Copyright, 1895, by Harper & Brothers. All Rights Reserved.
| PUBLISHED WEEKLY. | NEW YORK, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1895. | FIVE CENTS A COPY. |
| VOL. XVI.—NO. 829. | TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. |
A CARGO OF BURNING COAL.
BY AN OLD SHIPMASTER.
The reader may think that while coal must be a dirty cargo it is inother respects an innocent one; but there is no shipmaster who does notdread a long voyage with this kind of freight, for many a fine vesselhas been lost owing to the coal taking fire through spontaneouscombustion; therefore the greatest care is exercised in carrying it, andwhenever the weather will permit, the hatches are opened in order togive the gases in the hold an opportunity to escape. The regularcoal-carriers are fitted with ventilators set in different parts of thedeck, and the holds of the vessels are kept pure and wholesome byturning the gaping mouths of a number of the huge funnels so that thewind will pour into and down them to the interior of the ship, and keepup a circulation by escaping through other ventilators that are turnedin a contrary direction.
A good many years back, when I wa