Engine Room
A most inhospitable place to work. A constant 120 degrees, young men would work in this area monitoring gauges, in an eight hour shift that had a four hour break in the middle. The steam used to drive the turbines that then turned the propeller shafts had to be very warm, on the order of 850 degrees, to be able to make this ship be fairly fast. To check for steam leaks, they would run a broom handle along the length of a distribution pipe. If the broom handle were cut in half as a result, you had a leak. Simple as that!
Britain's American colonies broke with the mother country in 1776 and were recognized as the new nation of the United States of America following the Treaty of Paris in 1783. During the 19th and 20th centuries, 37 new states were added to the origina... ... read more 
