The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1912-07-20
THE BLACK SQUAD
Grimy vuloans That Feed the
Fires on Ocean Liners.
HEROES OF THE sToxEHoLD.
These Models of Human Grit Przo.
tieally Brave Death Every Time They
Face the BIisterins Soaring Blasts Of
Heat From the Glowing Furnaces.

a''seA from tine 1ioWing furnaces.
An inferno, all smoke and heat and
IRE and nakedness. is the stokehold Of
an ocean liner. As you enter IT. pick
Ing your way over the burning ashes,
the hot blast from the furnace mouths
smites you In the face; 1t scorches your
eyes and sears your lungs with every
gasping breath you draw Your i'm
pulse Is 10 turn and fly. Life seems
impossible In such an atmosphere.
And yet the inferno huns with life
and strenuous. almost savage, industry.
opposite the huge boilers, quivering
with suppressed power. like so many
chained giants, are the figures OF men
as IL carved in ebony. glistenlng with
the sweat that streams from every
pore. They are working furlously.
with muscles swelling and knotting as
II they would burst through their
sheath of skin-humans in quick sue
ceeding poses OF fierce labor which
would delight the eye OF the sculptor
and battle his skill
Gathering up n shovelful OF Goals,
each man propels them with quick
forward thrust OF the body into the
white hot heart OF the furnace and
with a dextrous turn OF the wrist
spreads them evenly over the fire.
Then, quick as the eye can follow, an
other shoyelful succeeds and another,
as II life itself hung on the GREATNESS
swiftnass of fha oaouanno
Such is the stokehold In which the
yulcans OF our mammoth liners and
battleships feed the greedy furnaces,
which keep the propellers revolving to
the tune OF twenty knots and more an
hour-the men OF the "black gang"
who. clad In trousers almost as black
as their grimy bodies. and with a filthy
sweat rag" loosely knotted round
their necks. toll thus for four hours
at a stretch. until the last ounce" is
taken out Of them. and they crawl
back to their quarters for n well earn
ed eight hours OF rest.
IL fireman falnts, overcome by the
heat and exhaustion. he Is quickly laid
aside In some corner, with little
tepid water dashed on his face, and
there he is left until he comes round"
while his fellows ply shovel and "slice"
(the latter 10 clear the fire periodically
from refuse) with fiercer energy than
before, adding the fallen mans labor
TO their owD. The moment he re-
covers consciousness he struggles 10
his feet, seizes the shovel and is at IL
again. "Go Off watchY Not he! He's
as good a man as any, and the fireman
never knows when he's beaten.
To call such men heroes is no abuse
OF an often misunderstood word. They
are not only the last word in human
grit and pluck-for your fireman will
die rather than give in--they are he-
roes who face death every time they
enter the stokehold. as lightheartedly
as other men would sit down 10 their
dinners. At any moment fusible
plug may fly. boiler tube collapse. a
gauge glass may splinter. and the cap
tain may have occasion 10 regret
that some good man or other has fall
en- victim 10 his duty.
Ills ship may be sinking. the inrush-
Ing water swirling knee deep over the
plates on which he is standing. but no
thought Of the boats and an escape TO
life is for him. He must stick TO his
post until the last fire is drawn and II
he has time 10 race up the escape lad
der 10 the boat deck well and good. IL
not-the odds are all against him-he
la oil
TO his death. II is all part of the days
work for which he draws hts meager
pay, with cheerful acceptance OF the
fact that his life will be short and GER
tainly not merry, for you find few
stokers who have passed their forty
dfth birthday.
II Is not only that the flreman's mus
cles and stamina must bear this inhu-
man strain. He must watch the gauge
glasses with the keen eyes OF lynx TO
see that the line OF bubbling beads
never rises above or falls below the
level that denotes safety. He must
know his boilers as a jockey knows his
mount; which Of them requires coaxing
and which requires forcing to stimu
late its sluggishness. for boilers, II Is
said, have as many whlms and caprices
as woman.
On the whole, the stoker is no I'M
amlable man. Tie may growl nc his
food. though be often fares like a
lighting cock" aboard: he may have
vocabulary which would make the av-
erage bargee green with envy, but be
will laugh you TO scorn II you suggest
that his work Is too hard and that he Is
not game" to the backbone.-London
Answers.
No Hesrssy Evidence.