Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1911-11-25

served the men work the regulating
taps, the pumps are driven with more
force to try and accelerate the pace,
and all the time the fire is devouring
tons of coal. and still the water gets
steadily lower. Sometimes the cause
of the mischief is a leakage-a pipe Is
broken in some innermost recess by
the vibrations or Joint is strained bit
by bit, and the water leaks out After
some minutes the water, the faithful
ally against fire, only appears In the
level when the ship rolls Every one
watches 1t turtively This is the mo-
ment when a panic must be averted,
for that always means a savage rush
for the foot of the ladder. fierce fight
ing to try and mount It. and when
the trap is open inevitably the fire
rushes out and burns everything.
Goodness In Face Of Danger.
The chief knows what he is sup
posed to do in such cases; he never
goes into the stokehold without re-
peating to himself his lesson; almost
without any effort OF will mis- brain
responds to the emergency and tells
him what he must accomplish AT the
pace at which the vessel is going
about seven liter OF water leave the
boiler in vapor form every second.
About two minutes would elapse be-
fore the reserves of vapor and the top
of the pipes would be empty, After
this there would be also another cou-
pie Of minutes before the pipes would
commence to get red hot, then one OF
them would burst. and the jet OF steam
It would produce would drive the
flames everywhere. The pipes would
burst at the precise moment when the
door OF the furnace was opened. be-
cause the fresh air OF the ventilator
would pass by and strike It.
The chief Immediately orders the
men to cease replenishing the fur
naces; he then waits for one OF the
two precious minutes. and if no
change takes place he orders the fire
to be raked out In front of the wide
open furnace, literally advancing to
death If a pipe should crack. a stoker
must loosen the hook, rake out some OF
the glowing coal, strive to reach the
bars of the CRATE. force out some OF
them and then by means OF the space
thus made hastily rake the blazing
mass of cinders into the water. II he
has not the time and the explosion
takes place the chief throws the ven
tilator wide open at the risk of max
ing the splinters fly in order to drive
back the fire and steam. Then II there
is still time he throws himself fiat on
his stomach like the others. his head
under a sack, handkerchief between
his teeth because OF the steam that
burns the lungs. and then he waits.
The danger that they await is OF a
kind that rarely comes to the lives OF
most people. Unhappily too often the
end is tragic.
Various experiments with oil as fuel
have been tried in the navies OF the
world, with excellent results, and there
seems more than probability that oil
= will take the place OF coal in the war
p vessels of the not very distant future
Owners of merchantmen have been
somewhat chary of making a change
p hitherto, arguing that with vessels
trading in all the known waters II
r might be exceedingly difficult at times
) to replenish the oil tanks. whereas Goa
. can be obtained with comparative
: ease. Now there has been built 9
/ cargo-steamer capable OF burning
I either oil or coal. The stokehold OF
I this ship as It is when liquid fuel is IL
3 use is above illustrated. The oil Il
8 forced into the furnace in the shape o.
s a conical spray, through a pipe. anc
= bursts into flame about six inches
8 from the nozzle. One or two hands
g are all that are necessary to regulats
, the faw Of oil to the furnaces