383. Exercises, by order of the Captain, following false alarms of fire, known only to him and the Executive Officer to be false at the time of giving the alarm, may, it is believed, be resorted to with advantage, especially at night.
Such alarms furnish the best means of ascertaining practically whether the necessary preparations for extinguishing fire have been duly attended to; and what degree of silence, calmness, and promptitude may be expected from officers and men in repairing to their stations, as well as in the performance of their duties in a real case of fire.
False alarms, frequently repeated, may perhaps lead some of the men to move slowly, under the impression that every alarm given is false, and merely intended for exercise; and this impression may be entertained even when a fire has actually taken place. This evil would, however, be comparatively small, since it will be readily admitted by any one who has witnessed the effect of a fire upon a crew at sea, that the great difficulty in such cases is to obtain that necessary quiet and orderly attendance at Quarters which is essential to the success of all subsequent measures.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] Note:—In order not to incumber the text with details, they are transferred to the "Notes on the Manual Exercise" (Art. 288 to 357), which are to be carefully studied. Also the notes to Pivot-Gun Exercise.
[5] See notes on this command and the succeeding one, "Load," for further important details.
[6] With the nib-blocks the train-tackle cannot be used to assist in securing the gun, unless a special eye-bolt is placed for this purpose.
[7] When the trucks are to be brought into play, the levers should be shipped on their axle-squares so as to heave upwards, past the centre, and rest against the wood of the Carriage or Slide; otherwise they must be kept in place by hand or by a pin, neither of which entirely secures the Levers from flying back and doing mischief. If hove down, they are apt to interfere with the Tackles.
In order to ship the Levers expeditiously on the proper square, both are to be marked with a cold chisel.