The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1896-03-04
TRAPPED LIKE A RAT
A MARINE ENGINEER RELATES AN
AWFUL EXPERIENCE.

HNfTOL
Shut Up In the Fire Box of a Tug with
the Tug Leaking at Frightful Rate-A
Deliverance That Promises to Remain
Forever a Mystery.
Marine engineers have their shares of
startling experiences. George j. Little
tells story of being trapped in the fire
box of a boiler. In just such circum-
stances the hair sometimes turns gray.
81 can never forget it if l live to be
100 years old, !" said Mr. Little. cit oo-
CURED on an old Buffalo tug named
after G. NJ. Farrar of the firm of Farrar
g. Trefts of this city. The tug is gone
where all good tugs go, but the mem
DRY of that few minutes spent trapped
like rat in her fire box comes back to
me often, and wonder If the man who
was with me that afternoon remembers
it as wildly as l do.
ut was late in the year, along in
December, I think We were laying
up for the cold. We had been break
ing ice all the week previous, and the
old tug was leaking badly, so badly, in
fact, that we had been obliged to pump
her ont with tin pump twice that
afternoon. 1t was cold, and we wanted
to get through with our job while it
was light, so we spent very little time
on the pump, and at no time did we
pump her dry. We kept the water off
the fire holo 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 after dark One was the
pumping and the other was oiling the
inside of the fire box.
"When tug is laid up for the win
ter, you know, the boiler and every
bright part of the engine is painted over
with oil to prevent it rusting. The in
side of the fire box is one of the particu-
lar places, and the owner Of the tug had
cautioned us not to slight it. That was
one of the reasons we had put it off till
the last thing. Besides, we had to use n
torch, so it made no difference if it was
dark outside.
1t is necessary that you understand
the construction of the boiler to have q
clear idea of the situation. The boiler
was an ordinary marine boiler, such as
we used ten years ago. 1t had water legs
| and water bottom, with damper
| opening about 8 inches wide extending
across the front of the boiler. The fur
mace door was such rs you will see on
any tug in Buffalo today. Ii was about
| feet one way and Is inches the other.
| The opening which it covered was @
| trihe smaller, but was plenty large
enough to allow man to crawl through
it. The door fastened by heavy latch
on the outside, which dropped into place
| whenever the door was shut. Inside the
| fire box there was plenty of room for two
men to sit or l1neel and work. The
CRATES were removed and there was the
room from the ash pan, which was the
| water bottom, to the crown sheet. Oh
course, it was not an inviting place, MOI
large enough for clubroom, but there
was room for the two of us to work, and
as two can do more work than one we
| crawled in, ono after the other The one
nearest the door, forget now whether
| it was my companion or myself, reached
| out the door and handed in the oil,
brushes and the torch. Weput the torch
in the opening Of the fluo in the back OF
| the fire box and started to work. The
draft through the door into tho fiue was
so strong that it threatened to blow the
light out, so my companion said to me,
Shut the door.
Without thinking | reached out and
pulled the door shut. In an instant
realized the situation. | 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 see the water slowly crawling
over the fire hole floor. II we called, it
would do no good. We could hardly DO
heard on deck, and there was no one
within half mile Of us. The damper
hole was not large enough to allow a
boy to pass through it, tosay nothing of
a man. All these thoughts ran through
our minds in q second. We were per-
fectly familiar with the situation and
knew our chances were slim. will
never forget that scene. Before me sat
my companion in half crouched posi-
ton, his faco thrown into bold relief by
the blackness Of the iron behind him.
The Pickering light Of the torch gave
the face, with the firm set jaw, an aw-
full expression. l remember, as looked
into the face that looked into mine with
brave eyes, tho thought came to me,
will meet it as bravely as HEP
"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 a minute 1t
seemed century. / was waiting for
him to speak and he for me. could
not. The situation was hopeless. l saw
his eyes travel to the door, then to the
damper and then to the flue in which
the torch fiickered feebly. Then his eyes
again sought mine as he asked in low,
distinct voice, Did the door latch?'
~ put my hand against it and
pushed. 1t did not give. nodded my
head. could not speak. He half lifted
himself and kicked the door with his
foot, and it swung open. The draft of
air put the light out, and in that mo-
ment Of darkness / thanked God
ITO this day cannot understand
how that latch lifted or il it did not
drop, ?"-Buffalo Express.
Literary Information.