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Ship of the M o n t h - cont'd. most landward of the three mains there to this day. barges in the brea k w a t e r project. Her 8. hull re * * * Ed. N o t e : We are grat ef ul to longtime H o n o r a r y T .M . H . S . m e m b e r , the R e v . Edward J. Dowling, S . J., for the i n f o r m a t i o n c o ntained in his ex tensive wr i t i n g s con ce r n i n g the history, and p a r t i c u l a r l y the formation, of the P i t t s b u r g h S t e amship Comp a n y by J. Pierpont Mo r g a n and Judge Elbert H. Gary. We also a ppreciate his shar in g wit h us his know le dg e of the names d e s i g n a t e d for use on the four s i s t e rbarges of BRYN MAW R that nev er were built. These names are not common p l a c e knowledge. If any of our memb e r s kno w of any incid en ts conc e r n i n g BRYN M A W R / B R Y N BARGE w h i c h they think mi ght be of interest to our readers, we invite them to bring the details to our attention. * * * * * A C H I L L E LAURO - F A R E W E L L TO A LE G E N D by Jon athan Boo nzaier A chapter of m a r i t i m e h i s t o r y came to a close on D e c e m b e r 2nd, 1993, wh en the famous Italia n pas s e n g e r ship ACHI L L E LAU RO sli pp ed ben ea th the water s of the Indian Ocean. A l t h o u g h the ve ssel nev er once v i s i t e d the Great Lakes, her recent p a s s i n g dese rv es ment i o n as the ma ritime w orld has lost one of its b e s t - k n o w n ships. The ACHI L L E LAURO was one of a rap id ly d w i n d l i n g n u m ber of former oce an liners (this term use d in its true sense) still in se r vice, and c e r t a i n l y was one of the last trad it io na l t w i n - stacker s still afloat. The ship was or dered from the N . V. K o n i n k l i j k e Maats. "De Schelde" shipy ar ds of Flushing, the Nethe rl an ds , by the Ko n i n k l i j k e R o t t e r d a m s c h e L l o y d N . V. (known as the KRL) as the A R D JOENO on August 16th, 1938. The keel of the shipyard's Hull 214 was laid on January 25, 1939, and wor k p r oceeded swift ly on the c o n s t r u c t i o n of the ship whi ch was to be em ployed as the f l a g s h i p of K R L 's Indon e s i a n service. It was inte nd ed that she be launc he d dur i n g the spring of 1940, but the in vasion of the Ne t h e r l a n d s by Ger ma n force s in May of 1940 put an end to this plan. A l t h o u g h the Germa ns w o u l d have liked to use the ship, it became i mpossible to complete her at F l u s h i n g and it also was doubt fu l that the ship wou ld survive a tow th rough the Engl i s h Channel to a Germa n port. Ac co rd ingly, the incomplete v ess el re mained on the stocks for the d u r a t i o n of the war, while w o r k on her p r o c e e d e d at a pai n f u l l y slow pace due to strikes, g o - slows and sabotage by the D utch Resistance. Re ma rkably, the ship re mained u n s c a t h e d in the hostilities, and at the c onclusion of the war, the vess el 's ev a p o r a t o r s were put to use to sup pl y local res id en ts w ith fresh w ater that co uld not read i l y be o b t ained from any other nearby source. Once the N e t h e rlands had been liberated, w ork on the new ship b e g a n in e a r nest. By July 1st, 1946, the vessel was r eady for launching, and she was c h r i s t e n e d WILLEM RUYS in ho nour of a fo rmer KRL d i r ector who had be en m u r dered by the Naz is dur in g the war. The W I L L E M RUYS was co mp leted on Octob er 1st, 1947, and sa iled on her maiden voy ag e from R o t t e r d a m to I n d o n e s i a on December 2nd, almost nine years after the hull had be en laid down. She was a mo d e r n yet tra di tional 2 1 , 119 grt ship w h i c h m e a s u r e d 5 8 0 . 1 (b. p . ) x 8 2 . 0 x 3 8 . 2, and w h ich could ca rry 840 pa ss engers in four classes. She was powered by eight 8- cylinder oil engines (diesels), six of these built for her by the shipyard and the re m a i n i n g two by Sulzer Bros. Ltd. The ship settled down on a regul ar p a s senger and mai l service to Indonesia, often timetable d in co n j u n c t i o n wit h the rival N e d e r l a n d Line's 1939 -b ui lt ORANJE. It was that ship w i t h whi ch the W I L L E M RUYS col li de d in the early