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MARINE REVIEW. -- Vou. IX. CLEVELAND, O., anp CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 5, 1894. No. 14. In the Ice at the Straits. Probably no vessels in this country have attracted more attention than the transfer steamers of the Mackinac Transportation Company, which are engaged in carrying loaded cars across the Straits of Mackinaw. The peculiar service in which they are engaged, especially during the cold winter, is the main cause of interest in them, and the REVIEw is fortunate in having secured the striking picture that appears on this page, in which the Ste. Marie, built last winter by the Detroit Dry Dock Company, is shown with the surroundings which she was designed to meet. The ves- sel's freeboard with an ordinary load of eighteen freight cars on board is about nine feet, nearly all of whichis seen to be needed on this trip, which was not, however, an unusually difficult one. As soon after her appearance at the straits as the ice became heavy enough for trial, Capt. L. R. Boynton ran his boat out of the usual course until he found a smooth field of clear blue ice, which proved upon being measured to be 27 inches thick, and the Ste. Marie cut through this with- break ice would be uselessly expended if the form of the hull permitted loose ice to cling to her and wedge around her as it does around an ordi- nary vessel. In fact, no amount of power that could possibly be applied would make a vessel of the usual freight type do her work. The upper deck of the hull proper is entirely given up to car accommodation, the cabins being carried on the hurricane deck, 25 feet or more above water. The sides are sheathed up, keeping the cars entirely under cover in transit, and incidentally relieving timid passengers of the fear caused by the sight of the seas in heavy weather. The usual appliances in the way of jacks and chains are used to steady the cars on the tracks. The length of the trip and the number of passengers carried calls for somewhat elabo- rate arrangement of passenger accommodation in way of dining saloon and ladies' and gentlemen's toilet rooms, which are arranged very conven- iently and finely furnished. The power is contained in four double-ended boilers, 11 feet 6 inches diameter and 17 feet 6 inches long, working at a pressure of 120 pounds per square inch, and two vertical inverted compound engines, of about TRANSFER STEAMER STE. MARIE IN THE ICE AT THE STRAITS. out any appreciable difficulty or inconvenience. To test her power of starting under such great disadvantage, she was stopped in this field, and started up again without any pretense of reversing the engines and back- ing clear, in the manner of ordinary vessels, to gain headway. Sucha performance as this needs to be seen, Capt. Boynton says, to be appreciated. The Mackinac Transportation Company is to be congratulated on the remarkable success of the vessel, which was designed by Mr. Frank Kirby of the Detroit Dry Dock Company, in anticipation of just such work. She is 269 feet 6inches length of keel; 302 feet moulded length of deck; 51 feet 6 inches breadth, and 24 feet moulded depth. She has three tracks on the upper deck, sufficient fur the accommodation at one time of eighteen cars of the ordinary freight type. The hull is of the strongest possible construction. It is the heaviest wooden hull on the great lakes, and is of oak for the most part, some long leafed Virginia pine being used for deck beams and track stringers. The frames are 12 inches thick by 24 inches deep on the keel, and there are fifteen keelsons, none less than I4inches square. The planking is 6-inch oak and the vessel is sheathed with steel up to Kinch thickness, to prevent the ice from chafing the plank. An important factor in the boat's success is her fine form under water, her coefficient of displacement being less than five-tenths. Her power to 2,500 indicated horse power for ordinary working. The bow engine has cylinders 28 and 52 inches diameter by 4o inches stroke, while the cylin- ders of the after engine are 32 and 58 inches diameter by 48 inches stroke. The air pumps are of the Worthington independent duplex type, the size of the forward one being 12 and 15 inches by 15 inches, and the after one 14 and 19 by 15 inches. Thefeed pumps are also independent of the main engines, leaving only the bilge and cooler pumps to be worked at the ex- pense of propelling power. The auxiliary machinery comprises also an" electric light engine, for a plant of 300 lights and asearch light, four steam gipseys for handling lines, and an engine for hoisting the gate at the bow under which cars must run in loading and unloading. Among her special fittings may be noted four hydraulic ash ejectors, of the type for which the Dry Dock Company is becoming noted, and by the use of which the labor of getting the ashes overboard is reduced to shoveling them into the hopper in the fire-room. The fireman opens the valve, shovels in the ashes, and the machine does the rest. The Ste. Marie is fitted with two anti-rolling tanks between decks, similar to those on the St. Ignace, which reduce the rolling of the vessel in aremarkable degree, but independent of these she is claimed to bea steady vessel, and one of which Capt. Boynton and his crew are justly proud.