New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-18

understood because it had been agreed
that upon its receipt the engines were
TO be disabled.
Found Disabler at Work
As soon as he had sent the telegram
Captain Polack said he left for Boston,
and reached his ship about 10 O'Clock
that night. Upon going aboard he met
his chief officer and the chief engineer,
and went TO the engine room and saw
q man working at the engines.
"The chief engineer reported that ne
was working at the disabling OF the
engines" said the witness. u believe
he was finished by midday OF February
l."
CAPTAIN Polack said he made no per-
sonai examination of the damage, as
he was not an engineer. Nothing FUR
Their was done, he said, after Febru-
airy /.
knocked off the valves and the heads
off the nuts, he replied:
81 do not know what was done nor
how they did it. All ! know is the
report from the engineer that the en-
gines were disabled. All orders were
oral. We never did anything in writ
ing"
Asked if the keys to certain of the
rooms were not carried off when the
crew was obliged 70 leave the ship, the
captain replied that certain rooms con-
tanning the ships silver and linen were
left locked, but the keys were still
aboard the ship in the chief stewards
or the chief cooks quarters.
Machinery-W Thorough
Franklin G.. Wright, a state inspector
of boilers, testified TO the damage done.
When he went aboard, on February 3,
he found that the name plates on parts
of the engines were missing; there was
little water in the boilers, which had
steam up, and the pumps had been
stopped; valves were closed and tight
ened with wrenches. and no wrenches
were available with which TO open
them; one main steam pipe had been
twisted Off, the break appearing to be
newly made. The lighting plant also
was out of commission.
The two high-pressure cylinders, the
witness said, were damaged by the
breaking of pieces 16x12 inches out of
the throttle valve boss and steam
chest. The forward high-pressure cyl
inders were wrecked, the throttle valve
drilled out and the main throttle on
the starboard side of the engine room
broken. The forward cylinder was also
drilled out and the exhaust pipe put
back"
The witness said the damage to the
cylinders was carefully covered with
canvas and bagging. Gaskets covered
with red lead were hanging on the en-
gines, giving the impression that repair
work was in progress. New brass
plates had been applied to some Of the
guides. Wright said these were not
necessary, and he expressed the opin-
ion that they might conceal some
chemical which, when it came in con-
tact with salt water, would cause an
explosion. lie declared there was a
strong odor of acid in the ships hold,
and that broken bottle which appar-
emily had contained an acid was found
on board.
Wright said the persons who dam
aged the machinery probably could re-
place the broken parts with ease. but
that it would be folly for others TO
attempt to move the ship without first
stripping the engines. This, he said,
would be a long and expensive task, and
would have to be done in drydock.
b. Stuart Murphy, marine surveyor,
testified that it would cost $4,000 to
repair the Visible damage The dam
age to the high-pressure engines and
cylinders could not be repaired in less
than six months, he said, and would
probably take longer.