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Ship of the Month - cont'd. the R & O directors, broke a bottle of wine over her bow with the words 'Success to the MONTREAL', the vessel slid gracefully and majestically into the water, crushing the ice in the slip with a mighty crash. Owing to some delay in cutting the stern line, the bow slid down first, although the delay was not sufficient to cause serious trouble. The weight of the vessel, how­ ever, drove her forward and she ran her nose into the dock for a couple of feet, scattering the crowd quickly, but settling in a moment into the centre of the slip. "As she lay on the stocks, ready for her cold plunge, the vessel's remar­ kable beauty of outline (there was nothing yet built above the ship's main deck -Ed. ) struck the most uncritical eye. She is 340 feet in (overall) length and of the same general design as the KINGSTON and the TORONTO. The bottom has considerable dead rise, and forward the hull is cut away under the water from the waterline at the stem for a distance of 40 feet to the point where the sweep of the forebody reaches the keel. The stern is also slightly raised so that the rudder hangs over a foot above the line of the bottom. These innovations are designed to render the vessel easier to handle. "The machinery consists of a three-cylinder, three-crank inclined triple ex­ pansion engine, the diameter of the cylinders being 32 inch, 53 inch and 88 inch (sic) respectively, with a stroke of 6 feet, 6 inches. The high-pressure cylinder is in the middle and its crosshead works the air pump. The engine is estimated at 3, 000 horsepower (sic). The paddle wheels are 25 feet in diameter, and have 11 feathering curved steel buckets each. This form of engine was introduced three years ago by the Bertram Company in the TORONTO, and gave great satisfaction. There are six 'Scotch' type cylin­ drical boilers, each 11 feet in diameter and 12 feet long (sic), with two Morison corrugated furnaces, 42 inches diameter, fitted with the Howden hot draught system. The working pressure of steam will be 185 pounds (sic). The electric light plant will furnish current for 1, 200 16-candle power lamps and the pumps will supply running water to every stateroom. There also will be steam steering gear, steam winches forward and aft, steam (anchor) wind­ lass, and steam heat in the cabins. "The ship will have 200 staterooms, and the decoration of the first class saloons will be of unusual beauty, the central feature being two large alle­ gorical paintings by Challoner. It is a subject for pride to Canadians that this will be the most luxurious and perfect vessel on the inland waters of America, superior even to most of the vessels of the Fall River Line, second in size only to the PRISCILLA, but exceeding her in splendor of decoration and in engine power. " We should take a moment at this point to note that the New England Steamship Company (Fall River Line) paddler PRISCILLA (U. S. 150666) was 425. 8 (b. p . ) x 52. 3 (hull) x 18. 3, 5292 Gross and 2673 Net, built in 1894 at Chester, Penn­ sylvania. PRISCILLA's indicated horsepower was a magnificent 8, 500 - far surpassing MONTREAL's 3, 550. Many historians have considered the beautiful PRISCILLA to have been the finest North American night boat ever constructed. The list of attendees at the MONTREAL'S launch read like a directory of Canadian business and transportation officials. The "Globe" report con­ tinued: "Among the spectators at the launching were: Wm. Wainwright, Lieut. Col. Henshaw, Wm. Hanson, E. B. Garneau, H. Molson, C. F. Gildersleeve, Gilbert Johnston, John Bertram, A. Angstrom, J. Kerr Osborne, Lieut. Col. H. M. Pellatt, Lieut. Col. Mason, Elias Rogers, Wm. Mackenzie, Donald Mann, James Playfair, John Waldie, R. M. Bertram, A. E. Ames, W. D. Matthews, W. M. German, M. P., A ld. Lamb, J. H. G. Hagarty, Henry Beatty, Leighton McCarthy, M. P., A. R. Boswell.