UNDERCOVER on the TITANIC (book 1)

Part 34 - Steam Turbines

I turned to see a large man, with a heavy red face and a small grey mustache, marching toward us with short mincing steps. He came to a military stop in front of us but the crash of his boots on the steel floor was lost amid the din of the engines. He was wearing a black cap and a dark-blue jump suit with buttons down the front. 

He paused to catch his breath. 'Isambard Jenkins,' he snapped, 'thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain. If I catch you again, thou shalt suffer the consequences. Now, what do you think you are doing bringing your third class friends into the Reciprocating Engine Room?'

I looked for Kozak but he had disappeared.

'Mister 'Urn,' Isambard stuttered but Mister Hurn continued. 'I am sure you are perfectly aware of regulations prohibiting the presence of anyone who is not employed by the White Star Line to be in any area of the steamer except for the passengers' areas. What do you have to say for yourself?'

'Er,' said Isambard but Mister Hurn interrupted. 'Have you been skiving off instead of attending to your work?'

'Oy 'ad to go t'd' bog.'

Mister Hurn adopted a pained expression. 'There is no bog on a steamer, Jenkins. What the passengers call a toilet, or a loo, or a water closet is known as a head. Now, who are your friends?'

'Oy was 'elping 'em find Sir Denny. 'E's dahn 'ere somewhere.'

'Oh? And who is Sir Denny, might I ask?'

'E is d' toff wiv the moustache who owns the boat.'

Mr Hurn's face turned red as his expression became more pained. 'Jenkins . . . this is not a boat! It is a Royal Mail Steamer and it is owned by the White Star Line.' 

'Tha's it,' Isambard agreed, 'Mr McIntyre says 'e owns the White Star Line.' 

Mr Hurn's face was now an apoplectic purple. He was about to say something when Licia emitted a squeal of delight. 'Denny!'

We swung around to look. Denny was standing next to a thin young man wearing a peaked cap similar to Denny's but without the welding goggles. 

Denny was staring at us as if he had seen a ghost. 'What the blooming devil are you doing here?'

'Huh,' Licia gulped. 'You tell us. What is this place? A movie studio? Some kind of computer simulation?'

'We sort of followed you,' Miguel explained. 

'We wanted to tell you about Kozak,' I added. 'He was hanging around the school with Mr Bragg. He . . .'

Denny cut me off. 'Look, sorry, we can discuss that later.' He gave us a nervous grin. 'And you brought your blinking dog,' he laughed. 'It is a dog, eh?' Pacman was panting uncomfortably, his tiny pink tongue lolling from his open mouth.

Denny hesitated before introduced us to the young man. 'This is fourth engineer, Mr Douglas McIntyre, of Glasgow, and you must be Mister Ernest Hurn. These are my . . . my nephews, Miguel, Ziff and . . . uh, Lees.' 

Licia giggled. 'Ernest Hurn? Ern Hurn?' she whispered

'Earnie 'Urn,' Miguel spluttered. Fortunately, over the roar and throb of the giant engines, Mr Hurn didn't hear them.

'Mr McIntyre was just showing me the Parsons low pressure steam turbine in the aft engine room,' Denny explained in a reverential tone. 'It is a work of art.' Isn't that correct Mr Hurn?' 

'That is as maybe,' Mr Hurn agreed reluctantly. 'But that new fangled contraption is not nearly as lovely as my triple expansion reciprocating engines.'

Mr McIntyre explained to Mr. Hurn. 'Sir Saint Denny found the triple expansion engine so interesting that he tried to inspect the crank case while the engine was running. It seemed safer to let him inspect the turbine.

'Mr McIntyre,' Denny suggested, 'perhaps you could tell my, er, nephews something about the turbine.'

'The Parsons turbine uses the exhaust steam from the triple-expansion engines,' Mr McIntyre happily told us. 'The input pressure is only nine pounds per square inch but the steam condensers suck the steam through as the steam becomes liquid water and this is pumped back to the boilers. The turbine delivers 16,000 horsepower to a 16-foot propeller and the flow from this is deflected by the rudder so that the ship can be turned even when it is not moving.'

Mr Hurn looked like he was wondering how to get us out of his engine room. 'Er, I do apologise but I must ask you to leave the engine room. Passengers are prohibited from entering work areas.'

But Denny interrupted. 'Before we go, Mr Hurn, would you tell us the horsepower of your magnificent reciprocating engines?'

Mr Hurn beamed. '15,000 horsepower each,' he said proudly. 'They each drive a 23-foot diameter three-bladed propeller.' 

There was an uncomfortable silence until Denny asked, 'Mr Hurn, perhaps you would explain how the engines work.' Mr Hurn puffed out his chest. 'Certainly. Each engine has four cylinders. Steam from the boilers is directed into the high pressure cylinder.' He pointed to one of the middle cylinders. 'The exhaust steam then goes into the other middle cylinder and from there the steam goes into the two low pressure cylinders at each end. 

'Why are the cylinders different diameters?' I asked. 'That's to keep the same force on the piston with a lower steam pressure,' Mr McIntyre explained. If they were all the same size the engine would be unbalanced and it would vibrate badly. 

Denny spread his arms to indicate both engines. 'I could stand here and listen to the music of the ship all day. Ah, the best part of the steamer is the engine room. Don't you concur, gentlemen?' Mr McIntyre and Mr Hurn both nodded agreement. 'At least until dinner is served,' Denny joked.

Mr McIntyre pointed to a large clock. 'It is very nearly dinner time, sir. You might like to change your work clothes before the ship's bugler sounds the meal call.'

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