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86 Europe-South American. service. In Jan- uary, 1921, the Atlantic Mail Corp. a subsidiary of the American Ship & Com- merce Corp., acquired the BRaBANTIA by purchase. She was renamed the ReEso- LUTE after the famous American cup de- fender, and placed in the north Atlantic service, New York, Plymouth, Cher- bourg and Hamburg, under United Amer- ican Lines management. Before going on the world cruise, a thorough overhauling was decided on. Bids were opened for extensive general repairs, the engine room ‘repairs being es- pecially heavy. W. & A. Fletcher Co. was the successful bidder and the ReEso- LUTE was brought to its works in» Ho- boken, N. J:, on Nov. 29. On Jan. 2, 1923, five days in advance of contract time, she was completed and. delivered to the United American Lines. Some notion of the extent and detail of the general reconditioning may be ap- preciated from the fact that over 245 separate work orders were issued. ‘En- gine room work particularly, involved many additions and a great deal of over- hauling and repairing. A partial list of repairs is noted as an indication of the variety and nature. of the work. done. Description of Repairs The main engines were thoroughly re-. paired, two high pressure cylinders were rebored, new pistons with new rings were made and fitted. Valves and false faces and valve chest casings were removed, repaired ana installed. Port and _ star- board low pressure piston rods and valve stems were trued up in lathe and fitted with new neck bushings and metallic pack- ing. High pressure cylinder covers were trued up, and repairs made to main in- jection and discharge pipes on both sides ; main stop valves were repaired and new drain piping fitted from main turbine. All damaged and defective tubes in the 14 boilers were renewed, the boilers cleaned both fire side and inside, safety valves were repaired and placed in good order and 13 automatic feed regulators were installed. As an aid to efficient con- trol, reflectors for observing smoke were installed in each uptake and pyrometers connected in uptake of each boiler. An auxiliary condenser was installed and the feed water heater rebuilt. Main condenser was opened up and all tubes were renewed. The turbine lubricating oil cooler was removed, repaired and _ in- stalled in good order. Four composition valve chambers for main. feed pumps were made and installed in place of the old cast iron chambers.’ Only a few of the items under the head of general re- pairs can be touched ‘upon. A _ 12-ton carbon dioxide refrigerating machine was installed complete, and new insulation fitted to the under. side of the cold storage boxes. The contractors fitted a ‘minute fan for ventilation. carried out. complete laundry machinery installation of the latest improved type, with all acces- sories such as a large capacity reservoir water heater, and a 4000 cubic feet per Double’ bot- tom tanks were steamed out and cleaned and the heating coils increased. Improve- ment in ventilating system to crew quar- ters by repairs to fans and the installa- tion of a new 4000 cubic foot fan was The hoisting winches for lifeboats were repaired. Vent pipes from settling tanks were extended up along the funnel to 30 feet above the boat deck. All the tank tops in the fire room were. cleaned, cemented and lime washed, and the sides of the settling tanks were scraped, wire brushed and white washed. ‘Many general repairs were executed in passenger quarters and toilets and to galley. Wooden decks were caulked and payed. Electric light wiring and fixtures were repaired. Some structural work was, done on the saddles under two boil- ers.. A new anchor stock was furnished. Wind chutes from 12 to 16% inches in diameter and 348 in number were fur- nished. In handling the above extensive and complicated reconditioning. job, the meth- ods pursued by the. repair yard are of interest. Before the ship came to the yard all necessary. preparations had been made to begin work at once on her ar- rival. Substantial and adequate gang- ways were completed, work orders were prepared and distributed and instruc- tions issued to the charge men. A defi- nite policy of beginning work on every order simultaneously was adopted. When all the required work in any section of the ship was completed this section was shut off and no men were allowed in this part. This obviated the tearing up or damage to work already done by carry- ing out some delayed or forgotten task. The port of New York is well sup- plied with a number of thoroughly equipped large capacity ship repair yards. MARINE REVIEW In quality and the dispatch with which work can be carried out these repair yards are equal to the best anywhere else in the world. Of these the W. & A. Fletcher Co., Hoboken, N. J., is one of the oldest and most favorably known. The business was founded in 1853, and the plant then located on West. street, New York, was called the North River Iron Works. Marine engines and other machinery for ships were built by this firm for many years. Hulls built else- where were engined and equipped com- plete with all machinery. After organiza- tion as a corporation in 1883 under the name of W. & A. Fletcher Co., the plant was removed to its present loca- tion. Here with space available, con- tracts were taken for the construction of hulls as well as engines. The company has been a pioneer in the March, 1923 improvements in marine propulsion, in- cluding the successful introduction of the steam turbine in American ships. In 1907, the steamers YALE and HArvarp were completed, equipped with turbines. These ships are well known for their high speed, successful operation and lfux- urious accommodations, and were a dis- tinct advance in marine engineering in their day. Reconditioning of vessels and repairs of all kinds are now carried on. A steady growth in space and equipment . including a floating drydock of 8500-ton capacity, has placed this yard in the first rank. Obituary H. W. Hand, former president of the William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co.,’ Philadelphia, died late in January. Mr. Hand was _ born in 1861 and entered the service of the I. P. Morris Co., Richmond and Beach streets, Philadelphia, in 1879, finally be- coming chief engineer which position he held until 1903. The I. P. Morris Co. was acquired by the Cramp com- pany in 1893, and in 1903, Mr. Hand was elected to the position of assistant to the president of the Cramp. com- pany. From this time until retirement from active. duty in June, 1918, he oc- cupied successively the positions of gen- eral manager, second vice president and general manager, vice president, and president. Philip M. Halzell, ship. broker of Philadelphia, died on Feb. 12. He was found in his garage overcome by gas fumes, generated it is thought in try- ing to start an automobile engine. Mr. Halzell was 48 years of age and for a long time had been connected with shipping interests in the port of Phil- adelphia. He was formerly a_ director of the Maritime exchange. His prin- cipal interests were in connection with handling nitrate imports from Chile for the DuPont company. Frank Wellington Hodgdon, for 47 years a civil engineer in the employ of the state of Massachusetts, died at his home in Arlington, Mass., re- cently. Mr. Hodgdon thhad been in charge of all of the engineering avork of the state in connection with har- bor developments and improvements for several years. He built the Bos- ton drydock, Commonwealth pier and was consulting engineer in charge of the construction of the Cape Cod canal. James Frederick Bliss, well known — in shipping circles, died at his home in . Boston’ recently. Mr. Bliss had been long associated with the James Bliss & Co., grocers, ship chandlers and vessel owners. He was director of the Simpson Patent Drydock Co.