CO885-5 — Page 528

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

PMC.O. 885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

Tanks on deck

for issue of

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"while in that unfortunate predicament," she broke her arm. A large tub, generally half a barrel, should be lashed near the closets in use, which should always be those on the lee side, and kept constantly filled either with sea water or the refuse water from the boiler, and the deck below should he cemented and coal-tarred, the latter to be renewed when necessary. The warm refuse water from the boiler is carried in some ships by pipes along the inner sides of the bulwarks to flush the closets, and these pipes have taps at intervals which are very convenient for the people to wash their clothes, but attention must be paid to the water being cut off on the windward side so as not to flood the deck.

Two tanks, holding at least 200 gallons each, are secured on deck, as near as convenient to the main hatch, for the drinking water. issue of drinking water to the men on one side and to the women and children on the other, and fitted with taps, the tanks being raised to such a height as to admit of a small tub being placed under the tap. These tubs will be found very convenient both for preventing slopping the deck with water and for quickness of issue, as the taps can be kept running and the lotahs filled by merely dipping into the tubs. The taps should be fitted with removable keys. which should be kept in the dispensary under the charge of the compounder, who will give them to the panee-wallalis when required, and see that they are at onee returned when done with.

Condenser and

coolie galley.

Engineer.

The last fittings to be inspected are the condensing apparatus and the coolie galley. These are in the forward deck-house, and should be in adjacent but separate com- partments, and both, or at any rate the latter, separate from the ship's galley.

The condenser is generally Chaplin's patent, and is inspected by an engineer in Calcutta, but the Surgeon Superintendent should see that a complete set of spare valves, metal, and not rubber, are on board, as the breaking or disabling of one would stop the working of the whole apparatus, and, in the not unlikely contingency of its being impossible to repair or replace it on board, would necessitate the ship's putting into some intermediate port, and thus cause great delay and expense. The valves in Chaplin's condensing apparatus are six in number, viz., two for the circulating pump,-first, suction, and second, delivery: three for the feed pump,-first, suction, second, delivery, and third, check; and one slide valve for the cylinder.

The inspecting engineer in Calcutta also examines the man who is to take charge of the apparatus, and this man used always to be, and is now sometimes, paid a gratuity at the

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end of the voyage by the Colonial Authorities if the work was done to the satisfaction of the Surgeon Superintendent. I think it a pity that this gratuity should not always be paid as the man has hard work.

The galley is fitted with three boilers for cooking rice Coolie galley. and dal by steam, and stoves for the baking of chuppatties, and should be roomy, so as to allow the bandharries or cooks to pass freely between the boilers and the bulkhead, and have a door on each side and a skylight with two flaps for ventilation. The steam boilers should be raised from the floor in such a manner as to allow the spare beneath to be easily and thoroughly cleaned by water thrown below, and there should be large scupper holes in the walls of the house, placed that no stale rice or other food can lodge beneath the boilers. The inner shell of the boilers should be fastened along the top of the rim of the outer shell by screw rivets as if either shell should give way it cannot be repaired without separating it from the other, and if secured by hammered rivets these have all to be cut away causing much delay, and with the chance of their not being replaceable till a port is made, as has happened in my experience. The chuppattie plates should be removable from the stoves, and the tops of the stoves should be so arranged that rice and dâl can be boiled there in case of the steam boilers breaking down. The floors, both of the engine-room and galley, are made of cement, and there should be a space below the ashpan of the furnace in the former so that water can be thrown on the fler both to cool the derk which is there of iron, and forms the roof of the coolie-deck, and to prevent the danger of fire. A large tub should be provided for the refuse hot water from the boiler, which will be found very useful for washing the men and their clothes, for filling the tubs near the closets, and flushing the closets, and, when not wanted, this water should be discharged over the lee sile by a pipe, of which there should be tree, one on each side, as if dia- charged on the weather side it will overflow the deck.

Lastly, the Surgeon Superintendent should see that the Sheep pens. pens for the sheep are sufficiently roomy for the number to be carried, and that they are stowed forward (in front of the forward deck-house is a convenient place), and that there is no useless lumber about the main-deck, which is reserved entirely for the coolies.

I should advise the Surgeon Superintendent to have all Awnings, the awnings spread for the poop, quarter, and main-decks, and the wind sails set, and to see that these wind sails pass though holes in the awnings down the hatchways, and air shafts for which they are intended. Some masters of ships

Reference :-

C.O. 885 / 5

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD