The San Francisco call., 1896-02-22
AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE.
Trapped in the FireBox of Tug witt
the Tug Leaking.

Trapped in the Fire-Box of Tug With
the Tug Leaking.
Marine engineers have their share of
startling experiences. George ]. Little
tells story of being trapped in the fire.
box OF a boiler. In just such circum-
stances the hair sometimes turns gray.
Il can never forget it, ii | live to be 100
years old" said Mr.. Little. 1T occurred
on an old Buffalo tug named after C. NJ.
Farrar. of the firm of Farrar & Trefts of
this city. The tug is gone where all good
tugs go, but the memory of that few min
utes spent trapped like rat in her fire.
hox comes back to me often, and l wonder
if the man who was with me that afternoon
remembers it as vividly as l do.
"It was in the fall of the year, along in
December, 1 think. We were laying up
for the winter. We had been breaking ice
all the week previous, and the old tug was
leaking badly, so badly, in fact, that we
had been obliged to pump her out with a
TIN pump twice that afternoon. IL was
cold and we wanted to get through with
our Job while it was light, so we spent very
little time on her pump, and at no time
did we pump her dry. We kept the water
off the tire-hole floor so we would not be
obliged to work in the water, and that was
about all. We intended to pump her
thoroughly after we had finished our other
work. There were two jobs we could do
alter dark. One was the pumping and the
other was olling the inside of the firebox
when a tug is laid up for the winter,
you know, the boiler and every bright part
OF the engine is painted over with oil 10
prevent it from rusting. The inside of the
hreboX Is one OF the particular places, and
the owner of the tug had cautioned us not
sight no
we had to put 1t off till the last thing. Be-
sides we had TO use torch, so it made no
| difference if it was dark outside.
1t Is necessary that you understand the
construction of the boiler to have a clear
idea of the situation. The boiler was an
ordinary marine boiler, such as we used
ten years ago. 1t had water legs and a
water bottom, with a damper opening
about five inches wide extending across
the front of the boiler. The furnace door
was such as you will see on any tug in
Buffalo to-day. 1t was about two feet one
way and eighteen inches the other The
opening which it covered was a trife
smaller, but wes plenty large enough TO
allow man to crawl through it. The door
fastened by a heavy latch on the outside
which dropped into place whenever the
door was shut Inside the firebox there
was plenty of room for two men to sit or
kneel and work. The CRATES were re-
moved 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 a
clubroom, but there was room for the two
OF us to work. and, as two can do more
work than one, we crawled in, one after
the other. The one nearest the door-I
forget now whether it was my companion
or myself-reached out the door and
handed in the OIL brushes and the torch.
We put the torch in the opening of the
flue back of the frebox and started to
Work. The draught through the door into
the fue was so strong that it threatened
to blow the light out, so my companion
said to me, Shut the door,
without thinking, l reached out and
pulled the door shut. In an instant real
lied the situation. l turned to look at my
companion, and saw that he, too, under
stood. 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
the fire-hole floor. If we called, it
would do no good We could hardly be
heard on deck, and there was no one.with-
in half mile of us. The damper-hole
was not large enough to allow boy to pass
through 1t, say nothing of man. All
lAcSt IdH our mlnQS IN
a second. We were perfectly familiar with
the situation and knew our chances were
slim. [ will never forget that scene Be-
fore me sat my companion, in a half
crouched position, his face thrown into
bold relief by the blackness OF the iron be-
hind him. The fickering light of the
torch gave the face, with the tirm-set Jaw
an awful expression. ] remember, as l
looked into the face that looked into mine
with brave eyes, the thought came to me
Will | meet it as bravely as he?
The man with me was the son of the
owner of the boat and my cousin. He was
game to the fullest meaning of the word, |
and l knew it. We looked at each other
for at least minute. 1t seemed century.
l was waiting for him to speak, and he for
me. l could not. The situation was hope
less. 1 saw his eyes travel to the door. |
then to the damper, and then to the fue
in which the torch fickered feebly Then
his eyes again sought niue as he asked
in a low, distinct voice: Did the door
Iatch?'
''I put my hand against it and pushed
1t did not give. l nodded my head. I
could not speak. He half-lfted himself
and kicked the door with his foot and il
swung open. The draught of air put the
light out and in that moment of darkness
l thanked God.
'To this day cannot understand how
that latch lifted. or, if it did drop. why?n |
Buffalo Express