Popular Science Monthly 



231 



the main engines, carefully hidden away in 

 the coal bunkers ; the discovery of bolts and 

 nuts which led to a minute examination of 

 the cylinders and steam-chests, where it 

 was disclosed that parts had been removed 

 and other parts carefully substituted to 

 conceal the omission; the location, in other 

 places, of studs and bolts partly sawed 

 through, with the saw slot filled up; the 

 finding of steel 

 wedges fitted 

 into steam- 

 ports, so 

 that any 

 attempt to 

 turn over 

 the engine 

 would have 

 ruined it; the 

 discovery of ob- 

 structions in 

 pipes, smokestacks fj 



What would have 

 happened had the 

 damper-chain been 

 pulled. Over one 

 hundred pounds of 

 iron and coal would 

 have fallen on the 

 unsuspecting person 



How the German trap on the 

 Friedrich der Grosse was dis- 

 covered by means of a flashlight 

 and a bit of ingenuity. The light 

 was lowered down the ventilator 

 and its rays played on the iron 

 and coal which had been placed 

 on the damper to fall on the head 

 of the person careless enough 

 to pull the damper chain 

 as shown in the picture above 



Joke No. 1. A device which was 

 thought to be a death-dealing 

 trap. The string enabled the 

 occupant of the stateroom to 

 open the ventilator without un- 

 locking the door. What a relief! 



Blueprints of the important details of the 

 ship were concealed. They were tacked to the 

 underside of bureau drawers and boxes. In 

 cleaning out the drawers they were discovered 



and ventilators — lumps of coal and bars of 

 iron placed on top of the closed damper-valve 

 in a ventilator, requiring only a 

 pull on the damper-chain to 

 precipitate the entire load down 

 on the head of the person foolish 

 enough to pull it, and other 

 traps too numerous to mention 

 here. 



Down in the engine room and 



into the boilers, went the man 



with the flashlight, crawling in 



through one small manhole and 



in and out of the slimy tubes and 



shell, where one misstep 



would have meant serious 



injury. The long disused 



Brass tube caps on 

 end containing nothing 



u 



Empty bomb 

 placed in boiler 



Joke No. 2. When the rear man- 

 hole plate of a boiler was re- 

 moved a fake "bomb" was dis- 

 covered in the position shown. 

 Thereafter every boiler was mi- 

 nutely searched for a real one 



