The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-10-23

Sea captains who have heretofore re-
cciycd all the praise for reeord-break-
Ing performances are being disregarded
OF late. and the honors are laid at the
feet Of the engineers Of the craft. The
New York Tribune says:
Ia view Of the fast stcaming. the
natural question arises, What In the
causc2 Why is II that old and new
vessels are outdolng their past per-
formances7" The general consensus
Of opinion seems 10 be that II has been
due TO two causes. improved team
work." as the football men say. In
engine room and fre room. and IA
vorable weather
In the case OF the 81. Paul's voyage.
both OF these conditions seem TO have
been present In n high degree. James
Carnegie. the chief engineer OF that
record-breaker Is a jovIal and popular
man. as well as skilled engineer and
has the faculty OF getting the utmost
possible out OF the small army Of cngi-
neerH. fremen. coal passers and trim
mers under his command
THE matter Of Hring. said an ex-
perienced engineer. has become a
science. II absorbs the time and at
tention Of the engineer more than the
running OF his engine. I came over
on the 81. Louis on her last trip. and
Chief Engineer Walls was never seen
on deck or In the cabin. He was be-
low, attending TO business strictly"
As to the 81. Pauls performance Mr..
Carnegie said: "our success was due,
hrst, To the management OF our mag
nlncent ship but after that. in large
part TO the support have received
from every member Of the engineering
stan. They all worked with will, and
In perfect harmony. My senior first
assistant. William c. Walls, who Is
brother OF John Walls. chief engineer
OF the ST. Louis. stayed up all night
before she came OF the dry dock, to
be sure that the propeller wheels were
set exactly right This is typical Of
the work done by all throughout the
voyage. The machinery worked per-
fectly. without a hitch or showdown,
and developed no eccentricities what
ever, We didn't have a single fireman
laid on. and the average temperature
~ tho nraFnNp, uras npI,, or an.r.,,,
This was due TO the fine system OF
ventilation. and the fact that the air
In the freroom is being continually
changed by the suction OF the battery
of fans, which supply the forced
draught or course, men can do their
best work In pure air OF that tempera-
ture, We have three shifts of engineers
and fremen, each OF which has four
hours on and eight hours Off. There
are six engineers and twenty-five fire.
men In each shift. have arranged
with the management for system OF
bonuses for tiremen and oilers. so that
they may feel an interest in the work
as well as the officers, We had favor
able weather throughout, except in the
fog OF the last three days. That inter
fered with the fires to a certain ex-
tent"
That the secret lies largely In the
firing is shown in the fact that the
average coal consumption Of the St
Paul on this trip was Si5 tons day,
whereas the average on former voy-
ages has been 29O to $40, according to
Mr. Carnegie's statements, II the
amount of $40 tons day be divided
by "a. and then again by 2O,SOO. which
was given as the average horsepower
for the run, 1t will be seen that this
enormous energy was developed on a
OF only a fraction over
Az pounds of coal per hour for each
horse power This shows what an eco
nomicai as well as powerful piece of
machinery the American vessel Is