The Van Buren press., 1903-08-15
HEROES OF THE
ENGINE ROOM
ONE of the real heroes of the sea, y

L
said the manager of a transat-
lantic line, as he nodded at the retreat
ing 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 manger apondered moment.
"I'll prove to you that these men are
the real heroes of the ocean, he said,
and these are the stories that he offered
in 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. In midocean 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 hurricaneswept sea, to
repair the boiler Immediately.
The fire was pulled out from under 1t,
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 chsel 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-
ers.
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, In each
case he stayed inside nearly two min
utes, and as he crawed 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 tsat
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-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 Che pipes and breath
lessly began making repairs.
He had almost finished when, as un.
expectedly as the valve had got ont Of
order, a pipe joint, below the one on
which he was standing, broke, and a
stream of kissing steam enyeloped his
foot. When he endeayorod TO pull It
away, he found It to be tightly wedged
in the Joint
lie had on low shoes, and before his
cries brought aid his shoe and sock
4
leg were parbolcd He was unable to
resume work for three months, and to-
day he walks with percepuble limp
Yet he looked upon It all as part of the
days work and uttered no complaint
Ten years ago, Just around Christmas
time the umbriO broke her thrust shaft
and noundored helplcssly IN midoceOn
The part that broke was 90 feet long and
weighed tons,