The Engine Room

The Engine Room

Below the waterline, a power plant, a water plant, a sewage plant and a machine shop share one hot room.

Steam. Coal-fired boilers and reciprocating engines, then steam turbines. Stokers and firemen shovel coal.

Diesel. From the early 1900s, marine diesels spread. Today most merchant ships run on large slow-speed diesels.

What runs here. Main engine, generators, fuel purifiers, freshwater makers, air compressors, pumps, steering gear, sewage treatment.

The watch. Engineers and QMEDs take readings, check temperatures and pressures, and log them. Many ships now have unattended machinery spaces at night, watched by alarms.

Fuel rules. Emission control areas require cleaner fuel near coasts.

See it. Gallery G6: the marine diesel section, cut open to show pistons and crankshaft.

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