14 MARINE REVIEW. [July 25, MAY BE A DOUBLE LAUNCHING AT NEWPORT NEWS. [Special correspondence to the Marine Review.] Newport News, Va., July 24--The next big launching at the ship yard will occur about Sept. 1, and it will be a double event in all eae bility. The ships, which will be sent overboard within a half hour of eac other, will be the Pacific Mail line steamship Siberia, sister of the Korea, and the Morgan line steamship El Siglo. Both of these ships could have been launched several weeks ago, but the machinists' strike inter- fered. Now that the differences between the company and its employes have been satisfactorily adjusted, work on all of the contracts will be rushed to completion as rapidly as possible, in order to make up for lost time. About all of the old men have returned to work and hundreds of new men have been employed. The force today is about as large as it was just prior to the strike, but more skilled men are needed and all who apply for work will be taken on. In order to advance all of the ships as far as possible the Siberia and El Siglo will be launched on the same day, 'making room for new keels. It has not been definitely decided that both ships will go down the ways on the same day, but there is hardly any doubt of it. The Siberia has a displacement of 18,600 tons-and El Siglo of 6,000 tons. The business men will probably arrange to have excursions run here from all over the state on the day of the launching, making this inal Co., for its line between Ivy avenue, on this side of TES og and Norfolk-on-the-Roads, on the one 1S giving good service. She was brought to Newport News tds oy York and Over- hauled from stem to' stern at the ship yard, oe oo costing about $20,000. An excursion deck was added forward. 1e Old Dominion Steamship Co. expects to have its two new pissenae ready for the James river route in September. These will be night boats and wil] inaugurate a new feature in travel between ean News, Norfolk and Richmond, patrons of the line being able to make the trip nightly with- out loss of time from work. LIGHT-SHIP ON THE GAS BUOY PRINCIPLE. Messrs. D. & C. Stevenson of Edinburgh, engineers, have evolved for the northern British light-house commissioners a light-ship which is likely to have a revolutionary tendency on the design of light-ships, Messrs. Pintsch of London, the well-known lighting engineers, have assisted the Stevernsons in the design and have elaborated their compound gas system in order to do away with the necessity for the maintenance of a crew on board the vessel... The vessel was built by the Clyde Ship Building & Engineering Co., Port Glasgow, and is to be stationed at the View of United States locks and canal at Sault Ste. Marie. Lake Superior in the distance and the Rapids of St. Mary's river to the right. event similar to if not greater than the notable launching of the Korea in March, when probably 25,000 people saw the largest ship ever built on this continent go overboard. Both ships are unusually far advanced, and their completion, after taking the water, will be a matter of only a short time. The next ship launched will be El Libre, for the Morgan line, making the twelfth large steamship built for that company by the Newport News company. The first four ships built for the Morgan fleet were El Norte, El Sud, El Rio and El Cid. During the Spanish-American war they were sold to the government at high figures, now being in service as the Yankee (El Norte), the Dixie (El Rio), and the Buffalo (El Cid). The Yosemite (El Sud) went down recently in the Guam typhoon, being the only vessel ever built by the Newport News company which is not afloat today and giving splendid service. After the sale of these ships, the Morgan line contracted for four more, which took the names of the first quartet. Of the third quartet, one, El Valle, is in service; the second, FE] Dia, will go into service in a few weeks; El Siglo will be launched about Sept. 1, and El Libre will follow shortly after. Whether or not the Morgan line contemplates building any more ships is not known. With the delivery of El Libre it will have eight new freighters in service. All of the vessels of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway's local fleet have just been overhauled at the ship yard for the summer and winter, includ- ing the steamer Louise, the tugs Alice, Helen, Hinton, Wanderer and James Smith, Jr., and the several large floats. The new steamer Virginia, which is building at the works of R. Trigg Co., Richmond, for the Chesapeake & Ohio's route Pea Newport News and Norfolk, will be launched next month and will be in service probably by the middle of September, if not sooner. It will be a fast vessel, being able to make the trip across Hampton Roads to Nor- folk in forty minutes, where one hour is consumed now. The Hudson river steamer Belle Horton, which was purchased by the Norfolk & Power house at lower end of locks not shown in the picture, as view was taken from that point. Otter rock on the west coast of Scotland where it will be subjected to great stress of weather. The hull is built of steel of extra strength, with fin and web keels 3 ft. in depth, which, taken along with the extreme beam of hull, should reduce rolling to a minimum. Two steel watertight bulk- heads are fitted, dividing the vessel into three watertight compartments. In the center division are placed two large welded steel gas holders, which have capacity for enough gas at pressure to last the vessel for several months. At the top of a circular tower or mast is placed the lantern, at a height of 25 ft. from the water level. To guard against fog a large bell is hung in a belfry attached to the deck of the vessel and by a special arrangement the gas passing from holders to lantern is made to actuate a clapper, which rings the bell automatically, an ordinary tongue being also provided and actuated by the roll of the vessel. As a result of these special features the light-ship on being moored at her station will be independent of outside attention for a considerable length of time and re everything on board to render her a self-acting light-ship and bell buoy. Notwithstanding the fact that the British admiralty is building five submarine boats the iendency of the English is to make sport of this type of craft. The current issue of Engineer of London contains the following note: 'Ehe problem of submarine navigation has been solved again. This time it is in France, where a new boat has been evolved that is going to revolutionize submarine warfare. In view of the fact that, judging by the Narval's trials, milk seems the prime necessity in a submarine, someone has suggested that the new boat is designed to carry a cow! Joking apart, the last reports of the Gustave Zédé abundantly prove that the art of living under water is very imperfectly acquired as yet, Nothing is easier than to design a boat that will immerse ad lib--the problem is to find asphyxia- tion-proof people to exist inside her. That little item sanguine inventors seem to have quite overlooked." '