" Damx \'ovr Coaling Stations ! " 



153 



NO .MORE THE INFERNO OF THE STOKEHOLD. 



Anyone familiar with the prevailing conditions in 

 the stokehold of a vessel using coal as fuel will not 

 easily forget the first visit paid to the boiler-room of 

 a ship burning oil in the furnaces. As a comparison 

 of the same results obtained by different methods 

 nothing can be more striking. In both cases the object 



30 8OO 



The Saving: of Stokers by the use of Oil instead 

 of Coal for raisint; Steam. 



aimed at is the production of steam. In the coal-fired 

 vessel the stokehold is a very Inferno of heat, coal 

 dust, ashes and smoke. During the process of cleaning 

 fires and coaling, the firemen, stripped to the waist, 

 are e.xposed to the heat of the open furnaces. Coal in 

 barrows is passed to the floor-plates from the bunkers ; 

 hot ashes and clinkers are pulled from the fire-bars, 

 cooled by water, and passed overboard, either by 

 hand or by steam-wasting mechanical means. The 

 firemen, or coal-trimmers, after their four hours' 

 watch, come on deck a sorry-looking spectacle, and 

 '-ae wonders how men can be found to undertake such 

 work, which in the open air would be considered 

 severe, but in the heat and grime of a dark stokehold 

 is almost intolerable. How different is the picture 

 which presents itself on a steamer using oil as fuel 

 in place of coal ! From great tanks placed at different 

 stations, the oil is brought by a pipe-line to the space 

 devoted to the storage of the material serving as fuel 

 on the steamer. This, from the commencement, does 

 awa)' with transport, which takes time, is very costly, 

 and produces so much dirt and dust. In a mere 

 fraction of the time necessary to coal a steamer this 

 is fully charged with oil-fuel by means which are 

 exclusively mechanical. From the oil-tanks of the 

 vessel the liquid fuel is brought under pressure bv 

 pipes to the steam boilers. Once the oil has been 

 ignited, the regulation of the flame which plays upon 

 the lower portion of the steam boiler and the sur- 

 veillance of the temperature of the steam are the 

 only occupation of the stoker, who can easily look 

 after several boilers without further assistance. Thus 

 there is no longer need 01 hand-stoking, the furnace 

 doors are no longer opened, the ashes and clinkers 

 of coal are not cleaned out, and there exists no more 

 in the stokehold that heat so dangerous to the human 

 health. In fact, it is not an exaggeration when an 

 English specialist compares remayiing in such an oil- 

 fuel stokehold to a paradise, while in a stokehold where 

 steam has to be raised by coal he could not describe 

 it save as literally hell. Where oil is used as fuel, 

 one man, comfortably clad and in clean surroundings, 

 does the work of ten grimy firemen and coal-passers. 



The American navy has found fuel-oil nearly 50 per 

 cent, more efficient than coal, and they figure that 

 oil), of (jil will perform the service of 141b. of coal. Oni 

 thousand kilogrammes of oil-fuel equal in calorili* 

 value I .XyO kilogrammes of CarditT coal. This mean- 

 a great saving in weight of fuel and space for ii- 

 larriage. which is a great item in the construction of 

 a warship. 



COALING AND TAKING ON OIL. 



Anyone who has watched the coaling of a battleship 

 will remember the scene of orderly confusion, th( 

 .scores of men running backwards and forwards with 

 .sacks of coal. .\nd the scene ;ls it prcsent.s itself from 

 the outside is only half the story : there is the storin; 

 away in bunkers, the trimming and the shifting- all 

 by liaml. In an age of pracliial economy w;ls there 

 ever aintliing less practical, less ade(]iiate than this .-• 



