904 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Dec. 3, 1910. 
Some Suggestions for Reducing the 
Loss by Fire on Vessels. 
At the annual convention of the Society of 
Naval Architects and Marine Engineers recent¬ 
ly several papers were read and discussed by 
members, and one which will give some new 
ideas to yachtsmen, and particularly to those 
who contemplate building, was called ‘.‘Some 
Suggestions for Reducing the Loss by Fire on 
Vessels." It was read by Samuel D. McCornb. 
In this paper Mr. McCornb said: 
In the last few years a number of very valu¬ 
able 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 offer 
some suggestions applicable to wooden as well 
as steel vessels, and to the small as well as the 
large ones, and 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 
incorhplete and inaccurate reports by the Gov¬ 
ernment 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 
preparations are replacing wood for interior 
work, but we are still using wood and other in¬ 
flammable 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 con¬ 
structed so that the probability of their catch¬ 
ing 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 gen¬ 
eral classes, viz., steam, gasolene, 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 originating in the cargo and from galley 
stoves, lamps and candles. Knowing how fires 
originate, we know the points which must be 
safeguarded to prevent them. It is of the ut¬ 
most importance where a stack passes through 
a wood deck that the opening be cut at least 
twelve inches clear all around and the wood be 
faced with asbestos and sheet-iron or steel. If 
forced draft is used and overheats the uptake 
and stack, further protection is needed—either 
the uptake and the base of the stack should be 
covered with cement or all the woodwork 
within a distance of three feet should be covered 
with sheet-iron placed over asbestos. When 
covering a boiler care should be taken along 
the sides of it: frequently the space between 
the boiler shell and bunkers is so small that it 
is difficult to make a good iob. but in no case 
should this space be packed up with non-con¬ 
ducting material: some opening should always 
be left between the covering and the bunkers. 
On a leg boiler, the covering on the sides of 
the fire-box should be carried right down to 
the floor: frequently it is stopped about the 
level of the grate bars, and an examination will 
show that the heat from the uncovered plates 
has charred the bunker boards alongside. A 
•coaming should be placed at the front of boilers 
extending across the fire-room to prevent hot 
ashes getting between the boiler and the bunker 
sides. If the fire-room floor is laid on a 
wooden deck or wooden beams, asbestos should 
be put down first. Hot ashes have set fire to 
a wooden deck through four inches of cement. 
The same care that is used in protecting wood¬ 
work around the boilers should be used around 
the galley stove and stovepipes. All wooden 
partitions in the back of, and at the sides of all 
galley stoves should be protected. Where pos¬ 
sible the floor should be brick or cement, but, 
if wood, should be covered with sheet metal 
over asbestos extending out in front at least 
2 feet 6 inches and the stove should be securely 
fastened down. Most important of all is to 
have a metal hood over the stove or have the 
ceiling overhead covered with heavy asbestos, 
disastrous fires having been started by grease 
boiling over on the stove and blazing up, setting 
the woodwork overhead on fire. The stack 
from the stove should lead outdoors by the 
most direct route possible; on some old 
passenger steamers it has many turns and bends 
before it finally comes through the upper deck. 
When possible the galley should be on the 
upper deck, but if placed in the hold care should 
be taken to run the stove-pipe in such a manner 
that even though it get red hot it will not ignite 
the woodwork. In engine-rooms the method 
of carrying lubricating oils and waste needs at¬ 
tention. It is well to have the supply of oil as 
small as possible; where there is a large quan¬ 
tity on board the engineers are usually careless 
and extravagant with it, while, with a small 
supply, good care is taken to see that none is 
wasted. This not only saves money for the 
owners, but less oil is spilled about. All oil¬ 
cans should be carried in metal trays to eaten 
the drip and all wooden shelves on which oil is 
kept should be completely covered with metal 
having the edge turned up, and all joints 
soldered Large oil-cans should have self-clos¬ 
ing faucets. No oil should be kept in partially 
filled barrels; when a barrel is opened, it should 
be emptied at once. 
Metal receptacles with rolled joints should 
be provided for carrying waste. It is quite 
common to carry waste in burlap bags, placed 
frequently near the oil supply, so that it gets 
saturated with leaking oil. It appears difficult 
to impress on engineers the danger from spon¬ 
taneous combustion from oily waste, though 
fierce fires are caused by it. 
Lamps have been a fruitful cause of fire on 
ship-board. Glass lamps frequently break or 
crack, and should never be used. All lamps 
should have metal bodies and they should be 
secured in their sockets with clips or some de¬ 
vice which will prevent their coming out when 
the vessel rolls. They should be carried in sub¬ 
stantial wall brackets, or suspended from the 
ceiling, and be well stayed to prevent swaying. 
It is a custom on many vessels to use common 
table lamps, which are very easily upset by the 
vessel striking something or rolling heavily, 
and their use should be prohibited. Not long 
ago a steam lighter on Long Island Sound 
collided with a sailing vessel; the shock upset 
a table lamp in the house aft. All the crew 
rushed to the bow to see what damage had 
been done, and the fire started by the over¬ 
turned lamp was not noticed until it had gained 
great headway. The crew were compelled to 
abandon the vessel, which was totally destroyed. 
Lamps should always have proper shields to 
protect the woodwork over them. It is com¬ 
mon to see the paint over a lamp scorched" and 
blistered. One may be left burning when no 
person is around, and a fire start and get be¬ 
yond control before it is noticed. Owners 
should impress on their masters the necessity 
of taking care of lamps properly. Lamp rooms 
are required by law to be lined with sheet- 
metal, and in addition to this they should be 
made absolutely oil-tight on the bottom, and 
for at least a foot up on the sides; all laps and 
all nail holes being soldered over, and any 
openings in the floor for pipes or rods should 
have a collar or flange around them to prevent 
leakage of oil. 
In the lamp room of a large steamer a 3-inch 
hole was punched in the floor for the steam 
extinguisher pipe. An oil barrel in the room 
sprung a leak, and the oil ran through the 
opening and spoiled a quantity of wheat in the 
hold. Had this oil been ignited it is improbable 
that the vessel could have been saved. When 
electric lights are used the installation of wire 
runs in many inaccessible places and a fire 
caused by defective wiring may be difficult to 
locate. All wires in the hold, in engine and 
boiler spaces, where cargo is carried on main 
deck and outdoors, should be in iron conduit j 
switchboards should be of slate or other non- 
inflammable material and well clear of the wood¬ 
work back of them, and if the bulkhead is wood 
it should be covered with heavy asbestos or a 
steel plate or both. The writer has seen on a 
large passenger steamer a yellow pine switch¬ 
board placed against a yellow pine bulkhead; 
needless to say it started a fire. It is probably 
impossible to prevent the use of torches in the 
engine and boiler rooms, but the man in charge 
should be cautioned to see that they are care- 
fully used and not left about when lighted. 
Fires from this cause are numerous—in one 
instance a lighted torch was left hanging on 
a wooden stanchion; in another instance, on the 
top of a boiler; again, alongside of an oil bar¬ 
rel, and so on. Engineers must be impressed 
with the necessity of extreme caution in this 
respect. I hough the practice of using torches 
by the engineers and firemen cannot be pre¬ 
vented, the use of torches and candles by steve¬ 
dores and cargo trimmers can be and should 
be stopped; only closed lanterns or incandes¬ 
cent lights should be allowed in the hold of a 
vessel. In parts of the country the labor unions 
insist that candles be used, but the shipowners 
should take a firm stand and put an end to the 
practice. 
Ihe most hazardous type of steam vessels and 
one that for structural reasons always will be 
dangerous from a fire standpoint is the wooden 
tug-boat. For ease in maneuvering, to get 
around docks quickly and to turn in a small 
space it is desirable to have a tug small; to tow 
heavy loads and move large vessels it is neces¬ 
sary to have it powerful. 1 he result is a boat 
as small as can be designed to carry the ma¬ 
chinery powerful enough to do the work re¬ 
quired, the boiler usually being the largest size 
that can be installed, and just as close to the 
woodwork as the law permits. To allow an 
ample passageway on deck on each side, the 
house is made narrow—so the boiler is entirely 
surrounded by woodwork placed as closely as 
possible to it. To make matters worse, on 
board the average tug there is a platform or 
grating over the boiler where wet lines are 
placed to be dried out. Dirty clothes and over¬ 
alls are kept there, and frequently even cans 
of oil. Inside of the house, over the boiler 
where the ventilation is poor, the heat becomes 
excessive, and the woodwork around the stack 
is ignited, or where there is a tight platform 
fitted, the bunker sides will catch fire. A large 
percentage of the tug boat fires originate in this 
way, and they could all be prevented if good 
air space was left all around the boiler, and 
proper ventilation was provided over it to allow 
the hot air escape. Many stack umbrellas have 
a flange on the outer edge which projects below 
the deck coaming, so that the hot air and gases 
after rising above the coaming must come down 
again around the flange of the umbrella. 
It is the opinion of the writer that with con¬ 
struction of this kind the hot air and gases 
come up against the under side of the um¬ 
brella, and stay there. In order to provide 
effective ventilation the lower edge of the flange 
should be above the upper edge of the coaming. 
I lie galley stove is generally in a cramped 
location, and all the woodwork around it should 
be especially well protected. These are the two 
points that require most attention in tug boats, 
and the smaller the tug the greater the need 
of care and caution. 
GASOLENE BOATS. 
Gasolene is. of course, the great hazard on 
these boats. The vibration caused by the motor 
in time loosens the joints in, the piping and 
gasolene leaks into the bilge; a certain amount 
also leaks out at the carburetor. As there is 
