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1903.] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. ag . last summer for Capt. Crowley, and will represent the most ad- vanced development of the sailing vessel and the most modern methods of steel ship building. Her hull and interior construction will be such as would be given a transatlantic liner, her skin, as mariners call the outside of a ship, being joggle-plated--that is to say, made of steel plates the edges of which are bent to overlap one another so that the joints shall be absolutely watertight. Her masts will be steel cylinders tipped with Oregon pine spars and will reach 130. ft. above her deck. Steam will be used on the Douglas for almost everything except propulsion. She will have steam steering gear and pumps, and four engines, set on the open deck, will hoist and lower her sails--in which there will be more than 35,000 sa ft. of canvas--and manage her anchors. The engines will be so placed that they can also serve the huge hatchways in loading and discharging cargo. The whole vessel will be lighted by a dynamo, the steam for all the power being supplied by a boiler set in a deck house amidships. As on the Lawson, this use of machinery will be a great economy, reducing the number of men necessary to a crew of fourteen, including master, mates and engineer, while the first six-master, the George W. Wells, built for Capt. Crowley less than two years ago, requires twenty-four men, and the second, the only other six-master now afloat, carries twenty-nine men. These features of the construction and equipment of the W. L. Douglas are not very different from those of the seven- master, but there the similarity ends, for the lines of the new schooner are quite distinctive. They were drawn by Bowdoin B. Crowinshield, the Boston marine architect who designed the Lawson and the yacht Independence, and are intended to give her great cargo capacity and at the same time good speed. As a coal-carrier she will outstrip the two six-masters now in com- mission, for she will be able to carry 5,700 tons. The Douglas will have two decks above her hold, with a deep tank for carrying water ballast--instead of a double bottom like that put into the Lawson--reaching from the keel to the second deck. Her gen- eral dimensions are: Length over all, 339 ft. 6 in.; length on load water line, 306 ft.; beam, 48 ft.; depth, 29 ft. 9 in.; load draught, 24 ft.; load displacement, 77,000 tons. She will be launched next summer. The United States government has contracted with the Fore River company for the largest guns of modern type ever made in New England. They are 6-in., 50-caliber guns of the latest rapid- fire model for use on warships. Within a week after this con- tract was signed another was placed with the same company for a lot of 3-in., 50-caliber guns, which are also. for naval use. Ten sets of the 6-in. guns are called for. They are of the most ap- proved pattern for the main batteries of battleships and cruisers. Sixty sets of the smaller pieces, which are used in the secondary batteries of the larger vessels of the navy, will be made. The guns will be forged, oil tempered and annealed, bored, and turned at Fore River and then sent to the shops at the Washing- ton navy yard to be finished. Rapid progress has been made on the cruiser Des Moines since she was launched in September. Her pumps and other auxiliary machinery are now being put in and her decks are be- ing laid. The propelling engines have been tested in the ma- chine shop and are ready to take down and put into the vessel's hull as socn as the work on the engine room is sufficiently com- pleted. The traveling gantry crane which is to serve the fitting- out dock at which the Des Moines is moored, and which will be used for installing the heavier part of the vessel's equipment, is all set up except for the jib, which is ready for hoisting into position at any time. The two steel car floats building for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad have been put overboard. - The stem casting of the twin battleships New Jersey and Rhode Island were hoisted into place recently and the plating of the fore part of the vessels' hulls will be begun soon. 'The 'mid- ship section of the hull and decks as far up as the protective deck, and well forward and aft, is already nine-tenths finished on both vessels, which show about the same degree of completion. The decks of tne battleships are double-plated, red lead and cheese cloth being used to secure perfect contact between the metal sheets, which are fastened together with inch rivets. The. first of the heavy armor that will cover the exposed parts of the ves-. sels has arrived at Fore River. SEVEN-MASTED SCHOONER THOMAS W. LAWSON. One of the novelties of the year was the construction of a seven-masted steel schooner by the Fore River Ship & Engine Co., Quincy, Mass. This is the first seven-masted schooner to be constructed anywhere in the world and it is understood that it has proved commercially successful. The vessel was christened Thomas W. Lawson in honor of the famous Bostonian. The Lawson measures 403 ft. over all, 368 ft. on the water line, has 2 beam of 50 ft. 5 in. and a draught of 26% ft. She has cargo capacity of about 8,100 tons, and her displacement, when fully loaded, is about 10,000 tons. Forty-three thousand square feet of canvas are stretched from her seven masts, 155 ft. high, the lower masts being steel cylinders 135 ft. long and 32 in. in diam- eter, weighing nearly 20 tons each. The top masts are of Ore- gon pine, 58 ft. long. The spike bowsprit is of steel, 85 ft. long, so that from the tip of her bowsprit to the tip of her aftermost boom she measures 478 ft. She has six engines, one forward of 4o H. P. to work the capstan and hoist her two 10,000-lb. stockless anchors, and five others of 25 H. P. each to handle the sails and do stevedore work at her six hatchways when she is in port. The Lawson has a double bottom of cellular construc- tion, 4 ft. deep between the inner and cuter plating, divided into four compartments capable of carrying 1,000 tons of water ballast. Besides this there is a trimming tank at each end. Over 2,000 tons of open-hearth steel were used in the construction. of the hull, the plating of which is on the joggle system. She. has two continuous steel decks, besides a lower deck composed of. ~ a tier of beams connected together with stringers and tie-plates. The ends of the hull are very strongly built and are connected +o each other by stringers between decks running the whole length of the vessel. The Lawson has a forecastle and poop deck, a cabin and two deck houses, besides a wheel house. 'The cabin joiner work is of cak, natural finish, of plain and neat design. 'The weather decks and deck houses are covered with deck plank. 'The ves- . sel is steered by both hand and steam power. She has complete plumbing and drainage systems, so connected that each com- partment can be pumped out separately, or as a whole, by steam; also by two hand pumps. Steam is supplied by two boilers set at either end of the schooner. A siren whistle is provided and the cabin is piped for steam heating. In addition the schooner - has a complete electric ighting plant and a telephone system. This great vessel is. sailed by a crew of only sixteen men, under command of Capt. Arthur L. Crowley. She is employed a the coal carrying trade and has, indeed, been signally success- ul. in it. PETERSBURG IRON WORKS CO., PETERSBURG, VA. The Petersburg Iron Works Co., Petersburg, Va., launched lately the United States sea-going dredge Gen. Abbott. This will be one of the largest and most powerful dredges owned by the government and will have a capacity of several thousand 2 cubic yards per day. The length on the water line is 200 ft.;" beam, 40 ft.; depth, 20 ft. It is self-propelling and is driven by fore-and-aft compound engines of 1,000 H. P., supplied by steam ~ The United States Sea-Going Dredge, Geo. Abbott. [Butlding by Pete sburg Iron Works Co., Petersburg, Va. from two Scotch boilers. 'The dredge is handsomely furnished inside with cherry and other hard woods and has ample quarters and accommodations. for a crew of forty. It will be fitted out Gn every detail by the Petersburg Iron Works Co., and will first be used for dredging 'the ship channel on the bar off Charleston, S. C. The cost complete will be $200,000. In addition to build-° . ing this dredge the Petersburg Iron Works Co. has finished and | fitted out lightship No. 74 and a dredging dump scow. WARRINGTON IRON WORKS. Although established less than a year ago, the Warrington Iron Works, foot of West Wellington street, Chicago, has been so crowded as to be compelled to refuse considerable marine work. Included in its output is a 78-ft. wooden steam yacht with compound engine and Warrington water-tube boiler for. H. E. Lytton of Chicago, as well as seven 24-ft., fin-keel, sailing -- yachts for members of the Chicago yacht club.. In hand now is. - a 42-ft. passenger launch for Andrew Hansen, to be fitted' with a Warrington gasoline engine of 20 H. P. and to be delivered in April next. The plant of this company is being built up while | the regular work from customers goes on. Additions and ex- °. tensions are being made all the time. Several large horizontal tubular boilers have been constructed for new buildings in Chi- cago and more work of this kind is in hand. The Kearns pop safety valve, handled at these works, is meeting with large sale. --