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162 water at all, to say nothing of a work- ing level? A water column is no mys- tery and has only one source of sup- ply, and to say that a boiler may be short of water and the glass continue to show partly full in spite of re- peated blowing, because the upper con- nection is closed and yet leaking just enough to prevent the water either dropping out altogether or showing a full glass, while it is charitable, that is the best that can be said of it. The fact that they had been having trouble with a hot piston rod helps to acount for some of the conditions ev- idently existing at the time. 'There were evidently some _ features not brought out in the evidence. It appears further from the evidence that there were no gage cocks attached directly to the boiler drum, as provided for by section 24, rule II of the regu- lations, or, if so, they. were not used. If they had been, even occasionally, the condition resulting in the destruc- tion of the boiler could not have ex- isted. Why did this not receive the attention of the inspector? The record of the water tube boiler in regard to loss of life aboard ship has certainly 'been unfortunate, even leaving out of consideration their rel- atively limited use. Supervising Inspector Stone's Decision. The finding of the supervising in- spector in Duggan's case follows: Steamboat Inspection Service, of Supervising Inspector, Cleveland, O., May 28, 1909. On the morning of May 15, 1909, a verbal report came to this office through the agent of the Provident Steamship Co. which owned. the steamer James H. Hoyt, that one of the boilers on said steamer had ex- ploded while the ship was about 3% miles from Fairport, O., resulting in- the loss of three lives in the engineer department. On Sunday morning (2:30) the ship returned to Cleveland, her port of de- parture.. On May 18 the captain, chief feugineet, .mate, handy man, one fireman and one _ oiler were sum- moned to .the office of the local inspectors of steam vessels, Cleveland, O., for a. preliminary hearing which resulted in exonerating the master of the steamer James H. Hoyt from any violation of law in leaving port with- out an assistant engineer as section 4463, second- and third paragraph, United States. Revised Stattites, pro- vides for such cases. Charges were preferred by this office against John Duggan, chief engineer, for negligence in allowing the water in -- starboard boiler to become so low that an over- Office 'Cleveland the TAE MaRINE REVIEW heated condition resulted in the rup- ture of the boiler with the above men- tioned result. The evidence given at the trial on May 22 shows that on May 15, 1909, the steamer James H. Hoyt left Cleve- land, O., at 4:30 a. m., bound for Ash- tabula, O., with a full crew, with the exception of an assistant engineer. An assistant engineer had arranged to join the steamer on her arrival at Ashta- bula; when the steamer had arrived at a point about 30 miles east of Cleve- land, near Fairport, the starboard boil- er of the steamer 'became ruptured by several of the tubes pulling out of the headers, causing smoke, steam and ashes to fill the fire room and engine- room so suddenly, that all could not escape, causing the death of three men in the engineer department, and with- out further injury to steamer. Cause of the Accident. The cause of the accident was low water in the boiler, this fact was so testi- fied to by John -Duggan, the engineer in charge, and corroborated by three experts in their testimony, who ex- amined the boiler the next day after the steamer returned to Cleveland, O. The evidence further shows that John Duggan, the engineer of the steamer, is 42 years old, is a thoroughly compe- tent engineer, now holding his 12th is- sue of license, and had filled all posi- tions in the engine department of steamers on the great lakes and ocean, also that there was no lack of atten- tion paid to the gages and water glass. On the steamer's departure from boiler as well as all things connected with that department were in good condition and working properly until for about 3% hours, or about 30 miles from Cleveland, the engineer discovered the water gage on the starboard boiler did not appear to act properly, though showing water in the glass all the time, but the re- markably quiet condition of the water in the glass aroused his suspicion that something was radically wrong. Open- ing the lower valve in the glass, an air bubble appeared, which condition indicated to the engineer an absence of water; he immediately rushed into the fire room, ordered and assisted in drawing the fires from under the star- 'board boiler, then hurrying around per- forming various duties to prevent such disastrous results as might or might not occur, and just while returning to the boiler-room from the engineroom, the concussion came, hurling him across the engine room, Severely burn- ing his hands, arms and face, from which he soon recovered, and took the lead in trying to rescue those who June, 1909 were injured, and who were still in the fire hold, from which they were re. moved in varying conditions of in- jury. Finding the Closed Valve. Immediately after the accident, the engineer, the first mate, and an oiler went into the boiler room, the oiler ahead with a wrench applying the wrench to the valve in the water pipe leading to the water gage, found the valve open as it should bbe, then trying the valve in steam connection found it closed, causing inquiry as to how the water remained in the glass with very little or no steam in the drum, Three expert engineers gave it as their unanimous opinion in their evi- dence at this trial that such conditions might exist for a short time, or possi- bly the valve might leak steam a very little sufficient to offset the condensa- tion in the water glass, and thereby maintaining sufficient pressure to equalize the diminished force of low water in the lower part of drum and pipe. Said experts also testified that the steamer could not have run prob- ably over an hour with this valve closed, without developing results out of the ordinary, which would attract the attention. of the engineer. The fact that all the evidence in the case shows that everything pertaining fo the safety of the boilers, was in good condition when leaving Cleve- land, and that within 3% hours' time, the boiler gave way, leads to the prob- ability that the valve was closed by some one unknown. From a personal examination of the upper part of the boiler-room, the spot where the valves were located, was found to be accessible at any time to any person on board without the knowledge of the engineer. The fol- lowing facts being well known among engineers and firemen of experience and also among masters of steamets, do with boiler repairs, that probably not more than one case out of.a hundred of injury to boilers from low water, are attended with the and those having to disastrous results; therefore, cent of damage from a condition of low water would probably not deter a viciously inclined person from tampering with the valve, and thus burning and injuring the boiler trifling per with no probable expectation of the injury extending beyond the interior of the boiler itself. In yiew of all these facts as pre sented by the testimony in the case, I do not find sufficient evidence to sus- tain the charge of negligence preferred