Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1899-11-08
4 DANGEROUS DUTY.
INSPECTING DOUBLE BOTTOMS GN
 OUR NAVAL VESSELS.

OUR NAVAL VESSELS.
 C Is Extremely Hazardous and Try
 ing Work. and Many Precautions
 Are Necessary to Prevent Loss Of
 Life DuEinE the Operation.
 There is one phase of the ship life of
 the American naval officer that is
 scarcely known to the layman and that
 can hardly be understood by him as be
 looks upon the modern ship in all her
 attractive cleanliness and meets her neatly uniformed officers upon the spot less upper deck. Not only are the parts
 of the ship in sight kept clean and free
 from rust and decay, but also those far town, contracted spaces that never see :he light of day These include the oel- lular compartments between the inner and outer skins of the ship, known tech nicaIly as the double bottom, and other places that separate the magazines and various built up structures within the ship from the outer skin.
 These narrow compartments are espe- cially susceptible to dampness and rust, and in order that those who have the care of them may do their duty well and so prevent the decay of the ship 8 system of inspection has been devised, and the inspectors must be, under the naval regulations, commissioned off, cers. 4 permanent board of inspection is formed upon each ship, which must consist of one engineer and two line ot-
 icers The duty of this board is period ically to make personal inspections of all the parts of the ship, examine every thing critically, suggest remedies for any evils that may be found 10 exist and to report to the commanding off cer, for transmission to the navy de- partment. the condition of the vessel in detail.
 Uniforms are discarded while mak- ing these inspections, and clad in sea mems ordinary working suits these ofl- cers crawl upon all fours throughout the length of the bottom of the ship. wrig- gle snakelike through narrow openings and examine with their own eyes every inch of the surface of the thin steel plates. The paint of these compart- ments, softened by dsmpDess in some places and by heat and the steam laden air of the boiler rooms in others, rubs of upon the working suits. and an hours crawling transforms the neat officer into very sorry spectacle. In some modern navies this duty is per formed by the enlisted men, the officers being excused from it, but in our navy the feeling exists that an enlisted man should not be asked to go where an off cer is not willing to lead. The result Is that things always work" with the Americans and the efficiency of the fleet Is assured.
 Numerous precautions must be taken to avoid the risk of losing life while performing this duty, for it is attended with no little danger. The atmosphere of confined spaces entirely or partly closed for a considerable length of time becomes robbed of its oxygen in the formation of rust and is soon made unfit to sustain life If possible, such com partments are blown out with pure air led through a hose from a blower duo; and all msnhole plates removed before being entered. A lighted candle is al ways carried by the inspecting officer upon his crawling tour. If the candle burns dimly or seems upon the point of being extinguished, there IS a deficiency of oxygen, and be will immediately seek the nearest opening leading from the compartment and leave 1t at once. Men are stationed at places as near as possib ble to him, so that they may hear his voice and render immediate assist ance in case of need. No one is allowed Q enter any confined space on board ship without an uncovered light al- though in addition a portable electric light is carried frequently to render the inspection more thorough.
 It net infrequently happens that off oers and men become so wedged between bulkheads and beams while performing this duty as to make it extremely diff cult 10 remove them, and more than one officer of the navy is upon the retired list today because of permanent injury to his health contracted while perform ing this arduous labor Because of the care exercised 1t is rare that a life IS lost in this service, but in one case at least the rashness of a man proved fatal to him One of the main boilers of the cruiser Newark, while flagship of the south Atlantic station, having been tightly closed for month, while empty, in order to preserve 1t from deteriora- tion. the coppersmith of that vessel, an energetic, faithful man, thought its in- terior should be examined and, al- though warned repeatedly never to en- ter such boiler without an open light, removed an upper mAnhole plate and crawled in upon the braces with an electric light He told no one that be was going into the boiler, and no one was stationed to assist him in case of need His dead body was found half out and half in the boiler mRnhole with the electric light still burning brightly within the boiler. He had evidently tTdM4tl ll v plu kub uEuCcSr Ac4t a An4At- ness creeping over him and had en- Co regain the open air, but lost l just as life lay within his reach, and so died of asphyxiatiOn. l
 The air in the boiler had been entire | Iy robbed of its oxygen by the iron of | the shell in the formation of rust, and l the residuum was unfit to breathe A 1 lighted candle was snuffsd out immedi- l ately upon being thrust into the boiler, 1 and this condition prevailed until 8 | lower manhole plate was removed. when the heavy gas ran cut as water might | and the air within soon came to be | quite pure. No more vivid illustration l of the dangers to be encountered in the l care of ships afioat and the precautions necessary to be taken in this duty could 4 be given than this incident which . shows that shot and she'll and bursting 1 steam pipes are not the only dangers that confront the officers and men of Uncle Sarn's nsyy.-New York Sun.
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