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January, 1910 Working on her Afloat. The S. S. Howard arrived at the yard of the John N. Robins Co. on Monday evening, Oct. 4, 1909. Work was started the following day. Boil- ers and masts were removed and ship was cut as far as _ practicable while still afloat. Considerable of the new work had been gotten under way, including the laying of length- ening ways, placing. of winches in dock, etc. A mold of ship's frames and floors having been made previous to her arrival at yard, therefore, all of the frames, reverse frames, floors, beams, hatches, bulkheads, port door frames, deck fittings, etc. were ready to go in place at once. On Wednesday evening, Oct. 13, or eight days after arrival of ship at yard, she entered dry dock, and the following Friday, two.days..later, Ship to "TAE. Marine REVIEW the ship was floated from dock, com- pletely plated and all decks intact, having been only 14 days in dry dock. The bilge keels had also been fitted, bulkheads erected, and joiner work on new section considerably advanced. After floating ship, the boilers were installed and uptake and smokestack placed in position. From then on the work was pushed with great rapidity and it was not until the ship had practically been completed that the journals and pins of main engine crank shaft were found to be defective, which necessi- tated the removal of shaft from ship and entirely rebuilding same. This extra work unfortunately caused the remain at yard five days longer. : On' Saturday, Nov. 27, at 2 p. m.,, the Howard left the yard under her own steam, complete in every de- First Day, Wepnespay, Oct. 13, at 10:30 a. m., steam was turned on the winches and in 1 hour and 20 minutes the forward section had been pulled the required 40 ft.. The ac- tual pulling time was about 12 min- utes, the delay being caused by the hook on_ port. block, «ship end, straightening after section had moved about 8 in. After another block had been substituted and ship moved several feet further, the same thing happened to the block on starboard side, which was also replaced with a new one, after which no more diffi- culties were encountered. Plating Under Way. Work of placing the frames was continued with at once and the day following the pulling of the ship all frames were in place and the work of plating was under way. On Wednesday, Oct, 27, at 4:30 p. m., placed athwartship across the floor of dock on each side and on a line with keel blocks. On top of these and running fore and aft, were two 10 in. by 12 in. timbers, extending full length of ways or from cut to about 18 ft. forward of stem. On these were placed another course of 8 in. by 15 in. timbers, also placed athwartship, all of which formed the foundation for ground ways, which were madé wp of 12 in; by 16 im: timbers, measuring 15 ft. 8 in. from center to center. Guide pieces 8 in. by 4 in. were spiked on outside of ground ways and shores placed ex- tending from altar wf dock to these guide pieces, and short shores from keel blocks to ground ways, to in- sure rigidity. The shores were spaces about 8 ft. from center to center, and consisted of piles measuring 914 in. at. heel... and..714 in; at. ends. Pne tail, bound for Norfolk, Va., to take on passengers and cargo. As the contract time to lengthen ship and complete the work men- tioned in specifications was 45 work- ing days, it will be seen that this was exceeded by one day, or 44 work- ing days to do the job, including the delay caused by rebuilding crank shaft, .which otherwise would have been reduced at least 5 days, making the actual time 39 working days. It may be mentioned that the steamship Juniata, a sister ship to the Howard, was lengthened by a southern firm, the specifications -hav- ing been a duplicate of those for the Howard, but the time consumed was 90 days. Constructing the Ways. The ways were constructed as fol- lows: Timbers 8 in. by 15 in. were 'O- in. Seconp Day, TuHurspay, Oct. 14. sliding ways consisted of 10 in. by 14 in. timbers, extending from cut of .ship to 7 ft,.6 in. forward of stem. Packing was placed on top of these ways and wedged tight. Thickness of packing was 3% in. at cut and gradually rising to conform with form of hull. This packing ex- tended to within 40 ft. from stem. For- ward of packing were placed three 10 in. by 10 in. shores on each side, spaced 40 in. apart and tied firmly by means of chains passing under keel from shore to shore. Shores were also tied longitudinally by two by 4 in. timbers, to wHich these chains were fastened. To prevent sliding ways from spreading, three 11% in. tie rods were fitted from way to way, passing un- der keel and spaced about 9 ft. In order to hold bow of vessel per- fectly rigid and prevent it from set-