Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-08-10
HEROES OF THE
 ENGINE ROOM

said the manager of a transat- lantic line, as he nodded at the retreat 1ng figure of his visitor, "One of our engineers, and he and his kind save many ship many time at great per sonal risk, and are not even thanked for their efforts by the passengers.
 But that's because the latter don't know when or where or how the en- gineers preserve their lives, for their deeds are unheralded outside the en- gineers' mess and the captains room. Yes, sir, it's true that
 :''They've words for every one but me-
 shake hands with half the crew, Except the dour Scots engineer the men
 they never knew"
 The manager apondered a moment.
 ''IIl prove to you that these men are Ehe real heroes of the ocean" he said, and these are the stories that he offered tn proof:
 A certain steamship in the Pacific trade had been sent out from her home port with the majority of her boilers out of commission. Tn mfdocean one of the few boilers capable of being fired got leaky tubes, and it became neces- sary, in order to keep the ship under headway in a hurricane-swept sea, to repair the boiler immediately.
 The fire was pulled out from under it, the manhole lid was unscrewed and re- moved, and the first engineer, wrapped from head to foot in thick coating of asbestos, crawled into the hot boiler, and with chisel and hammer began tear Ing out the defective tubes.
 For two minutes he worked, and as he worked held his breath, for single gasp of the fiery air in his lungs would have killed him. Then he crawled to the manhole and was pulled out by stok- CTS
 Five minutes later he again went into the boiler This time, after nearly two minutes work, he succeeded in cutting away two tubes. On the third entry he removed three, and after that he spent another five minutes resting.
 Then came the task of roaming in new tubes. and to do this he was compelled to enter the boiler five times. Tn each case he stayed inside nearly two min utes, and as he crawled out the last time he barely had breath and strength enough to say to his chief before he tainted dead away:
 "It's done, sir
 As a result of his experience in that hell of heat, the man was laid up in the ships hospital for over week. And to this day his sleep is constantly dis turbed by dreams in which he is roasted in red-h hot furnaces.
 This same engineer was in the boiler room one day when suddenly valve, in among a great coil of pipes above the boilers, began leaking badly and filling the room with scalding steam. Instant ly, and regardless of his own safety, he scrambled upon the pipes and breath lessly began making repairs.
 He had almost finished when, as un- expectedly as the valve had got out of order, pipe joint, below the one on which he was standing, broke, and stream of missing steam enveloped his foot When he endeavored to pull it away, he found it to be tightly wedged tn the joint.
 He had on low shoes, and before his cries brought aid his shoe and sock were burned off and his foot and lower leg were parboiled. He was unable to resume work for three months, and to- day he walks with perceptible limp. Net he looked upon 1t all as part of the days work, and uttered no complaint
 Ten years ago, just around Christmas time, the Umbria broke her thrust shaft and foundered helplessly in midocean. The part that, broke was 26 feet long and weighed tons.
 Under the direction of the chief en- k4- pended by chains from the top of the shaft tunnel, and then, although the shaft threatened to fall on him at any moment, he crawled into the tunnel, found that the shaft was broken off square, so that it could not be riveted together, and spent hours in taking measurements for a collar to be fastened over the break.
 He spent other hours in making and putting on the collar, all the time either lying on the fiat of his back or working in a squatting position, so small was .ha space. All told, he labored unceas- lngly for two full days.
 After that he slept two hours, and the 9 hours following he worked without pause until at last he had bolted the Jacket in place.
 The job was finished late Monday night, and the ship was got under way. 61arIy Tuesday morning the neao or a bolt broke of, 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 a long story short, Tomlinson was crawling into the tunel continually z..s 1~..& ~.vt.s1xs !, 4