IN THE MODERN STOKEHOLD.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3131, 21 August 1922, Page 8

IN THE MODERN STOKEHOLD.

(liy Montgomery ISelj'ion.)

Imagine “stokers” o(' a liner occupying tlieir watch by whitewashing parts ol tlie factory-hko stokehold! Von know tlie conventional picture of tlie stokers’ lives of toil? Unman giants in an inferno’s gloom shovel like mad into the incandescent maw ol a furnace which casts its ruddy glare on tiie sweat coursing over their muscular hare arms and torsos. Soon Kill'll scenes will exist only on the stage. When, a few days ago. thanks to the courtesy ol C'hiel-Kngineer A. Cockurn, H.D.. R.N.H.. I passed some hours in the “stokehold” of the Canard cilhnrning liner .Mauretania in mid-oceal,. I was introduced to an occupation ol dignity and even leisure. I found that the stokehold was not a black pit. but a series of compartments into which tittered a romantic half-light Irom ventilators, ami this was eked out by the vellow radiance of electric bulbs. Ihe heat was not greater than in riTradifly last summer. There was no titanic frenzy. Kngineers and “stokers ’ weie normal size. ’I hey went deliberately about their tasks. They looked grimy, of course, but they were fully clad in dungarees, and they appeared intent only on lubricating, turning a cock or glancing at a thermometer, an indicator. or a gunge. Some men were whitewashing various parts of the stokehold. Indeed, the stoker of an oil furnace feels fresh enough after his watch to help in unloading luggage, and thus earns overtime. It was not until 1 had slithered down ladder after bidder, a\\ like iUealvc tivceseapes, onlv narrower, into the whirrjug and oil-laden twilight and the growing heat that 1 realised how much space the machinery and boilers occupy in an oil-driven ship. This space, extends aft dose to the propellers and forward to within 25 feet of the bows. The more important section, it seems, is the stokehold. of which the floor is only 11 feet above the ship’s keel. The great liner is officered below decks by _ forty engineers. including some probationers. Only the man in charge of the engine-room need hold a Hoard of Trade certificate, hut in the stokehold every oflieer must he fully qualified. 'the boilers- are disposed P ansversely iii double sets, each ol the four stokeholds being separated by watertight bulk heads, in which are steel doors. The-e can he sealed hermetically Irom the bridge of tlie ship. Ihe oil-tanks are along either side of the stokeholds. These tanks rise to only two-thirds of the height of the nil hunkers. I'Vom the tanks the oil is led to healing machines in front of each boiler set. thence it goes at S(! dogs. I* a hr. into tin' furnaces. When a watch comes on duty its first task it.to put out one. of the fires in its compartment and light another one which the previous watch has extinguished. Three fireh are enough in ordinary times lor each boiler. The. watch then cleans the “dead” furnace. The turning of a cock cutting oil the oil supply puts out a fire. To light one, the stoker opens a vent to let out ihe gases that form. Then lie lights a tore!), and thrusts it into the furnace through the vent. It is all marvellously »juii't and simple.