The Savannah morning news., 1903-02-22

gied them fair excuse.
M Andrews Hymn.
lone of the real heroes of the sea"
said the manager of a transatlantic
line, as he nodded at the retreatlng
figure Of his late visitor. lone 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
thqt'e because the latter don't know
Nnel nor where nor how the engineers
preserve their lives, for their deeds are
unheralded outside the engineers 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
man they never knew.
The manager pondered a moment.
mi prove to you that these men are
the real heroes Of the ocean," he said;
and these are the stories that he offer
ed in proof
Working Inside n Red Hot Boiler.
certain steamship in the Pacific
trade had been sent out from her
home port with the majority of her
boilers out of commission. In mid
ocean one of the few boilers capable
of being fired got leaky tubes, and it
became necessary. in order to keep
the ship under any sort of Roadway
in a hurriCane-SWept sea, to repair the
boiler Immediately. The fire was
pulled out from under it, the man
hole lid was unscrewed and removed,
and the first engineer, wrapped from
head to foot in a thick coating of as
bestos, crawled into the red-hot boiler
and with chisel and hammer began
tearing out the defective tubes. For
two minutes he worked, and as he
worked, held his breath. for a single
gasp of the fiery air in his lungs would
have killed him. Then he crawled to
the man-hole and was pulled out by
stokers.
Five minutes later he again went
into the boiler. This time, after
nearly two minutes work, he succeed
ed in cutting away two tubes. On the
third entry he removed three, and at
ter 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. In each case he staid inside
nearly two minutes, and as he crawled
out the last time he barely had breath
and strength enough left to say to his
chief before he tainted dead away:
ITS 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 disturbed by dreams in
which he roasted in red-hot fur
naces.
Standing on Red Hot Pipes.
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 scaldlng steam.
Instantly, and regardless of his own
safety he scrambled upon the pipes
and breathlessly began making repairs.
He had almost finished when, as un-
eXpectedly as the valve had got out
of order, a pipe joint, below the one
on which he was standing, broke, and
a stream of kissing steam enveloped
his foot. When he endeaVored to pull
1t away, he found it to be tightly
wedged in 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 parboiled. He
was unable to resume work for three
months, and to-day he walks with a
perceptible limp. Yet he looked upon
1t all as a part of the days work. and
uttered no complaint.
RislSing Lite Under n Broken shaft.
1t was in December of 1892 Just
around Christmas time, that the UNI
bria broke her thrust shaft and floun-
dered helplessly in mid-ocean. The
part that broke was twenty-six feet
long and weighed tons.
Under the direction of Chief Engineer
Lawrence Tomlinson, the pieces were
secured and suspended by chains from
the top of the shaft tunnel and then,
although the shaft threatened to fal!
on him at any moment, he crawIed 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 collar to
be welded 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 the
space. All told he labored unceasinR-
ly for two full days. After that he
slept for two hours and the twenty
two hours following he worked with
out pause until at last he had not only
welded. but bolted, the jacket in place.
The job was finished late Monday
night, and the ship was got under way.
Early Tuesday morning the head of a
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 long story short, Tomlin-
son was crawling into the tunnel con-
unually until the voyage ended, but
while the passengers did not know OF
his heroism until they landed and read
OF it in the newspapers. Tom1inson had
the satisfaction. at least OF knowing
that his work had prevented the shat
from knocking a hole into the ship's
side and from leaving the vessel help.
less and in peril in a stormy sea until
a tow should chance along.
Frying Open Safety Valves.
1t was one of Engineer Tomlinson's
fellow Scotchmen 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 don.
key engine, used for hosting cargo and
luggage, had been started at sea and
trustworthy fireman put in charge
or 1t. An hour or so later the second
engineer, whose watch il was. distin-
guished an unusual noise among the
multitude of sounds of the big ship-sc
Keen IS an engineers sense of hearing
ne located II instantly as coming
from the donkey engine, and he rush.
"a thither. AS he got near. he realized
tnat the SAFETY valve had stuck and