560 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



bustion, which rarely if ever fails to cause the destruction of the 

 vessel. 



Pumps. — In the construction of an engine for a steam v s^^el, 

 it is usual to attach an ordinary lifting pump, of a capacity calcu- 

 lated to free' the vessel from the drips and vents of water from 

 the engine and boiler, and from the ordinary leaks of the hull. 

 This is also arranged so as to be worked by hand when the engine 

 to which it is attache 1 is not in operation, and it is usual also 

 to connect to the feed pumps of the boiler an air vessel by which 

 it may be made to project water, and thus be used as a fire engine, 

 and until the introduction of the independent steam fire engine 

 and bilge pump of H. R. Worthington, within the last ten years, 

 no other means were depended upon to free a steam vessel from 

 water, or furnished it to arrest a fire. 



With these details, then, of the numerous causes of fire on 

 board of steam vessels, and of the imperfect means to prevent or 

 arrest them, I now proceed to recapitulate the several causes here 

 referred to, and to suggest such measures as, in my opinion, should 

 be resorted to by the owners of steam vessels at this time, and 

 builders of them hereafter, by which this class of disasters may, 

 to a great extent, be averted. 



JYeglect of security against fire. 



1. Boilers with external furnaces should be supported by iron 

 standards alone. The sheet or plate iron, as the case may be, 

 which encloses the masonry, should be accurately fitted in its 

 joints, and under no circumstances should the wood work around 

 the boilers be allowed to be within one foot of them, their upper 

 surfaces being well covered with felting of hair, and the under 

 side of the wood work, immediately over them, sheathed with 

 zinc or sheet iron, the nails securing which to be in squares not 

 more than one and a half inches apart, and the laps of tlie sheets 

 to be secured at every half inch. 



2. Boilers witk internal furnaces should have water bottoms, 

 in order to guard fire from being communicated to their beds 

 through openings therein, and when a natural draft is used for 

 combustion, the exhaustion within the furnaces, tlues and pipe 

 is such as to cause a current of air to lead into and through any 

 apertures opening to them, and hence fire or sparks are prevent- 

 ed from being emitted through any of the ordinary openings, or 

 joints about a boiler; but where a blower is used, the conditions 

 are entirely different. The pressure of air witliin the furnaces, 

 flues, &c., is so great, that fire, sparks, and even small pieces of 



