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136 the value of the goods destroyed un- der the present method of fighting this class of fires. "My. plan and the one that I have recommended to the Fire Commission is the building of steel barges with tanks and cylinders containing .the necessary ingredients to put out any fire. The barge would be tied up to the wharf with the other fire boats and would be towed to the vessel on fire. "With the present system the fire TAE MARINE. REVIEW boats are frequently out of service for other fires for three or four days at a time, while they are fighting a fire in the hold of a single vessel. With the new method the time needed to put out a blaze would amount to very little. . "The hold would simply be filled with the carbon dry gas and the fire would go out immediately or would remain in the bales of goods only as long as the oxygen that the material contained lasted." -- Cuzco's Rough Trip Seattle, Feb. 82. HPETHER it is: the. part of W wisdom to lash the deck cargoes of lumber laden ves- sels leaving Pacific coast ports on off- shore voyages so securely that the lash- ings will not give way under extraordi- nary strain is the question 'that is agi- tating surveyors, underwriters and mas- ters at the present time. The query fol- lows the experience of the Norwegian steamer Cuzco, owned by W. R. Grace & Co. and operated by this firm between Puget Sound and Peru and Chile. treme danger for hours. Upon making port she had a list to starboard of 23 degrees, although at one time, while many being tossed about on the angry waves at sea, she was heeled over at an angle of 35 degrees, threatening at any mo- ment to turn turtle. The fact that the steering gear was jammed and parts of it carried away, practically rendering the vessel helpless, indicates close call the big freighter had. what a During this harrowing experience the Cuzco's deck lashings held fast. 'The April, 1911 outer line was 6 ft. beyond the bulwarks. 'With the exception of one small lashing aft, which broke and allowed between 15,000 and 20,000 ft. to go overboard, the cables about the deck cargo held fast. When the deckload went* to star- board it jammed the steering gear, ren- dering the vessel helpless." Had it been possible the lashings would have been cut and the deckload jettisoned, but it was impossible to do so, for it meant death to any man who attempted such a foolhardy feat. The vessel refused to right herself as she would have done had she been able to relieve herself of the heavy load above deck.: Conse- quently with steering gear cripppled; the vessel got into thetrough of theseg and wallowed helplessly for many hours, It was impossible to get her head up to the sea and she simply drifted about 20 miles to the north until off the en- trance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca. By this time she was in smoother waters and by good navigation the master brought his vessel up the straits and finally made Port Townsend, the vessel still having a list of 23 deg, her star- board rail being well under water, which reached almost to the hatch combings. While at sea the Cuzco took a lot of water below decks as it poured through : Norwecian STEAMSHIP Cuzco Listep In Storw ON THE Nortu Paciric, Fes, 12, Lasz. On Feb. 12 the Cuzco was in one of the most terrific gales that has swept the north Pacific in years and that she did not founder is a tribute to the skill of her master, who managed to bring his vessel back to Port Townsend in safety, although she had been in ex- . ~ cargo consisted of 1,200 tons of flour stowed in No. 1 hold and No. 3 'tween decks and 2,800,000 ft. of lumber, about half of it on deck stowed to a height of 15 ft. When struck by an unusually heavy sea, which hit hér broadside, the Cuzco's deck cargo shifted so that its the hatches, whose covers had been torn off, and through the rivet holes in the deck, from which the rivets had been wrenched loose. However, the inflow- ing water was controlled and it failed to reach the fire room. Here it was necessary to extinguish the fires on the