into sitting
bunkers situated around and often on top
of the boilers, and from there fetch bas-
kets Of coal to the stoke hole. On an aver
age the furnace doors have to be opened
about every ten minutes to fire up, and be-
tween whites the firemen are pretty con-
Stanty employed in slicing, raking or
drawing the fires. The pokers which these
men use are long iron pars, weighing
about forty pounds. After having buried
the poker about eight feet deep in the
Goals the men throw their full weight upon
the end as levers, and Eft the whole bank
OF fire about a foot. When the poker is
drawn a large black hole is left through
the fire into which the draft is sucked with
increasing roar. Three thrusts are made
each time, one to the right, one to the left
and one down the center. The furnaces
are cleaned at the end of each four hours,
so that each new set of men commence
work with clean fires.
There are on each of the two great
Cunarders twelve large boilers and two
others for auxiliary purposes, and 102
furnaces. The Y main boilers are double
ended, IS feet in diameter and II feet
long. They are fitted longitudinally,
three in a row, separated from each other
by large coal bunker occupying the
full width of the ship. and 65 feet of its
length. For each set of boilers there is
funnel which has a double casing, the
inside diameter exceeds 10 feet while the
top is 100 feet from the bottom of the
ship To give some idea of their enor-
nous size it may be stated that We're
they tunnels instead of tunnels two rail-
way trains could easily pass through
eoreast with room to spare.
When a steamer arrives at her destina-
uon neither the engineers nor the fire
mans work ceases. Engines have 70 be
overhauled and cleaned, and sometimes
the most delicate repairs TO intricate and
complicated machinery are executed, and
thls work, together with a multitude OF
other duties to be performed, keep the
men in almost constant employment. 1t
is easier to talk about the power executed
by engines of 1900 or 1900 horse power
than to realize what it means. Assuming
that the engines will require eighteen
pounds Of steam per horse power per
hour, then 100 tons of water must be
pumped into the boilers every hour and
$50 tons Of steam will pass through the
engines at the same time. In twenty
four hours the water VIII amount TO
$50 tons, which would III a canal 1873
feet long, 40 feet wide and Z feet deep.
Taking the condensing water at thirty
times the feed water. II will amount to
$500 tons per hour. or ll5,200 tons In TWEEN
ty-four hours, or for a slx-day run not
less than 69l, 200 tons, or zi,s3,oO0 cubic
feet.
Few people realize the enormous Increase
required IN the amount Of coal burned 70
get a comparatively slight increase IN
vessels speed The Paris and New York
burn about $50 tons Of coal per day, or
about 1880 pounds an hour which Us
Equivalent to "A coal consumption Of III
pounds per hour per horse power The
average for all the fast ships with triple
expansion engines like the Paris, New
York. Majestic Teut0nie ana Furst Bis
marck. ls said 20 be about il3 pounds per
horse power per hour. On the great Cum
arders, campanla and Luoauia, the COM
sumption q murh greater than the above,