SAFETY OF LIFE FROM FIRE AT SEA. 45 



ness wooden bulkheads, lined on both sides with plaster board, covered with galvanized iron, 

 as such construction has demonstrated its superiority over light steel. 



On these steamers, cargo spaces, immigrant and crew quarters and galleys are lined with 

 galvanized iron, fastened close to the wooden decks and carlines, with the belief that, weight 

 for weight, this construction is better for fire-retardant purposes than steel alone. 



I agree thoroughly that the automatic sprinkler has been a great conserver of life and 

 property, and believe that eventually it will come into very much more general use on ship- 

 board than it is at present. 



One of the principal reasons why it has not has been the failure of sprinkler engineers 

 to accommodate their systems to the requirements of shipbuilding. It has been a good deal 

 like finding a horse to fit the shoes rather than making the shoes fit the horse. 



The New England Steamship Company have installed sprinkler systems on the steamers 

 Pequonnock, Plymouth, Commonwealth, Massachusetts, Bunker Hill, and Old Colony. These 

 systems are complete and in order to-day on the first three steamers. The ownership of the 

 last three steamers has changed, so I am unable to speak for them. 



The additional cost of sprinklers is comparatively small in relation to the entire cost of 

 vessels, but on installations with which I have had to do, the total cost, including pumps and 

 connections, which are a necessary part of the system, has been considerably over $4 per 

 sprinkler — about $7 would be nearer the figure. 



The wet-pipe system is prohibitive on vessels of the river, sound and similar types be- 

 cause of freezing and the weight of water in the system. 



In cargo spaces freight is stowed practically from deck to deck, and on the steamers 

 Pequonnock, Plymouth and Commonwealth there are approximately 100 sprinklers broken 

 ofi or damaged by cargo every year. With the absolutely automatic systems advocated, the 

 water damage from this cause alone would be immense. 



Our experience with the steamer Pequonnock has led to the abandonment of the dry-pipe 

 automatic system, with which she was originally fitted, in favor of the manually operated 

 valves. 



The efifect of automatic systems, in case of collision, where damages occur in passenger 

 quarters, has also been considered, and we have, to date, declined to assume the responsibility 

 of adding to the possibilities of panic by flooding damaged portions of the vessel with water 

 from broken sprinkler pipes or damaged sprinklers. 



We have also considered it impracticable and unnecessary to install a gravity tank, as 

 pressure is constantly maintained by a steam pump. It is hardly conceivable that any one at 

 all familiar with shipbuilding would consider for a moment the placing of a watertank in the 

 form of an extra smoke-stack, as aside from the total weight to be carried, the weight in this 

 particular form and place would be in the very worst position possible to affect the stability 

 of the vessel. The sprinkler systems on the Pequonnock, Plymouth, and Commonwealth 

 are, therefore, arranged to be manually operated. 



A thermostat system is arranged in parallel with the sprinkler system to ring alarm bells 

 and register the location of fire on an annunciator in the engine-room, where there is at all 

 times an engineer on watch whose duty it is to open the sprinkler system valve. The delay 

 in obtaining water at the sprinklers with this system need not be appreciable. 



This brings us, however, to a matter which is probably of the greatest importance — the 

 discipline and training of the crew. It has been my experience that fire and boat drills are 

 fortunately not "usually considered useless waste of time and efifort," but, on the contrary, 



