The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-06-15
FIRE DRILLS AT SEA.
How the Crews of Ocean Liners Ar
Trained to Fight q Blaze.

How the Crews of Ocean Liners Are
Trained to Fight Blaze.
The people who make frequent
trips across the ocean on board the
great liners, while they may be-
come we'll Informed as to the peoul-
iarities of the various vessels, their
construction, their points of excel
lence and their shortcomings, rare
ly 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 acci-
dent of any kind, but the system of
instruction and the drills have never
been so perfect as they are now, be-
cause the number of passengers in
trusted to the care of the navigators
has never been SO large. On the
large steamers several men are con-
stantly 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
certain duty to perform.
The first officer of the Kaiser Will
helm der Crosse, i'll speaking of the
fire drills on board that huge ves-
sci, said that the whole crew is call
ed out every day to practice, and
that of the 46O men not one except
the captain Or his representative
knows at what hour the drill may
take place. Sometimes it is early
in the morning, and again it will
take place late at night, and an
alarm may be sounded at the time
when the crew is most busy with
other duties. The vessel is divided
into II water tight compartments,
and these are closed by 43 water
tight doors, and as soon as an alarm
is given the men know to which of
these doors they must go and close
them. Each compartment 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 Indicator on the bridge shows
the commanding officer which doors
have been closed, and in case any
of them have been improperly fas-
tened the oversight can be made
good in few minutes. The signals
for this service are given from the
bridge by telegraph and telephone.
The water tight compartments are
not only to prevent the spread of
fire, but to guard against disaster if
collision should take place. AS a
matter of fact, 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 a fire drill might
as we'll be called a fog drill.
But the drills aboard ship do not
end with these daily contests against
imaginary disasters. When the YES
sells come to port, the lifeboat drills
are added to the sailors; duties. The
Kaiser Wilhelm has Is lifeboats,
and every day, while the ship lies
in port, at time unknown before
the alarm is given, the order comes
to "clear boats,'' ard within two
minutes tho IS boats swing clear Oh
the davits, ready to lower away.
Every man knows to which boat hc
belongs and his place in the boat.
When the inspecting officer makes
the rounds, he sees in each boat
sailors, stokers, stewards and an
officer OF Il petty officer, a mast set
and sails made ready for use.
The ranking officer becomes the
commander of his little crew, and
the others look to him for orders.
This drill never takes place during
voyage for fear of alarming the
passengers, and even when it takes
place in port all commands are given
by signal without noise or unneces-
sary oxcitement.-New York Trib-
une.