The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-10-06

ME tlllS operation Is EOluS Oh lic
ship undcr.ocs q thorough cleaning
| that makes her shine like new dollar.
Painters, repaircrs and cleaners swarm
over her. Truck loads of provisions.
amounting in the aggregate to half q
hundred tons, are put on board. Every
piece of her machinery, every plate and
rivct is carefully inspected, and by the
time the cargo is shipped and passen-
gers come aboard matter OF $4,000,
aside from the cost of coal and pro-
visions, has been expended in prcpar-
ing her for her voyage.
THE MEN WHO DO THIS MARVEL.
While the captain is, of course, the
supreme authority, the actual manage
ment is conducted by three separate
departments The first of these con-
Germs itself with the sailing Of the YES
sci, and is presided over by the chief
navigator, under the directions of the
captain himself The second is the
engineers department. This is ulder
the direction of the chief eng gineer, with
whom the captain seldom interleres.
1t is all important TO the welfare and
progress of the ship, but the passengers
see practically nothing ofits operations.
The third department looks after the
wants Of the passengers, and is under
the direction of a chief steward.
The first of these three departments
includes the on Y men on shipboard
who can properly be called sailors.
Their duties. however, are not those of
the traditional Jack Tar, but consist
largely of scrubbing decks and operat-
ing lifts and machinery. In fact, about
the only item of their work that recalls
| the old time duties of the sailor is in
the drill for manning the boats, which
they are compelled to 90 through at
regular intervals. The men under the
direction OF the navigators and their
suboflicers number about 100 in all.
In the engineering department fully
200 men are employed. The officers
include, besides the chief engineer, a
score of assistants, hydraulic engineers,
refrigerator engineers, water tenders,
storekeepers and a clerk. There are
sixty-fve stokers, divided into three
shifts, whose duty it is to shovel into
the twelve furnaces the $50 tons of
coal required to keep the ship at full
speed during each twenty-four hours.
As many more 'trimmers' pass the
coal from the bunkers to the furnace
doors and thirty-livc greascrs look after
the machinery of the engine rooms.
The stokcrs, who perform the most
arduous labor it is possible to conceive
of, are paid s25 per month, while the
trimmers and greasers receive a little
less than this amount. The men are
all employed in European ports, as it
is possible to secure them there more
cheaply than in America. Most of
them are Scandinavians or Irish, while
the engineers as rule are Scotch and
tI,o 90 ilor. Enulicb
While the principal activities Of the
ships company are comprised within
those departments presided over by the
chief navigator, the chief engineer and
the chief steward there are numbcrless
smaller enterprises that go on more or
less independently. There is vast
amount of auxiliary machinery; in fact,
nearly everything is done by machinery
on board the modern ocean liner. The
Oceanic carries some forty hydraulic
engines. There are engines to open
and close the furnace doors and to open
and close the partitions between the
watertight compartments; an engine to
work the tifty-three ton rndder; engines
to work the hawse pipes; hydraulic
lifts to convey food and dishes from
kitchen to pantry. This machinery,
together with the electric light and re-
frigerator plants, requires the services
of half Il hundred men.
Thus there are some 800 men en-
ployed in the actual work of sailing a
great ocean monster like the Oceanic.
Tic remaining 200 are required to
look after the comfort Of the passengers.
FEEDING TIE PASSENGERS.
The culinary operations of the
Oceanic dwarf those Of even the largest
hotels. No less than twenty four meals
are served on sliipboard every day.
There are four each for the first and
second cabin passengers and the officers.
There are three each for the stecrage
passengers, the engineers, stewards and
S,i.orS Each of these seven big fami-
lies has its own staff Of cooks, number
ing between thirty and forty altogether.
Th"rc are about seventy dining room
walters they would be called
on shore-anl about the same number
of bed orm stewards or csamberlains.
The vast responsibility for supplying
food to the steamship community rests
principally upon the chict steward.
Every afternoon he rctires to his cabin
and plans out the menus for the follow
ing day-a separate one for each OF his
numerous families from the elaborate
course dinners of the first cabin folks
to the comparatively simple fare of
steerage and crew.
These menus are thpn Drintpu bN he