THE RETURN OF DAYLIGHT. 243 



February Qth, Fi^lday. — The rig whereby the steam- 

 cutter's engine it is hoped will work the bilge-pmnp 

 attached to main engine being finished, trial is had of 

 it to-day, getting steam from the main boiler. I am 

 sorry to say the trial is unsatisfactory. The engine is 

 not powerful enough to do the work which the pump 

 is prepared for. A description of the apparatus may 

 well come in here. On the shaft of the steam-cutter's 

 engine is secured a wooden pulley six inches in diameter. 

 Above it is secured a frame and shaft to the hanging 

 coal bunker, and on the shaft is placed another wooden 

 pulley eighteen inches in diameter. Around the two 

 pulleys is an endless belt. On the end of the upper 

 shaft is a crank, which, by a connecting rod, works a 

 break attached to the bilge-pump. Theoretically it 

 ought to work, but practically it does not, for this rea- 

 son : The discharge pipe of the pump is long, and has 

 many angles before it reaches the ship's side. The 

 pump being a force-pump of six inches stroke, and the 

 engine being four and a half by six inches, were the 

 delivery at the pump, it would be an easy matter ; but 

 as the delivery has to be made through a sinuous pipe 

 one and a half inches in diameter, the water chokes in 

 the pipe in such a way as to make the little engine 

 struggle and labor, and occasionally come to a stand. 

 Greater steam pressure would force the water no doubt, 

 but the little engine would not stand the racket. While 

 Melville was trying in every way to solve the difficulty, 

 it was discovered that the delivery in the ship's side 

 was frozen, and while we were thawing it out the day 

 ended. Should no better result occur, Melville will go 

 to work to make the pump smaller by inserting two 

 small plungers and filling it with Babbitt's metal. The 

 day opens and continues fine. Temperature increases 



