Item 01: John D. Wilson diary, 18 May-27 July 1916 - Page 29

[Page 29]

Thursday June 15. 1916.
Another beautiful day. Our course is almost out West and there is a gentle breeze from the South. A whale was seen early this morning, and I am told a steamer was within 3 miles of us last night.

Friday June 16. 1916.
This is a nice bright sunny day. This morning we were going 4 points North of West and at 2.15 the course was 8 points N of West. At 9 o'clock I went down to the Boiler room and remained until 11.45. It is very hot work stoking. There are 27 fires in all and the heat in the tropics must be terrific. I felt it pretty hot in these latitudes. There are 4 main boilers in the "Persic". They are fired from both ends, there being three fires in each end, that is 6 fires for each boiler. There is an auxilery boiler forward with 3 fires and its funnel is carried diagonally overhead into the main funnel. The boilers develop about 25,000 Horse Power. as The working Pressure is 215 lbs and 90 tons of coal is consumed per day. The fires