THE "BURNER"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 148, 12 March 1918, Page 7

THE "BURNER"

ONK OF THE MEN WHO ARE HGHTINCt THE U-BOAT PERIL.

(By John Gerard, in tlio "Daily . News.")

Tho Burner is 0110 of tho indispensable 111011 of the ship-repairing industry. "Without his help the task of overcoming the submarine menace would bo difficult. He is the most effectivo' time ami labour-saving factor in- ship-repair- work, though his work is principally destructive. Ho is the-shipyard sorcerer —a preposterous twentioth-century sorcerer in ragged overalls who wields a wand that Marks troiidor-s without magic.

Usually he is young and alert; specially chosen, perhaps, on account of his I youth and-keenness, from auiang tho I many men engaged in boilfir-i-'.aking—a I trado which, though requiring neither youth nor keenness, demands stamina and doggedness. Generally ho. is physically slight and temperamentally' nervous; but ho can break an iron: ship ■into pieces with an effort that is little more than a gesture. ■When a ship is merely damaged by a mine or a torpedo, the full extent of tlie damage is not known until she is dry-docked and a survey mado. A holo as big- as a door has, perhaps, been smashed in her bow-. . From the quay side only four or five plates seem to have been destroyed. But a. skilled ■surveyor finds that fully forty have been strained —plates reaching--. from her -deck to.her keel.. The plates will I have to biS unrivettcd and taken..off: j tho frames will havo to be renio.ved and straightened and strengthened. Tiic Burner is the first man on. the job; and his first task is to break the rivets without injuring tho plates. His gear is brought along—two iron bottles, nearly as tall as himself; two lengths of rubber tubo; a pair ot leather sleeve-gloves; a pair-of goggles, with blue glasses; and last, a piece of brass pipe with a. nozzle at tho end of it-rhis-wonderful wand. Tho two bottles-contain gas, oxygen, which the Burner calls- "oxo," and acetylene gas. Tho Burner joins two ends of the rubber tubo to his wand, .while his mate connects the other ends to the j iron bottles. He mounts the scaffolding, puts on Ms long gloves, adjusts his- goggles over his eyes, signals to his mate,' and strikes a match. . A loud hissing comes from the wand. He touches tho jet with the lighted match, and tlio hiss turns to a muffled roar. A spurt of flame springs forth. Slowly the flame becomes smaller and smaller, and greater and greater in heat. It becomes a point of concentrated fire—a speck of lightning. He raises the wand and touches the head of a rivet with the point of light. In an instant the rivet begins to sTiatter in a shower of golden sparks —sparks that rain upon his' head and shoulders and leather-clad arms. He pauses only to wince at the sting as they, strike his face. Then he moves his wand to the next rivet; then to tho next, until all the rivets in the plate are finished. So with the bent or damaged frames—huge angle irons reaching from the deck to the keel — which liavo to bo broken, away.

Tho Burner receives ! a wage of £3 13s. a week; but by working twentyfour hours a day for four days, and seventeen hours a day for three days, making seven days in all, he can obtain as much as £20 for. the week's work. His average earnings, however, are about £8 a week.

He is among that much-misrepre-sented class, the big-wage munition workers. Ho is. giving something more than the labour of his hands and the brain for the big wages he recoivos—he is giving his sight and health. Tho intense light with which lie works, despite the protection of the liluo glasses, is ruining his sight, and the ovil fumes from the burning metal are'undermining his health. Sudden and violent death, too, is never very distant from him.

Last week an explosion occurred. Of tho four men who suffered tho Burner was tho most severely injured. The work, however, was of national importance. Messengers were sent ! to other ships for a volunteer to finish it. A Burner came on his own account. Ho said he had come to "carry ou."