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THE Marine REVIEW | 27 that Marry tells about had been supplied with this ammu- nition he would have used it to cut away those topsail ties instead of the commonplace iron shot. On the port side, under the poop deck, a monster wood- en case, "backed, bolted, braced and stayed," puzzles the inquisitive mind till Captain Baudelin discloses. the con- tents as a touring automobile of heroic size which Mr. Rickmers is taking out with him for excursions into the up-country of China and Japan. Bicycles on yachts at one time startled the phlegmatic nautical mind, but a motof car in a windjammer five hundred miles south of Good Hope is enough to take the wind out of anybody's club topsail. The whole after part under the poop below is given up to a richly finished saloon, with heavy: mahogany join- er work and figured blue silk hangings in the wall panels. A dining table with fourteen revolving chairs like a lin- er's occupies the forward end and handsome, brass bound portholes admit a perfect freshet of air. A wide, velvet covered divan extends around in a half circle at the ex- treme end of the saloon, following the curve of the stern, inviting comfort and repose with a book from the well stored shelves on board. De : Captain Watson, the commander of the Rickmers, oc- cupies a suite of three rooms, with bath, on the starboard side, all mahogany furnished, comprising bedroom, lib- rary and office, where the chronometers and other instru- ments are installed. These rooms are not like the "state- room" pigeon holes in a liner, but cover each a space of fully ten by twelve feet. The engineers and stokers also have a bath under the poop, and there is a separate mess room for the petty officers, exceedingly well lighted and aired by a large skylight. Yet there is nothing in this great ship that seems to be overdone; everything is business and nothing but bus- iness of the most scientific description. The hull is dou- ble riveted throughout, and at the conclusion of an even hasty inspection it seems perfectly reasonable to believe that the cost of the R. C. Rickmers approximates a million and a half marks, or nearly $400,000, which is the sum generally believed to have been invested ir her. On deck the appearance of the ship is even more re- markable than below. The poop extends forward beyond the mizzenmast, the last in most ships, but the third in this five masted mammoth, a distance of not less than 200 ft. Not so very many years ago this in itself would have made a vessel of very imposing dimensions. And then comes the procession of the great steel masts, with a. gaping hatchway alternately till the forward deckhouse is reached, on top of which is secured the owner's private launch, a four cylinder, gasolene motor boat, 42 ft. long, built of solid teak. Mr. Rickmers will use her as a yacht in the eastern harbors, as she is fitted with a detachable summer cabin aft and contains all the appliances to be found in 8 modern craft of her description. But there is also to the matter a commercial side, for when this powerful little vessel, built at a cost of $7,000 and capable of a speed of seventeen miles per hour, has discarded her gay attire she will tow oil lighters and barges from the ship when she is discharging to various more or fess inaccessible points in the harbor. On every side, then, there is some new and astonishing . innovation on board the Rickmers, even to. the Portland cement scuppers; and after half a day spent on board the visitor, however up to date, is obliged to reconsider all of his previous notions as to what a great deep water ship should be. The Rickmers is the ultimate word in sailing ships. She seems to represent the greatest heights that the modern ship builder can attain. It does not take long to. stow even two hundred thousand cases of oil in a ship's hold, and in a fortnight or so the R. C. Rickmers will back out stern first into the Kill von Kull under her own steam and head down the main ship channel, draw- ing nearly thirty feet of water. She ought to be ready fot sea by June 1, and the. whole marittme world will observe her initial performance with unusual interest and await anxiously her reported passage through the Sunda Straits. Within thirty days from.her departure she will have penetrated into the bad weather of the southern ocean in midwinter, and, while we here on Independence Day will swelter on the pudgy asphalt streets, the R. C. Rickmers, snugged down maybe to her upper topsails, snoring away through the hurricane snow squalls and the wildest seas in the world, will run her easting down on the arc of the Great Circle that will carry her far down into the southern winter, into gales that may stagger even her giant bulk, half a thousand miles south of stormy Agulhas. DRY DOCK DEWEY IN SUEZ CANAL. Sir Thomas Sutherland has gracefully performed a duty owed to all concerned in the navigation of the Suez canal, and in a letter of appreciation he draws attention to the successful way the Suez canal was navigated by the awkward and ungainly floating dock Dewey. When it is remembered that the Dewey is 500 ft. long, 154 ft. beam, and draws 8 ft. of water, though she stands 60 ft. high, and that the canal is in itself only a narrow cutting through sand with low banks, the difficulty of the task may be realized even by those having no experience of such an undertaking. But those who have passed up and down the canal in ships drawing 20 to 25 ft. of water will understand the extreme danger of the operation when it -is stated that during a portion of the four days the huge dock was in the canal, very bad weather was experienced. The wind usually blows across the canal, and sweeps along in fierce gusts, such weather making navigation diffi- cult even for liners driven by their own power with a hull deeply submerged, and a comparatively small side to present to the wind. It is therefore easy to imagine the trouble experienced by passing through a craft without shape below the water line, and with towering sides pre- sented square-on to the gale, and without motive power independent of that provided by the tugs. The feat was undoubtedly a great one, and all concerned are to be congratulated and complimented upon.its success, for, according to Sir Thomas Sutherland, the passage from Port Said to Suez was accomplished without any per- ceptible interference with the ordinary business of _ the company. It is explained that this was done by excavat- ing two additional "gares" or stations at which ships can haul close up to the bank to allow craft to pass, and by taking advantage of the water space available at Lake Timsah, and at both ends of the Bitter lakes. The German five-masted bark R. C. Rickmers com- pleted her maiden voyage to New York last week. She is the largest sailing vessel in the world and was launched at Geestemunde, Germany, in February last. Her principal dimensions are: Length, 441 ft.; beam 54 ft. 3 in; draught, 26 ft, 9 in. She is built of steel throughout. Though rigged as a sailing vessel the Rickmers is never- theless equipped with a triple-expansion engine, capable of driving her when fully loaded at from six to seven knots an hour. The Skinner Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. Balti- | more, has been awarded contract to build a steel tug for the harbor board of Baltimore.