Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-07-19
DOWN IN THE sTOKEROOM.
Glimpse of the Heroic Fellows Under
the Decks.
New York Press.

New York Press.)
III landsman wants an experience thai
he will not forget soon let him so dowr
into the stokehole Of a warship Then he
will realize, indeed, what II means TO be
in the bowels Of a vessel and, to an ex-
tent. what II means to be buried alive. II
he can face the roaring furnaces without
Sinking and stand in the steel walled pi,
without feeling dread, he will be man
| of rare nerve.
sea, men toll amid fierce fires whose
flames In that confined space lick out at
them with every movement Of the long
| steel Slice bars that are used TO feed the
! gaping furnaces, as savage Gagged beasts
are fed. and, like the beasts, the fires are
raging TO kill the men, who master them
only by desperate labor.
Ihere is no room 10 spare on a modern
| ship. Therefore. the mighty furnaces are
| so crowded together that the men who
serve them have barely space TO move 10
and fro before them. So near them are
! the stokers and fremen that until their
skins are hardened TO it they blister and
crack with the heat. The chance visitor
can bear 1t only few minutes, and even
In that short time he feels as if the air
were roasting him alive
EVERY time one OF the d-hOt disks that
serves as furnace door is opened the
terrific fires within seem about to leap out
to destroy the ship. Fine gray ashes
make film in the air. and suffocate one.
The ai- that is forced into the stoke
hole from above catches the heat so
quickly that 1t Is shrivelling almost as
soon as IL comes from the vents Of the
blowers.
Slice bars and shovels are too hot for
any hand except that of a hardened fire.
man TO touch. There is nothing to be
heard of the sounds OF the sea or of the
rushing Of the ship. Noises arJ plentiful.
but they are the noises Of soughing flames
and Of groaning machinery
That is a stokehole when the ship is 90
ing at ordinary speed and there are no es-
pecial demands on the stokers and the fire.
men. When there comes the time that a
ship must fight for her life, chase or run,
the stokehole becomes place of torment
When the warship goes into action she
calls on every one Of her hundred and
more engines TO be in readiness, and the
firemen must furnish every pound OF
steam that they can give her. The more
they give her the louder are the demands
of the engineers for more, and the men
must work at the fires till they fall |
Forced draught is the order then and the |
stokehole is practically sealed up that no |
air may escape from It. except through |
the furnaces. The fires grow fercer and |
hercer. and soon there is no spot In the |
steel pit that is not unbearably hot. Men |
watch the indicators and shout for more |
steam. The engineers yell at the toiling |
horde that the fires are not hot enough |
to work a tug-boat. The CRATES are |
choking with the steady rush OF ashes.
Coal is pouring into the roaring mouths |
Of the furnaces in steady streams. So |
enormous is the draught that solid masses |
Of II are sucked into them as If they were
feathers. The water-carriers carry bucket
after bucket to the painting men coated
with ashes.
Their naked bodies are hidden under
The gray coating Of the ashes, that are so
thick in the air now that the electric
lights shine only dmly through them.
Men fall in queer limp heaps. and are
dragged away TO die or TO go mad. Relief
after relief is called 10 the burning hole,
md still the open thrcttles Of the ships
engines take the steam faster than the
furnaces can make 1t.
What is going on above no man down
there knows. Sometimes a dull echoing
shock may tell them that the ship has
been hit hard. News drifts to them at
that the enemy is winning or
losing, but OF the glory OF the fighting
hey know nothing. They know only that
4 the ship Is torpedoed they will die |
with no chance to swim or fight. Even II
She sinks more slowly. from damages
through cannon shot. they must stay at
heir posts till the end; and when they
get the word TO save themselves they
nave before them desperate climb I'D
ilippery ladders and through narrow
bad course to race with a
'ushing sea when it is pouring into a
ceiling ship from every part. While their
loid is protected better than any other
BART OF the ship against the direct i'm
'act of projectiles, there is no protection
gaIast torpedoes or shells that may drop !
nto the smokestacks.
The stokers and the firemen of the
modern warship face many OF the dan
ers Of war, much of the suffering, and
et little Of the glory. e