102 On the Means most proper to be resorted to 



cannot, at one and the same time, blow in opposite direc- 

 tions througfi the same aperture : therefore every seam should 

 be examined ; nor will it'be difficult to do so, when it is 

 considered in what a close and substantial manner ships are 

 built. 



While this is going on in the deck immediately above 

 the fire, the officers and men on the next deck above should 

 be preparing every thing for a second barrier to the ingress 

 of air J and so of the thn-d deck : and each, bt-fore quitting 

 their own deck, should light the extinginshing fire; before 

 recommended. Similar fires should, if possible, be intro- 

 duced under the lower deck, the sooner to exhaust the air 

 in the hold. 



If these means be cooly and deliberately pursued, when a 

 ship is on fire below or between decks the fiames may be as 

 effectually extinguished as a burning candle when an extin- 

 guisher is put over it ; the ship, as we have already said, is 

 in fact converted into an extinguisher ; nor is she less so on 

 account of the combustible nature of the materials of which 

 she is constructed : for a cone made of paper extlnginshes 

 a candle as effectually as one made of metal. A fact of 

 which any one may easily satisfy himself by making the 

 experiment. 



To discover when the conflagration is subdued, the test 

 of a candle should be employed. For this purpose there 

 ou<Tht to be a few places in each deck that can be opened 

 when necessarv. Into one of these introduce a lantern and 

 candle, taking care instantly to close the hole again. If 

 the candle, after remaining a few minutes below, is found, 

 on being drawn up, to have been extinguished, it may be 

 concluded that all is safe, and that the air left is unfit for 

 maintaining combustion. The people will then feel cheer- 

 ful ; nor will they be impatient to open the decks when in- 

 formed that, though the fire is out, some articles may have 

 attained such a high temperature, that the access of fresh 

 air might occasion a new deflagration. Even when, by the 

 test of a candle, it is found that all the air is destroyed, the 

 precautions should be continued for a number of hours. 



(It will occur from what has been stated, that if there be 

 any particular part of a ship where fires are supposed to ori- 

 ginate oftener than in aiiv other, that part ought to be in- 

 sulated, as it were, in the building of the vessel ; that is, 

 every part of it, all round, ought to be caulked up so as to 

 make that room or apartment air-tight, that, when an acci- 

 dent occurs, no more might be necessary than to close the 

 door or entrance, and caulk it up.) 



