St. Johns review. (Saint Johns, Or.) 1904-current, 1915-07-30
NAVAL ENGINEERS
Obscure Heroes Of the Warships
When a Battle RACES.
BOTTLED UP BELOW DECKS.

They Get None Of the Glory and the
Fine Thrill Of Combat, but just q
Little Harder Work Than Usual.
Psrils Of tho officers and stokers.
There Is a man in the navy who Is
too often forgotten, even by the au-
thorities, when they are "dishing out"
rewards and praise for successful OPP
erahons at sea, and that man is the
man who makes the wheels go round
inside the ship.
II the wheels stop then the modern
warship lies on the water like an arm
ed tin can, waiting for some one 10 san
round Il, plug It full Of holes and
sink Il.
A fighting ship. TO put up any sort
OF battle at all. must be able 10 get on
with II at the rate OF knots, as the sail
ors say when they mean at high speed,
and the men who make that possible
are the engineers and the stokers. The
engineer officers are highly skilled
scientists, with no use for the fear OF
death.
The stoker, fur below the waterline,
shoyels coal, and he gathers there In
battle on, when there IL, by the fact
that he has TO work twice as hard as
he thought he could. and by the infer
nal racket mnde by the guns. and by
the proJectiles OF the enemy. which
have found new home aboard tho
ship.
lie has none OF the glory and the fine
thrill OF battle-only nn Increase In
his ordinary work,
lie works by lamplight 10 keep steam
Up, and he knows there has been vic
tory when some one tells him, unless
he happens TO be working ia his
spare" time at the ammunition hoists
near the roaring guns.
Even now In many ships and once In
all the engineer officers and their men
are shut down In their working place,
and they cannot get out, for II IL nee
easary for them 10 80 be closed up. IL IN
not, OF course, necessary 10 keep them
there 60 make them do their work. but
because the ships engines run under
forced draft, and the only way TO get
that " TO battcn down the stokeholds.
They become. In fact, part or the pipe. |
if one can call II that. along which the |
air IN pumped 90 the fires 10 make them |
burn more iercely. Just as one bucks up |
the kitchen range with the bellows. IL |
the matches lending 20 the upper decks
were open the mir would be pumped
s.s.l. A..
through the white hot furnaces.
II she IN torpedoed and sinks sud.
denly down go the engineers and tho
stokcrs without tho chance OF swim
ming for Il M the others have when
the order Each man for himselfr' is
given by tho executive officer IA charge
OF the vessel.
In the case OF the oil driven war
ships there N not. II need hardly be
said. that added risk for the engine
room stan. There is no need 10 shut
them down. and In case OF sinking
they have no further risk than that
entailed by the time taken for the or
der 20 get down 60 them and for them
20 get up on deck They are. however,
the people most likely 20 80 90 frag-
ments when torpedo comes knocking
ON the ships side. or. rather. down
among her foundations.
And there are steam pipes nlled with
scaldlng aud sudden death, flooding the
engine room Ia an instant with biting,
binding. soaring fog. somewhere above
boiling point. for high pressure steam
is hotter stun than comes out OF the
spout OF kettle. A shell through the
main steam pipes. and goodby 10 those
who are near the damage.
The engineer officer knows all this
and often has seen some OF the things
that can happen taking place ON a
small but significant scale. While the
gunners get the glory he watches the
wheels 20 round, listens not 10 tho
scream OF the shells or the hammer
strokes OF proJectiles ON armor plate,
but 10 the telltale songs OF the com
plex mechanisms over which he pre-.
sides with the coolness OF a naval Of
deer. the skin OF man OF science and
the tenderness OF a He'd Cross nurse.
Every moment may be the last mo
ment the life IN his body has. but he
must not think OF that
Down there IN the bowels OF the
nghting ship he must keep his mind
clear 10 think Of thousand details,
and he must do Il without any OF the
exhilaration that comes from watching
the effect OF the guns on the enemy's
ships
lie never sees shot go home; he
never sees AN enemy's nag pulled down
In defeat,
lie sees only his engines and the men
tending them
IL all goes we'll and the enemy runs
or strikes the engineer commander
hears all about Il at mess. IL things
80 wrong he feels II quite unmistak-
ably In his person.
Get one unlucky shot into the engine
room and Il Is up 20 him. 80 long as
yolition Is left 10 him, 10 put that thing
right. and he must not draw fires until
there Is not another thing he can do
tirst. In battle so long as there Is a
dogs chance 10 do SO he must keep
steam up, for steam is the breath OF
lie 10 the ship and he must take risks :
when he Is making repairs that would
give the iandsmsn spasms. - London
Answers.
Charity begins at home, but don't let 4