SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR REDUCING THE LOSS BY FIRE ON 



VESSELS. 



By Samusl D. McComb, Esq., Member. 



[Read at the eighteenth general meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held 



in New York, November 17 and 18, 1910.] 



In the last few years a number of very valuable papers have been 

 written on the subject of preventing fires on board vessels, but most of them 

 have dealt with cargo fires on steel freight steamers. 



It is the intention of this article to oflfer some suggestions applicable 

 to wooden as well as steel vessels, and to the small as well as the large ones, 

 as it is on the small wooden vessels that fires most frequently occur. Few 

 persons realize the appalling extent of the fire damage to shipping annually, 

 as there are no statistics published showing the monetary loss, and only 

 incomplete and inaccurate reports by the Government and by the different 

 Classification Registers showing the number of vessels and the tonnage lost. 

 However, many lives and millions of dollars in property are lost in flames 

 every year. With a little precaution, most of this loss could have been 

 avoided. 



The ideal condition would be to have a vessel constructed entirely of 

 incombustible material and carry only incombustible cargo, but while this, 

 of course, is impossible, the condition can be reached very closely as far 

 as the vessel itself is concerned. The subject of fireproof material has 

 received much consideration, and in recent years the percentage of steel 

 hull vessels has continually increased. Sheet metal and asbestos prepara- 

 tions are replacing wood for interior work, but we are still using wood and 

 other inflammable materials in the construction of our ships, and on account 

 of its cheapness and the fact that it does not require a plant equipped with 

 machine tools, wooden ships will be built for many years to come. They 

 should be constructed so that the probability of their catching fire is reduced 

 to a minimum, and means should be furnished for promptly extinguishing 

 one if it occurred. From the standpoint of fire hazard, vessels can be 

 divided into three general classes, namely, steam, gasoline, and those with no 

 power. The classes will be taken up separately, as the principal causes of 

 fire and the methods of extinguishing them are different in each case. 



On steam vessels, the principal ascertained causes of fire are woodwork 

 around uptake or stack igniting, spontaneous combustion of coal, fire origi- 

 nating in the cargo and from galley stoves, lamps and candles. EInowing 



