138 FURTHER REPAIR OF HEATING APPARATUS. 



spoke, had again been bricked np around the 

 furnace, and was now to undergo another trial, 

 which, it is painful to add, was equally unsuc- 

 cessful with the former. This second failure was 

 attributable to the shortness of the nuts and 

 the fineness of the threads of the screws, and fresh 

 leaks in the pipes ; a combination of evils which, 

 if not overcome by the skill of our armourer, 

 would reduce us to three common stoves, and 

 these, it is scarcely necessary to say, would be 

 utterly inadequate for warming the whole ship. 

 The damaged parts having been repaired, and 

 the whole once more replaced and tilled with 

 brine, the furnace was lighted ; but now, one 

 side only was warmed, the temperature of the 

 other being scarcely raised. The cause of this 

 was found to be the insufficiency of the liquid 

 forced into the circulating pipes, and this being 

 remedied, there was for a short time a prospect 

 that all would go right. But it was for a short 

 time only, for a fresh leak soon discovered itself, 

 and once more arrested the proceedings. The 

 people annoyed at these interruptions, and the 

 complication of the whole affair, with charac- 

 teristic humour, nicknamed it the infernal 

 machine, and prayed that we might not all be 

 blown up. Fortunately for us, the thermometer 

 was still high, viz. 26°-f . 



The wind being light, we did not seem to vary 



