The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

28 M.A. Re AN EB LAUNCH OF CUNARD LINER CARONIA. Liverpool, July 18--The launch has taken place this week of the Cunard Line steamer Caronia, one of two 21,000-ton boats intended for the company's intermediate service be- tween Liverpool and New York. She is being built by Messrs. John Brown & Co., Ltd., Clydebank, as is also her sister ship the Carmania, the former being fitted with recipro- cating engines, while the latter is to be propelled by turbines. In the building of these two. vessels of huge tonnage, and also the two additional expréss turbine steamers of 24,500 tons each, the Cunard company are showing an enterprise mR Ee oN Le Mr. Choate in responding on behalf of his wife, said he hoped the Caronia would be the means of promoting that communi- cation between England and America which was the greatest blessing to both, and he trusted that the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes would always float side by side as emblems of peace, unity and friendship. . The leading dimensions of the Caronia are: length over all, 676 ft.; breadth, 72 ft. 6 in; depth to shelter deck, 52 ft.; depth to boat deck, 80 ft.; gross tonnage, 21,000 tons; displacement, 30,000 tons ; and launching weight, 13,800 tons. The hull of the Caronia is strongly built, the standard of strength and material being in excess of the CUNARD LINER which has been quickened by foreign competition, and it is evident that they are determined to allow no competitor for Atlantic laurels to lead the way. The sailing of the Caronia in February next will be a significant foreshadowing of the further advanced turbine sister ship Carmania, and of the express liners which are to far excel any previous flights of naval architectural skill and shipowning enterprise. Mrs. Choate, wife of the United States ambassador in London, performed the christening ceremony. Lord Inverclyde, chair- man of the Cunard company, at the lunch which followed the launch, said the Caronia would not be a record bearer, but she would hold the proud record in the Atlantic seryice as being the first ship in Great Britain which had been christened by the wife of an American ambassador. Her presence there, accompanied by the American ambassador, was a sign of the good feeling and good fellowship which existed between the two countries. He ventured to say, speaking for the Cunard company, that while no doubt Amer- ica could very well do without the Cunard company, the Cunard company could not do without America. Referring to the controversy which had gone on in connection with the trade of the Atlantic, he said the directors of the Cunard company were fully alive to the responsibilities which they had to face, and he might also say that they were quite deter- mined to carry through their policy, because they believed in doing so they were maintaining the credit of the company. Their object and aim was to keep the Cunard flag flying, CARONIA. [From a drawing supplied by the Cunard Steamship Co. requirements of the classification societies and the Board of 'Trade. Fhe keel plate was laid on-Sept. '21, 10903, so that in nine and one-half months the yessel has reached the launching stage, and it is expected that as she is well advanced, she will be completed by the clase of the present year. Her launching weight is 13,800 tons, so that she is probably the heaviest ves- sel launched from any slipway. The plating ranges from 34 in. to 1¥%,im. in thickness, and from 5 to 5% ft. in breadth, the length "being 32 ft. and the average weight 3 tons. In all 3;800,000 steel rivets have been used in the construction of the Caronia's hull, and some of those used in the bottom of the ship are 7 inches in length, and weigh 3% lbs. She has a cellular double bottom, which is carried well up the sides of the ship above the bilges, thus enabling her to carry 3,500 tons of water ballast, and to compensate for any loss of weight due to consumption of coal, stores, etc., during the voyage. In designing and building the ship, steadiness and strength have been aimed at, and the special arrangement of the double bottom will conduce to this object. Bilge keels have been fitted for 250 feet of the ship's length, and should any accident result in the tearing away of these, the special double bottom would prevent damage to eargo or material interference with the ship. The Caronia has eight continuous decks, the uppermost being the boat deck, the others being named as follows: Promenade, bridge, shelter, upper, main, lower, and orlop. Bulkheads divide the ship into 13 water- tight compartments as a further guarantee of strength and