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7. WHEN AUTOS TOOK FLIGHT Ship of the Month No. 244A - Part Two - In the October issue, we featured the histories of the T. J. McCarthy Steam­ ship Company's flight-decked auto carriers GEORGE H. INGALLS, (a) WILLIAM L. BROWN (24), and T. J. McCARTHY, (a) MARY C. ELPHICKE (24), (b) MORRIS S. TREMAINE (41). Our feature was eight pages in length, but we knew that there was more story to tell if only we had the additional information available. As well, we were lacking photos of the steamers at certain stages of their careers, and we asked for the assistance of our members in trying to com­ plete the record. As usual, the members came through and, accordingly, we now revisit these two handsome ships to complete the stories of their long and eventful lives. The first of the "new" items come to us from Jack Messmer, of Lancaster, New York. All are newspaper reports, and all but one of them are marine column clippings taken from unidentified newspapers and presently contained in the Neff Scrapbooks held by the Milwaukee Public Library. Most of the clippings come from Milwaukee papers, but others come from papers in other cities such as Chicago, Buffalo and Detroit. March 28, 1901: "The steel stm. WILLIAM L. BROWN, built for a Chicago syndi­ cate headed by C. W. Elphicke, was launched at South Chicago yesterday (this verifies her launch date -Ed. ). Her overall length is 450 ft., beam 50 ft. and molded depth 28 1/2 ft.; carrying capacity 7, 500 gross tons of iron ore. The BROWN will go into commission about April 15, under the command of Capt. Charles Wilson, for a number of seasons past master of the stm. UGANDA. " May 5, 1901: "Chicago, May 4 - The new steamer W. L. BROWN (sic) sailed to­ night on her maiden trip, taking a big grain cargo from South Chicago to De­ pot Harbor for the Canada-Atlantic line, which has chartered her for the season. The cargo consisted of 57, 000 bushels corn, 151, 461 bushels wheat and 30, 494 bushels rye. " May 8, 1901: "Joseph Brownell for two seasons past first mate of the Canada- Atlantic liner ARTHUR ORR, has been appointed to the command of that steam­ er. Capt. Massey who has commanded the ORR for 5 seasons, has been trans­ ferred to the large new steel steamer W. L. BROWN (sic) under charter to the same line. Capt. Brownell although still a very young man, is a capable and skillful navigator. His parents reside in Milwaukee but he makes his resi­ dence in Chicago. " May 10, 1901: "Capt. James Wilson, now in command of the stm. W. L. BROWN (sic) has been appointed master of the stm. MARY C. ELPHICKE, to be launched at South Chicago on June 1. " (The launch was delayed -Ed. ) June 6, 1901: "If the weather is good a large crowd will witness the launch­ ing of the 450 foot steel stm. MARY C. ELPHICKE at South Chicago this after­ noon. " June 7, 1901: "The last launch at South Chicago for the present season took place yesterday, when the steel stm. MARY C. ELPHICKE dropped into the wa­ ter. A little miss of 12 years after whom the vessel is named performed the christening ceremony. The task of swinging the heavy quart bottle of wine was quite an athletic feat for the little one, but she performed the part as well as many a woman of mature years has done in the same place, and in a perfectly composed manner she thanked B. W. Wells vice president of the shipbuilding company for the huge bunch of American Beauty roses he presen­ ted to her with the compliments of the company. Fully 7, 000 people witnessed the launch. The steamer is 450 ft. over all, 50 ft. beam and 28 1/2 ft. deep, being designed to carry 7, 000 tons of cargo on the present draft of water in lake channels. The boat will be entirely completed in a few weeks and enter the general lake trade. "