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32 THE TWO NEW WHITE STAR LINERS TO BE LARG- EST AFLOAT. We are informed by our British rep- resentative that the White Star Line is not yet in a position to give par- to dimensions ticulars as and_ pro- pelling machinery of the two new steamers for their New York service now being built by Messrs. Harland & Wolff, of Belfast, beyond that they will; in point of 'size, eclipse every- thing afloat, including the new Cu- narders, Lusitania and Manceétanie: that their tonnage will 'be about 45,000, and their speed not less than 21 knots. They hope very shortly now details settled, and the public will then be informed of the to have all enormous proportions of these two 8 gargantuan steamers, as they are de- We are able in these two scribed by the owners. that the numerous to say, however, new steamers innova- tions devised for the comfort of pass- engers will come as a revelation even in an age that has already produced of the They will be named Olympic and Ti- such veritable wonders sea. tanic. With regard to the propelling machinery, the owners have not yet made known their intentions as to whether reciprocating engines alone will be used, as in the case of the Adriatic, or whether a low pressure turbine will form an additional part of her engine room equipment. But everything points to the great proba- bility of both these leviathans having engines of this combination. The measure of success that has attended the trials of the first "combination" steamer, the Otaki, built for the New Zealand Shipping Co. by Messrs. Wil- liam Denny & Co., will doubtless have some effect in deciding the kind of machinery to be used, and further, in a very short time the White Star Co. will have at their command valu- able data from the trials of their new steamer Laurentic, which is now com- pleting at Belfast for the White Star Line's new Canadian service, and which is also fitted with a combination of reciprocating and turbine machin- ery. Certain it is that nothing of- ficially has been made known of. the type of engines to be fitted in these ships, but as before stated, everything points to 'the adoption of a low pres- sure turbine in combination with re- ciprocating engines, THE MaRINE REVIEW RENEWING A TAIL SHAFT AT SEA. John Marshall, of 14 West Bute street, Cardiff, gives an account of the replacement of a broken tail shaft in the large steam tug Dolphin, belonging to Messrs. S. Pearson & Sons. This vessel was lying in fairly deep water in the harbor of Sulina Cruz, on _ the Pacific coast of Mexico. In the opera- tion the propeller was first removed by and then the tail. shaft was drawn in towards the engine. To pre- vent the inrush of water, the diver slipped into the stern tube a_ taper wooden plug, around which was an. in- diarubber ring to make it watertight. This was forced in, and afterwards se- cured by means of a wooden chock wedged in between the head of the plug and the rudder post. The new tail shaft was then put in place. Between the fore-and-after sleeve there were fitted wooden battens to make up the space between the sleeves, and to ren- der the shaft of the same diameter throughout its length. These battens were kept in place by bands of copper wire laid in grooves prepared in the battens to receive them. When the new shaft was in the stern tube the packing and the gland 'were replaced, and screwed up sufficiently to prevent a rush of water. A jack was then placed at the inner end of the. shaft, 'which was forced into its place, pushing out the plug from the stern tube. The propeller was put on by the diver, and finally hammered up by means of a_ dolly slung and manipulated from the deck, and guided below by the diver. Mr. Marshall desires to learn if the opera- tion of replacing a tail shaft has ever before been accomplished without put- ting the ship in dry dock, and he sug- tion might be carried out in mid ocean, provided, of course, that the weather gests that his experience inthis instance leads him to think that such an opera- was sufficiently propitious. a_ diver, MARINE ENGINEERS' CONFER ENCE. The annual Pacific coast conference of the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association was_ held in Seattle, Wash. Nov. 23, 24 and 25: « This conference is attended by delegates of the various local associations and is for the purpose of discussing policies and plans for the coming year:and to instruct the Pacific coast delegation which is to attend the national con- ference at Washington, D. C. The delegates were entertained by a grand ball the evening of Nov. 24. The conference was presided over by National Vice President C. S. Fol- lett, of Seattle. Among the promi- nent delegates who were present were: John Trout, district deputy Yukon river territory; John Searey, business manager, San Francisco, and F. G. Forbes, business manager, Port- land, Ore. SHIP CLEANING DEVICE. An electric scrubber for cleaning ships' bottoms without drydocking is described by the English correspond- ent of the Scientific American. As the old-fashioned 'hogging brush was dragged along, the brooms had the tendency to be bent aft, and to a certain extent to ride over the hard- er patches of fouling matter. The new device is in effect a flexible hogging brush, which is dragged up and down under the hull by ropes. By the use of electricity the brush is made to cling to the ship's side like a mag- net. The mat has a leading batten without a magnet at either end, and six ordinary battens, each fitted with two magnets and a set of brushes be- tween. As soon as hauling commences the battens cant, thus bringing the fore edge of each brush into touch with the hull of the ship. As it is dragged over the fouled surface, the accumu- lated matter is flicked off. The requi- site current is furnished either from the ship itself or from a:special ten- der. It has been found that the total magnetic grip of the whole mat is well over one ton. Experience has shown that a greater grip is requisite for. the very hard steel of armor plates. than for ordinary steel plates of a mercantile vessel's hull. The the hauling hawsers fore and aft is approximately 1.5 tons. The scrubber. requires the attention of only two or three men to work it. An 18,000-ton battleship, it is stated, can be completely scrubbed in 12 hours, and vessels dry docked ater. being cleaned» by this method have been found to be éntirely free from any marine growth. iA 4,000-ton ship can be. cleaned, inclusivé of the pro- vision of. labor, current, and all gear, for $100, in approximately eight hours. strain on LAUNCH FROM THE QUEEN'S ISLAND. On Thursday morning, Nov. 12, the large twin screw steamer Minne- waska, for the London and New York service of the Atlantic Transport line, was successfully launched at Belfast by Messrs. Harland & Wolf I.td. The vessel has a gross tonnage of 14,500 and. is 616 ft. long, with a breadth of 65 ft. 6 in.