New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-06-10

L.
watch looks at the log the charthouse tah1s
signs it. and says to his relief that it is as 49,
twenty as may be, saving the odd shiuings ana
pence. the drop of oil wanting in the cherub loo
and perhaps the personal error of the snan
midshipman The relief opens his mouth 10 ~
claim "Ah. gooGp wien wicked little wave ton
of spray catches him in the face and makes hin,
Spluttar instead and seek shelter behind tn.
screen. The small midshipman is again stand
| ing att on the sounding machine platform now
clothed and in his right mind; he longer
wonders at the doings of the Salleys crew A
Seething, white of water. reaching hall
way to the upper deck. clings to and boils round
the stern. that he is thinking that if he fell
overheard into it he would stay close TO the
ship and be able to pull himself up again bv
the sternwalk staEchiOns; and lest he may get
giddy and do it, he glanceS over the quarter To
one side, and sees the water. rudely heaped into
breaking waves, tearing past at twenty knots
He thinks better of it, knowing that he would
be a good mile astern before a boat could be
lowered, and goes below, to find his overhead
locker shaken down and all his household gods
and the photographs of all the only girls he
ever loved strewn about the gunroom and the
deck, wet from leaking scuttle. He picks
them up and, looking round to that none Of
his merciless mesSmates have seen the dance
programme with the little bit Of golden hair
sticking out puts them away. more safely. in
the private till of his chest
Just open one of the doors leading down to the
engine room, and look down upon the mighty
beatings of the vessels heart; take the prOfered
bit of cotton waste and go down backward
holding on to both rails, and keep your elbows
to yourself; and as you descend realize more
and more fully that here, here indeed is the
full speed trial Itself in all its glory. The noise
of twenty different engines strikes the ear
banging and clanking, separately and collec-
lively, each one at it's own particular task; the
dynamo, the circulating pump. the air fan, and
so on, all damned and crammed into the engine
| room below the water. the sure armor that
makes shot and shell to rcOchet, the stopping Of
any one Of which by some small rod breaking
smaller pin coming out would, directly indi-
rectly, cause the speed of the ship TO slacken
more or less according to the relative impor-
lance Of that particular engine. Above all these
smaller noises is the labored pulsation of the
main engines. with the massive crank heads
swishing round at rate seemingly quite dis
proporIionate to their size, looking like a gi-
gantic prizefghter hitting out increasingly. The
engineer above on the cylinder. taking dia-
grams with nimble fingers, hears like trained
bandmaster out of the thousand and one differ
ent noises great and small, that certain small
engine is knocking out of tune, and goes down
to see about ii accordingly. Between the throb-
bling cylinders. crOuching the platform are
stokers. in their fearnought trousers and flannel
shirts. fairly revealing in grease and oil, squirt
ing the latter here and there with long brass
squrtS. feeling a CrOSShead for its heat SQUIRT
ing oil again on the piston rod, then TO work
with Il Spanner where a leaky joint is announced
by kissing of steam at every stroke. and SO
round again. And they seem to like it.
\ great thinker once said, with no little truth.
that
The blooming lot would go to pot.
If the boilers wouldn't boil
Go and see them boiling Open one of the
air locked doors and close it before attempting
to open the other. if you don't want to get blown
away by the half-inch forced draught you viii
let loose Now open the other and enter regu-
lar pocket inferno Oh. the awful heat OF IL
See those black devils, each pair OF white eyes
and dim outline, moving about in the uncer.
tain light of a ftful sush lamp. One Of them
is providing himself with two long iron bars,
surely furnished at the end with pincers and
ins truments of torture, as seen at the Campo
Santo of Pisa; opens a small door and thrusts
them in turn. into the mouth of a burning hery
furnace to rake and pull about; surely the I'M
righteous are having bad time of il. Another
pair Of eyes provides, with black arms, a bucket
full CT more Goals of lire to be heaped or. Could
the Great Chief Stoker himself improve much
on this fearful place, even for his own purposeSf
From the other side of the stOkehold a cry goes
up, How lOng?' TO which reply comes Only
ten minutes more; and so you need not clean
your fire till afterWard. few minutes later
the engineer comes in and gives orders for
working down. Everything has been tired b
the balance and nothing has been found want-
ing The main engines pulse slower. The fore
most funnel ceases TO rock. The seaSulls in the
wake OF the ship down The powers are
informed. Three flags flutter TO the masthead
The trial Is satisfactory.