The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-02

The bunkers are all numbered. If the tenn
perature of bunker No. /, for instance
rises beyond the set mark the alarm is
given by means of a ringing registering
machine, placed just outside the shippers
cabin. The marine orderly for the COM
manding officer. whose station outside the
cabin door enables him to keep his eye on
and his ear attuned to the music of this
bunker fire alarm, is always the man to
make the rush 10 the officer Of the deck
with the news that there is something
wrong in one of the bunkers Then the
ships bugler sounds fire quarters, and all
hands gallop to their fire stations. Steam
is turned into the bunker the coal in which
is ignited, and the fire thus put out. Such
fires are not at all uncommon, but ac-
counts of them rarely get into print.
mo coal passer or any other member of
the engineers gang is permitted to carry
an open light into the bunkers, but the
coal passers often do this all the same.
Coal bunkers on modern ships of war are
all fitted with couple of standing electric
lights each, but in coaling ship the glass
castings around these lights are generally
smashed for the most part, leaving the
bunkers unlighted. The coal passers can't
see to get out coal in bunkers as dark as
midnight, and so they carry their open
lights into the bunkers, orders or no or
ders.
ION one of the big cruisers of the Pa
ciic stations few years ago the bunker
fire alarm outside the shippers door set
up a steady ringing, and the marine ora
derby rushed forward with the announce
ment that there was fire in coal bunker
No. s. The ship was at sea at the time, but
this coal bunker was as yet unbroached or
at least the chief engineer had not been
notified, as is required that the coal pass
ers had started to haul coal out Of that
bunker. Clearly, then, in the minds of the
chief engineer and the officers of the deck,
there was spontaneous combustion in No. 8
bunker and a minute after the alarm was
given the hremen were at ihe bunker door
with the steam hose. They found the bunk
er door open, which the chief engineer
couldn't understand, but they let enough
steam into the buaker to push the cruiser
five knots before a steady bawling of sea
expletive from within the bunker caused
them to shut the steam hose off Then the
voice within was heard, growing:
What the bloomln devil are youse
hat-footed paint-scrubbers a-trying TO do,
drown me an choke me to death, re
blasted - And the rest of it was simply
a torrent of jolly Roger talk.
THE voice within the bunker belonged
to a coal passer who, without the know
ledge of the chief engineer, had preached
NO. . DuukSF because IL was CLOSE TO the
fire rooms, and, therefore, easy to work
The coal passer mad taken an open light
into the bunker, and he had set this light
down on fiat lump of coal directly be-
meath the fire-alarm apparatus. 1t didn't
take the fire-alarm apparatus two minutes
to become heated sufficiently to make its
automatic report on deck. The coal pass
er was given chance to think the thing
over while doing a ten-day trick in the
brig in double irons.
"A week rarely passes by that some rlsn
or less grievously hurt. If there is not
an unguarded open hatch for him to step
into, the man-o'-war's man has a chance
to mash a couple of toes or fingers in the
mechanical vancouver drill of overhaulng
batteries. On the cruisers that still carry
sail for steadying purposes he may be slap
ped on the side of the head by a loose,
swapping halyard, or he may and often
does, take bad tumble to the deck from
a suddenly slackening bridge rope Down
below among the black gang, fireman
is always thoughtlessly picking up an all
most red-hot slice bar or DEVILS claws at
the wrong end, or getting a stream of
steam in his eyes from careless handling
of valves. On the whole, Notwithstanding
the firm conviction of most sailormen that
there is less danger on the sea than on the
land, the man-o'-wars man on modern
cruising ship is kept pretty constantly
guessing If he wants TO get back to his
wife or sweetheart as sound, whole and
healthy as when he last saw her"