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

16 MARINE REVIEW. [November 3, BUSY SHIP BUILDERS. NO LACK OF CONTRAOTS IN SHIP YARDS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY----SUPPLY CON- CERNS FINDING AN ABUNDANCE OF WORK. The contract for the erection and equipment of the naval coaling sta- tion at New London, Conn., goes to J. W. Hoffman & Co., Phialdelphia. Bids were as follows: J. W. Hoffman & Co., $137,500; Union Bridge Co., $125,370; John A. Meade & Co., $81,043; Riter & Conley Mfg. Co., $185,700, $155,000, $4,000; R. H. Hood Co., $173,975; McGuire & Hall, $164,980; Wellman Seaver Engineering Co., $266,677, $361,777; Berlin Iron Bridge Co., $159,900, $2,580; Engineering Contract Co., $160,000, $185,000; R. P. Staats, Incorporated, $166,000; F. W. McNeal Co., $174,998.52; Manhattan Supply Co., $323,400; C. W. Blakely & Sons, $192,000, $171,000; John A. Meade & Co. also bid $105,602. The cause of tthe submitting of two bids by various concerns was that the conditions along the water line allowed for either of two forms of construction. About 170 feet out from the main- land there is at present an old dock. It was a question of either building the plant on piles between the mainland and dock, or building the plant on the mainland with connection to the dock. The latter method was adopted. The plans which have been adopted were drawn up by the Brown Hoisting & Conveying Machine Co. of Cleveland. With the exception of the foun- dations, etc., this concern will build and equip the entire plant for J. W. Hoffman & Co. The contest for this contract was an exceedingly inter. esting one. Bids have been asked for supplying the Norfolk navy yard with the following machinery and tools: One 12-inch post-shaping machine; uni- versal milling machine, with power feed; improved universal grinding ma- chine, 30-inch; two 16-inch screw-cutting, back-geared engine lathes, with 13-foot bed; 28-inch screw-cutting engine lathe, with back gear and 12-foot bed; 13-inch sensitive drill, with adjustable head; hydrostatic whieel press; 94-inch back-geared engine lathe; six-roll, double-surface planer; heavy pattern, outside moulding machine; automatic plug machine; power feed, joining and planing machine, 20-inch; blind slat crimping machine; im- proved blind stile boring and mortising machine; two door and. cabinet clamping machines; one 27-inch back-geared, power feed drill press, with automatic feed and tapping attachment; 30-inch pattern makers' lathe; one deck planing machine, 10-inch; one band saw; one dado variety saw bench. Particulars of the vessel for the Porto Rican trade for which Miller, Bull & Knowlton of New York have let the contract to the Harlan & Hollingsworth Co., Wilmington, Del., and mention of which was made in the Review last week, are as follows: Length over all, 335 feet; length on load water line, 322 feet; length from fore side of rudder post to aft side of stem, 317 feet; beam, molded, 42 feet; depth, molded at center to main deck, 19 feet 10 inches; depth, molded at center to spar deck, 27 feet 8 inches; depth at side to spar deck, 26 feet 934 inches; draft, loaded, 19 feet; camber, main deck, 10 feet; camber, spar deck, 10% feet. 'Engine to be tri-compound, with inverted cylinders 24, 28 and 62 inches in diameter by 42 inches stroke. Two boilers of Scotch type--diameter of shell, 14 feet 6 inches; length inside, 11 feet. The vessel will have six water-tight bulk- heads. She will be fitted with a complete electric light plant. The W. & A. Fletcher Co., Hoboken, N. J., has secured from the Old Dominion Steamship Co. the contract for a steamer to replace the side- wheeler Northampton, recently destroyed by fire. The vessel, which will be built at the company's yard at Newburg, N. Y., will be 190 feet long, 2814 feet beam and 11%4 feet draughit.. She will have a speed of 18 miles. Special attention will be paid to the passenger accommodations. The two large steamers now building for the Old Dominion Co. at the Roach yard, Chester, Pa., are designed to replace the Yorktown and the James- town, purchased by the government for use as transports. These new vessels will be named Jefferson and Hamilton, respectively. The Jefferson will be ready to go into commission about Jan. 1, while the second vessel will, it is expected, be completed about March 1. The Manhattan Shipping Co. thas been incorporated in Trenton, N. J. According to the articles of incorporation, the company is to construct vessels of any kind or class and to do a regular ship agency business. While the office of the company is stated to be at No. 88 Montgomery street, Jersey City, the working headquarters are to be in the Produce Exchange, New York. The incorporators are Oscar L. Richard, Edwin H. Richard and Charles W. Rowley. The Richards are of the firm of C. B. Richard & Co. of No. 61 Broadway, New York. The Wm. Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co. last week launched the steamer Admiral Schley and this week the Admiral Watson was put into the water at their yard. These vessels are sister boats of the Admiral Déwey, launched Aug. 18, and the Admiral Sampson, launched two weeks later. All four are building for the American Mail Steamship Co. The vessels are 280 feet over all, 36 feet beam and 25 feet depth, and will be equipped with triple expansion engines. Their estimated speed is 15 knots. *-- ; : -A yacht with carbonic acid gas as the motive power is being built at 'the ship yard of Capt. Louis N. Towne, at College Point, Long Island, N. Y. Its dimensions are: Jength, 70 feet; beam, 7 feet; draught, 414 feet. Compressed carbonic acid of 2,000 pounds pressure per square inch will be used in a three-cylinder engine 10 by 10 inchés. It is expected that the yacht will develop extraordinary speed. Kelley, Spear & Co., Bath, Me., will this month launch the four- masted schooner Massachusetts, building for E. C. Smith of Brooklyn. They will also launch two barges. The stocks vacated will be at once filled with new work. The vessels above mentioned will make twelve that this firm has launched this year. Work is in progress at McKie's yard at East Boston, Mass., on a ferryboat to replace the Governor Russell, which was purchased by the government during the war. She will have sister propellers, ore at each end, and compound engines, built by the Lockwood Manufacturing Co, _ Charles H. Hamilton of Tacoma, Wash., secretary of the North Amer- ican Transportation & Trading Co., the largest merchants and carriers in Alaska, announces that the company will this winter construct five steam- ers for the upper Yukon river service. 0 i ' ALTERATIONS IN GOODRICH SHIPS. Chicago, Nov. 3.--The Goodrich Transportation Co. will make ex- tensive alterations and improvements in several vessels of its fleet this fall and winter, and the work is about to be proceeded with in orde: to have them all out in good condition early next season. The twin-screw steamer Virginia will have her present main saloon skylight removed and replaced by a new and more modern one of less height and more artistic. On top of the skylight and securely fastened with through bolts to cabin deck will be erected thirty-six large staterooms, to be entered from central hallways and their windows all on the outboard side. The pilot house and captain's room will be moved forward a distance of about 45 feet, to allow for part of upper tier of rooms. The present dining saloon in the forward hold will be removed, and also the cafe on main deck, to make room for freight, as it is the intention to make the Virginia the night boat out of Chicago, returning from Milwaukee the following morning. The bar and smoking room on main deck forward will be enlarged and improved as to light and ventilation. With two additional staterooms on-the cabin deck added to those above referred to, the increase will be thirty-eight rooms, or sey- enty-eight additional berths. The passengers will.dine in forward saloon on the cabin deck; a large serving room abaft it will be built on fore end of cabin trunk. The crews' quarters and accommodations generally throughout the vessel will be rearranged to suit the exigencies of the new service. The whaleback passenger steamer Christopher Columbus will be operated as the principal excursion steamer out of Chicago daily, and will be overhauled with a view to making her equal, if not superior, to the Virginia for that service. A number of staterooms will be constructed on the promenade deck of this steamer and an elegant dining saloon on the shell deck, long enough to cover the space occupied by three of 'her tur- rets and the full width of the vessel. This will enable the passengers while dining to have an extended view of the lake, and those at the outboard tables will be situated as to view just as are the passengers of a railroad dining car. The present dining room in the hold will be re-decorated and fitted as a cafe and lunch room. The steamer Indiana will have her present main saloon skylight re- moved and replaced by one of greater length and less height. On this skylight there will be built thirty-four two-berth staterooms, all securely bolted to main deck by 34-inch diameter tie rods. The pilot house, which is at present rather far forward, will be moved aft about 9 feet and the heavy spars will be unshipped to be thinned down and given more taper. The petty officers' quarters will be built on the cabin deck forward of the pantry, transferring them from the passenger promenade deck, according to the usual arrangement in vessels of this line of late. The Indiana next' season will probably be on the east shore--Chicago to Grand Haven and Muskegon, in conjunction with the Iowa. The City of Racine; which is practically a sister-ship to the Indiana, will have a similar overhaul and the same alterations and improvements made, but 'she .will probably be kept on her present run as night boat from Milwaukee south, and from 'Chicago north every morning. These alterations and improvements will increase the capacity of the Goodrich line as much as if they had added a new boat to the fleet, without materially increasing the operating expenses. All the west shore boats except the Virginia and Columbus will stop at Waukegon and Kenosha. This will give two south-bound boats daily at these points and one boat north-bound. Most of the work on these vessels will be done at Manito- woc by the Goodrich company at its own works, as the machine shop at that point has lately been about doubled in size and equipment, and a new carpenter shop has been built and fitted with improved wood working machinery. A BIG REPAIR JOB. A repair job now under way on the steel steamer Victory in No. 1 dock of the Ship Owners' plant, Cleveland, is of a very extensive kind. The Victory struck half a mile to the southward of Lansing shoal gag buoy, Lake Michigan, O'ct. 20, and was docked Oct. 26. It is expected she will be in commission about the 5th inst., notwithtsanding the extent of her injuries. The damage extends along the ship's bottom for a length of 270 feet, crossing from starboard strake to bilge, and covering forty plates. Twenty of these plates, 15 feet by 75 inches in size and 54 inch tthick, were fractured and must be replaced. The other twenty will be rolled and put back. The collision bulkhead and three tank divisions were bent and 'broken and required new floor plates and frames. It was neces- sary to renew also one broken girder plate and girder angle. A hole was punched through the tank top, which also required a new plate. Other items were: Renewal of seventy-two 15-inch channels bent and broken with channel 12 feet long; sixty-two channels faired up in place; seven- teen bilge frames renewed with 3 by 38-inch angle 7 feet 6 inches long; fifteen futtocks faired up; eighteen girder stiffeners renewed, and 115 channel intercostals taken off, twenty. of which were made new. The work was done by the Globe Iron Works 'Co. It is stated that the navy department has decided to allow the Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. and the William Cramp company to construct the new 12,500-ton battleships, Missouri and Maine, for the same contract price, $2,885,009, and the. Union Iron Works for the. con- struction of the Ohio will be allowed 5 per cent. ($144,250) on that price.as an extra consideration for transportation. of material from eastern. plants. Consequently the contract price for the Ohio will be $3,029,250. This'is, of course, exclusive of armor and armament. : G For a comfortable trip to New York take Pennsylvania No. 6, which leaves Union station daily at 1:40 p. m., and from Euclid avenue 1:50 p. m.. arriving New York 7:43 next morning. Pullman's very best sleepers run through on this train without change. Supper is served in dining car. Note that the train stops at Euclid avenue station, saving the tedious ride down town to those living in the eastern part of the city. Phone main 1263 or east 513 for space and full information. Chicago excursion via the Nickel Plate road leaves Cleveland 8:00 a. m, and 7:40 p. m., Thursday, Nov. 10; $5.55 for round trip. Tickets good five days. 240, Nov. 10: