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accommodation for engineers is arranged in cabins amidships on both sides of the upper deck. The sanitary accommodation and lavatories have received special consideration and are of the latest and most approved description. An ample number of baths is provided for the passengers and crew. Steam heating is fitted throughout the ship, also a continuous water service; and a most complete system of ventilation has been adopted, There is a complete installation of electric light, and electric bells to the cabins, saloons, etc. A very large refrigerating plant and insulated cham- bers are provided for the storage of meat, poultry, milk, fruit, etc., also wine and vegetable rooms. The cargo hatches are equipped with seven patent duplex winches for the despatch of cargo; four of the winches are so arranged that they may be used for raising and lowering the boats. Steam steering gear is fitted, to be worked either at the engine or from the bridge, and reserve hand gear aft, with two large steering wheels. A steam windlass with warping ends and capstan is fitted on the forecastle deck, and two powerful steam capstans on poop deck for warping pur- poses. The Orontes is a smart looking ship with two pole masts. Her principal dimensions are: Length over all, 530 ft.; length between per- pendiculars, 512 ft.; breadth molded, 58 ft.; depth molded, 38 ft. 2 in.; gross tonnage, 9,000; I.H.P., 9,000; boiler pressure, 215 lbs. The pro- pelling machinery consists of two sets of quadruple-expansion engines, each set having four cylinders working on four cranks, balanced on the Yarrow-Schlick-Tweedy system. The high pressure and first intermediate- pressure cylinders are each fitted with a piston valve, and the second in- termediate and low-pressure cylinders have flat slide valves, worked by the ordinary double-eccentric and link motion valve gear. Each reversing gear is controlled by a combined steam and hydraulic reversing engine. The crank shafts are in two sections, each section being built, and they, together with the thrust, tunnel, and propeller shafts, are of forged mild steel. The propellers have each four blades of maganese bronze, the boss being of steel. The condensing water is circulated through the condensers by two large centrifugal pumps, one for each condenser, and each worked by an independent engine. Each pump is capable of supplying the circu- lating water required by both main engines in the event of one pump being disabled. Both circulating pumps are connected to large valves leading to the bilges. The engine room includes two evaporators for making fresh water to supply the boilers, a large feed filter, and a suitable feed heater, etc., etc. A complete installation of donkey pumps necessary for the special nature of the service is fitted. The boilers are six in num- ber--two double-ended and four single-ended of the ordinary multitubular marine type, arranged with Howden's forced draft. Each of the double- ended boilers has eight furnaces, and each of the single-ended four fur- naces, a total of thirty-two furnaces, the products of combustion in which are led into one funnel. The boilers are entirely of steel, and adapted for a working pressure of 215 lbs. per square inch. An auxiliary boiler sup- plies steam to the donkey pumps, fresh water condensers, galleys, etc. The Orontes is qualified for employment as an armed cruiser, and her name will be placed on the admiralty list for this purpose. She will be employed in the regular passenger and cargo trade between London and Australia. It is interesting to recall that the compound engine was first introduced by the late John Elder, founder of the Fairfield establishment, and that about 1854 or 1855 engines were built by John Elder & Co. which were the initiation of some of the most important developments in marine engineering. For many years the Clyde has been the birth place of ships of the first class, and no company has kept up with the times better than the Fairfield company. The company is now building for the British gov- ernment the largest battleship ever floated, the Commonwealth, following upon the Good Hope, which lately passed through her trials without an hour's delay. Se _.. The British India Steam Navigation Co. (a concern of Scottish origin and Glasgow birth) owns 125 steamers of an aggregate of about 400,000 tons. An addition to this great fleet has just been launched from the Leven ship yard of William Denny '& Bros., Dumbarton--a steel twin-screw steamer, 445 ft. by 53 ft. 6 in. by 33 ft. This is the eighty-seventh vessel built by Messrs. Denny for the British India Co., but she differs from her predecessors in being fitted with twin screws, and also in being much larger. Accommodation is provided for thirty-eight first-class passengers in staterooms in the poop. These rooms are especially large and well ventilated for trade in the tropics. Good accommodation is provided for second-class passengers in the bridge house amidships. Both bridge and poop decks are completely covered with boat decks, which not only give large clear promenade areas, but also will provide a shade from the heat of the tropical sun. The first-class saloon is a handsome apartment, decorated in white enamel and gold, all the woodwork being of teak. The saloon is lighted by means of large side lights and by skylights, and all the framing is jalousied, so that a cool, even temperature may be main- tained. A refrigerating chamber, kept cool by a large dry-air machine, is provided for keeping a large supply of provisions in good condition. The cargo gear consists of ten hydraulic cranes, two fitted to each hatch- Way, to ensure rapid and simultaneous discharge from all the holds, of which there are five, one being fitted as a deep tank for carrying water ballast, in addition to that carried in the double bottom and peaks. The Powerful steam steering gear is by Alley & McLellan; a right and left screw hand gear by Hastie, fitted with a patent hydraulic brake; a warping winch aft, and a Clarke Chapman windlass and capstan forward. Bollards, fairleads and mooring gear generally are of cast. steel, and especially strong to enable the vessel to be securely moored in the Hooghly. All parts of the vessel not otherwise occupied are arranged for the carriage of native passengers, under the regulations of the Indian government. It is stated that a change has been decided upon in the design of the armored cruisers recently ordered from builders on the Clyde and Tyne, and the preliminary work of preparing for construction has thus been de- layed. Originally the vessels were to be 450 ft. long. The length is to be increased by 5 ft., and the beam of 67 ft. will be widened proportionately. his is to admit of additional displacement without materially deepening the draught, and the extra weight is to be absorbed by armor. The County type have 4-in. armor along the water line, and while this was a great improvement, thicker armor is now deemed desirable. The specially hard face requires support from a steel of extra toughness. In the case of the Krupp plates the carburized and chilled surface possesses a very, high degree of hardness, and special treatment gives the back of the plate reat toughness so as to support the front. Effective resistance' ne- cessitates carburization into about 3 in. of the thickness, so with a 4-in. 12) | MARINE REVIEW. plate the back support might be inadequate. Less depth of super-carbon renders the plate liable to penettation, and the new forged steel cap for forged steel shot threatens to demolish plates of moderate thickness. The most successful shell is made in this country. In the case of the Belleisle trials these shells went through 4-in. hardened. plates. The armor of the vessels of the Devonshire class,-one each of which is to be built at Clydebank, at Beardmore's, at the London & Glasgow company's works at Govan, at Scott's of Greenock, and at Elswick on the Tyne, is there- fore to be increased. The contracts for the armor for the three new bat- tleships will be placed during the next week or so. About 9,000 tons will be required and it is probable that the orders will be divided among the Vickers-Beardmore combine of Glasgow, and Barrow, John Brown & Co. of 'Clydebank and Sheffield, Charles Cammell & Co. of Sheffield and the Armstrong-Whitworth company. AMERICAN BRIDGE CO.'S NEW PLANT AT ECONOMY. The first definite information from an authoritative source in regard to the American Bridge Co.'s monster new, plant in the Pittsburgh dis- trict was given out in New York this week. The several structural steel plants now located at Pittsburgh, five in number, are to be concentrated into one big plant at Economy. The Pittsburgh plants are to be dis- mantled as soon as possible and the land they occupy sold for what it will bring. The new plant at Economy will have a capacity of between 13,000 and 15,000 tons a month, and will be the largest concern of its kind in the world. The next largest plant belonging to the American Bridge Co. has a capacity of between 7,000 and 8,000 tons a month. Construction plans have been drawn and approved and all of the prelim- inaries have been completed, but the American Bridge Co. has not yet been notified by the United States Steel Corporation to proceed. This is a matter of mere formality, however, and it is expected that active work will begin very soon. The American Bridge Co. already has a plant at Economy. It is practically new and will be permitted to remain as it is. The benefits expected to be derived from the merger of five Pittsburgh properties into one big plant at Economy are manifold, but arise mainly from the decreased cost of production. Another consid- eration is that the new property will be equipped with facilities for pro- ducing shapes which are now manufactured nowhere in the world. The evolution of skyscraper buildings and bridges has created a demand for shapes of greater size, weight, etc., than any existing plant is now pre- pared to produce. The American Bridge Co.'s new plant will be pro- vided with exclusive machinery for the production of these shapes. Incidentally it is interesting to know that if the American Bridge Co. should take not another order this year it would be able to continue operations at maximum capacity well along into 1903. It is turning down new business every day, taking only the cream of the contracts offered, and at very good pricés. The company is supplying practically all of the structural steel for fifty big office structures now building in New York, and in a number of instances the construction work also is being done by the American Bridge 'Co. Although the company's capacity has been increased nearly 20 per cent within a year, it is just now seeing its way out of the business that was brought over from 1901. VALUE OF SUBMARINE BOATS. Ensign Charles Nelson of the United States navy, torpedo expert in charge of the United States torpedo station at Port Royal, gave some interesting information on the relative value of surface and submarine boats to the house committee on naval affairs this week. He said he believed the French submarine boats were too long, as in coming up they exposed the nose to a considerable length and rendered their most vulnerable. part liable to destruction by a chance shot. The Holland boat he considered very easy to work in heavy seas. If during a storm it was desirable to economize in the motive power, the Holland boat could go down 30 or 40 fathoms, which is the deepest water in which it would be likely to be used, and lie on the bottom until the storm passed. The moral effect of a submarine boat, he said, was of even greater value than its destructive ability. The appearance of a Holland boat at sundown in a harbor where an enemy's fleet was lying would cause the fleet to put to sea immediately rather than take a chance of losing one or more vessels by submarine night attack, from which it would be almost powerless to defend itself. He referred to the great excitement along the Atlantic coast during the Spanish war from fear of a possible attack on our coast.cities, and said that the fear would not have been so prevalent had the harbors been protected by submarine boats. Battle- ships were all right, he said, but their business was to fight at sea, and he considered it a useless extravagance to keep a $7,500,000 battleship cooped up in a harbor where a half dozen submarine torpedo boats would answer the same purpose. Representative Lessler--"As an officer of the navy, do you feel that we should expend the money of the United States to develop a boat to be built by private enterprise?" Ensign Nelson replied that he did, as it would enable the United States to get a better boat. Questioned very closely by the members of the committee as to the liability of submarine boats to accidents and as to the comparative danger of serving on submarine boats and battleships, he maintained that there was no more danger on one fighting machine than on another, and said that as an officer he would prefer to serve on a submarine boat. The schooner yacht Hoosier was launched from Thomas A. Irving's ship yard, Gloucester, Mass., last week. The Hoosier was built for Col. William Nelson, publisher of the Kansas City Star. She was modeled after the famous fishing vessel, Richard Wainwright. Her dimensions are 123 ft. over all, 100 ft. on the water line and 25 ft. 2 in. beam. Below she is very roomy, having a large saloon and twelve staterooms. All the finish is in white mahogany. It is officially announced that in connection with the mammoth bridge works to be erected at Economy, Pa., by the United States Steel Corporation, there will be constructed extensive yards for the building of steel barges: The steel barge enterprise and the bridge works will necessitate an outlay of between $3,500,000 and $4,000,000.