Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-04-01


Daiivorarco That I,-cnaises 10 Remain
| Forever myatery.
| Marine engineers have their shares of
startling experiences. George J. Little
tells u story of being trapped IL tie FIRE
box of boiler. In inst such circuri-
stances the hair sometimes turns gray.
"i can never forget it If I live 70 be
IO0 years DID," said Mr. Little. at &C.
! cured Oh a2 old Buffalo tug named
after C. H. Farrar &C tho GrIn of Farrar
| 6; Trcfts of this city. The tug is gore
where all good Tags go. bat the meri
| cry Of that few minutes / spent trapped
| lil.a rat il her fire bog comes back TO
iae often, ard wonder If the man who
was with lse that afternoon remembers
it as wildly rs dc.
"I5 was late il the year, alcD5 in
December, I think. We were laying
up fer tho cold. We had been break
irg ice ali the week previous. and the
old tug was leaking badly, so badly, in
fact, tEGt we lad been obliged to pump
her cat with tin pump twice that
afternoon. 1t was cold, ard wo wanted
to get through with cur job while it
Was light, so We spent very little time
on the pump, ard at no tine did we
pump her dry. Wo kept the water of
the fire hole fioo- SO We would no. be
obliged TO work il the water, and that
was about all. We intended TO pump
Ler tto-cughly after we had finished
our other work. There were two jobs
we could do after dack. One was the
pumping and tho other was oiling the
inside of the fiIe box.
"When tug is laid up for tho wiz
ter, you know, the boiler and every
bright part OF tho engine is painted ove-
with oil to prevent it rust;nS. The in
sido Of the fire boz is one OF the particu-
lar places, and the o,y:cr CT tho tug he'd
cautioned Us lot to slight it. That Was
one Of The reasons we had pat il of till
tho last thing. Besides, We had 10 use Il
, torch, 80 it made 10 difference if IL was
dark Cutside.
"It is necessary tha5 you understand
the construction Of the boiler to have .
! clear idea CT the situation. The boiler
was an ordinary marine boiler. such as
/ we used ten years ago. 1t had water legs
| and Il water bottom, with damper
I opening about inches wide extending
/ across the front OF the boiler. Tie fur
( mace door was such as you will see on
! any tug in Buffalo today. 1t was about
( 2 fest one way and Is inches the other.
! Tho opening which it covered was q
| trifio smaller, but was plenty large
enough to allow a man to crawl through
( it. The door fastened by heavy latch
/ on the outside, which dropped into place
,rI, IL -
fire box there was plenty of room for two
men to sit or kneel and work The
CRATES We're removed and there was the
room from the ash pan, which was the
water bottom, TO the crown sheet. OF
course, it was not an inviting place, nor
large enough for clubroom, but there
was room for the two Of us to work, and
as twdtan do moro work than one we
crawled III, one after the other. The one
nearest the door, ! forget now whether
it was my companion or myself, reached
out the door end handed in the oil.
brushes and the torch. We put the torch
in the opening of the fue in the back of
tho fire box and started to work. The
draft through the door into the fiue was
so strong that it threatened to blow tho
light out, so my companion said to Inc,
Shut the door,
without thinking reached ont and
pulled the door shut. In an instant
realized the situation. l turned to look
at my companion and saw that he, too,
understood We were in the furnace of
the boiler, with the only exit locked.
We had both heard the heavy latch Of
the door drop into place. The tug that
we were on was leaking so badly that
she would sink in a few hours unless
/. some assistance came. Even then we
could SEQ the water slowly crawling
over the fire hole floor. II we called, it
would do no good. We could hardly be
heard on deck, and there was no ore
within half q mile Of Us. The damper
hole was not large enough to allow q
boy to pass through it, tosay nothing Of
a man. All these thoughts ran through
, our minds in second. We were per-
fectly familiar with tho situation and
knew oar chances wero slim. l will
never forget ti;a5 Ccerc. Before iae sat
:, uy co,np-u:oa in a Lalf ccouched posi-
iiGn, lis f.co thrown INTO bold relief by
tho bIaci;Iiaes OF the iron behind him.
Tie fIickerirg light Ct tbe fcrch savo
| tho fice, with tho rrin set j.|, un aw-
full expression. remember. as looked
into tia fecs ilia5 locked into mine with
brave cyes, tie thcagilt came to me.
will l meet it as hrayely as her
"1,ne man with ns was the son Of the
owner of the boat and my cousin. He
l was game to the fullest meaning Of the
word, and ! knew it. We looked at
each other for at least a minute. 1t
seemed a century. I was waiting for
him to speak and he for me. could
not. The situation was hopeless. saw
, his eyes travel to the door, then to the
damper and then to the ffue in which
the torch flickered feebly. Then his eyes
again sought mine as he asked in low,
distinct voice, Did the door latchr
II put my hand against II and
II <y@- aoA