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Si eRe ee IO MARINE REVIEW. Thirty Feet Added to a Big Steel Steamer. A remarkably quick job of lengthening a Hudson river steamer is re- ported from New York. The steel side-wheel passenger steamer New York of the Albany Day Line has just been floated from the Erie. Basin dock of the J. N. Robins Co., after having been cut in two and lengthened by the building of a midship section 30 feet-long. Only twelve days, or 108 working hours, were consumed in completing this work as far as the steel shell and main deck are concerned. After the boat was on the blocks in the dry dock the butts on the plating of the hull and the three decks were removed and then the forward half of the steamer, containing the boilers and weighing 350 tons, was hauled 30 feet away from the after half in the remarkably short space of 5 minutes 30 seconds. The next forenoon, in less than five hours' working time, all the fifteen frames for the new sec- tion of the boat were in place. The plating, bulkhead, strengthening, keelsons, etc., were then put in place, and the vessel removed from the dock in the short space of time noted above. The vessel will now be 331 feet long by 75 feet wide over the guards, and 11 feet hold. A writer in the New York Sun gives an interesting account of the appearance of the vessel in dock after she had been cut in two. He says: "The New York, which has been plying on the Hudson river for ten years, presents a strange appearance in the Erie Basin dock. She exhibits her interior in the interesting way in which such sights are usually to be seen only in sectional drawings. Viewing the vessel from the bottom of the dry dock where she lies and standing between her two sections, she looks not unlike a three-story house rent in twain. Looking into what might be the cellar of the house one discovers on the one side the face of three big steam boilers with the doors of their six furnaces, while on the other side is the heavy steel framework of the steamer's engines. A floor above, on the main deck of the steamer, are the rooms of the engines and boiler tops, flanked by gangways, and a floor higher up the main saloon and its margin of private parlors appear on both parts of the vessel like the smaller divisions of the upper part of a house. The similarity ends there, for it is not usual to find above the roofs of,houses, as here, three big smokestacks looming up side by side on the one hand, or a big black walking beam sticking up over a roof on the other hand. The boat, from the guards line upward, has been cut in two as fairly and evenly as if the work had been done with a big whipsaw. Below the guards, where the joiner work ends and the steel hull lies, her lines are uneven and jagged, as if she had been rent apart by a mighty pull. She was pulled apart, but this was not done until after every rivet that held the steel work had been cut and removed, and carpenters, with hammers, saws and chisels had separated all the woodwork. When she was ready for the pull, a pair of jackscrews gave a start to her bow section, a couple of steam winches kept it sliding and in five and a half minutes by the clock the two ends of the great steamer were exactly 30 feet apart, with the boilers and pilot house on one side of the gap and the engines and paddle wheels on the other. + "Before the New York was floated into the dry dock much had been done toward the latter work. Besides preparing carefully levelled keel blocks upon which she would settle as the water left her, there were already in place long lines of massive timbers, one on each side of the keel blocks, known as standing ways. Guide planks were bolted to each side of these timbers, and the tops of the ways where they were to come under the bow seetions of the boat were liberally covered with grease. As soon as the vessel had settled upon the keel blocks and while workmen were cutting her in two, other workmen swarmed about her outside, preparing for the important work of moving one end as soon as it should be free. The stern they made stable with bilge blocks and braces. On the greased ways un- der the bow part they put other great timbers called sliding ways, and upon these cross pieces, from which blocking was built up until, with wedges driven home with great sledge hammers. the weight of the ship was transferred from the keel blocks to the sliding ways. Meantime inside the ship holes were cut from the saloon deck to the hold in each midship section of the vessel, and plumb bobs were hung in these with tally marks and straight edges along their suspending cords to show any movement out of plumb or level. Two other lines were carried almost from stem to stern of the vessel, one down each gangway, and, where these crossed the line of cutting, marks were set up on either section. These lines were to -determine at any time whether the two sections of the vessel as she was pulled apart were still exactly in line fore and aft. The preparations for the moving had all been so carefully made that after the 30 feet had been gained the test lines showed that the two parts were exactly in line, level and plumb, and ready to begin to build them together again. To join the hull part it was necessary to put in sections of keel and keelson, stringers and plates each 30 feet long, and fifteen new steel frames, duplicates of the two between which the cut was made. Nearly all of these parts were ready made before the steamboat was even brought to the dock, and the others were all cut and waiting to be punched with rivet holes as soon as tem- plates could be got from the lines of holes in the severed hull. Even before the steel work was finished the carpenters had begun on the upper works. Although the center part of the hull was left straight, the line of the guards was swelled out gracefully, and the New York will probably be even a handsomer boat than she was before, and perhaps faster." The United States hydrographic office announces the publication of a chart of the world, No. 1682, showing area in the Pacific ocean having Hawaii as the only base of supplies in transpacific voyages, and showing, for purposes of comparison, an area of equal extent covering parts of America, Europe, Africa, Atlantic ocean and Indian ocean. A table is printed on the chart showing the steaming distances in nautical miles from San Francisco to the principal ports and islands of the Pacific ocean. The distances are also given from Honolulu to the important ports of Asia and America, and to the principal harbor in each of the island groups; also the power to which the principal island groups of the Pacific ocean belong. The chart may be had from the Marine Review. A lithographed wall map of Alaska showing the overland trails and all water routes to the Klondike gold fields will be mailed upon receipt of five 2-cent stamps. Address advertising department, the Nickel Plate road, Cleveland, O. No. 891, Dec, 31. Our New Torpedo Boats. The torpedo boat, considering its advantages as a vessel-oliwar, 1s a very cheap craft. Taking as a basis of estimate recent-bids submitted to the navy department, some twenty-five 30-knot torpedo; boats, or twenty or more torpedo boat destroyers, can be built, including their armor and armament, for the cost of a single battleship complete. With the thirteen,, torpedo boats ordered of late by the United States government--ten in + October, 1896, and three in August last--every precaution has been, taken to secure the latest improvements, the contractors not being confined, in any instance to the navy department plans, but being allowed to bid also on plans of their own. In fact, the proposals of the department were gen- eral in their nature, so as to induce ship builders to include in their own plans every modern improvement that compétition could suggest. In this way the government has been able to avail itself not only of the knowl- edge of its own constructors, but also of that of the ship builders. This it has not hesitated to do, as is shown by the awards, for in all but the case of one of these boats contracts were awarded on contractors' plans. For the ten of the thirteen boats contracted for in October, 1896, the awards were for three different classes of boats, four being for 20-knot, three 23 1-3- knot and three for 30-knot boats. This classification reculted from adjust- ing the available appropriation to the greatest number of suitable boats procurable, careful consideration, of course, being given to what was needed in view of the almost total lack of torpedo boats of any description and the character of work that would most likely be required of them. It was very clear from the plans submitted that the ship builders had examined carefully the latest boats abroad. The Union Iron Works was awarded the contract for a vessel of the torpedo boat destroyer type. This vessel, which has been named the Farragut, when completed, will be simi- lar to the Desperate, the latest torpedo boat destroyer built by England, and it is safe to say that the departures by the Union Iron Works from the plans of the Desperate are in favor of a more formidable and effective boat. The Bath Iron Works, the successful bidders for the other two 30-knot boats, consulted in the preparation of their plans Professor Byles, of the University of Glasgow, the designer of the Atlantic liners steamers Paris and New York. This company was so confident of what it could accom- plish that it exceeded the requirements of the law and guaranteed a speed' of 301%4 knots. The three boats for which contracts were awarded in August last are all required to make 30 knots. There is every reason to believe that all these torpedo boats will fulfill expectations. The Spirit that Built the Erie Canal. Mr. Carl Snyder, who wrote in the November issue of the American Monthly Review of Reviews about the canal way from the lakes to the Atlantic seaboard, is a journalist of New York city, who has been a fre- quent contributor to that magazine. Mr. Snyder is not an engineer, but has a considerable acquaintance of the journalistic kind with engineering matters, and has frequently written on subjects of that sort. He is said to be one of the best of the young professional magazine and newspaper writers in the country. It is unfortunate that in dealing with this subject he gave so much prominence to the Chauncy Dutton pneumatic lock scheme, for which leading hydraulic engineers of the country have little regard. This part of the article looked like advertising, but Mr. Snyder brought out a few new and valuable points otherwise. "New York and its environs today," he said, "contain a population of between 3,500,000 and 4,000,000. When the Erie canal was opened it had cost a little more than $7,000,000. It will indicate something of the enterprising spirit of that day to say that were the ship-canal from the great lakes to the sea now under consideration to cost $300,000,000 (perhaps $400,000,000), it would be less a burden to the single state of New York than was the Erie canal when it was built. If, further, we consider the enormous territory which such a ship-canal would directly benefit--not less than sixteen of our greatest states and the whole of Canada--the expenditure of $1,000,000,000 would represent relatively less of an outlay than that undertaken by the resolute and hard-headed people of New York state three generations ago." Repair Work at West Superior. West Superior, Wis., Nov. 23.--On Saturday last the American Steel Barge Co. had men engaged in making repairs of one kind and another to six vessels in the vicinity of this port. The list included the Empire City at Duluth, Sagamore and Manda at Alouez bay and the barges 104, 110 and 202 at West Superior. The steel tug that is used in connection with the ship yard is a very handy vessel, and is the means of saving valu- able time to the big freight carriers that may be in need of minor repairs. When the ship yard gets word of a repair job, the tug is often sent out to meet the vessel, and if men can be put to work, they are on the tug ready to begin at once. Of the repairs referred to above, the most important job was probably on the Manda, which was injured by the Sagamore run- ning into her. A hole was punched in her stem and two frames broken. She was only temporarily repaired. The Sagamore displaced her bow chock and broke a frame, which were made good before she left. The barges 202 and 204 required rudder repairs; the Empire City's electric wiring was renewed in part, and the 110 had a number of rivets made tight and some repairs also to fender bar. The barge Constitution, which will probably be laid up here during the winter, will require extensive repairs to her starboard bottom and to both sides of her bow. This was deter- mined by a survey held a few days ago. The bottom damage occurred at the Lime-Kiln crossing and the bow damage in the Sault river. Several plates and frames must be fixed or renewed in both jobs. The vessel was permitted to make another trip. The Vulcan Ship Building Co. of Stettin, Germany, has undertaken the task of transforming the single-screw steamship Spree of the North German Lloyd fleet into a twin screw vessel. The steamer is to be length- ened at the same time by 70 feet and will receive two engines, each on four cranks, instead of her present single screw engine. Her power will be increased by several thousand horse power, and in order to carry out these radical changes the Vulcan company is having a floating dock constructed in England of about 15,000 tons capacity, which will place the works in a position to undertake the most extensive operations of this kind,