for extinguishing accidental Fires in Ships. 101 



Tully conduce to their ultimate safety. This is no small 

 advantage that results from the law of nature now under 

 considertion ; hut a further use ought still to be made of it. 

 If a number of f res be made betiueen decks, by setting fire 

 to pitch and other inflammable substances in pots, stew- 

 pans, &c., before closing down the hatches and making 

 every thing air-tight, tlie sooner will the air left in the vessel 

 be deprived of its oxijgen, and the combustion of course be 

 terminated. 



Thus we see that fires may be employed to ex- 

 tinguish fire; and the more there are of them, the 

 sooner will all of them, as well as the prime fire, be ex- 

 tinguished. This is the more necessary because, if all the 

 air in the interior of the vessel must expend itself in the 

 prime fire, a hole may possibly be the consequence, and 

 there fresh air would rush in to maintain the flame; but a 

 number of fires in different parts of the vessel would quickly 

 destrov all the air, and render that accident impossible. In 

 short, if the people be once made thoroughly masters of 

 their duty in such cases, they need not fear even to kindle 

 fires on the bare hoards for the purpose of extinguishing one 

 where they cannot reach it; for the exclusion of fresh air 

 will soon arrest the progress of the flames. 



If fears (groundless fears) should be entertained that such 

 fires would increase the danger, candles may be employed 

 with considerable efttct. A good sized candle consumes 

 about a gallon of air in one minute of time: several hun- 

 dreds of them lighted between decks, before closing all up, 

 would contribute not a little to exhaust the oxygen of the 

 atmosphere. In short, proper receptacles for fires, to be 

 employed for this express purpose, should constitute a part 

 of the outfit of every ship, especially tho^e of the royal navy 

 and East India coujpany. If such arrangements were made 

 a part of the system (they surely ought to be so), any fire 

 below decks might be e.rtiiiguishcd in less than half an hour. 



It need hardly be remarked here, that in this case, as in 

 ttvery case of dant'cr, the foe should be opposed with firm- 

 ness from post to post. If the fire breaks out in the hold, 

 the first stand should be uiade on the lower deck. It ought 

 instantly, and with deliberation, to be cleared, fore and aft, 

 that not a chink or crevice may escape observation. Every 

 openiiig, the pumps among others, ought to be closed, and 

 the officers and men to be at their stations. This search 

 oucht to be a close one ; for the escape <jf smoke ought not 

 to Be held as the only criterion of a seam being open. Where 

 air is rushing in, smoke cannot come out ; for two streams 

 G 3 cannot. 



