The poem resonates. 26 years in the Navy. Operations, Deck and some Electronics. Never an Engineer below decks, had the sun and wind in my face most of the time. 19½ years on 7 ships at sea.
I've always been mad about steam. Mad enough to have spent some time working in utilities, in the steam electric generation field (Including 8 hour shifts braking clinkers, red hot inside, bigger than I am out of boiler ash pits and removing spontaneity combusting coal dust from coal bunkers.), sane enough to have moved on to other utilities.
It's demanding verse ... lots of references lost on me, a few I can tease out, but the character and quality of the man shine through. And the illustrations capture him his temptations and his choice: "An' by Thy Grace I had the Light to see my duty plain. / Light on the engine-room - no more - bright as our carbons burn." That resonates
The poem resonates. 26 years in the Navy. Operations, Deck and some Electronics. Never an Engineer below decks, had the sun and wind in my face most of the time. 19½ years on 7 ships at sea.
Watch videos of a big triple-expansion steam engine running and you can hear McAndrew's words as he describes his engine.
Turbines just sit there and hum.
I've always been mad about steam. Mad enough to have spent some time working in utilities, in the steam electric generation field (Including 8 hour shifts braking clinkers, red hot inside, bigger than I am out of boiler ash pits and removing spontaneity combusting coal dust from coal bunkers.), sane enough to have moved on to other utilities.
It's demanding verse ... lots of references lost on me, a few I can tease out, but the character and quality of the man shine through. And the illustrations capture him his temptations and his choice: "An' by Thy Grace I had the Light to see my duty plain. / Light on the engine-room - no more - bright as our carbons burn." That resonates