The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-11-22

warm months had not improved the
working parts. Further, the last dying
hiccough of the Haliotis seemed--or 1t
might have been the Malay from the
boathouse-to have lifted the thing
bodily on it's bolts and set ii down in
accurately as regarded its steam con-
nections.
"If we only had one cargo derrick
Mr.. Wardrop sighed. "We can take tho
cyiinder-cover off by hand If we sweat
but TO get the rod out Of the piston's
not possible unless we use steam. Well
thereIl be steam the morn IL there's
nothing else. She'll fizzle everywhere
Next morning men from n
saw the Haliotis through n cloud, Tor
it was as though the deck smoked. Her
crew were chasing steam through the
shaken and leaky pipes TO its work In
the forward donkey-engine; and where
oakum failed to plug n hole, they
stripped on their loin-cloths for lap
ping, pdswore, half-boiled mother
naked. The donkey-engine worked at
a price-the price of constant atten-
ton and furious stoking-worked long
enough to allow a wire rope, il was made
up of a funnel and a foremast-stay, to
be led into the engine-roorA n made
fast on the cylinder-cover of the for
ward engine. That ROSE easily enough,
and was hauled through the skylight
and on to the deck, many hands assist
ing the doubtful steam. Then came h
tug of war, for il was necessary to get
to the piston and the jammed piston
rod. They screwed an iron screw plate
on to the piston. doubled the wire rope.
and set half a dozen men TO smite with
an extemporised batteringram at the
end of the piston-rod where 1T peered
through the piston. while the donkey
engine hauled upwards on the piston
itself. After four hours of this furious
work, the piston-rod suddenly slipped
and the piston rose with q jerk,
knocking one or w men over into the
engine-room. But when Mr.. Wardrop
declared that the piston had not split,
they cheered and thought nothing OF
their wounds, and the donkey-engine
was hastily stopped, for its boiler was
no thing to tamper with. And day by
day their supplies reached them by
boat. The skipper humbled himself
once more before the governor, and as
u concession had leave to get drinking
water from the Malay ~boat-builder on
the quay. II was not good drinking
water, but the Malay was anxious TO
supply anything in his power If he were
paid for it.
Now when the jaws of the forward
engine stood, MS it were, stripped and
empty. they began to wedge npLthe-
shores of the cylinder itself. That
work alone filed the better part
of three days - warm and sticky
days, when the hands slipped and
sweat ran into the eyes. When the last
wedge was hammered home there was
no longer an ounce of weight on the
supporting columns; and Mr.. Wardrop
rummaged the ship for boiler plate,
three-quarters of an inch thick, where
he could find it. There was not much
available, but what there was was more
than beaten gold TO him. In N
terrible forenoon the entire crew,
naked and lean, hauled back, more or
less into place, the starboard support
ing column, which, as you remember,
was cracked clean through. Mr..
Wardrop found them asleep where they
had finished the work, and gave them n
days rest, smiling upon them like n
father as he drew chalk marks about
the cracks. They woke to new and
more trying labor, for over each one
Of those cracks q plate of three>qunrter-
inch boiler iron was to be worked hot;
the rivet holes being drilled by hand.
All that time they were fed on fruits
chiefly bananas, with some sage.
Those were the days when men
swooned over the ratchet drill and the
hand forge, and where they cell they
had leave TO lie unless their bodies
were in the way of their fellows feet.
And so, patch upon patch, and a patch
over all, the starboard supporting col
umn was clouted; but when they
thought all was secure Mr.. Wardrop
decreed that the noble patchwork
would never support working engines.
At best IL could only hold the guide
bars approximately true. The dead
weight of the cylinders must be borne
by vertical struts, and therefore n gang
would repair TO the bows and take out
with files the big bow anchor davits,
each of which was some three inches
IN diameter. They threw hot Goals
at Wardrop, and threatened to kill him,
those who did not weep (they were
ready to weep on the least provoca-
tion); but he hit them with iron bars
heated at the end, and they limped for
ward, and the davits came with them
when they returned. They slept six
teen hours on the strength OF it, and in
three days two struts were in place,
bolted from the foot OF the starboard
supporting column TO the under side OF
the cylinder. There remained now the
port, or condenser column, which,
though not so badly cracked as its fell
low, had also Leen strengthened in four
places with boiler plate patches, but
needed struts. They took away the