“What’s going on down here?” asked Lawrence, in the most
serious of tones.
“The port shaft seal failed and the water is pouring in,”
said George as he motioned over to it with his hands.
“What’d you grab here?” the
oakum, he thought answering his own question. “Listen we have an emergency
shaft seal,” the white valve on the
bulkhead above the cooling system.
I know,” assured George again motioning over to the port
shaft seal with his hands.
A cold sinking feeling stuck
Lawrence as he glanced over and suddenly realized that extent of the damage to
the emergency shaft seal. What the hell did he do? Why the hell didn’t he wake
us up? What the hell are we going to do now? “That’s a horrible idea,” he said
deadpan as he looked again at the canvas bag full of oakum that George was
holding.”
“What else do you suggest we do?” asked George in a very
uneasy voice.
“What? Aside from pray? Just put that stuff down and go
start the starboard engine. That’s what you need to do,” replied a very angry
Lawrence.
Looking up through the grating of
the deck for the second level of the engine room, Lawrence saw Captain Younger
running towards the control booth. I hope
that guy can get the other main up and running quickly, he thought as he
scrambled through the ankle deep water that was now covering the lower level of
the engine room. There was a workbench with some tool chests near the forward
bulkhead on the second level and he knew just was he needed as he made his way
through the lower level and up the warm steel ladder to the second level and
continued forward towards the machinist work area.
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