Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

382 BRITAIN AT WORK. while on the lower deck the chief petty officers, the stokers, and the able seamen are nicely divided. Before passing on to other branches of the Service, it has to be noted in regard to the seaman class that a number of boys in the training ships are selected for the signal Photo: IP, Gregory &• Co., Strand. FIRING MACHINE GUNS. staff, and on being drafted to sea-going ships are rated signal boys, when, instead of rising to able seamen, they become in graduation qualified signalmen, yeomen of signals, and finally chief yeomen of signals. They are employed entirely on signals, and their paraphernalia consists of the “ Big Dollond,” flags, lamps, semaphore, and fog horn, which emits short and long grunts on the Morse code. Signalling is a most important subject, especially at fleet evolutions, when the signal- men are often knee-deep in flags. The engineer department of the Navy is divided into engineer officers, artificers, and stokers. Engineer officers enter this branch by competitive examination between the ages of 14 and I/, and go through a course of technical training, lasting' four or five years, at the College at Keyham. The engine-room artificers must be competent workmen — fitters, copper-smiths, boiler-makers, etc.— and can join the service, after passing an examination in the “ three R’s ” and the practical management of steam engines and boilers, between the ages of 21 and 28. They are entered as chief petty officers,, a position which carries with it many privileges. The pay on entry is 38s. 6d. per week, rising to 45s. 6d. after twelve years’ service. After eight years’ service they become eligible by examination for advance- ment to rating of chief engine-room artificer, at from 49s. to 52s. 6d. per week, while, when in charge of engines, they receive at least ?s. a week extra. No previous experience is neces- sary to enter as a stoker, the age limit being 18 to 28. But simple as the operations of a stoker may be thought to be, it requires six to twelve months to develop him from a novice. His chief work is to trim coal and tend fires ; he may, how- ever, be ordered to take charge of such parts of the main or auxiliary engines as he is told off for. A second-class stoker, on entry, receives ns. 8d. per week, and can rise to 35s. per week as chief stoker. Extra pay is given when serving in torpedo boats and destroyers, and when in the tropics. The port-main engine room of a war-ship is a wonderful sight, but the layman cannot possibly comprehend the labyrinth of pipes and levers, and the whirring, whirling rods and shafts, which spatter the walls with milk- white grease, and almost deafen with their pounding and throbbing. The boiler room of a war-vessel is a verit- able pandemonium and inferno combined. The clin of the engine room is as nothing