Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-17
BELOW THE WATERLINE
IN THE ENGINE ROOM ~ 4
LINER.
Work In the Stokehold Bravery Of
Engineers-Love Of Men for
Their Steam Pets.

Benjamin Brooks in Scrbner's Magazine.
The work OF eternally pushing the old
ship on past the meridians the race against
time and the sun and the interest on tho
money. begins in the gloomy stokehold.
You have heard that the stokehoid is hot,
and when you have clambered into 1t over
disorderiy piles OF still smoking ashes.
steadying yourself by taking incautious
held of burning hand-rails. and stand for
the first time face to face with the fur
naces. you feel assured of the fact. But
besides being hot 1t is the most active. III
teresting part Of the ship. 1t Is her whole
life You must spend years studying IL
before you can stand there in command OF
your watch with your hard on the feed
check-valves, your eyes on everything in
general, and keep the steam mp where 1t
belongs In spite of the ravenous engines
sucking 1t away from you; years befoi
you can tell. in one swift glance. whether a
fireman is burning the greatest possible
/ amount of coal per hour in his fires with
the least amount of waste.
Feeding the Fires.
The problem is this: Under a certain large
quantity of water. which is continually
changing. build thirty fires: and by means
of them. Notwithstanding they must all be
continually replenished with fresh coal and
freed from ashes. keep 1t at perfectly
even temperature (withn a very few de-
grees) day and night for an indefinite
period. The game is the More interesting
because a ship can never afford to spare
more than just barely enough space for
her propelling machinery: consequently
everything-engines. boilers. furnac
be worked to the very limit of their capac-
1ty. The game goes as regularly by turns
and in cycles progressive whist. Start
I'm o
are opened to admit a few shovelflIls OF
coal thrown quickly into the front OF the
furnaces. then closed again as soon pos
slble lest too much cold air should enter. /
AS soon they closed the fires next
in order are served the same way. and then
third group. Next the green coal in
the first fires is raked back through the
furnaces to complete its combustion. After ,
another short interval it is necessary to
slice them-that is, probe them. with long
pointed bars to lift the clinkers from the
CRATES and make air passages. Finally, 1t
Is time to stoke again.
Engine Room Heroes.
Nobody who has not been to sea can
imagine all the things that can happen to
ships machinery nor properly estimate
the cleverness and ingenuity used up in
repairs. The youth who leaves his shop
full Of wonderful and costly machines has
another complete education waiting for him
at sea in the wonderful things that can be
accomplished in time with a plain ordinary
hammer and chisel, a rather WORKOUT file,
and great deal of ingenuity l should
like to have been aboard that steamer dis
abled in the Red sea, where they took a
boat davit, Strengthened it out in rivet
forge. made a new boiler feed pump piston
rod out of it, and went on again-or better
still, on the ship that lost a propeller and
the end of her tail shaft off the west coast
OF Africa-to replace which they were OBJ
liged to move her cargo, pump her forward
nj no hoy md
raise her sern out of the water, drag the
broken shaft, several tons in weight out
through the long alley (too low and cramp-
ed to stand up), plug up the hole behind 1t,
drag In the spare shaft and couple 1t up,
and lower the new propeller down over the
stern-all while she kicked and walowed
in a heavy sea-and finally had to lower
the chief engineer over after the propeller,
where he sat tied to a fiimsy staging MAX
ing all fast and secure while the vessel
jounced him up and down in the sea till he
bled at the nose and ears and the crew
kept the sharks at bay with pistols and
boat hooks to prevent them from ca ting
him up before he finished the job. That
was a seventy-two hours in which the
young and aspiring engineer might learn
host Of valuable and interesting things.
Work Of Engineer Staff.
A little army Of us rose and worked and
slept again, as though our existence was
timed by the revolutions of the engine.
as If he were a certain cog in a certain
wheel Of a clock. We were ALL like Gaul,
divided into three parts or watches" The
first worked from midnight till am. the
second from till s. the third from till
noon. Then came the first again from noon
till pm. and so on till the twenty-four
hours was complete-which gave each man
eight hours of work and sixteen of leisure
each day. At the end of each four-hour
ri a ylvnC dad md irrara
ately the next crew, who had been waiting
along the gloomy 'tween-decks gangways,
knocked out their pipes, appeared on the
gratings above u.s. grasped the slippery
ratings of the stairs, and with their feet
stuck straight out before them, slid down
to the very bottom of the ship like so many
hremen down a pole. The engineer in
charge of the watch went forward into the
stokehold. looked at the steam gauge noted
the height of the water in the boilers. peer
ed unf1nchingly into the binding furnaces,
counted his stokers, and finally nodded to
the engineer who had preceded him to sig
nifty that all was well. The engineer sec
ond in charge took his stand In the engine
room, looked at his gauges. noted the fig
ureS on the revolution counter, the tenn
peratures of the engine room, of the thrust
bearing (Which receives the thrust of the
propellers to drive the ship ahead and even
of the sea water itself through which the
ship was moving. He noted the depth Of
water in the various compartments, listen.
ed for any unusual squeaks or knockings,
asked for any special orders from the chief
and finally took charge. Each greaser, as
soon as he had shed his coat and rolled
up his sleeves, went rapidly about touching
every one of the several bearings for which
he was responsible to see that they were
cool and in good order, looked into the oil
boxes to be sure they properly filed
then, by a nod of his head, assumed re-
sponsibility for the next four hours.
The Million Stamps Story.
From the London Chronicle