The Freezing Apparatus on Board the s.s. Marsala.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4376, 12 January 1883, Page 3

The Freezing Apparatus on Board the s.s. Marsala.

W- A private letter received by M> Hackworth, Collector of Customs a£ Wellington, r .iton J'r Johnston, who was a passenger, by the steamer Marsala, gives the following information with regard to the. failure of her frozen meat shipment. It is datbd from Batavia. He says :—The whole cargo has been discharged intp the- mighty deep. The machinary broke down, • aud the space allotted to the machinery was so contracted that it was impossible for men to remain long enough in the engine-room to make the necessary repairs j'the temperature ranging from 120 "to l'sO degrt. js. But, in my opinion, there are several causes for the unfortunate catastrophe. An jmmense iron,steamer, with iron deck, in the., tropics, will naturally attract .the heat. I have seen the decks so hot that sacks-were laid down for the coolies to run upon when taking in cargo, to protect their feet from the hot deck, when they were sent coasting to collect cargo when five degress off the line. The engine- j room belonging to the refrigerating j machinery was only about 7' feet high, and the temperature there sometimes went up to 137 and even 140 degrees. The man in charge of the machinery was an ordinary workman, who, I should think, was i#?er in such a position before, arid cH^not realise the respon&i- ". .bility^...He. could 'not stand the excessive heat of the engine-room long enough at a time to keep the engines in order, aud'he says that the said engines were constantly heating, and some brass screws which were fitted into cast iron were not protected from sea water, and therefore became corroded and loose. The new patent/ snow syphons, connecting with the muchinery, became choked, and in addition to this the external atmosphere was so attenuated that no amount -' of pressure could be got up sufficient to condense. And this difficulty,' ,in my opinion, was increased by the fact that there was a large space left vacant in the ..-refrigerating chamber sufficient to contain nearly a thousand more sheep.; this void made condensation still more difficult.