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14 MARINE REVIEW. [June 20, A STORY OF PLUCK AND ENERGY. One of the most remarkable examples of American energy and pluck is that furnished by the William R. Trigg Co., Richmond, Va., which has just found it necessary to again increase its capital stock to care for its growing business. In August, 1898, Mr. Trigg, who then had neither ship yard nor machinery, put in a bid for the construction of some torpedo boats for the United States navy. He obtained five contracts with the customary forfeiture clause if the time limit was exceeded. At the time of the award of the torpedo boats to Mr. Trigg in November, 1898, there was at Richmond, and near the center of the city, an old canal with a pier, having a depth of 17 ft. of water above the mean low tide and reached by means of a stone lock. Near it was an old machine shop in a state of dilapidation. With these as a sort of nucleus and a strip of swamp land adjacent as an accessory. Mr. Trigg organized the William R. Trigg Co. and proceeded at once with the work of construction, for there was no time to lose. In spite of this primitive state of things the Trigg company was the first corporation to launch one of the batch of torpedo boats. The torpedo boat Shubrick was launched Oct. 31, 1899, and her sister ship, the access to the dock, being too small for modern vessels, a larger one will be added. The new lock will be controlled by caissons, such as are used at dry docks. The lock is to be 550 ft. long and capable of taking a ves- sel of 79 ft. beam. The lock basin is so arranged that vessels can be launched into it. The caissons will be of steel and the pumps electrically driven. The company contemplates adding to its plant a dry dock of 25 ft. draught over sill and capable of taking a ship 550 ft. long. It is pro- posed to make the dock of concrete, the bottom resting on solid rock, which is to be found at a depth of 15 ft. below mean low water, or 32 ft. below the level of the launching basin. It is expected that a great saving in cost of construction will be effected because of the existence of this solid rock bottom at this level, as it renders rock excavation, bottom lining or sheet piling unnecessary. The operation of this dock will be un- usually economical inasmuch as it will be drained for a depth of 17 ft. by gravity, it being necessary to pump less than one-half of the contained water. Construction has not yet begun upon either the ship lock or dry dock. There are very few ship yards on the Atlantic seaboard which have the advantage of fresh water for the storage of vessels, and inasmuch as THE TRIGG YARD NINE MONTHS AGO. THE DECATUR ON THE WAYS. Stockton, soon followed. The latter was completed first and accepted Jan. 18, 1901. The speed was 26 knots for 3,000 ILH.P. These boats are 175 ft. long, 17% ft. beam, and have a displacement of 165 tons. The company then took up a piece of swamp land on the other side of and bordering on the James river, and proceeded to make dykes, which were temporarily protected from the wash of the river by stretching mus- lin cloth along the face pinned to the embankment. This new tract com- prises forty-five acres. Machinery was added and temporary sheds erected to protect the plant. All this time the building of the boats never ceased. In fact, it just had to go on. Three of the torpedo boat destroyers under construction were to develop 28 knots with 8,000 I.H.P. Their length was 245 ft. with 23% ft. beam and 420 tons displacement. The torpedo boats and destroyers have twin screws with water tube boilers of the Thornycroft pattern. The boats were launched sideways. As there was no dry dock nearer than Newport News, about 100 miles distant, it was necessary to make some special arrangement for putting the screw shaft in position. This was accomplished by building a cradle under the stern and raising it in the air. The forty-five acres of land acquired will have twenty-five acres devoted to a launching and laying-up basin and twenty acres to shops and the erection of ships. The illustrations which accom- pany this article show the old yard and the new one in process of trans- formation. Machinery in these works is driven by electricity supplied from the power house of the Virginia Electrical Railway & Development Co., about one-third of a mile to the west, which establishment is operated by hydraulic power from the James river, The present ship lock, affording erst CL ROE ip esssieceomoes| we pe ae -- ee ee i THE TRIGG YARD THREE MONTHS AGO. LAUNCH OF THE DECATUR. the ships lie in the water for months between the date of launching and completion the avoidance of the destructive action of salt water upon the hulls is of great value. BALTIMORE DRY DOCK CO.'S PLANT PURCHASED. A surprise was sprung at the expected foreclosure sale last week of the Baltimore Dry Dock Co.'s plant. It was announced that the syndi- cate represented by Messrs. J. Quitman Lovell, J. W. Middendorf and Douglas H. Gordon had purchased all the stocks and bonds of the com- pany and had withdrawn the property from sale. The Columbian Iron Works has surrendered its lease of the dry docks and vacated the prem- ises. Possession of the property will at once be taken by the new owners and plans for remodeling the works will be inaugurated. Mr. J. Quitman Lovell will be elected president and Mr, J. Triplett Haxall secretary and treasurer. The Warren line has contracted with the firm of Harland & Wolff, Belfast, Ireland, for a twin-screw steamer 500 ft. long, 58 ft. beam and 88 ft. deep. The Warren line has now four vessels in the Boston service --the Kansas, Michigan, Sagamore and Sachem. _ The Yarmouth Steamship Co. has been sold to the Dominion Atlantic Railway for $260,000. The Dominion Atlantic Railway will take pos- session of the boats on June 25.