CLEANING A LINER

Southland Times, Issue 18973, 21 June 1923, Page 8

CLEANING A LINER

BIG UNDERTAKINGS COSTING MUCH MONEY. The spring-cleaning of a trans-Atlantic liner of the Aquitania or the Berfcngaria type is a task costing from £70,000 to *lOO 000, and providing from five to eight weeks employment for more than 1000 men and women, writes F. Heathcote Briant in the Daily Mail. There are over 150 furnaces in ships of this class, each of which has to be cleaned and renovated. | The turbines contain upwards of 750,000 blades, and every one requires scraping and ' examining. There are 200 tons of anchors I end chains to be tested and painted, and i hundreds of miles of electric light wiring to be overhauled. The wonderful and intricate engines and the enormous boilers, :he searchlights, the ' telephones, ventilation fans, pumps, elec- 1 trie and hydraulic lifts, radiators and refrigerators, bathroom fittings, the dynamos, v'hich are powerful enough to light a small town, wireguys, cordage, and cabling by the thousands of fathoms, acres of inlaid cork linoleum countless pieces bf crockery and sullery—everything, from the insulators of the wireless aerial to the parquet flooring of the ballroom, must be overhauled and massed as perfect during the springclean. More than a thousand gallons of paint will be used on interior decorations, while a ton or so of polish will be required to treat die metal fittings that blink from 10,009 different points between decks. The uniforms of the ship’s company will be inspected and smartened up. The term “jhip s company” nowadays includes an astou ding number of persons whose connect! with seamanship is remote. These floating palaces carry bakers, chefs, barbers, confectioners, chiropodists, druggists, lift men, typists, shop assistants to attend to the novelty stalls, a gardener to look after the palms in the dining-rooms and verandah cafes, stewards and stewardesses, waiters, matrons, doctors, and nurses, swimming instructors, and even massage experts in atendance at the Turkish baths. The checking of the larders is a formidable undertaking. Every pantry is emptied, cleaned ana replenished. A single ship will take for a week’s voyage across the Atlantic 25 tons of fresh meat, 60 tons of potatoes, and 48,00? eggs, besides 14 tons of fresh vegetables and 6000 tins of canned vegetables. Then there are tons of fish, game, and fowl v anted, together with 20,0001 b of tea, 70001 b of coffee, 12,500 quarts of milk, and 4001 b of cheese.