The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-15
FIRE DRILLS AT SEA.
How the Crews of Ocean Liners Are
Trained to Fight a Blaze.
From the New York Tribune.

From the New York Tribune.
The people who make frequent trips
across the ocean on board the great liners,
while they may become well informed as
to the peculiarities of the various vessels,
their construction, their points of excel
lence and their shortcomings rarely know
much about the fire drill, which is one of
the most important daily functions on
board of the great floating hotels.
The. crews of ocean vessels have always
received instructions as to their duties in
case of fire or accident of any kind, but
the system of instruction and the drills
have never been so perfect as they are
now because the number of passengers in
trusted to the care of the navigators has
never been so large. On the large steam
ers several men are constantly on duty as
watchmen and their tours of inspection
embrace every nook and corner of the
craft On each boat there are stations
from which one may communicate with
the bridge, but aside from that every man,
including the officers, has a certain station
at which he must appear in case an alarm
is sounded, and when there he has GER
tain duty to perform
The first officer of the Kaiser Wilhelm
der Crosse, in speaking of the fire drills
on board that huge vessel, said that the
whole crew is called out every day to
practice. and that of the AGO men not one
EXCEPT the captain or his representative
knows at what hour the drill may take
place. Sometimes it is early in the morn
ing and again it will take place late al
night, and an alarm may be sounded at the
time when the crew is most busy with 9th
or duties. The vessel is divided into sew
enteen water-tight compartments, and
these are closed by forty-three water-ttght'
DOORS and as soon as an alarm is given the
men know to which of these doors they
must go and close them. Each compart-
,rent has large steam-pipe from which
live steam may be turned on in case of
fire as soon as the doors have been closed
and the men have gone aloft. An indca-
tor ON the bridge shows the commanding
officer which doors have been Closed, and
in case any of them have been improperly
fastened the oversight can be made good
in A few minutes The signals for this
service are given from the bridge by tele-
sraph and telephone. The water-tight
commandments are not only to prevent the
sDread of fire. but to guard against disas-
ter if,a collision should take place. AS a
matter of feet, the modern navigator has
little fear of fire, but his dread of fog is
as great as,it ever was, and what is
known as attire drill might as well be call
ed a fog drill.
Rut the drills aboard ship do not end
with these daily contest against imaSina-
~ disasters. When the vessels come to
port the Hfeboat drllls are adueu 70 the
sailors duties. The Kaiser Wilhelm has
eighteen lifeboats, and every day, while
the ship lies In port, at time unknown
before the alarm is given, the order comes
"a "clear boats" and within two minutes
the eighteen boats swing clear on the da-
Wits ready to lower away. Every man
knows to which boat he belongs and his
mace i'm the boat. When the inspecting
officer makes the rounds he sees in each
boat sailors, stokers, stewards and an Of
dcer or a petty officer, mast set and
sails made ready for use.
The ranking officer becomes the com
mander of his little crew, and the others
look to him for orders. This drill never
takes place during a voyage for fear of
alarming the passengers, and even when
81 takes place in port all commands are
given by signal without noise or unnec-
essary excitement.