“Hello, Collins; glad to see you back,” greeted Lieutenant-Commander
Graham, as Collins came aboard the _Puritan_ a week later. “How is your
wife?”
“She’s all right, sir; she’s recovering. The doctors say all danger is
passed and there’s nothing now to fear.”
“Good! I’m glad to hear it,” returned Mr. Graham heartily.
Collins saw he was marked in the “liberty book” as having returned “on
time, C and S,” and then went forward, a very grateful man.
“You bet I was on time C and S,” he remarked to Hester, a few moments
later. “If I hadn’t been on time clean and sober I’d have deserved
thirty days double irons on bread and water in the brig. Now, Hester,
how am I to make it up to young Mr. Osborn for all he has done for me?
Just think what that fine young midshipman saved me from and of how
good the captain and executive officer were to me. How am I to prove I
appreciate it all, Hester?”
“Don’t worry about that, Collins. As far as the officers are concerned
you need only to do your work well and obey the regulations. Now I
think you can do something for Mr. Osborn. The midshipmen, you know,
have lessons every day about boilers and engines. They have practical
work to do in tracing up steam and water pipes, in pumping a boiler,
in firing, and cleaning fires, and they get marked on the way they do
these several things. Each midshipman is ambitious to stand as high as
he can and it is a great honor to stand first. Mr. Osborn doesn’t know
much, of course, but he is quick and ambitious, and quite handy with a
shovel for a beginner. Now, Collins, I think you could do a great deal
for him. You could show him the mechanism of pumps and valves and lots
of other things. He’s down in the fire room now bothering how to pump
up a boiler. Suppose you start right in. He’s interested in you and
will be glad to see you.”
“Indeed I’ll be happy to help him if I only can,” cried Collins
enthusiastically. “I’ll shift into dungarees and look him up right
away.”
“Humph,” said an old-time boatswain’s mate who stood near. “If I’m ever
in double irons and want a week’s leave I’ll jump the irons, knock down
and kidnap the officer on watch, steal a boat and skip; two hours later
I’ll come back, say I’m sorry; the captain will fall on my neck and
weep and then send me off on a pleasure trip.”
“You old growler!” said Hester smiling. “Let me see, didn’t I see you
try to force Collins into borrowing twenty-five dollars from you when
he went? And here you are pretending to grumble at his good fortune.”
“There’s too much mollycoddling these days,” insisted the kind-hearted
old faultfinder. “When I first went to sea in the old _Lackawanna_ in
eighteen hundred and----” but Hester, laughing at the old man, ran away
to the fire room where he found Collins and Ralph Osborn and several
other midshipmen. Ralph and Collins had greeted each other warmly. It
seemed curious to the midshipmen standing about but that a few days
before this fine-looking enlisted man had really committed the act of a
desperate criminal and had treated with great violence the midshipman
to whom he expressed such heartfelt gratitude.
“What is your lesson in engineering to-day, Mr. Osborn?” inquired
Collins.
“It’s the worst we’ve had yet; we are required to get into the double
bottom and draw a longitudinal intercostal staple-shaped angle iron.”
“Whew!” exclaimed Collins. “Those words are too big for me. I can
show you an angle iron that is staple shaped, but longitudinal and
intercostal! That’s too much for me. Can you help us out, Hester?”
“That’s easy; longitudinal simply means fore and aft. And intercostal
simply means between the thwartship frames. Come down here, I’ll show
you one; it won’t take you five minutes to sketch it.”
The angle iron didn’t prove to be nearly so formidable in appearance
as its formidable name had threatened it would be. Collins opened a
door leading down into the double bottom of the ship, under the fire
room floor, and the midshipmen crowded after him into it. Lights
were brought in with them, and crouching in cramped positions,
with note-books in hand, the midshipmen sketched that innocent,
unoffending piece officially and pompously designated as an intercostal
staple-shaped angle iron. After leaving the double bottom Collins said:
“What else have you in to-day’s lesson, Mr. Osborn?”
“Oh, we’ve got to sketch the inside mechanism of a direct acting
quadruplex pump. Gee whillikins, what a lot of fierce names there are
down here!”
“I can help you in that; I’ve got a quadruplex in my cleaning station.
Come into the engine room with me; here’s a direct acting quadruplex
pump; it’s really quite simple. I’ll get a wrench and come up the bolts
and take off the water bonnet; you’ll understand it perfectly in a
minute.” Then approaching an oldish-appearing man in officer’s uniform
who was in the engine room, he said: “Mr. Simpkins, I’d like permission
to take the bonnet off the water end of the auxiliary pump. The
midshipmen wish to understand how the pump works; it is their lesson
to-day and----”
“No, you can’t take off the bonnet of that pump,” whined the officer
addressed. “The midshipmen have been bothering me all day long about
that pump; I ain’t a-going to let it be done. If I did everything the
midshipmen wanted me to do these engines would be torn apart all day
long. I just ain’t a-going to do it.”
“That old whiner is the warrant machinist on duty,” whispered Bollup to
Ralph. “I’ve been to him a dozen times to-day and all I ever got out of
him is a whine. Say, Os, I’m going to look at a pipe I’ve been tracing
underneath the engine room floor plates; I’ll be up to look at the pump
later,” and Bollup opened up a trap-door and slid down into the engine
room bilge, which was about four feet below the engine room floor on
which they were standing.
“But, Mr. Simpkins,” Collins was saying, “these midshipmen are required
to learn how the pump works and if you prevent them from having a pump
taken apart you may be hauled up about it. I’ll promise to have the
bonnet back before supper.”
“All right,” whined Mr. Simpkins; “but you get it back or I’ll put you
on the report.”
“I’ll do it, sir. But, Mr. Simpkins, may I have a little alcohol? I’ve
got some painting to do and I’d like a little more alcohol in the
paint, and besides I’d like to use some on these bolt heads to cut the
rust, and----”
“No, you mayn’t. I know what you’d do with it; you’d drink it----”
“I never drink, sir, and you know I need it, sir. You told me to get
this job done to-night.”
“Well, I’ll get you some myself, but I’ll not trust you with it. I’ll
keep it in my possession; they’ll never steal alcohol from me; I’m too
smart for them.” And as was his wont, Mr. Simpkins, first refusing and
then invariably yielding, went whining to the engineers’ storeroom and
brought back with him a one gallon can of alcohol, and placed it on the
floor plates between his feet, snarling and talking volubly. In the
meantime Collins was rapidly unscrewing the nuts that held the bonnet
of the pump.
“They’ll never steal any alcohol from me,” cried Mr. Simpkins. “I
know all of their tricks; I was an enlisted man; I’d never trust an
enlisted man with alcohol, no sir. I know what they’d do with it----”
And as he was rambling on in tearful tones Ralph’s attention was struck
by seeing the trap-door just behind Mr. Simpkins slowly open, and
Bollup’s cheerful, grinning face next appeared. The latter listened a
moment to Simpkins’ sad talk, and then, deftly reaching out a hand,
quickly took the can of alcohol, and immediately disappearing with
it, quickly and quietly lowered the trap-door over him. At the same
instant Mr. Simpkins looked down between his feet and saw the can was
missing. He instantly gave a shout. “Where’s my alcohol?” he cried. He
was petrified with astonishment. Back of him was a bulkhead; there was
no one there, and no one could have passed him. Mr. Simpkins did not
observe the neat-fitting trap-door and was utterly confounded. Ralph
was so convulsed with laughter that he could not speak. Mr. Simpkins’
attention was drawn to this and he cried: “What are you laughing at,
you midshipman? I’ll tell the chief engineer about your laughing----”
While he was thus talking, Bollup, watching his chance, opened the
trap-door and peering out saw Mr. Simpkins’ back was toward him, his
feet wide apart. Bollup quickly replaced the alcohol can between
Mr. Simpkins’ feet. This was too much for Ralph. He gave a burst of
laughter and ran into the fire room.
Mr. Simpkins started to walk away, blustering at the top of his voice,
and in stepping off one of his feet collided with the can. He looked
down, grabbed the can, and ran out of the engine room with it. Just
what he thought he never expressed, but it was noticed that whenever
thereafter he served out any alcohol the can was always tightly hugged
between his two arms.
The joke was too good to keep. The midshipmen all knew about it that
night. Collins, who had seen it, told Hester. Hester told a warrant
machinist, Cockrell; Cockrell told Lieutenant Stroud, the chief
engineer, and the latter told the wardroom officers and the captain.
Everybody was much amused but no one attempted to learn who the
midshipman was who had so successfully mystified Mr. Simpkins.
The _Puritan_ remained several weeks in Long Island Sound, using
Gardiner’s Bay as headquarters. Trips were made to Newport and New
London; the midshipmen were kept busy with their lessons and duties,
and all made appreciable progress in ship knowledge. But in engineering
Ralph Osborn distanced all of his classmates. With the devoted Collins
always anxious to serve him, and besides being much interested, there
was every reason why Ralph should learn. Before the end of the summer
he knew how to get a boiler ready for steam and he opened the proper
valves and started the pumps with perfect confidence. He spent some
of his spare time in the engine and fire rooms with Collins, and that
Ralph was to stand first in his class in engineering was a foregone
conclusion.
Ralph also did well with his deck studies. Occasionally he had a
chance to steer the ship when under way; he could row and sail a boat
like a veteran and frequently took the chains and heaved the lead for
soundings.
In the middle of August the _Puritan_ made a run to Newport where the
midshipmen were taken ashore to the smokeless powder factory. Here
the methods of manufacture of the explosive were explained to the
young men. On the return trip Ralph was detailed to fire room duty,
and he had made such progress that Chief Water Tender Hester actually
permitted him to fire two furnaces. Ralph was delighted. He opened his
furnace doors and threw in many shovelfuls of coal, manfully facing
the blast of intense heat from the white hot fire that seemed to
shrivel the flesh of his face. It must be admitted that Hester took
an occasional look at Ralph’s two fires and did some of the firing
himself. After an hour of this work, while firing, Ralph crouched low
and looked into one of his furnaces.
“Why, what’s that?” said Ralph suddenly, noticing a little lump about
the size of his fist projecting downward from the top of the furnace.
As he looked he imagined he saw it grow larger. Then he called out:
“Hester, take a look at this furnace, will you? What’s that lump in
there? I’m sure it wasn’t there when I first came----”
Hester came over and took a look and then gave a terrible shout:
“Haul fires from boiler C! Here, Jenkins and Smith, haul fires,
quick! Turner, jump on top of the boilers and shut boiler C’s steam
stop-valve!”
Hester snapped out his orders at the top of his voice and then ran over
to an iron wheel which worked a drum around which was an iron chain,
and rapidly turned it. In the meantime the firemen present obeyed
Hester’s orders; they rushed to the boiler Ralph had been firing and
instantly, with tremendous rapidity, hauled all of the burning coal
from the furnaces to the fire room floor. The burning coal, at an
intense white heat, was hauled recklessly into the fire room.
“Boiler C is shut off,” shouted Turner from the top of the boiler.
“All right, we’ve got her; the safety-valve is open and the fires are
hauled,” cried Hester.
Ralph stood to one side wondering what it was all about, and then the
chief engineer, Mr. Stroud, rushed in. “What’s the matter, Hester?” he
cried. “What are you blowing off steam for?”
“Take a look at this furnace, chief,” replied Hester.
“By George, the furnace crown came down on you, didn’t it? We would
have had an explosion here in a few minutes if you hadn’t been so
prompt. Is the boiler disconnected?”
“Yes, sir; everything is all right now.”
“What fireman noticed it, Hester? I’ll recommend him for promotion.”
“The fireman that reported it happened to be this midshipman, sir; his
name is Osborn.”
“By Jove, Mr. Osborn, your report has saved us from a boiler
explosion. I’ll tell the captain. Those furnaces are twenty-five years
old and are badly laminated; a blister formed and acted as a non-heat
conductor, so the iron got red hot and the furnace caved in from the
boiler pressure. We’ll cut out the blister to-morrow and rivet on a
hard patch.”
This was very interesting to Ralph. His report was really an accident
and was made principally through curiosity. Mr. Stroud soon left and
Ralph went over to the safety-valve wheel that Hester had operated.
This was on the side of the fire room between the back ends of two of
the boilers. While looking at this he was startled by a terrific cry
of: “Furnace crown in boiler E coming down!” Then followed penetrating
shouts from Hester. “Haul fires, disconnect, open the safety-valve!”
Ralph turned to go into the open part of the fire room and then heard a
fearful yell of: “Run, everybody! Drop everything! Get out of the fire
room, everybody!”
Ralph started to run, but tripped and fell headlong, striking the floor
plates with great force. While he was struggling to get up he was
conscious that the fire room was suddenly filled with hot steam.
One of the furnace crowns of boiler E had come down so rapidly that
there was no time to save the boiler. Hester closed the great iron door
between the engine and fire room, and then cracked it open. No steam
came into the engine room.
“It’s not a bad break,” said Hester. “Hello, where is Mr. Osborn? He
was in there. Did any of you see Mr. Osborn come out?”
“I saw him go behind the boiler to the safety-valve wheel,” said Turner.
Collins, with white face, stood beside Hester. He immediately said to
a man beside him: “Quick, give me your shirt.” The man tore it off and
Collins plunged it in a bucket of water. “Now tie it around my head,”
he cried. “Now throw some water over me.” Instantly a bucket was thrown
over him. The whole incident took but a matter of a few seconds. Hester
looked at Collins keenly. “This is mine, Hester; I’m going after Mr.
Osborn. Open the door.”
“All right, Collins. Get down on your knees and crawl. He’s between
boiler E and F. You’ll get him.”
Collins, with his head protected, trousers tied around his ankles, and
hands wrapped with wet cloths, disappeared through the doorway into
that scalding hell of steam. Inch by inch he groped his way along but
still moved rapidly toward the place Ralph had last been seen, and in
a few seconds met the bewildered scalded midshipman who had by this
time got to his feet. Ralph was aware that an accident had happened
but was blinded and scalded. He hesitated helplessly, and then felt a
strong arm grab him; Collins now rose to his feet, and dragging Ralph
after him, ran forward to where there was a ladder leading to an open
door out of the fire room into the fire men’s wash room. Collins pushed
Ralph up the ladder and immediately followed him, and then both were
rushed to the sick quarters.
In the meantime Hester had had himself wrapped head and foot in wet
bags and cloths and went into the fire room, first to the safety-valve
of boiler E which he opened, and then to the top of the boiler where
he shut the valve, disconnecting that boiler from the other seven
boilers. Then in rushed the chief engineer, without any protection; he
was greeted by a blast of steam from the boiler which struck him on the
head and knocked him down. Fortunately he was near the door and was
hauled out by his feet.
Ralph had run to the sick quarters without assistance. His face, hands
and part of his body smarted painfully but he had no idea that he had
been badly injured. Intense suffering came in the next few days; his
cruise of course came to an abrupt end, and he was transferred to the
Newport Naval Hospital where he remained till the end of September,
losing all of his September leave.
Collins and Hester both received medals of honor with highly
commendatory letters from the Secretary of the Navy. Neither were more
than slightly burned.
Severe as was the accident, Ralph was fortunate in several respects.
First, the hole in the furnace crown through which the steam had
escaped was very small. Then Ralph was at some distance and was not
struck directly; and also the fire room was large and spacious. So
Ralph had much reason to be thankful he had escaped with his life. He
and the chief engineer were the only two who were seriously injured.[6]
FOOTNOTE:
[6] This accident happened as described in the _Puritan’s_ fire room.
An officer was scalded and rescued; two enlisted men went into the
fire room swathed in wet clothes, performed rescue work and secured as
related the injured boiler; they received medals of honor from the Navy
Department.