The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-02
DANGER ON The WARSHIPs.
EVEN IN TIMES OF PEACE ALL
HANDS MUST WATCH OUT.
Instances of Serious Accidents
Averted by Quick Thinking and
Acting-One OF the Ways of Win
ming Promotion in Times of Peace.


Said a man well informed on naval af-
fairs, who has served in the navy. apropos
to the disaster to the Maine;
"The man-of-wars man or officer " no
neglects to keep careful thinking head on
his shoulders during all his waking hours
aboard ship is liable to get hurt. Danger
turks everywhere on a modern ship of war
The most careful naval sailorman often
finds himself on the very brink of dis
aster that, without quick thinking ard
lightning action on somebody's part, would
land him and many of his shlpmates if
not his whole ships company, in kingdom
come. There are several warrant officers
In the United States navy to-day who owe
their uniforms to rapid judgment and bra
very in the face of impending magazine
accidents.
zone of the first of the steel ships of the
new navy had not been in commission
three months before a level-headed APP
prentice boy executed a rapid descent into
the pit of the ships endangered magazine
that put him at the top of the line for the
gunner's warrant he now holds. The gun
division of the crew were oVerhauling the
after Notwithstanding out fixed ammu
milton and cans of powder and guncotton
and cleaning and re-leading the biiges.
The ship had not yet been equipped with
electricity, and so closed lanters were en-
ployed to illuminate the Cimmerian dark
ness of the magazine. The lanterns, as
was customary on men-of-war before the
days of movable incandescept electric
lamps on naval vessels, had been carefully
inspected by officer before the hatch
Of the magazine was lifted Ala of them
were found in apparently tight order, and
the work of hosting the magazine contents
to the main deck by means of block and
tackle was begun.
The chief gunner's mate under the di-
rection of a divisiop officer, was superin-
tending the movements of the men, He
was leaning over the hatch calling out
orders to the hands in the pit of the mag
azine, when he knocked the lantern he
carried in his hand against one of the
steel sides of the hatch The spring that
he'd the lamp within the lantern gave way
and the lamp fell through the hatch. Still
lighted, it fell. bottom side up on top of
big can of powder that was hooked and
ready to be hoisted to the deck. The two
men in the pot of the magazine had gone
away aft to haul more cans of powder to
the hooks, and, their backs being turned
to the hatch opening, they did not see the
lantern lamp resting on the can of powder,
with the flame of the wick right next to
the metal of the can. The men at the top
of the hatch were in a stupor of horror,
but the alert apprentice boy, who after
ward got his sword for the job, was wide
awake. He Skinned down the tackle an
instant after the lamp fell, grabbed the
lamp, the fame of which had already be-
gun to heat the can metal and yelled up
the hatch:
" Pull me and the can up to the main
deck, you fellows.
Having extinguished the lamp with his
fingers, he grabbed the rope with his right
hand and the can of powder with his left
and the men at the hatch opening had him
on the main deck in a jiffy The appren-
tice boy scooted up the poop ladder and
chucked the heavy can of powder over
the side. The commanding officer of the
ship did not complain of the loss of the
powder.
"A second-class fireman serving on one
| of the smaller cruisers had his head about
him when the magazine of his ship was
threatened a few years ago, and he has
had the much better rating of a water
tender ever since. One of his shipmates
of the black gang was cleaning his section
of the after engine room bilges one morn
|. ing. His particular section of the bilges
was on the starboard side of the extreme
after partof the engine room. Immediate
ly aft of the engine room was the ships
magazine, separated from the engine room
by a steel partition. Bilges are cleaned
with turpentine-soaked waste. The bilge
cleaner, too lazy to fill one of the small
turpentine cars provided for the purpose,
dragged fivegallon can of turpentine to
his bilge station and began work Smol1-
ing is strictly prohibited in the engine
rooms of a man-of-war, on account of the
large amount of combustible stores neces-
satiy slowed below. This bilge cleaner
was a reckless sort of blade, however,
and when he had got his blge cleaning
underway he took out his pipe and lit it,
carelessy chucking the match in the bilge
There was some turpentine in the bilge,
and the match, still aglow, set it into a
flame. The bilge cleaner jumped to his
feet, and in doing so he overturned the
five gallons of turpentine. Then the bilge
was converted into a roaring mass of
flame that shot to the berth deck gratings
and played directly against the steel bulk
head separating the engine room from the
magazine. The careless bilge cleaner was
scorched, and he bolted for the spar deck,
yelling like a mailman. The second-class
fireman with the head on him was the
only other man in the after engine room
at the time this happened. He made a
jump for the bilge covers that had been
removed by his reckless mate, and al
though severely burned while doing il, he
thrust them over the bilges Then he
seized a wrench and knocked open one
of the intakes from the sea that let water
directly into the bilge that was in flames
The water came in so rapidly that It
knocked the bilge-covers off, but it drown
ed the fire There was more than foot
of water in the engine rooms before the
intake could be closed again. but that
was small matter compared with what
might have happened had the hot turpen-
tine flame Tapped the magazine bulkhead
much longer BY the time fire quarters
was sounded and the men on deck got
down below, the second-class fireman.
with his hair and eyebrows all burned off
and the skin peeling from his face and
hands, was throwing bucketful after
bucketful of the incoming sea water
against the steel bulkhead, which was al
ready so hot that it sent back clouds of
steam.
Spontaneous combustion in the coal
bunkers Of men-of-war is something that
has always to be guarded against. There
is a good deal of coal dug out of the
ground in many parts of the world that is
practically perfect for am-making pur-
poses, but is not used on men-of-war on
account of its known liability to ignite of
itself In hot coal bunkera a hutti,sy ,,,o,,