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oo MARINE NOVELTY IN SCOTCH SHIP BUILDING. THE WCODEN VESSEL DISCOVERY, BUILT FOR ANTARCTIC SERVICE, IS SAID TO BE THE STAUNCHEST VESSEL IN THE WORLD--THE NEW ADMIRALTY PROGRAM OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Special correspondence to the Marine Review.] Glasgow, Scotland, March 28.--One of the most interesting products of the ship builder this year has just been put into the water at Dundee, namely, the Antarctic exploring vessel Discovery. As some very inac- curate descriptions of this vessel and her purpose have found their way into the English papers, readers of the Marine Review may be glad to have the facts direct from the land of her birth. And, perhaps, Americans may wonder why resort should be had to Dundee (best known for its manufactures of jute and marmalade) for a vessel for the Polar regions. The fact is that for generations Dundee has been closely associated with the whale and seal fishing of Greenland and the arctic circle and has built and maintained a whaling fleet of her own. Exactly how she got into the trade to begin with is not very clear, but at any rate in Dundee are to be found more experts in the art of ice navigation than elsewhere in the kingdom. And so it has come to pass whenever an arctic expedi- tion is projected the promoters at once turn to Dundee both for craft, navigators, harpooners, ice masters and crew. Some years ago a number of Dundee people and others projected a whaling expedition to the Ant- arctic in the hope of finding there the "right" whale in payable numbers. They were led to think this probable from what Sir James Ross had re- ported in his narrative of the voyages of the Grebus and Terror in 1839- 1848. Therefore, they fitted out a well-known Dundee whaler named the Balaena and sent her south in 1892. She returned in 1893 without The Strongest Wooden Vessel ever built. The barque-auxiliary-screw "Discovery," built at Dundee, Scotland, 1901. having found the "right" whale, but with such information about the Antarctic as stimulated the desire to thoroughly explore the unknown region. The desire has been very pronounced in Scotland, where the lead in the project which has now found definite shape was taken by Sir John Murray, Edinburgh, of the famous Challenger expedition. A plan was formed to send out a specially built ship with a specially selected crew and an expert party of scientists to spend three years within the Ant- arctic circle and on the Antarctic continent--if there is one, and not a mere agglomeration of ice, or the terrible pool into which Edgar Allan Poe's friend, Arthur Gordon Pym, found his way after fighting with jet black savages whom nobody has ever seen since. For such an expedition, fully victualled and equipped for three years, a sum of £120,000 was calculated to be necessary. Someone offered £500 to give it a start, the government promised £45,000, the geographical societies of London and Scotland gave liberal subscriptions, and enough money was raised to inaugurate the National Antarctic expedition. When ways and means came to be dis- cussed, it was resolved to build an entirely new type of vessel, specially designed by the chief constructor of the admiralty, and it was also re- solved to have her built by the Dundee Ship Builders' Co., from whose yard has been launched many a stout whaler and gallant exploring vessel for the Arctic circle. The present Discovery is the sixth exploring vessel of the name, and most, if not all of them, were built at Dundee. This sixth representative of the name is the strongest and most complete vessel ever constructed for a scientific purpose. She will become as famous as Nansen's Fram, than which, however, she is much longer. In these days of iron and steel --especially steel--it is interesting to note that the Discovery is really a triumph in timber construction--a return to the old wooden walls. In length she measures 178 ft., in width 34 ft., in depth 20 ft., and her dis- placement is 1,500 tons. But what is remarkable about her is the tremen- dous solidity, combined with buoyancy, which has been provided to enable her to resist the greatest conceivable amount of ice pressure. Her hull is a veritable wooden wall, 2% ft. thick, hardwood, sheathed in green- heart and iron bark. Her stem is an ice ram of solid oak 9 ft. thick. The frames are of solid oak, averaging 12 in. in thickness, and the butts and sides are pommelled and bolted together. Of similar strength are the beams of carefully selected timber. For additional strength in resisting ice pressure there are a number of solid transverse bulkheads. In the designing of the hull the idea of the Fram has been utilized, though modi- 'fied in such a way that when the Discovery is nipped by the ice she will not be caught and submerged, but will lift herself clear and ride on top. REVIEW. 23 There is, of course, special protection for rudder and screw in such emer- gency, and for hoisting them on board, out of harm's way. The Discovery is primarily a sailer and is barque-rigged, but to be independent of the wind in the ice region she is fitted with a propeller and engines developing 450 I.H.P., which are being provided by Gourley Bros. & 'Co., Dundee. For the purpose of deep sea dredging at great depth she is fitted amidships with a powerful steam windlass. And an- other remarkable thing about this very remarkable vessel is that she is provided with a roof to be put on as a covering from snow and wind when she is laid up for the winter in the Antarctic circle. Internally she is fitted with double doors and air locks between all the compartments, so as to prevent cold blasts in the living apartments and in the work rooms of the scientists. The laboratory and work rooms are on the upper deck; the crew's quarters, and the quarters of the officers and scientists below. She is electric-lighted throughout and the dynatno is so arranged that it may either be driven by steam or by wind. There is storage for three years provisions and for a suitable amount of coal. The company will number upwards of forty, and will be under command of Capt. R. F. | Scott, R. N., late of H. M. S. Majestic, with Lieut. A. F. Armitage, late of the Peninsular & Oriental Co., as first officer, and Lieut. C. W. R. Royds, R. N., as the third officer. The engineer in chief is M. R. Skel- ton, R. N. The chief of the scientific party is Prof. Gregory of Melbourne University, and among experts with him will be Dr. Koetlitz, who was with the Hansworth-Jackson expedition to Franz Josefland. The whole outfit of the Discovery will be completed at Dundee, from which port she will proceed to London for her stores, leaving there in July for Melbourne, where the final arrangements will be effected. [If all goes well she should not be back in British waters before the summer of 1904, and, of course, every man on board of her expects to bring home a solution of the South Polar mystery. THE NEW ADMIRALTY PROGRAM. In the new admiralty program, to which some reference was made in the last letter, provision is made for a new arrangement with some of the leading steamship companies, whereby their best vessels are to be held at the disposal of the government in time of war for employment as armed cruisers. Previously only the Cunard, White Star, Peninsular & Oriental and Canadian Pacific companies were under this obligation. Under the new arrangement the following steamers will receive a fixed annual subvention, or retaining fee, for a term of years: Vessel. Company. Tonnage. I, Hoe, Oceanic. hs oe: White 'State. 22... 17,274 28,000 Majesties 225 ee dors a. 9,955 16,000 EPeUtONiC: 346s: fa, i. O52 ee: 9,984 16,000 Campania 72.25. 78.23 Cunard: 2.8 12,950 30,000 Gicanide 2 fet aerk eee dO: fo Fae 12,952 30,000 Umbria +28: ek ore dO ee eee 8,128 14,500 Caledonia' 4.3. 20.3 = Pits. fake: 7,558 10,000: Persia a dO. 7,951 9,400 Wrabiagey) Ml a adO) ae = 7.903 9,400 Tidias aes na gh dO. i eee OLE 9,400 Ommaney. $562 aes. Orient 3.3.43. 8,291 10,000 Ophinessn +. sae. = dOs eee 6,910 10,000: Danmbeti 2088 Royal Mail. 3...<: 5,946 6,650 Niles, Sate don: Bec. 5,946 6,650 ©rtona 4. 3. Pacific Mani...) 3 7,945 10,000 Empress of India...... CoP Ray ea 5,905 10,000 Empress of China..... donee: 5,905 10,000 Eimipress: Ol japatt .. 72 dOe a. tk ee, 5,905 10,000 But it provides that the same companies have to hold at the disposal of the government the following vessels without any subsidies at all: Vessel. Company. Tonnage. Toa P. Britannic: : ek. es Wihite Star. 2.25 5,004 4,900 Germanic oe doe ee 5,071 . 6,000 Gothic 22 5) Ae Se (OVO een W195 a Gyimice Pee oa dOe fri oe 12,647 7,300 Medien ee don ea 11,985 -- Etruria (007, eo Gunard 3.2.4 Fn 8,120 14,500 DBerviae es re UG as 892 10,000: Aurantat o) eer eo edo ae 7,269 9,500 Ivernia piel aa. oie dot ai = 13600 10,000 DaAXOnige se hate es GOj ia as 13,963 10,000: Cita Seas 8 a Pe Oc ek. 7,942 9,400 Bey pts fie UO. ek Hoo ees, 7,912 9,400 imalavas 06 dO. a . 6,898 7,650. Australia so Oe er 6,901 7,650 Wittorta 3380. ia MO. Ss 6,527 6,000 Britannia) GO. ty a oe. Be 6,080 AT CATA Te OC ed Oe a? aes te ots 0,000 ~ 6,080 Ovearia tee eee re hHOGis ete 1 eB 0S 6,080 Ormnuz 3. Orient 72. 25783 6,387 9,040 Australes doe Fee 5,024 7,000 Oriente eee dO. ee 5,631 8,000 (Dhaines 3 a ee Royal: Mails. 2s. 5,645 5.740. Olyde 3; 2 oe dons eo ey 5,645 5,740 Pacuse se es dO: 6a ak, 5,045 5,740 PEmenthc 4, ee ee at GO ee 53573 5,740 Magdalena. ..3.00; do ees. 5,362 5,600 Atratoot i 6 es GOS ees 5,306). 5,600 Orizabae 252 3a: PacmiciWiailicss a. 6,298 6,000 Onova a fe oo Oe oe. 6,297 6,000 ATANIO 30 ay Gn 5 5,321 4,200 Varlates ea GC Perko. ok. 4,425 4,900 Athenian! 2227, de 8,882 4,600 The government thus obtains provisionally the use of fifty of the finest and largest ocean steamers of the world by subsidizing (and that moderately) only eighteen of them. Since the last letter a contract has been booked by A. Rodgers & Co., Port Glasgow, for a four-masted sailing ship of 5,000 tons for the Anglo- American Oil Co. This vessel will be a sister ship of the Comet, recently built by Wm, Hamilton & Co., Port Glasgow, for the same owners for the carriage of case oil between the United States and the far east. It is reported that Russell & Co., Port Glasgow, are to build another of the same size and type.