electric winches capable of handling thirty-ton loads. The men in charge 

 of loading the ship also have a difficult job. They must know which part 

 of the cargo is going to be unloaded first, which part next, and so on. 

 They must know where to place heavy machinery; lighter bales and 

 boxes; round barrels and long lumber — all so the ship will remain on an 

 even keel without having to shift cargo en route. Included in a single . 

 cargo may be such different items as electric light globes, steel bars, sacks 

 of rice or grain, women's clothes, concrete mixers, boxes of apples and 

 paper plates, and a hundred other things. 



The P&T Seafarer is a big ship. The steel hull of the ship is 492 feet 

 long — more than once and a half as long as an average city block. She 

 has a beam of 69 feet. From the uppermost deck to the bottom of the hull 

 the distance is greater than the height of a three-story building. 



Many Americans earn their livelihood in sailing these modern cargo 

 ships between the United States and the Caribbean and South American 

 ports. About half of the crew is engaged in engine-room or mechanical 

 work. There are a chief engineer, a refrigeration engineer and several 

 electricians, in addition to marine engineers, water tenders, oilers and 

 wipers, the engine crew numbering, usually, twenty-three men. Deck offi- 

 cers and deck crew number about the same. They include the captain and 

 his mates, a boatswain (or bos'n as he is usually called), a radio operator, 



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