Daily camera., 1899-01-16
WARsHIPs' BOTTOMS.
Are Carefully Examined and Cleaned
at Frequent Intervals.
The Hazardous and Trying Work In
Which the Officers of the Great
Vessels Are Constantly
Engaged.

There is one phase Of the ship life of
the American naval officer that is
scarcely known to the laymen and that
can hardly be understood by him as he
looks upon the modern ship in all her
attractive cleanliness, and meets her
neatly uniformed officers upon the
spotless upper deck. Not only are the
parts Of the ship in sight kept clean
and free from rust and decay, but also
those far-down, contracted spaces that
never see the light of day. These in
clude the cellular compartments be-
tween the inner and outer skins of the
ship known technically 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 es-
pecially 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,
a system of inspection has been de-
vised, and the inspectors must be, un-
der the naval regulations, commits
stoned officers. A permanent board Of
inspection is formed upon each ship.
which must consist of one engineer
and two line officers. The duty of this
board is periodically to make personal
inspections of all the parts of the ship,
examine everything critically, suggest
1,o
found to exist, and to report to the
commanding officer, for transmission
to the navy department, the condition
of the vessel in detail.
Numerous precautions 1ust be taken
to avoid the risk of losing life while per-
forming 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 un-
fit to sustain life. If possible, such
compartments are blown out with pure
air led through hose from blower
duct and all manhole plates removed
before being entered. A lighted candle
is always carried by the inspecting off
Ger upon his crawling tour. If the can
die burns dimly or seems upon ohe
point Of being extinguished there is a
deficiency of oxygen, and he will imme-
diately seek the nearest opening lead
ing from the compartment and leave it
at once. Men are stationed at places as
near as possible to him so that they
may hear his voice and render imme-
diate assistance in case of need. No
one is allowed to enter any confined
space on board ship without an uncov-
cred light, although in addition port
able electric light is carried frequently
to render the inspection more thor
ough.
1t not infrequently happens that ofi-
GERS and men become so wedged be-
tween the bulkheads and beams while
performing this duty as to make it ex-
tremely difficult to remove them, and
more than one officer of the navy il
upon the retired list to-day because Of
permanent injury to his health con-
ad&ScO "Aiic PSlioAA lHIS dEuuouS
labor. Because of the care exercised
it IL rare that a life is lost in this serv-
ice, but in one case at least the RASH
ness of man proved fatal to him. One
Of the main boilers of the cruiser New
ark, while flagship OF the South Allan
tic station, having been tightly closed
for month, while empty, in order to
preserve it from deterioration, the cop