The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-09-24
USE OF HARD COAL
ON OUR WAR SHIPS
REASONS WHY ANTHRACITE Is
TO BE PREFERRED.
Not as Liable to Spontaneous Com
bustion as Soft Coal, and It's AL
most Smokeless Character Would
Be of Great Service During a Bat
tle-Soft Coal Assisted the Amer
lean Fleet to Destroy Cervera's
Ships-Fog of Smoke Announced
Their Coming.

In considering the question of the
use OF anthracite coal on war ships,
attention was called by the editor of
the Anthracite associations monthly
letter to the fact that a difference in
the percentage of ash between anthra-
cite and bituminous coal does not nee
ess@ily show that one or another Is
INFERIOR 1t Is, of course admitted that
anthracite will yield more ash than a
hlgh grade soft coal, but IL should be
remembered that some 26 per cent. of
the soft coal is volatile matter and
that only about so per cent of this is
capable of furnishing heat. OF the ex-
ceedingly small amount of volatile
matter in anthracite, so per cent. is
combustible. In other words. anthra-
cite yielding even II per cent. ash
would have the same amount of avail
able carbon as a soft coal containing
but per cent ash.
In claiming that anthracite will serve
equally as well as soft coal, 1T Is not
asserted that 1t will replace, with equal
results, the coal which Is used to make
speed tests of naval vessels and to
earn their builders a premium. The
fuel used for this purpose is picked by
hand, each lump passing the inspec-
ton OF two or more persons at the
loading point, and being subject, also,
to inspection at the point of delivery.
Consequently, it is in every way su-
perior to any fuel delivered in the mar
ket, and a rate of speed obtained by
1t shows the maximum which may be
secured from the vessels under condi-
tions which are clearly impossible in
actual service. In other words. such
test cannot in any sense be taken as
standard for the performance of the
vessel. Whether or not a test of this
character Is better for the purposes of
the navy, than one made with a quail
lty or fuel which can always be Sc
cured, is a matter to be decided by
the naval officials and builders.
CLAIM FOR ANTHRACITE.
The claim for anthracite is that, so
far as its steam making qualities are
concerned, they are equal, 'and prob
ably superior, to the average soft coal
purchased by the navy for the use of
its vessels at home and foreign sta
tions and, consequently, IL this gov
ernment establishes coaling stations at
various points and carries at them
supply of anthracite, it will always
have a fuel whose steaming quality
Will be regular and can be depended
upon at all times and with little re-
gard to the period during which the
coal may have been carried in stock.
Further anthracite would be easier to
handle, that is, to load on a naval ves-
sci or take from a collier, since the
pieces would be practically of the same
size and there would be no dust. thus
lending itself well to the use of me-
chanical appliances for such work.
Again, in addition to this, a vessel
carrying her bunkers full Of anthracite
would be under no danger from spon-
taneous combustion of the coal, and in
this would be avoided one of the great
est of the cares and worries of the Of
ficers of the vessels.
The spontaneous combustion of soft
coal in the bunkers is not only a
source OF care and worry, but equally
or great danger, and the injury or de-
struction of property and lives. Nearly
every vessel in the navy has had this
TO contend against, and 1t has only
been by the greatest care and watch
fulness that disaster has been avoided
FIRE In coal bunkers adjoining the mag
azines is, of course. liable to cause the
greatest damage. but serious harm can
come from others in which, through
the heat from the fire, plates NAV he
warped and grave structural injuries
arise. The loss of one vessel through
such cause, and this might take place
at any time. would cost the navy more
than it could ever explain.
LOSS FROM SOFT COAL.
Nor is the loss through spontaneous
combustion confined to prospective
damages, Every fire in the bunkers
destroys large quantity of coal and
seriously affects the steaming qualities
or the part untouched by fire. Only
recently the steamer "Leonidas," car
rying coal from Hampton Roads to
guantanamo, arrived at that port with
her cargo on fire. What percentage
was actually destroyed or thrown over
board to prevent the remainder from
igniting, or what depreciation the bal
ance suffered from the heat and water
poured upon it has not been reported
put II would require but a small loss
TO materially increase the price per
ton as represented in the steam pro-
ducing value of that remaining.
or the Importance of the other adj
vantage which anthracite offers.
that of being smokeless, the Washing
ton correspondent of the New York
Herald stated In that paper, that. af-
ter interviews with Captain A. S.
Crowninshield. chief of the Bureau Of
Navigation; Captain +. w. Dickens
principal assistant to the chief of the
Bureau of Navigation; Captain Charles
O'Neil, chief of the Bureau Of Ord
nance; Chief Naval Constructor Philip
Hitchborn; Engineer in Chief G. w.
Melville, and Civil Engineer NJ. T. End
icott, the last named. chief of the Bu-
reau OF Yards and Docks, these men,
each an expert of long practical ex-
perience, shows that the war has de-
veloped that smokeless powder and
smokeless coal are essential in the
American navy for the future. On this
points the Philadelphia Record says;
IMPORTANT DISADVANTAGE.
IAN important disadvantage caused
by smoke is the fact that when a
squadron is in motion a dense cloud
or smoke hangs around the vessels.
preventing, very often, a prompt read
ing OF signals or the ability to locate
each vessel, and in an engagement SER
iously interfering with accurate fir
ing by obscuring the range. This Is
especially true when the atmosphere
Is heavily charged moisture or the
wind blows in the same direction as
the vessels are moving. The attempted
escape OF Admiral Cervera with his
fleet from the harbor of Santiago and
the disastrous results following Il
forcibly illustrates the disadvantage
OF using bituminous coal. While il
was impossible from the location of
the harbor to see the Spanish Admir-
ais ShinS until they emerRad tharn-