408 NICHOLLS'S SEAMANSHIP AND NAUTICAL KNOWLEDGE
grain from shifting shall each be liable to a fine not* exceeding £300.
The owner is also liable to the same fine, unless he shows that he took all
reasonable means to enforce the proper loading of the grain and the
observance of the law and was not privy to the breach thereof.
The regulations regarding grain cargoes are not the same in all
Colonies and countries. The authorities in different ports make some-
what different rules. These are generally approved by the Board
of Trade, and vessels loading in those ports must comply with them
unless they are loaded in accordance with the Eighteenth Schedule to
the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894.
OIL CARGOES.
The particular dangers connected with a cargo of petroleum spirit
are fire and explosion. Petroleum spirit gives off vapour freely at
ordinary temperatures, and this vapour will form an explosive or
inflammable mixture with air, according to the proportions in which
it is present.
The bulkheads dividing the cargo holds from other spaces should
be perfectly tight.
Wooden barrels should not be used for the conveyance of petroleum
spirit below deck.
Special precautions should be taken against smoking and the use
of fire or light of any kind while the cargo is being loaded or unloaded.
Ventilation* must be carefully "attended to. Half the number of
ventilators should go to the bottom of the hold, the other half reaching
only a short distance down below the deck. The short ventilators
should be turned to windward and the long ones to leeward.
Petroleum spirit may be carried in wooden barrels or steel drums
on deck provided they are so stowed as not to interfere with the
navigation of the ship or to make the vessel unseaworthy.
Petroleum spirit is any liquid which is produced by distillation from
petroleum shale, or coal, and flashes at a temperature of less than 73° F.,
such as ben^oline, gasoline, petrol, naphtha, benzol, benzine, lythene,
etc.
TIMBER DECK CARGOES.
Tike term "timber deck cargo" means a cargo of timber carried on an
uncovered part of a freeboard or superstructure deck. The term does
not include wood pulp or similar cargo—
I'he Structure of the Ship is to be of sufficient strength for the deepen