The Ravalli Republican., 1898-08-31
FIRE DRILLS AT SEA.
How the Crews of Ocean Liners Are
Trained to Fight IL Biaze

How the Crews of Ocean Liners Are
Trained to Fight Il Blaze.
The people who make frequent
trips across the ocean on board the
great liners, while they may be-
come well informed as to the pecul-
ialitie7 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.
Tho crews of ocean vessels have
always received instructions as to
their duties in case Of fire OF accl-
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 Ill
trusted to the care CT the navigators
has never been 50 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 a
certain duty to perform
The first officer of the Kaiser Will
helm der Crosse, in speaking Of the
fire drills ON board that huge YES
sci, said that the whole crew is call
ed out every day to practice, and
that of the AGO men not one except
the captain OF 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 q
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 alolt.
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 a few minutes. The signals
for this service are gwen 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
a 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 the IS boats swing clear on
the davits, ready to lower away.
Every man knows to which boat he
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 d petty officer, Il 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
a voyage for fear Of alarming the
passengers, and even when it takes
place in port all commands are given
by signal without noise OF unneces-
sary eXcitement.-Ne York Yrib.