The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-10-07

width would fill Fifth avenue from curb
| 70 curo. Her masts would tower above
the average housetop. 1t would take 25.
| OOO horses to represent her power Hef
tonnage is 1000. The rudder alone weighs
| 100 tons. She cost S., 100000. The Oceanic
! is the first steamer to eclipse the Great
Eastern In length, being 7O4 feet long
| A gigantic White Star liner like the
! oceanic has no fewer than forty-eight
! coal trimmers working throughout the
voyage on the COAL preparing it for the
| hremen, who number seventy-two
Both are divided into three watches
| These hard-working, begrimed men are
rarely seen by the passengers. So ia.
| ugulng Is their work that the limit OF
Watch-this IS to say, period of work
has been legally fixed at FOUR hours
/ Then follows eight hours off, then an
other four hours of work, and so on-so
that eight hours work is done every
twenty-four hours
With titan like the Oceanic, six light
ers are alongside continuously for from
three to four days discharging coal into
the steamer for the run to Liverpool
That is, three on each side arc at work
simultaneously. If there Is ticklish
! thing steamship company does not care
to talk about it is the amount of coal
consumed by crack liner. The engineers
have instructions to be mute but inquiries
can be made, and what the Oceanic burns
per tWenty-four hours was figured out
with the "elp of one of the coal staff, with
certain measure of precision. The max.
imum consumption IN twenty-four hours
on the last run over from Liverpool was
just over 200 TONS the lowest. $50 tons.
AS the Oceanic can only with painting
difficulty maintain H-22 knots. it will be
seen she is a typical coal glutton To
lay" one of her fires runs into $3.50 tons
Of coal.
1t is little surmised by the 1000 odd pas
sengers on a great liner that almost
throughout the voyage there are employ
ed in the depths of the steamer a horde
of men who do nothing but work at the
coal, separating it and asserting 1t for
the furnaces. Poor devils, they are always
as black as the black snow CT Siberia
and anything blac1er than that phenom-
enon is never seen by any one The coal
trimmers' work is laborious, making him
ooze freely, so that he gets q thorough
coal-dust bath in the course of four
hours-the usual spell of work It Is
not observation-disclosures it is possible
for them to wrok longer at 4 stretch.
And when the foreman is not near, they
squat on the coal in the dark depths and
have quiet smoke. The shovel is be-
tween their knees, and momentary idle
push at that on the Goals makes one think
a lot of work is being done-sust as a
solitary hen scraping for her food in a
garden will make almost as much noise
as an elephant marching over dead
leaves
Inc coal trimmers work hour after
hour, their only illumination being a
candle lantern, for 1t has not even been
thought worth while to put In electric
lights where they work. For sleeping
quarters they have the noisicst part OF
the steamer assigned them, usually as
black as their own coal holes, with tho
eternal scuddling rumble o. the twin
screws; or If a single propeller, the
more pleasant and memorable "woofwpf,
wufwoof," which one will never forget.
So uniform is the tread of the single
screw, that a trained mind quietly rest
ing on a deck chair amidships, can ac-
tually feel the steamer being gently
forced forward with every half-turn Of
the propeller-the "woof' sound being the
downward plunge of the blade into the
water, and the 'wuf' indicating the rise
OF the other half, with the tip of the
blade striking the air, thus changing the
sound.
Coal trimming is the very bottom rung
of the labor ladder, and the next promo
ton is that of fireman. This is better
paid, naturally, but the position Is no
soft snap 1t requires months of train
ing to make a competent fireman, and
the fireman who can open furnace door
and show an even-all-round fire burning
almost to incandescence, is proud of l4ls
work