Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1907-10-17
FIRE FIGHTING AT SEA
Methods Of Extinguishing Flames
on Board Ships.
RIGID DISCIPLINE THE RULE.
When the Alarm Is Sounded Every
Member of the Crew Has His Station
and Carries Out the Particular DSty
intrusted to Him.

vi I'LL ulSuSItlS tuut Nah bNAAh
ship none is more dreaded by tn.
mariner than fire at sea. Indeed, The
annals of Lloyd's record few greater
ocean tragedies and, be ii said, M
more conspicuous instances Of gal
lantry and heroic effort than those con
nected with ships afire.
No wonder, then, In view OF the
dreadful possibilities of an outbreak
of fire OH board, that a thorough knowl
edge of the proper steps to be takel
In extinguishing the flames at the out
set or TT least holding them In checl
is expected Of every officer from the
captain downward.
Most vessels are nowadays htteC
with hydrants, several on each deck
and in the case of large liners hose
Is kept In handy places, ready to bt
attached to the hydrants at a mo
ments notice Moreover, every largt
passenger boat carries II number OF
portable extinguishers which can bt
strapped on a mans back. The spra!
from these Is, of course, thin, but yer!
effective In subduing small outbreaks
where the fire has not secured too firm
q bold.
lI-e drill forms weekly feature II
the routine on every ocean liner. Ev
cry member of the crew literally, from
captain to cabin boy, has his fire
station allotted to him, at which
when the signal is given, he takes his
position and carries out the particular
duty intrusted to him.
When an actual outbreak occurs the
fire alarm is If possible avoided, so as
to prevent panic among the passengers
Word is passed quietly around, the pas
sengers being kept in ignorance as
long as possible. In fact, more than
one fire ut sea has been eXtinguished
without any suspicion on the part OF
the passengers that the outbreak was
other than an imaginary one engineer
ed by the officers to give the passengers
a chance of seeing what could be done
in the event of the real thing occurring
In many cases, of course, the pasSen'
gers have TO be Informed, but the news
is always broken as lightly as possible
and some special entertainments con
cert, Il dance, theatricals, and so OILS
got up to allay any natural feeling OF
nervous anxiety. or course If the fire
shows signs of becoming unmanage
able the boats are got ready and swung
out in case it appears necessary to
abandon the ship.
Every boat on large liners is kept
fully provisioned. food sufficient for
several days being contained in air and
water tight tanks.
The worst fires at sea are those
which cannot easily be got ut. These
usually occur amid the cargo In the
lower holds and are often spontaneous
In their origin In such cases It Is
highly dangerous to open the matches
The fire. which may have been smol
dering for days, will naturally burst
into n blaze as soon as the mir Is ad
mitted.
The proper course Is to exclude the
air in every possible way; consequently
even the ventilators are stopped up
II the holds are fitted with steam
pipes, the steam Is at once turned on
otherwise holes are cut in the deck
Just large enough to admit the nozzleS
Of the fire hose, and water is vigorous
ly pumped into the hold
In one form of extinguishing ap
paratus. instead of steam or wfter
tpiA Tot,
the hold. the fumes being generated
in machine specially fitted for tina
purpose. This injection method !:
highly effective and rarely fails Il III
pipes are properly placed in each hold
The steam or fumes are turned OF
from the upper deck.
If fire breaks out in the hold an,
assumes such dimensions that steam
injection Is powerless to check 1t, tn
vessel Is, when possible. got into shall
low water and, II necessary, beached
In any case the sea cocks of the par
ticular hold are opened and the hol'
allowed to fill with water. This Ca
usually be done with very little fea
OF the vessel laundering, as modern
built ships are divided into many CON
partments separated by strong waite
tight bulkheads OF steel or iron Sue
Is the huoyancy of vessel so col
structed that instances have bee
known OF a craft remaining afioat wit
only one or two Of these compartments
dry.
If the burning hold is a very larg
one ana by flooding 1t with waite
there IS danger of the vessel founder
ing, the cargo in another hold
thrown overheard or "iettisoned." Il
1t is called mt sea. TO counterfeit tn
weight of water admitted into the frs
hold. AS a last resource. the vesse
IL IN dock or shallow wafer. is sou
tied BIZ opening the sea cocks. This ha
been done more than once in Tilbur
docks
We seldom hew nowadays of fir
breaking out IN the passengers Qna
tiers on large liners. The introinctio
of electric lighting on board ship ha
no doubt conduccd greatly to this tn
proved state of matters. When fl
does break out N the cabin, IT Is usl
ally soon detected, for constar
watch Is kept by the officers and nigl
stewards, who make periodical toul
of inspection during the nocturn'
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