AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 563 



according as the pumps may be located forward or aft, and 

 whicli hose should be so fitted as to be capable of being attached 

 to the hose of the engine pumps. Further, the provisions of the 

 U. S. Law of 1852, regarding the carrying of fire buckets and 

 axes should be rigidly enforced, and a uon compliance therewith 

 should be held to be a forfeiture on the part of the owners of a 

 vessel that was burned to any claim for loss on the underwriters. 



As many owners of steam vessels will think this suggestion of 

 even one independent steam pump and a boiler, a requirement al- 

 together unnecessary, and imposing too great a burthen upon 

 them; they will be surprised to learn that. I can support my 

 views by a reference to the fact that most of the sea steamers 

 belonging to this port are fitted with pumps of this character, and 

 that many have two of them, and an independent boiler to ope- 

 rate them; further, that rarely doe's a month pass without the 

 occurrence of a steam vessel upon the coast or ocean being saved 

 from burning or sinking, solely by the use of these pumps, and 

 under circumstances too, when the ordinary engine and ship's 

 pumps prove totally inadeqate to meet the requirements of the 

 case. 



If the provisions against fire on board of steam vessels — both as 

 to the means of subduing it, and the proper organization of the 

 officers and crew in the event of fire — were such as to give confi- 

 dence to the public, there would not, upon its occurrence, exist 

 that want of reliance in the ability to arrest it which is so fatal 

 to the chance of subduing it. When the officers of a vessel are 

 aware of their insufficient means to arrest a fire, and the crew 

 are without that observance of obedience and restraint which is 

 due to discipline and a reliance in their officers, there can be 

 little combination of efforts, and when the inflammable character 

 of a steam vessel is considered, it will be admitted that it is 

 not from the labors of one or a few individuals that success is to 

 be anticipated. It requires a high order of even compulsory dis- 

 cipline for a crew to continue at their posts, with a knowledge 

 that passengers are not only cutting off their means of safety by 

 the occupation of the boats, but terror-stricken and frenzied, they 

 are probably destroying that very means by their confused and 

 ill-directed labors. 



So long as the captains of steam vessels do not exhibit to the 

 public that the provisions for personal safety and discipline on 

 board of their vessels is generally adequate to the demand upon 

 them, so long will their labors, and that of their officers, be ren- 

 dered impotent, for the crew and passengers, judging of the pre- 



