COAI.ING WARSHIPS FROM COLLIERS IN HARBOR. 133 



United States Government, they can leave and be employed on shore coal 

 towers at three times the pay. For instance, the U. S. Collier Vestal had 

 been in commission one year on or about October 20, 19 10. At this date 

 it was full and ready to sail to coal our battleship fleet in English or French 

 ports. The men had completed their first year of enlistment. Every 

 man who had become an accomplished winchman left the ship. A green 

 crew was taken on board, not one of whom understood the new winches. 

 If the collier arrives in port a few days in advance of the fleet it will have 

 time to teach these seamen to handle the Marine Transfer. 



It would seem reasonable to offer some incentive for seamen to become 

 accomplished winchmen and, when accomplished, to be retained. One 

 suggestion is that when winchmen become proficient they might be paid 

 one or two cents extra for each ton of coal discharged by them. Perhaps, 

 too, captains of warships will see to it that ten or twelve members of their 

 own crews receive practise as Marine Transfer winchmen. 



However, there is another lesson in these experiences, namely, to reduce 

 the winches to the limit of simplicity, to make them extra strong and fool- 

 proof even if their capacity should be somewhat reduced. Also to simplify 

 the control so that it may be acquired in an hour's practise if possible. This 

 lesson has been taken advantage of in designing the winches now under con- 

 struction for the new collier Neptune. 



MAXIMUM COALING EFFICIENCY. 



The author believes that the maximum efficiency in coaling will be 

 attained by employing clamshell buckets delivering coal in bulk directly 

 into bunkers when possible and when impossible to hoppers on the deck of the 

 ship to be coaled. Such hoppers to be arranged so that trucks holding about 

 one ton of coal can be pushed beneath the hopper and filled therefrom by 

 the movement of a valve or gate, the coal then to be trucked to various 

 parts of the deck where it can be dumped through coal chutes to the bunkers. 

 Such a method v/ould reduce the number of men involved to a minimum. 

 It would save the cost of coal bags or baskets. It would save the fatigue of 

 the sailors from shovelling coal, carrying baskets or dragging bags of coal 

 on the deck. Plate 43 illustrates such a form of hopper. This is shown 

 as being constructed in one of the large hatches on one of the decks and 

 delivering its coal to trucks on the deck below. Such hoppers should be a 

 part of the battleship's construction or equipment. An ingenious engineer 

 might design a combined skylight and coal hopper which would not add 

 to the weight of the ship. The trucks should either be dismantled to be 

 packed in a small space or carried on the colliers. 



