196 SUGGESTIONS FOR REDUCING THE LOSS BY FIRE ON VESSEUS. 



on the main deck should have sprinklers. A poor installation is about as 

 good as none, and when sprinklers are put in they should cover the vessel 

 completely from stem to stern and be placed close together, otherwise a 

 fire might break out at a point not covered by the sprinklers and gain such 

 headway by the time they opened that it could not be controlled. There 

 is an instance of this kind on record. Fires in general cargoes are the most 

 numerous, arising from spontaneous combustion due to overheating, or by 

 chemical action through the mixture of different substances that may have 

 escaped from their packages. It is impossible for the stevedores to know 

 the contents of every package put on board, but where anything is known 

 to be likely to cause fire, it should be placed so that the hazard is reduced 

 to a minimum. 



Coal, oil, hay, cotton, jute and hemp all constitute dangerous cargoes, 

 and vessels carrying them should be especially well equipped with fire 

 apparatus. 



The finest vessels we have are the passenger steamers, and these are 

 being constructed better, more costly, and more nearly fireproof every year, 

 but the danger of fire is ever present. We see advertisements in the daily 

 papers of certain steamers: — "They cannot sink, they cannot burn;" "abso- 

 lutely fireproof," etc., but should a fire once get headway, there will be 

 little left of the vessel. On account of their less rigid construction the 

 shallow-draught river steamers cannot stand as severe a fire on board as 

 the deep-draught vessels. They are braced with hog-chains and tie-rods 

 and should the supporting woodwork collapse, the vessel is likely to break 

 in two. Designers and builders of this type of vessel should consider such 

 a contingency when arranging the longitudinal stiffeners. 



The government inspection on this class has improved somewhat in 

 recent years and owners are taking more care, but the fact that four pas- 

 senger steamers were totally destroyed by fire this year in the vicinity of 

 New York alone shows that there is large room for improvement. 



There is one type of vessel on which there is no government inspection 

 or supervision whatever, and on which the fire losses have been numerous 

 and heavy, namely, contractor's plants consisting of dredges, pile drivers, 

 floating derricks, drills, etc. While all the general notes on construction 

 given above are applicable to these craft, there are some points of special 

 importance. Usually over the boilers there is a dome built which has slat 

 partitions around for ventilation — these slats are generally made so that 

 the upper side of one is higher than the lower side of the one above it, as 

 shown on Plate 69, witli the result that there is very little, if any, venti- 



