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SHIP INTERIORS, Construction to Prevent Spread of Fire LMOST every possible device A which can insure the safety of passengers at sea has been used by steamship lines in the past. As new safety devices are invented, they are quickly adopted. There is hardly a group in any field of human endeavor which has so conscientious- ly discharged its responsibility to- ward its fellow man as the body of men who follow the call of the sea. Safest of all modes of transporta- tion is travel by ship. It is so much more shocking, then, to hear of a disaster the size of the Morro CASTLE, where, according to official report, 114 persons lost their lives and 10 are missing. The disaster was caused by a fire, of unknown origin first detected in the library of the first class passenger accommodation, In a trice the superstructure amidship was a mass of roaring flame prevent- ing passengers and crew from any concerted or orderly movement to their assigned lifeboat stations. The President Expresses Wish This catastrophe so seared its way into the national consciousness that President Roosevelt expressed a wish for legislation in the coming con- gress which would make the fire- profing of United States vessels ob- ligatory. The proposed legislation would provide for the further improvement of ship interiors over and above the fire safeguards already in force. It would deal among other things with the arrangement, design, construc- tion and materials of partitions and bulkheads so that they would more The author, R. T. Griebling, is with the Aluminum Company of America, Pittsburgh, Pa. 16 effectually hinder the spread of fire. All ships have steel partition- bulkheads running _ transversely through the vessel at regular inter- vals. Many naval architects, and others who have studied the ques- tion, feel that the spaces between these main fireguards are too great, and that they should be reduced in order to make these firefighting walls more efficient. Customary Construction Partitions between passenger cab- ins have in the past usually been made of wood or composition ma- terial treated with fire-retardant chemicals, Its general use is princi- pally due to its light weight, but while it resisted fire to some degree, it would eventually break down and let fire through to the next enclosure. Such progression could keep on un- til all walls in the passenger quar- ters had been broken through, when the fire would have unhindered ac- cess to the destruction of the rest of the ship, Passenger quarters are mentioned © Sample — state- room, built un- der the direction of George G. Sharp, to test the fire resist- ant properties of various kinds of partition paneling. The panels were of metal, wood and composition ® © Sample state- room, after fire had raged for one hour and five minutes. Only metal pan- els stood wp un- der a blaze which ranged (rom: « 13800. -t0 1800 degrees Fahr. 4 MARINE REVIEw—December, 1934 BY k,l. GRIEBLING advisedly because serious fires aboard ship usually start in passenger quar- ters and not in the cargo spaces, The latter are belowdecks and are sep- arated by watertight bulkheads which are capable of withstanding high temperatures for a long period of time. These compartments can be sealed and flooded with water, steam, or a non-combustible gas, such as carbon dioxide, and the flames may be extinguished without danger to passengers, crew, or the rest of the ship. Passenger Quarters But in the passenger quarters one may find complex lighting fixtures, ample ventilation, a wealth of com- bustible material, and the ever-pres- ent hazard of human carelessness, These quarters cannot be flooded with an inert gas, partition doors cannot always be closed because they might trap some passenger, and ven- tilation — the life of every fire — is a thousand times more prevalent in passenger accommodations than in the hold of the vessel. It is of paramount importance to ship-owners to make passengers as safe as possible, In the past this has been done in a number of ways. First of all, responsible lines have always insisted on fully qualified officers and crew, in which all members were imbued with their responsibility to take care of passengers in time of danger. Fire detection and fire alarm ap- paratus is compulsory on board all ships, and every modern large steamship has a special crew of fire- men whose sole duty it is to patrol the ship and to fight fires when and as they occur. Other mechanical de-