Engine room. This engine is a massive steam driven beast. Hand lubricated, hand (throttle) operated and I have to imagine dangerous as hell when moving. The steam cylinders are a deck above and these connecting rods drive the crankshaft, which in turn drives the prop. Its a direct drive system, so when they are running at 75 Rpms the prop is also spinning @ 75 rpms. They have a DVD of the plant when its in operation and it looks like a nightmarish seige machine. At the bottom you can see the small copper pipes that connect to the smaller steel rods. One for reverse one for forward. The massive connecting rods (bigger and greayish) are connected to the crank below and the pistons above. You can see the connection in the foreground at the bottom. The steel boxes on either side of the connecting rods are there to collect the oil that flings around when it is spinning. The sump is full of oil and the crank just scoops it up every revolution and lubricates all the important parts. The chief engineer got the job because he was an engineer on a differnt Liberty ship during the war!
More connecting rods
Heres the electrical panel, still in use and live.. OSHA .. what the hell is OSHA?
And last, but definiately not least. Brownie. I believe she has been on board since the war.
We are heading back out there tomorrow, I'll try and get more pics.