Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Marine Review (Cleveland, OH), January 1934, p. 20

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ing may be carried out in holds, store rooms and in crew’s quarters. On arrival at the ‘‘away’’ port, the crew cease watches and go onto day work, with the boatswain in charge, under the supervision of the first officer. The work must be care- fully planned to get the best results, for there are many things to contend with, such as cargo gear littering the decks, winches working, barges alongside, and visitors meandering about. The weather also often up- sets things, and a knowledge of me- teorological conditions is useful. Nothing is more annoying than to put on a nice coat of white paint and then have a sudden shift of wind smother it with coal or grain dust, or again in the winter time, for the wind to shift round to the north and send the mercury tumbling down so that the paint freezes and does not dry. Besides painting, there are numer- ous other jobs such as stoning of decks, scrubbing teak wood rails and doors, washing paint-work, overhaul- ing boats and other life saving ap- paratus, scaling and chipping iron rust both inboard and overside. The funnels are painted ‘every voy- age and the masts every other voy- age. In the summer, opportunity is taken to give all decks their annual coat of varnish. The decks are thor- oughly stoned first, and when they are bone dry, the varnish is applied liberally and allowed to sink in. This hardens up the decks and increases their life tremendously. Corrosion, a Constant Menace Corrosion is a condition which must be constantly guarded against, especially in the more exposed parts of the superstructure. No amount of slapping on paint will arrest it, and the only method is to clean off the iron thoroughly with chipping hammers and wire brushes, and ap- ply several coats of red lead. Over- side, the worst corrosion takes place in the region of the waterline, that is, between wind and water. This is caused by the constant wetting and drying of the plates; the rubbing alongside of barges, or scraping along wharves and piers, thereby breaking the paint surface, and acids and oils in dock water eating into the steel. There is nothing to be done about it except protect the sides as much as possible with fenders, and keep on scaling and red-leading the worst places at every opportunity. In the course of time, funnels get very thick with paint, and it com- mences to break off in large flakes. This is particularly noticeable in the cold weather. In port when fires are drawn, the funnels get cold, and contract. When the fires are lighted for leaving port, the funnels expand and crack the paint, and when the 20 ship gets out in a breeze, great slabs preak away and hurtling down, be- come a source of danger to passen- gers and others on the upper deck. When funnels reach this stage, it is time to scale them completely. In many instances, ships begin to look old before their time, owing to the super-abundance of paint that has been plastered onto them by careless and unthinking officers. It is much better when paint is thick enough to stand it, to wash paintwork with a solution of weak soda water, using a little bath brick to remove rust stains. Soda should neyer be used on enamel paint as it will remove the gloss. Fresh water. a good soap and soft cloths or sponges should be used instead. Lifebuoys should rarely be paint- ed. The writer has seen a lifebuoy sink when thrown over the side, ow- ing to the weight of paint accumu- lated on it over a number of years. Scaling and Painting of Holds The scaling and painting of holds is very often neglected, for it is a long job and the results are not very spectacular. But once rust begins to form, it forms quickly and the job will take twice as long, so it is bet- ter to tackle them systematically and paint a certain portion each year. Clean, well kept holds appeal to cargo shippers, and they and their representatives take notice and talk of these matters. Paint now-a-days is supplied all ready mixed, and only requires thor- ough stirring in the drums before being used. The ship under discus- sion uses roughly 1000 gallons of paint of various colors in the course of a year, in all departments, not reckoning that applied by the shore gang in the home port. In concluding this article on up- keep, it may be in order to consider the moral effect on both passengers and crew, of finding themselves in a clean, smart and well found vessel. There is an old saying in the Brit- ish navy, ‘‘A clean ship is a smart ship; a smart ship is a happy ship, and a happy ship is an efficient ship.”’ This also holds true in the merchant service, and in a ship where ‘“‘ship- shape and Bristol fashion’”’ is the or- der of the day, the crew lose their slovenly habits and take a corre- sponding pride in themselves and the ship. This promotes happiness, and smartness. Where the officers take a personal interest in the work and in the crew, and see to it that their quarters are kept clean, their food properly served, that orders are given in a seaman-like manner, that the work ig sensibly planned and carried out, and that ‘‘slackers’”’ will not be tolerated, there we arrive at good results and efficiency, and the men will take a pride in doing their best. MARINE REVIEw—January, 1934 This attitude on the part of the crew is very apparent to passengers, who, although they may know little about ships, are well acquainted with human nature, and can judge easily from the members of the crew with whom they come in contact, just what manner of ship they are in. To be in a smart ship, and a happy ship, and a well disciplined, efficient ship, gives passengers a Sense of se- curity and comfort, and what is even more important to the shipowner, a feeling that they will continue to travel by the line. Shipping Code Agreement (Continued from Page 14) ress, however, is being made as the discussions continue, and a definite agreement will probably be reached, if not by the first of the year, shortly thereafter. Though foreign lines are naturally inclined to consider the proposed pro- visions very carefully as far as their interests are affected, there is no dis- position on their part to hinder the acceptance of a code, it being under- stood, of course, that its provision would in no way affect the actual operation of their ships afloat. Lord Essendon at the annual meet- ing of the Prince Line in London said in connection with a code for ship- ping: ‘. . . certain plans that are now being evolved have great possi- bilities for good. I refer particularly to their (United States) plan for regu- lating industry? especially to the adop- tion of codes of fair competition in connection with the national recovery act. “Such a code, if framed on the prin- ciple of establishing order where chaos has previously existed, will at least benefit shipping to the extent of elimi- nating a great many of the evil con- ditions which have crept into the in- dustry during a period of excessive competition, and will, it is hoped, give the industry some compensating ad- vantages to offset the difficulties un- der which we have been laboring for a long time past, and which have re- cently been added to by increased costs and diminishing trade.” General Electric Gains Orders received by the General Hlec- tric Co. for the third quarter of 1933 amounted to $43,733,499, compared with $35,539,858 for the second quar- ter of this year and with $25,665,402 for the third quarter of 1932, an in- crease over last year of 70 per cent. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, orders received this year amount- ed to $104,785,001, compared with $94,374,114 for the first nine months of 1932, an increase of 11 per cent.

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