Getting Underway.-Leave all drains open until the engines have run about 200 revolutions. If there is much starting and stopping, it will be as well to leave the low-pressure cylinder and slide-valve drains open to the condenser until the ship is clear of the harbour; they have little or no effect on the vacuum when running, and the practice will ensure that the cylinders are drained. In starting the engines do not be hurried nor give excited orders; the evolution requires smartness, but it is part of the ordinary routine, and it should be taken as a matter of course that the engines will obey the levers if properly moved. Give the link time to run over before opening out the steam regulating valve and endeavour to open out smartly to such an extent that the engines will move off steadily. If the engines stick, do not open out the regulating valve wide before trying the effect of the auxiliary starting valves; the result of such a hasty action will probably be damage done to the air-pump gear, or to the piston and piston-rod, through the engines bursting off at speed.

The starting of some engines needs experience only to be gained by practice, but in general the routine should be somewhat as follows:

1. Answer the signal from the bridge and run the link into full gear. 2. When the link is over, open out the regulating valve.

3. If necessary, use the auxiliary starting valves.

4. If the engines do not start, run the link quickly to full gear astern and back to ahead (or vice versa), and again use the auxiliary starting valves.

5. Telegraph to the stokehold. (This can be done by an attendant.)

On first starting the engines, station an attendant with a long, clean tar brush and syringe to supply oil to all the piston and slide-valve rods.

When the ship is clear and the engines are running at the speed ordered the following adjustments should be made :

1. Regulate the supply of circulating water to the main condensers. The temperature of the feed water in the hot well should be about 120° F. A higher temperature can be attained by reducing the amount of circulating water, but the packing of the condenser tubes might suffer. The temperature of the feed water in the feed tanks can be raised, with advantage as regards economy in consumption of fuel, by leading the discharge from the jackets and evaporator steam coils into the feed tanks; but the feed pumps may begin to give trouble when the temperature is over about 130° F., unless special arrangements are made (see Feed Heaters).

2. Adjust the pressure in the steam-jackets, and see that the jacket drains are clear and opened sufficiently.

3. Adjust the water service for the bearings. At moderate speeds no water should be required in any of the bearings, but it is usual to wash the outside of the eccentric straps and the outside cover of the thrust block

with a steady and constant supply. The new pattern open thrust block with horseshoe collars should need no cooling water.

4. Adjust the speed of the feed pumps.

5. Rig suitable temporary splash plates, firmly secured, in front of the cranks and eccentrics, to maintain the cleanliness of the engine-room.

6. Make a round of the bearings and ascertain personally that all are running cool.

7. Visit the stokeholds and inspect the water-gauge glasses. Try the test cocks. See that the fires are of the proper thickness, and the draught plates adjusted to uniformly distribute the work amongst the boilers.

8. See that the particulars of starting and stopping are copied correctly into the engine-room register.

Lead of Cylinder- and Slide-casing Drains.-The Admiralty specifications order the various drains to be led as follows:-The drain pipes are to be carried to the bottom of a switch cock. From each switch cock pipes are to be led, communicating with the auxiliary exhaust pipe and bilge for the high- and intermediate-pressure cylinders, and with the steam side of the main condensers and bilge for the low-pressure cylinders, non-return valves being fitted on the pipes leading to the bilge from the low-pressure cylinders. The pipes should be so fitted that there is a continuous downward lead to the discharge. The handles of all these cocks are to be brought into such positions that they can be conveniently worked from the starting position.

It is important that the drain pipes from each cylinder should have a separate lead. If the cylinder- and valve-casing drains are joined into one pipe the diameter should be correspondingly increased. It may well be that much of the difficulty experienced in starting certain main engines is due to the accumulation of water caused by bad drain arrangements. In two separate cases, to the author's knowledge, such difficulty has been removed by an increase in the size of the drain pipes together with the arrangement of leads specified above. It is a well-known fact, that auxiliary engines will not start at all until the water, accumulated in the auxiliary steam pipe and cylinders, has been removed by a continued use of the hand turning gear, by means of which the water is pumped into the drains or into the auxiliary exhaust pipe by the steam piston.

Working up to "Full Speed." When the telegraph is put to full speed, the engines should be worked up gradually, the speed should be increased at regular intervals, and the conditions of lubrication adjusted as required. In this way the boiler attendants have time to increase the rate of combustion, and, consequently, the supply of steam to the extent required. If the speed be increased too rapidly the increase of ebullition in the boilers may cause them to prime, owing to a sudden re

duction of steam pressure, and the engineer will find himself compelled to slow down whilst the fires are being shaken up and the steam pressure restored.

More care is required with cylindrical return-tube boilers, which are not capable of such rapid changes in the rate of combustion as are the types of boilers known as water-tube."

The speed of the engines cannot be increased for a lengthened period unless the fires are thickened and quickened. The increase of speed should, therefore, follow the improvement of the fires.

When working up to full speed for the purpose of running a trial, it is usual to take from one to two hours in the process, so that everything may be examined and adjusted to secure favourable conditions. The link is set in its proper position and then the speed of the engines is increased by opening out the stop valve, by successive increments, as the pressure rises.

The above remarks do not apply to "express" water-tube boilers, which hold a so much smaller quantity of water that the pressure can be regulated with great facility, and speed can be increased or decreased in a few minutes.

CHAPTER V.

DUTIES OF A STEAMING WATCH-ENGINES.

It will be found of considerable benefit to post a set of orders under this head in the Engine-Room.

The duties and responsibilities of the engineer officer of the watch are alluded to in Arts. 134 to 139 of the Steam Manual. They comprise :—

1. The responsibility for the efficient working and proper management of the machinery and boilers in use.

2. The control of the men employed in the department.

3. The supervision of the expenditure of the necessary stores.

4. Entering a record of the working of the machinery in the engine-room register.

On Taking Charge. of a watch is to satisfy tion

The engineer about to take the charge himself by a careful personal inspec

(a) That all bearings are working well and are in a proper state of lubrication.

(b) That the water in the boilers is at the proper working height, and that the density does not exceed the limit allowed.

(c) As to what cocks and valves are open.

(d) The depth of water in the bilge.

To carry out this inspection the relieving officer should be in the department before the time appointed for relief, so that he may be prepared to take over watchkeeping duties promptly and punctually. The relieving engineer should carefully read the entries made in the register since his last watch, and should receive from the officer on watch an account of the working of the machinery, especially with regard to difficulties encountered; and he should also carefully note any orders which have to be carried out at future appointed times.

It is usual to hang up a list of such bearings as require special attention, in consequence of recent adjustments, for the information of the watchkeepers.

Any orders received by the E.O. of the watch should be written in the register for the information of the successive relieving officers.

All defects of parts of machinery should be entered on a proper list, which will be available when opportunity arrives to take work in hand. This list may be temporarily pasted in the register. Any undue heating of the rods or bearings should be entered in the register, and the attention of the engineer relieving the watch should be specially drawn to the account.

If any part of the machinery is not in its normal condition of working when the relief watch comes down, the "watch on should stay down until the matter is put right. The engineer in charge of the "watch on" is responsible until his relief signifies that he has satisfied himself the machinery is in proper working order.

The petty officers in charge of departments should, as soon as possible, report to the engineer of the watch that they have entered on their duties and found the machinery in proper condition.

The engineer of the watch should go round all bearings at least once an hour and personally ascertain that they are cool and in a proper state of lubrication. A soapy lather issuing from the bearings is a good sign of efficient lubrication, but the lather should not be too stiff; at certain speeds it is beneficial to supply a little water to the journals to thin the oil and prevent a stiff or thick lather being formed. The splash thrown out by a bearing furnishes a good idea of the condition of internal surfaces not accessible to the touch; the fluid so splashed out should be thin and milky in appearance, and the engineer should be careful to notice any increase in its temperature. Undue heating of a bearing can be readily detected in this way.

Considerable dexterity is often displayed by the stoker when feeling the moving parts, such as the crossheads, crankheads, &c. The engineer should also acquire this dexterity, but considerable care is required in the operation, and many personal injuries have resulted from careless procedure.

Rods which look bright after being oiled are in good working condition; oil applied to a hot rod becomes blackened by heat, and the peculiar penetrating smell of burnt oil will be detected. The origin of a smell of burnt oil should be immediately investigated. A bent piston or slide rod is sometimes first betrayed by the fact of its working warm.

Water Service.-The amount of water required by bearings depends on the particular set of engines. Most engines of modern construction require very little or none in the bearings when running below half power. The outside of the eccentric straps and the outside of the thrust block are kept cool by water jets, which are generally beneficial, even at low speeds. At high