The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

1898. | PUGET SOUND TUG. | STEEL VESSEL TO BE BUILT BY THE DETROIT DRY DOOK CO. FOR USE IN THE INSPECTION OF HARBOR WORK AND IN SURVEYING OPERATIONS, Presentation is herewith made of the outboard and deck plans of the steel 'hull tugboat for use on Puget Sound, for the construction of which the Detroit Dry Dock Co. recently secured the contract. The service in which the vessel is to be engaged on Puget Sound and in Gray's harbor 'will include regular towing on the sound, the transportation of inspection officers from place to place and surveying work at Gray's harbor. The conditions make it imperative that the vessel should combine at once the qualities of a good sea boat and limited draught. The severity of the weather to be encountered induced 'E. L. McAllaster, the naval architect, formerly with the Detroit Dry Dock Co., and who designed the vessel, to plan the interior arrangement so that it will be possible to pass to any part of the vessel forward or aft without going on deck. Dimensions of this tug will be as follows: Length of keel, 85 feet; length on deck, 94 feet; breadth, 19 feet 6 inches; depth, 11 feet; draught of water, with 20 tons of coal, 7 feet.. The hull will be of open 'hearth steel of a tensile strength of from 52,000 to 60,000 pounds per 'square inch. There will be three water-tight bulkheads athwartship, and one not water-tight. Fore-and-aft coal bunker bulkheads will extend from the forward boiler room bulkhead. All woodwork in the hull will be of Puget sound white OO000 (om UONOU i [CO MARINE REVIEW. TRANSFER OF OLD WOODEN STEAMERS. No little interest has been created in shipping circles on the lakes this week by the purchase of four steamers from the Inter-Ocean Transpor- tation Co. of Milwaukee by J. C. Gilchrist of Cleveland, who recently came into notice by the charter of his ten barges to the Atlantic Trans- portation Co. for use in the Atlantic coasting trade, and who is acting as the representative of that company in its dealings with lake vessel owners. The vessels secured, with particulars regarding them, are as follows: Name. When built. Keel. Beam. Ins. valuation. Mianlinaittanne ae ee eee ee 1887 252 38 $65,000 Massachtisettcn mesa aseen ee 1882 235 37 60,000 Mertimaccic sseqsseeeeee 1882 235 37 68,000 MinmieSo taaaepn ieee 1880 206 86 50,000 _ 'The aggregate net tonnage of the four vessels is 4,248 and their carry~ ing capacity in the neighborhood of 8,000 tons. Much of the surprise occasioned by the transfer was due to the low price at which the property was disposed of, Mr. Gilchrist securing the four vessels, whose aggregate valuation for insurance purposes is $243,000, for $70,000, of which amount it is understood that only $25,000 is paid in cash. The purchaser is given three years in which to pay the balance, and also has the benefit o the earnings of the boats for the remainder of this season, which is an import ant item. The vessels were offered for sale last autumn but it was not generally known that they were on the market at the present time, and Chicago agents, when they larned that the negotiations were in progress, a (LL Wy COU) LL} Ea (oon OUTBOARD AND DECK PLANS OF THE PUGET SOUND TUG, BUILDING BY THE DETROIT DRY DOOK Co. fir of the best quality. Hard wood floors in narrow widths, highly pol- ished, will be worked over the deck in the after staterooms, saloon, ward room and chart room. The ceiling in the forward quarters below deck will be of cedar, while the ceiling in the after cabin will be paneled. The engine will be of the vertical, inverted fore-and-aft compound type, with cylinders 15 and 30 inches by 20-inch stroke. There will be a piston valve for the high pressure cylinder, with a double ported slide for the low pressure cylinder and Stevenson double bar links. There will be a built crankshaft, and no pumps will be attached to the engine except a bilge pump, which will be worked from a pin in the front end of the shaft. The boilers will be 1034 feet in diameter by 10 feet in length, with a working pressure of 125 pounds. They will contain at least 1,000 square feet of effective heating surface, using 3-inchitubes, with two Morison furnaces of 40 inches inside diameter. The condenser will have at least 500 square feet of cooling surface.- Feed, fire, ait and circulating pumps will be pro- vided. There will 'be three water closets and a bath room, and steam radiators will be fitted in the chart room, in the living quarters on main deck and in the lower cabin aft. The fresh water tanks provided will have a total capacity of 2,000 gallons. In the:ship's equipment will be an elec- "tric light plant and'a system of electric bells, as well as steam. capstan, "windlass, etc: 'The trial trip will consist of two hours' continuous steam- ing, during which the revolutions of the engine must not average less than 40 per minute, and the power must not average less than 250 horse power with a minimum of 200 horse power, indicated. The contract calls for delivery of the vessel within four months. A penalty of $30 per day will be imposed should the time of completion exceed that specified, but on the other hand, should the builders complete the boat in less than four months, they are to be allowed $30 per day for time so saved. hi Bids on the construction of this tug were as follows: Wolff & Zwick- er Iron Works, Portland, Ore., $38,000, government specification; $29,800, bidders' specification, wooden hull; $34,500, amended specifications; Craig Ship Building Co., Toledo, O., $47,500, government SpeChiCaOn oy: amended specifications; $36,850, composite hull; $29,750, composite hull; Detroit Dry Dock Co., Detroit, Mich., $87,000 government specification. offered a higher price than had been asked from Mr. Gilchrist, but the deal was fixed when these offers were made. These four steamers were originally built for the iron ore trade by O. W. Potter and other stock- holders of the North Chicago Rolling Mills, which was subsequently merged into the Illinois Steel Co. Three of them rate Al%, while the. other is rated A2. Mr. Gilchrist has been very successful in the manage- ment of vessels of the poorer class. He figures that a small investment in ships of this kind, especially in view of the transfer of a large fleet to the coast, is more satisfactory than competition in steel ships with the big corporations that are tending more and more every day to a basis of: low interest. It is understood that the $25,000-payment is not:to be made » until Jan. 1 and that the vessels are to be engaged from the date' of sale. in a contract for carrying ore from Escanaba to South Chicago at the pre- vailing rate, which is 40 cents, a. very profitable figure. The installation of the Blake pumps on the transatlantic flyer Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse has been so satisfactory, especially the vertical twin air pumps, that the North: German Lloyd Steamship Co. has decided to replace the present connected-air pumps on the steamer Kaiser Friedrich with independent-air pumps of the Blake twin system. ~ ; 'Merchant & Co., brass and copper tube manufacturers of Philadelphia, report that business was never better than at present in their line. They are supplying large quantities of condenser tubes and other goods of like nature for the new naval vessels and for those undergoing repairs. Safety hollow staybolts, manufactured by the Falls Hollow Staybolt Co. of Cuyahoga Falls, O., for use in marine, locomotive and stationary boilers, are specified for thirty-five locomotives, recently ordered by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. Co. Sunday trips via the Falls River line out of New York were discon- tinued for the season on Oct. 30. The elegant steamers Priscilla and Puri- tan of this line now leave New York at 5 instead of 6 p. m. as before.