The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-08-29
COLD ON A BIG SHIP
How Bullion In Transit Is Guard
ed on an Ocean Liner.
LOCKED IN ROOMS OF STEEL.

After the Treasure ls Safely Slowed
Away There ls Little Danger OF lss
Being Stolen During the Voyage.
Shipping and Checking the Kegs
The natural assumption would be
that IN the safeguarding Of the treas
ure which the various countries are
constantly sending one another By The
big ocean liners there would be re
quired the vigilance Of many men
This. however. is not generally the
case. since. once the gold is stored
away in The rooms set apart for that
purpose on the big ships and the YES
sci Is well out at sea, 40 armed guards
are necessary.
Taking the specific case Of one liner
sailing under the British DAG, We tnd
that f. has two strong rooms. the
smaller OF the two being in close prox.
Unity to the captains office This one
compartment has no doubt sheltered
gold enough TO pay the cost Of the liner
uiauy Tines over. The walls, the roof
aud the ceiling are lined with two inch
steel plate. and the room contains noth.
Ing IN the way Of fixtures save shelly.
ing The locks, which are Of the d00-
ble variety. are rendered still more Sc
cure by steel hasps covering the key
holes. and they are provided with mas
slve padlocks The strong rooms, be
ing 70 the most frequented portion OF
The vessel where persons are passing
them at all hours OF the day aud night
thus receive the best protection, after
all. There are TWO sets of keys. one
OF which is retained by the agent In
charge Of the consignment Of gold aud
the other OF which remains with the
captain
I'm the case of the British vessel men
toned there is another and larger spe-
Gle room, situated next to the provt
sion department This is about twelve
feet in length by four 10 width II
frequently happens that both strong
rooms are dled to their utmost capaei
~. aud on one occasion this liner car
rled some S50O00,000 in gold bullion
packed 10 small kegs bound with steel
hoops
Gold usually is brought TO the vessel
IN which Il is to be shipped the day
before the date OF sailing, and 1t is
stored away carefully before passen-
.ers embark 1t arrives at the pier in !
trucks under the guard of |
rmed men The customary method |
i getting the gold on board is to haul
he kegs up an inclined chute to the
eck by means OF h0sting engine,
nut this method is not followed In
Sometimes each keg Is
laced in a sling and carried on board
" men detailed for this service
The receipt given by the steamship I
ompany sets forth that SO many kegs /
lave been received for shipment, not |
or any stated amount of gold to the
lalue OF so much Tue kegs bear the
government seal In many Instances,
md In such cases. when they have
been safely put in the strong room, the
ron doors thereof are sealed with gov
.rnment wax. the impression being
lroken only when the official on the
,ther side comes to receive the gold.
The kegs are checked thrice-when
hey are taken from the trucks, when
they reach the gangway and when
they are placed in the strong room
Although no armed guard stands by
the strong room, two men watch the
room constantly so long as the ship is
in sight Of land As matter Of fact,
there is little danger of any one steal
ing gold in transit on ship 1t would
be necessary that he should shoulder
a keg weighing some 200 pounds and
vanish with 1t without being seen
Masters OF vessels declare gold is the
safest cargo of any to handle.
The total weight OF one consignment
of gold shipped by the British vessel
In question amounted to something
like 10000 pounds or sixteen tons, and
the freight charges amounted to Sl2,
000, or, roughly speaking, oue.eighth
Of per cent Specie thus shipped is
/ insured at its full value. New York
/ Press.