106 On destroying Vermin on Board Ships ly Steam. 
weighing only 110 lbs.*, working too with a machine that depends chiefly on tbs 
man’s weight for its efficiency, is mischievous ; inasmuch as it wastes more than 
| of the power, and to make' this fact generally known, is, I conceive, one of the 
legitimate uses of your work. With every wish for its success, 
I am, Mr. Editor, 
Your obedient servant, 
a 
VI On the Application of Steam to the Purposes of destroying all 
Kinds of Vermin on Board Ships. 
The destructive ravages of white ants, when once they find their way on board the 
vessels in India, have long been the bane of that description of property, aggravated 
too bv the secrecy with which their operations are frequently carried on, and by 
the absence of all means of prevention. Property of acknowledged value, to the 
extent at times of above a lac of rupees, has become, on the presence of this des- 
tructive animal being discovered, almost valueless; since hitherto, when once known 
to have infested a vessel, no instance, we believe, has occurred of their ever having 
been wholly extirpated ; thus not only attaching a suspicious character to the ves- 
sel, but occasioning continued, and sometimes very heavy and expensive repairs. 
Indeed it is scarcely possible even to trace the extent of the evil with any degree of 
certainty. A ship may undergo a very heavy repair of damages occasioned by the 
ants, and every possible means may he adopted with a view to ascertain the exist- 
ence of further damage, without success ; yet a very few weeks may show another 
part of the vessel to be infested to a great extent, rendering necessary a yet further 
repair. 
It may reasonably be supposed, that such destruction of property would not be 
permitted to continue, without some attempts at a remedy: of these, the most effec- 
tual have hitherto been the application of extreme cold, or sinking. 
The former of course could only be carried into execution by sending the vessel 
infested to a cold climate, there to he laid up for a winter. Independent of the 
loss occasioned by the non-employment of the vessel, the remedy has never been, 
we believe, complete. A stop has been put to their ravages for a time, but a return 
to a warm country has shown that the auimals have not been effectually destroyed ; 
either they have merely been reduced to a state of torpidity, or if the iiving animal 
has been destroyed, the eggs have not been deprived of their power of production. 
The same remark may be made in regard to sinking, independent of Which the ex- 
pense and difficulty attending the operation render it little better than submitting to 
the evil itself. 
That so obvious a remedy as that of filling a ship with steam, should, in these 
times, when its employment may be said to be almost universal, have been so long 
unthought of, is not a little remarkable, particularly when the practice of smoking 
ships, for the purpose of destroying rats and other vermin, has long been adopted, 
and with partial success. The destruction caused by rats on board ship is only 
second to that effected by the white ants. Instances have been known of their eating 
through a vessel’s bottom and decks; while their ravages on the stores, provisions, 
and cargo are almst incredible. Nor are these the only vermin, with which ships in 
this country are infested. The cockroach and black 'ant, centipede, &c. if not de- 
structive of the vessel itself, are so of the comfort of every person on board The 
first find their way more or less on hoard every ship in India ; the second prevail at 
times to an extent almost surpassing belief, on vessels trading to the Eastward, 
which supply themselves with wood in the Straits. The application of steam to the 
destruction of these latter animals is of itself an advantage almost incalculable It i< 
obvious, that nothing lmt the most searching, and, at tile same time, powerful agent 
could extirpate an animal like the common ant. The. experiment was first tried in 
England, at the suggestion of Captain Ford, late in command of the ship Providence 
m this port, on a slop belonging to him, and we understand with success. We be- 
* A strong and active young man loaded with 30 lbs. raised 9 c. ft. the same 
height ( — to 103.fi Jf l f ee t) being the work of 8± Bengalees with the baling ma- 
chine, according to the preceding data and calculations. ° 
