The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-06-04
Storing Explosives in a Ship.
From Invention.

The British navy has not been without
It's Maine disasters, though, fortunately,
these have been unattended by any CUES
tlons of foul play-and they have taught
us lesson. The last such catastrophe
was in 1882, when the gunboat Dotterel
was sunk and 145 lives lost through an
explosion in one of her magazines.
Since that time great attention has been
paid to the storing of high explosives on
board all the ships of our navy. The
magazines are now huge iron tanks, built
separately into the ship The side bot.
tom and crown of these are made of thick
steel plates weighing ten pounds to the
square foot. Thess plates are lap jointed
and strongly riveted.
Should any side or the back of coal
bunker be exposed, that side is built of
plates that weigh twelve and half pounds
to the square foot. The additional strength
Is In order to prevent any explosion of coal
gas that may occur in the bunker from
tearing open the magazine Further, the
plating is stifened with heavy bars that
make all parts of the surface of equal
strength. Should the magazine be placed
near the engines, or in any other place
where there is a high temperature it is
coated with asbestos. Electricity is used
for lighting purposes
All the lights are in what are called
Eight boxes, placed outside, the light
penetrating into the magazine itself
through thick glass iIuminators, which
are protected by grantings Of brass wire
The keys Of these boxes are kept by the
gunner of the ship. Near them is stock
OF candles ready for use in case the cleo
trio current should fail Entrance to the
magazine is from the top but out of what
Is termed the handling room. The hatch
OF this is iii line with the crown of the
magazine, and the floor Of the room is
lead covered
For ventilating purposes air is pumped
in at the bottom, and passes out through
specially constructed uptake; but on very
dry days air is let into the magazine nat
urally, in order to prevent too much mOis-
ture accumlating on the cases, and thus
causing the powder to deteriorate. In an
engagement the magazines would be kept
closed down, SO as to prevent the enemy's
shot from entering them, and air would
be pumped in, or the men working inside
could live but very few minutes. Be
fore entering the magazine the men have
to leave behind them their knives, pipes
and matches, and to put on special boots
that are studded with brass nails
With the old fashioned powder spark
caused by the friction of nail in one
boot with the floor was sufficient to cause
an explosion. Nowadays there is far less
danger Of accident Many of the explo-
sives now used will only ignite by detona-
ton. Prismatic and pebble powders, if
set ON fire, will frizzle away like a fuse,
while cordte, if handled with ordinary
care, is qnite harmless.
All the bays ii. e., recesses) are marked
with the number Of cases that are to be
slowed in them, and they are provided
with strong wooden uprights to prevent
the cases from being thrown out Of place
by the motion of the ship. The doors Of
| Ill tic uld2ILilCS OpGlI OulNdlu, oO liluC-
if in violent storm the cases broke loose,
they would not block the entrance. No
fuses. tubes or other articles that contain
their own means Of ignition are ever
slowed i'll magazines All such articles
are placed in special storerooms far away
from the powder. Quick firing ammuni-
ton cartridges for machine guns and rifles
and dry gun cotton also have their sepa
rate compartments. All magazines are
fitted with Il flooding arrangement, so
that, should the ship catch fire, they can
be at once filled with water. No one but
a responsible officer is ever allowed to han
die the keys and he must first obtain per-
mission from the captain. The heaviest
charges are placed nearest the doors. In
the old days the powder monkey used to
carry the cartridges from the magazine to
the guns in a case. Now the ammunition
goes up hydraulic lift that works on ar
mored shoots Carrying it would be an
impossibility, as some of the charges
weigh 900 pounds. Tanks containing
fresh water and drinking cups are fixed in
| Ine HduullHS IOOlu lOl IllO uoO vi UhAS ihSh,
and all the floors are sprinkled with water
before work begins.
Speaking tubes lead from outside the
magazines (Which. by the way, are usu
ally below the water line) to the gun
decks, the bridge and the coming tower.
There is a quarterly examination of the
dry gun cotton to ascertain whether acid
is accumulating. If it is, the explosive Is
at once saturated with water. Wet gun
cotton, being a very safe material, is kept
in an ordinary storeroom, and is weighed
periodically to detect deterioration, plug
being at the same time removed in order
that gas may escape The ''war heads
of the Whitehead torpedoes, being filled
with wet gun cotton, are slowed by them
selves and tested in the manner just de-
scribed. But the ''pistOls, which con-
tain dry gun cotton, and the detonatos
for igniting the wet gun cotton III the
torpedoes are placed together in a COM
partment that can be flooded if necessary.
The only other dangerous explosives
carried by our war ships are the filled
shells, which are given a place to them
selves. None but the most stubborn fuses
are fitted to these, unless they are at the
gun and ready to be fired. Their danger
Gus nature is indicated by their red painted
heads and the broad red band around
them. Seaman are trained to handle them
with the utmost care Even signal lights
and rockets are kept carefully out of the
way of irresponsible persons. In fact,
every possible precaution is taken to pre-
vent an accident with explosives occurring
on any of our war ships.
Remedy for Gapes.