The Tomahawk., 1903-08-20

Early Tuesday morning the head q q
bolt broke off, the jacket slipped, and
once more Tomlinson had to crawl Into
the tunnel and make repairs.
Again the ship got under way and
again after an hour of running, snap
went two bolts. And once more Tom
linson risked life and limb in. the shaft
tunnel. @ ~
To make along story short, Tomlinson
was crawling into the tunel continually
until the voyage ended, but while the
passengers did not know Of his heroism
until they landed and read of it in the
papers, Tomlinson had the satisfaction
at least, of knowing that his work had
prevented the shaft from knocking a
hole into the ship s side and leaving the
vessel helpless and in peril of a stormy
sea until tow should chance along.
1t was Scotchman who pried open
a safety valve and prevented a serious
explosion on liner that Is sailing the
seas to-day.
For some reason or other the donkey
engine, used for hosting cargo and
luggage, had been started at sea and
fireman put in charge of it. An hour
or SO later the second engineer, whose
watch it was, distinguished an unusual
noise among the multitude of sounds
! of the big ship-so keen is an engi-
neer's sense of hearing.
He located it as coming from the
! donkey engine, and rushed thither. AS
, he got near he realized that the safe
ty valve had stuck and after he had
/ slid down the narrow, oily companion
! way, he found not only the safety
valve stuck tight, but the fireman
asleep at his post, and the boiler all
but ready to explode.
In less time than it takes to tell it,
he grabbed crowbar and was up
among the pipes, frantically trying I'd
pry open the valve. How long he
worked he does not know-"it seemed
years." he said; but he finally got the
valve open in the nick of time and
prevented an explosion, which would
surely have blown big hole in the
ships bottom.
Not infrequent1y the engineers are
compelled to work in water up to their
knees. The plates of many ship,
when she straddles a sea, move and
cut at their rivets and leak nightly.
Then the engineer must wade around
in an engine-room flooded from port
to port and give heed to naught but
the welfare of his engines.
He must not think about the mani
fold dangers Of sailing in a "leaky
old tub" or of rheumatism, or other
ills that will come to him from work
ing for hours in brine and bilge water.
1t is a trite saying of the sea that
wherever there is a ship engineer
there also is a bad case of rheuma-
tism
1t is only when cylinder head
bursts or a large valve gives way,
filling the engine-rooms with scBd-
ing steam before the opportunity can
be seized upon to repair the damage,
that an engineer is forced to leave
his post. Then it is that he has to
charge for dear life up steep, narrow
companionways, made slippery by en-
CINE oil, to place of safety And all
the time he climbs upward, the steam
pursues him, for the companionways
are in the only opening leading out
Of the engine-rooms.
But it is not often that escaping
steam gets ahead OF an engineer. for
he is man trained to act like light
ming flash in emergencies The emer-
gency is not always below decks.
An English tramp once came into
New York harbor showing the queer
est-looking funnel imaginable. While
several days out storm carried away
the funnel, and to keep their ship
from having to be towed in, the engi-
neers rugged up funnel out of pieces
of old sails, Irvine. rope ends, fiattened
out tin cans, and all other kinds of
junk that they could make to serve
their purpose.
This wonderful work they held in
position by lines made fast to the
masts, and so well did it fulfil the
duty for which it was constructed that
the tramp made port only day or so
late under her own steam, refusing
all offers of assistance and thus saving
to her owners thousands of dollars
in salvage money.
"And such instances" said the man
ager, are almost of everyday occur
renee. IN. Y. Sun.
ARID ACRES RECLAIMED.