NEW-YORK

The Port Folio.

BY OLIVER OLDSCHOOL, ESQ.

VARIOUS; that the mind

Of desultory man, studious of change,

And pleased with novelty, may be indulged.—COWPER.

For the Port Folio.

On the Preservation from Decay and the Ventilation of Ships, with a Plan of an Improvement in the Construction of Vessels for that purpose. Abstracted from Documents submitted to the Secretary of the Navy, by Commodore J. Barron.

[With an Engraving.]

COMMODORE BARRON has recently submitted to the government an improvement in the construction of vessels, which appears to us so well calculated to promote a highly important object that we have obtained permission to publish an account of it in our pages. In these inquiries and experiments we recognize fresh proof of that zeal and intelligence which belong to the American officer.

Among the numerous inventions which distinguish the present age, both for ingenuity and wisdom, it is remarkable that any great and extensive evil should remain without a remedy. We are all aware of the incalculable importance of the art of navigation, and of the attention which has been paid to almost all its details among civilized nations. But, although we have so far improved this art as to have extended our researches to the uttermost parts of the earth, and established an active commerce between the most distant nations; although so many of the perils of the sea have been so far overcome that vessels of insignificant bulk and ordinary equipment venture to encounter the vicissitudes of the longest voyages, yet we are aware that many sources of peculiar NOVEMBER, 1826.-No. 289. 45

apprehension still exist. Considering the privations, both mental and physical, the dangers and disappointments to which the travellers of the ocean are exposed, we will readily admit that philanthropy can seldom be better employed than in securing, as far as practicable, their comfort and safety.

Our country has secured to herself lasting renown by the various improvements which she has introduced in the building and rigging of ships, and the discipline of mariners.— With regard to the former, there is yet, perhaps, room for improvement.

The diseases incident to all human nature become peculiarly distressing to those who are precluded from the means calculated for their removal. As sailors are almost always in this predicament, they, more than other men, ought to be protected against exposure to disease. A great deal has been done to this effect, in ship building and naval discipline; but there is yet ample room for improvement, particularly with respect to the means of preventing the decay of the wood.

If there is any truth in the commonly received opinion, that fevers are produced by a gaseous matter emanating from vegetable matter in a state of decomposition or decay, there can be no doubt that in many, if not in all, the instances of epidemic diseases that spread through the crew of a ship, the evil arises from the decay of some part of the woodwork in a confined situation.

It has long been observed that wood will endure for a great length of time when immersed continually in water, or when it is exposed to the open air and kept dry; and that it decays most rapidly when it is exposed alternately to air and water. The timbers, the inner sides of the planks and ceiling of ships, are peculiarly exposed in this manner, as there is always water enough between the ceiling and planks to keep them wet for a considerable height above the keel, by the rolling of the ship, yet not enough to keep them continually immersed. Foul air must then be produced in the confined spaces between the timbers, and very probably collected in large quantity, which may gradually mix with and contaminate the air between decks.

When we consider the effect of yeast, which is vegetable matter, in an active process of decomposition, upon other vegetable matter, inducing it to take on a similar action, we need not hesitate to argue by analogy, that the presence of the matter produced by the decomposition of a portion of the wood will stimulate other portions to decom

position. Hence an invention to expel the confined and vitiated air from the hulls of ships may answer two purposes, and supply two of the greatest desiderata in naval economy.

It is unnecessary on the present occasion to recount all the means which have hitherto been employed for the expulsion or destruction of foul air. The inefficiency of fumigations has been lamentably exposed, notwithstanding the confidence with which it has been recommended. It is doubtful whether any gaseous matter possesses a destructive influence over the morbific miasm. But, how plausibly soever the affirmative of this question may be argued, the practice of fumigation cannot be depended on in ships, on account of the uncertainty of the fumigating vapours penetrating to the enclosed receptacles of the foul air. Assuredly no method for destroying or counteracting the effects of foul air can be so well entitled to confidence as one by which the air shall be extricated and entirely expelled from the ship as fast as it is generated. It is evident that if a current of air could be established through all the parts whence the pernicious vapours arise, they could never become so concentrated as to be mischievous. Some have thought that this object would be sufficiently accomplished by the rolling motion of the ship, by which the water that remains after pumping would be thrown between the timbers of each side alternately, thus causing a corresponding motion in the air contained in the same interstices. But a little reflection will convince us that no dependence can be placed on this theory: firstly, because the motion of the water confined between the timbers is limited to a small extent, except only when the ship is becalmed in a rolling sea, or scudding before a stiff breeze; but when sailing by the wind, the motion of a small quantity of water between the timbers and near the keel, would be scarcely perceptible; and when the vessel is at anchor, generally the time of greatest danger from disease, this cause ceases to operate. Secondly, if any foul air is driven from between the timbers by the influx and reflux of water, its only vent must be through the ceiling, inasmuch as the external skin is rendered air tight from the keel to the plank-sheer, and it is when it gets into the hold or between decks, that the greatest danger is to be apprehended.

Besides all this, it is imprudent to allow much bilge-water to remain in the ship, as there is no doubt that it is capable of absorbing the pernicious matter arising from decaying wood; and instances are not rare, in which extensive and devastating diseases have been attributed, with every appearance of

justice, to bilge-water discharged in port. It would be much better to have one of the pumps so planted as that it may draw out the water to the least possible remainder.

For the purpose of extricating all the air from between the outward planks and ceiling, commodore Barron thought that a bellows might be conveniently fixed, to be fed by numerous branches leading from the intervals between the timbers, according to the plan illustrated in the annexed draught:

DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATE.

A. The bellows, the capacity of which may be from ten to thirty gallons.

B. The deck.

C. Communicating pipe, which should be carefully boxed, to prevent injury.

D. Keelson.

E. The main cylinder, secured to the side of the keelson, to prevent injury.

F. Pipes, leading from the cylinder E, into the spaces between the timbers.

H. Timbers.

I. Spaces between the timbers.

K. The keel.

L. Limber boards, through which the pipes F pass.

M. The lever, by which the bellows is worked, and which must be fixed to its upper side, as the lower part must be stationary.

N. Hose attached to the nozle of the bellows, and passed out of a port to convey the foul air clear of the ship. O. Half stanchions grooved, to receive and protect the communicating pipe.

It is evident that, as the bellows, which is furnished with a valve opening inwards, over the communicating pipe is worked, the air must be drawn from the lower portions of the spaces between the timbers, and its place will be supplied by air from above, so that in the process of the work all the air originally contained in these spaces, will be removed.

The simplicity of this contrivance is such, that farther description is deemed unnecessary. With regard to its economy, it may be observed that no plan that has ever been offered for the removal of foul air, requires less expense of materials, time, and labour. A bellows of the largest size, that would probably be used in this way, could be worked by one man; and ten or fifteen minutes use of it, at every