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

12 MARINE REVIEW. A GREAT SHIP YARD. RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW WORKS OF THE NEW YORK SHIP BUILDING COMPANY AT CAMDEN, N. J. 'Probably never in the history of American ship building, or indeed ship building anywhere, has a modern plant been installed with the rapidity that has characterized the upbuilding of the new yard of the New York Ship Building Co. at Camden, N. J. This is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that almost every part of the work has 'been hindered more or less by difficulty in securing adequate quanti- ties of material. A tract of land which two months ago was largely under water and partly occupied by farm crops and a village of ram- shackle boat houses is now a hive of industry in which 600 men are busily engaged. The steel framework of a considerable portion of the main shop for working up hull material is already in place. On the upper floor of this building will be located the mold loft. This building is to be joined at once on the west and south by the framework of the boiler shop, the machine shop and foundry, the whole making one massive structure 1220 feet in iength. These buildings will be 250 feet in width and 70 feet high. To the northwest of this structure the masons have about com- pleted foundations of the joiner and wood working shop, which is to be of 'brick, 200 feet in length and 60 feet wide. So rapidly has the work been pushed that part of the foundations of this latter building were laid under water. Pile drivers are at work on the construction of the ship - ways and dredging is constantly in progress. One of the buildings of the plant is practically completed. This is the two-story brick structure in which will be provided quarters for the clerical force and draftsmen. 'The delivery of tools has already Commenced. Shears, punches, lathes and drill presses are already on the ground. The work being done for the New York company by Armstrong & Printzenhoff constitutes one of 'the largest. contracts of the kind ever executed in this country. It em- 'braces the construction of three ships' ways, a deep water basin, two _ piers and considerable miscellaneous work. Four pile driving machines and a force of 150. men are putting down into the bed of the river a total of 140 piles per day. It is understood that the present contracts held by the firm mentioned will be practically duplicated later on when the New York company is prepared to undertake the enlargement. of its works. DISPOSITION OF THE PARIS. The recent trip of President C. A. Griscom of the International Navigation Co. to England is understood to be in connection with the disposition of the wrecked American liner Paris. It is quite possible that the vessel may again be placed in service on her old route. A meet- ing of interests at Lloyds' was recently held to consider the action brought by the International company against the Commercial Union as the leading insurance company for the payment of a total loss under the policies. At this meeting a proposition was made which it is under- stood is satifactory to the International Navigation Co., but nothing definite can be determined until Mr. Griscom has returned to this coun- try and presented the matter at a meeting of the board of directors of the company. It is understood that at the conference above referred to the under- writers on the original all risk policies agreed to settle at 55 per cent and pay their proportion of the salvage charges which will, of course, be heavy. On the total loss risk the underwriters agreed to settle on 474 per cent and pay no salvage charges. From the propositions made it would seem that according to the general estimate something like 50 per cent of her original cost will be required to again put the Paris _ in condition for service. _ A cablegram received since the above item was written states that the difficulties connected with the adjustment of insurance on the Paris have been settled and that the vessel will be turned over to Harland & Wolff of Belfast, Ireland, for repairs. When she resumes her place in -the Eee antic service a year hence she will be renamed after an Amer- ican city. NEW LINERS UNDER THE SUBSIDY BIL. A most important project having for its object the establishment of direct steamship communication 'between the United States and Russia is talked of in connection with the American shipping Dill, but it is unfortunate that no names are given in connection with the pro- posed company. The plan is to establish regular lines of steamers be- tween New York and St. Petersburg and between Vladivostock -and some point on the Pacific, probably San Francisco. Both Russian and American capital is said to have been subscribed liberally for the en- terprise and it is claimed also that a subsidy will be forthcoming from the Russian government. It is claimed that according to the present rate of exchange $3,060,000 has 'been raised in Russia and $1,500,000 in the United States for the project, and that at the outset at least eight vessels of 6,000 'tons will be chartered. These will fly the Russian flag. If the subsidy bill is passed by congress it is planned to build several large liners in the United States that will carry the American flag. When the American vessels are completed the chartered vessels will be re- leased and the whole fleet will then be American. A new roller or revolving boat which Walter Dean of Toronto, Canada, is building for Mr. Shaw of Lake Rosseau, representing a syn- dicate, has reached the launching stage and will be put 'into the water within a few days. This newcomer in the field of freak vessels is a cigar- shaped craft about 30° feet in length. The screw consists of a cylinder about one-half the length of the boat. situated in the center and passing entirely around the hull proper. This cylinder is supplied with fins or wings running diagonally around from one end to the other, and their rotation gives motion to the hull. The keel, connected at both ends to the hull 'proper, hangs below the revolving cylinder. [December 21, SHIP BUILDING ON THE GREAT LAKES. Referring to the efforts being made in congress for the abrogation of that clause of the treaty of 1817 which prevents the construction of war vessels on the great lakes, the Army and Navy Register says editorially: "We do not imagine that the resolution which has been thus early presented in the house by Mr. William Alden Smith will accomplish very much in the direction desired, but it serves to bring up again a matter which should be speedily settled in the interests of certain lake shore industries and for the development of the ship building resources of this country. Mr. Smith's resolution calls wpon the secretary of state, with the usual phraseology which permits discretion, for an account of the 'status of the agreement between the United States and Great Britain said to prohibit the building, arming, or maintaining of more than a single war vessel on the great lakes, such information to include all data bearing upon the subject now in the possession of the department.' For many years the facilities for naval ship construction have been somewhat proscribed by a venerable and useless treaty stipulation entered into in 1817 by this country and Great Britain. The situation at that time made such an arrangement of importance to the two countries, which were parties to the convention, and there was abundant reason why such a 'compact should be made, but all that has been changed, and it is now no longer necessary to insist that either the United States or England shall refrain from building war vessels on the great lakes. There are sev- eral concerns which are so situated, and there have been instances when it would have 'been to the decided advantage of this government to have been able to award contracts to firms which were ruled out of any com- 'petition by the old treaty prohibition. It is not within the province of the house, of course, to accomplish anything in the direction of modify- ing or amending the treaty, and perhaps such a resolution as Mr. Smith has submitted would only impede the efforts which are being made by this government to remove the restrictions imposed by the treaty of 1817. 'The diplomatic endeavors in that direction have progressed ma- terially, and unless they are blocked by meddlers there is a good chance that the lake ship builders will have an opportunity to compete for the next cruiser contracts." : f USING AIR BAGS ON A SUNKEN WRECK. Capt. Frederick C. Miller, who formerly commanded the Red D line steamer Valencia, has been in charge of the effort to raise by means of bags of compressed air the steamer Macedonia, which lies in the ocean about six miles off Seabright, N. J. The Macedonia is a new German vessel. Last June, while homeward bound from Havana with a cargo of sugar, she was run into by the Old Dominion liner Hamilton and sank in a few minutes. The stem of the Hamilton cut into her as far as the hatch covering, making a gash 15 feet in depth, 10 feet wide at the top and one foot at the bottom. This is abaft the engines, but they and the boilers are intact. The ship lies in pretty deep water, but she is on a hard gravel bottom and there is no suction to hold 'her down. Capt. Miller has rented from the Mineralized Rubber Co. of New York city, the rubber bags made for the United States government under the supervision of Lieut. Hobson and with which he raised the sunken Spanish cruiser Maria Teresa. Each of these bags is 15 feet long by 8 feet wide and 5 feet depth and has a lifting capacity when inflated of 15 tons. In conjunction with these: canvas bags are being used. These latter are designed to furnish the ultimate lifting power, it not being desired to risk the lives of the divers when the 'buoyancy of the vessel is near the rising point. Three compressors on lighters are used for inflat- ing the bags. Before beginning work on the Macedonia, Capt. Miller secured an agreement from the insurance companies interested to make no claim in case he succeeded in raising the vessel. Capt. Miller has also been engaged by the Standard Oil Co. to employ the compressed air bags on the steamer Maverick, sunk in Halifax harbor. Wreckers have raised her twice but lost her each time. LAUNCH OF THE PENNSYLVANIA. The management of the Roach ship yard at Chester, Pa., has re- ceived high commendation for the new steamer Pennsylvania, which was launched last Saturday. The vessel is building for the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad Co. and will be utilized to transfer passengers from the terminus of the railroad at Cape Charles to the hotels at Old Point Comfort and to the city of Norfolk, Va. The new steamer replaces the Cape Charles, which was burned early in the year, shortly after her acceptance by the company. The Pennsylvania is 258 feet 6 inches in length, 86 feet 9 inches beam, 40 feet beam over all, and 16 feet depth. She is of steel and is fitted with six watertight bulkheads and four trimming tanks. She has three decks--main, saloon and promenade. The vessel will be fitted with a Williamson steam steerer, and a'hand steering apparatus will also be fitted. The equipment in- cludes also four Hyde. capstan-windlasses, and there will be two General Electric engines and dynamos. The interior finish is in white and gold. The dining saloon on the main deck aft of the engine room provides ac- commodations for sixty-eight pasengers. There are seven state rooms anda ladies' parlor on the saloon deck amidship. The steamer will be equipped with four metallic life rafts. _ The engines are of the vertical inverted four cylinder triple expan- sion type (two of them) with cylinders 18, 29, 33 and 33 inches diameter and 26 inches stroke. The crank shafts are steel forgings, 9 inches in diameter, forged in two sections, and propellers are of manganese. There are two cylindrical condensers, two air pumps, two circulating pumps, two feed pumps, one donkey feed pump, one sanitary, one bilge and one fire pump. For furnishing forced draft there are two blowers. Steam is furnished from six Almy water tube boilers, having an aggregate grate surface of 242 feet. The working pressure is 250 pounds. The Penn- sylvania is designed for a speed of at least 20 miles an hour. giiniie steamer State of Kansas, belonging to the Memphis & Cincin- nati steamship line, was burned to the watet's edge a few days ago while prea the wharf at New Madrid, Mo. The loss is estimated at fully