ON THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF SEACOCKS AND THEIR CONNECTIONS

IN STEAMERS.*

By H. G. SPENCE, Esq., Member.

[Read at the Seventeenth Session of the Institution of Naval Architects, 6th April, 1876; JOHN SCOTT RUSSELL, Esq., F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.]

In the present agitation with regard to unseaworthy ships, I wish to call your attention to a danger in every steamer which has been entirely overlooked in any of the discussions that have taken place on this now all-important subject; and which is of far greater importance than any of the dangers Government has been called upon to legislate against—a danger which every engineer is well aware of, and of which the evidence we have from Board of Trade enquiries, the reports in the Shipping Gazette, and from other sources, clearly shows that some improvement is required in the present system of the sea connections in a steamer to make her perfectly seaworthy. For however well a vessel may be constructed, if all the iron be tested and care taken that she be not overloaded, she still may be lost in the way, I daresay, many of the silent losses have occurred—and that is through the hidden dangers of the engine room; for there, with the greatest care, accidents have happened, not only in the ordinary cargo steamer, but even in the large American liners, and in vessels in whose construction no money has been spared-Her Majesty's ironclads; an accident which has sent many a fine vessel with her valuable crew to the bottom, and for the prevention of which I wish now to call your

attention.

In the engine room of a steamer, as you will all be aware, there are at present cut through the bottom or bilge of the vessel's shell five or six holes for the purpose of admitting or discharging the necessary water for the proper working of the engines and boilers; these holes are covered by what are technically known as seacocks, which are bolted on to the skin or shell of the vessel, the larger ones being generally of cast-iron, and the smaller of brass; these are connected to the engines and boilers by pipes of lead

Received 1st March, 1876.

or copper, which are generally placed low down on the vessel's floor so as to be out of the way. The engine-room platform, as well as the stoke-hole plates, being a considerable height above these pipes, in some cases as much as three or four feet.

One of the dangers, therefore, consists in the position of these seacocks and pipes ; for, necessarily being very low down on the bilge, or in the bottom, they are under the engine-room platform and out of sight, so that should a leak occur in a cock or pipe it is not found out till the water coming over the stoke-hole floor warns the engineer or fireman that something is wrong; but it is then too late, for the engineer cannot see what is the cause of the leak, everthing being covered with water, and unless the pumps are capable of overcoming this leak, the vessel ultimately founders.

On this point I will give you the following extract from the evidence given before the Royal Commission on Unseaworthy Ships, by Mr. Waymouth, Secretary to Lloyd's Registry, on the loss of the Knight Templar:—

66

66

แ

"8,126. (Mr. Brassey) Assuming that this leakage did occur through some pipes "connected with the engine, do you not think that the leakage in those pipes was probably occasioned by a strain upon the vessel from the structure of the vessel having yielded to the force of the sea?-If the information I have received is correct, "I do not imagine it was in consequence of the pipes giving way, but in consequence of "water being let into the ship by the pipes or valves being arranged in the way they were, not from anything yielding or giving way. I know in the case of one ship, "which was lying in dock quite recently, five cocks had to be opened before one could "let water into the ship, and yet there was found to be 6 feet of water in the hold, and "the cargo was damaged, but the ship proved perfectly water-tight. I have known In one

(6 many cases where vessels have had a serious amount of water let into them.

66

case in particular, a vessel put into Falmouth, which was considered to be very leaky, "and engineers were sent down from London to see what was the matter with her, but "the ship became tight of her own accord, without anything being done to her."

"8,127. (Chairman.) What had been the cause of the leakage in that case?— Something wrong in the engine room; they had let the water into the ship with the "cocks, and I believe many a ship goes to the bottom in consequence of the water being "let into the ship in that way."

Mr. E. J. Reed, M.P., also said, in reply to the question asked by Mr. Denny :

"9,521. (Mr. Denny.) With regard to the loss of ships at sea: sometimes ships are "lost and never heard of; may not those losses occur from the straining of the ship, "causing a breakage of the seacocks, and the water coming in ?—I think that very often

"happens.

I think probably many of the silent losses occur from the breaking of the pipes in connection with the bottom from the straining of the ship."

We have also the case of the French Transatlantic steamer, Europe, of 4,000 tons, abandoned in the Atlantic on April 2nd, 1874, the crew and passengers, in all about four hundred persons, being taken off the sinking vessel by the English steamer, Greece, the officers of which vessel held a survey on the Europe, finding about 6 feet of water in the engine room and stoke-hole, and only 1 foot in the adjoining holds. A prize crew was put on board and they tried for several days to pump the water out, but bad weather coming on, they signalled the steamer Egypt; after which they tried to tow her into some port, but at last had to abandon her with 18 feet of water in the engine room, only 8 feet in the main, and 3 feet in the after-hold, and for several days afterwards this vessel was reported as knocking about in the Atlantic.

It is therefore evident the leak was in the engine room, and from some sea connections, which is proved by a very singular and strange coincidence, for a few days after her sister ship, Amérique, of 4,000 tons, and belonging to the same owners, was abandoned in the English Channel, afterwards picked up and towed into Plymouth, with the engine room full of water. When it was pumped out nothing was found wrong with the vessel, she was towed to Havre and put into dry dock; the hull was found perfect, and what had gone wrong with the sea connections was never made public. The value of these two ships would be about £150,000; and had just been rebuilt and new engined by two first-class English firms.

แ

The Ormesby, of 930 tons and 140 horse power, was abandoned January, 1874, in the Bay of Biscay. From a Board of Trade inquiry into her loss, we find, that after the vessel had encountered a heavy gale, and when it was comparatively calm, water was suddenly discovered coming into the engine room and stoke-hole, which in a short time lifted the stoke-hole plates and put the fires out. The carpenter sounded the ballast tanks (one being under the engines and boilers), main and after holds, and found no water in them. A fireman stated the leak was not in the coal bunkers, as the coals were quite dry till the water was over the stoke-hole plates, so that the leak was traced to the space between the tank side and the bottom of the coal bunker, or in the neighbourhood of the seacocks, and the assessors, in making their report, stated:-" But whether it arose from "the starting of a plate, or from any accident or straining in the locality of the seacock (which was an ordinary stop valve, the casing of cast iron, and the only seacock that was submerged when the leak was discovered), there was no evidence to show.”

Now considering this case from a shipbuilder's point of view, the water must have come from some sea connection; for if the vessel had strained, or started a plate, it

Q

would have shown itself in the gale she encountered, not in a comparatively calm sea. and would also have shown water in the ballast tanks, the main hold, or in her topsides, and not in her bilge, which, from the vessel's construction, owing to the tank side, was the strongest part of the ship.

The exposed position of these seacocks is very dangerous, being liable to get broken off, and the pipes lying on the floors of the vessel to get chafed or broken in two, by the constant working of the ship.

Let us suppose a steamer with water, from some cause or another, in the engine room, perhaps with the engines broken down, owing to the shaft breaking or any other cause, and the fires drowned out. As the vessel rolls, the water rushes from side to side, lifts a stoke-hole plate, fire bar, a lump of coal or anything else, and dashing it against a seacock, off it comes, or damages a pipe, for in the present system there is nothing to prevent it. It may cause only a small hole, but it is no easy matter to plug it, when you have not only a heavy pressure of water against you outside, but when the engineer also has to work with his hand and arm in water.

The arrangement of having seacocks with three-way turns, or openings, has also led to several mishaps, for these three-way cocks are very difficult to make, and if perfect when new, soon wear the openings into a very dangerous state; the object of these three-way openings being that the engineer can so regulate them by turning the handle, to pump either from the sea, or bilge water in the ship. However, sometimes the engineer turns the handle the wrong way, the cock is not properly constructed, or is wrongly marked, the consequence being, water instead of going into the engines, goes into the ship; this being most likely the cause, assisted afterwards by the breaking of the ashcock pipe, of the foundering of the La Plata, with her crew of seventy hands; the assessors saying in their report, "We are of opinion, that somewhere about 8 a.m., one or more of the cocks in the engine room, must have been set incorrectly, as we cannot in any other way, account for the steady increase of the water after that time, as we know from the evidence that one or more of the cocks were then moved."

I have myself known this to occur in new steamers after the first turn round of the engines, the water to accumulate to a frightful extent; and it was this happening a few years back, that called my attention to this serious source of danger and to scheme out some plan of preventing it.

It is well known to every one connected with steamers that water often gets into the engine room, and from here into the holds, damaging a lot of cargo, while the vessel is quietly in dock, from some unknown cause, and then as suddenly stopping; the

stopping being caused by the engineer trying his seacocks again and getting the plug into the right position. A case of this sort was brought to my notice in January, 1874. The Rosa, of Hartlepool, when loaded with iron in the Tees, was found making a great quantity of water; the leak was so great it was thought the bottom was nearly out of her; the cargo was discharged and she was taken into dry dock, when, to the astonishment of every one, not a defect was to be seen in the hull, and the cause of the leak not found out. The ship was undocked, took in her cargo again, and went to sea. Another steamer, lying alongside a quay, was also found leaking badly, and it was decided to put her on the slip; the owner, however, telling the engineers if the hull was found all right they would have to pay all expenses, the leak stopped, and the engineer acknowledged that one of the seacocks was wrong, so the vessel went to sea without the expense of slipping.

No doubt many of you will remember the case of a London steamer, the Uitenhage, some eight years back, which was bound for the Cape with passengers, but after leaving Falmouth forty-eight hours came back with 5 or 6 feet of water in the engine room. In harbour she became tight, went to sea again, but returned after a lapse of the same period, was again pumped out and went to sea once more, but after four or five days reappeared in the Thames with the engine room flooded. She again became tight in harbour, the cargo was discharged, and vessel went into dry dock. When the dock was empty the ship was filled with water to the height of 10 feet; the hull was found perfectly tight, and nothing further discovered. She then proceeded on her voyage without anything being made public as to the cause, leaving a strong suspicion that some cock had been wrong, as, doubtless, must have been the case.

Numerous instances of this kind could be brought forward, but to show this is no uncommon accident, and is still going on, I must call your attention to a paragraph in the Maritime Registry of May 14th, 1875:

แ

แ

66

King Arthur at Bombay having finished loading cotton, was discovered to be

แ leaking badly, and was obliged to be beached. Cargo would have to be discharged to get at the damage."

In the Registry of June 11th we find

"The surveyors appointed to report on the leak of the King Arthur at Bombay were unable to find any cause for it, and were of opinion that the sudden leak "must have arisen in some way in the engine room. She has to go out of dock and "reload her cargo."

Here you see cases of ships leaking at sea and in harbour. What is to prevent this occurring again? Nothing. And doubtless vessels have been lost (when the engines