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16 towed on a marine railway or into dry dock for final cutting up. Up to the middle of September of this year the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. had completely cut up seven vessels and there are four in process, the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., five vessels completely and six in process, and the Southern Shipyard Co., five vessels completely and four in process. Ships Widely Distributed It will be recalled that 29 “Lakers” of the fleet to be scrapped were lo- cated in the Gulf, 18 at New Orleans, 2 at Mobile, Ala. and 9 at Orange, Texas. It was necessary to tow these vessels either light directly to De- troit or light to one of the three coast shipyards where scrapping was going on and where they could be loaded for final towing to Detroit. To sup- ply the anticipated demand for ves- MARINE REVIEW York to Montreal and Detroit. The three steamers and five of the tugs operate between the seaboard and Montreal while the two remaining tugs operate on the Great Lakes. On April 14, 1926, the “Lakers” ELIZABETH and FRENCHTON left New Orleans in tow for Detroit where they arrived on May 31, after an elapsed time of 46 days 7 hours and 30 minutes including delays of 9 days LAKE ELIZABETH AFTER ARRIVAL IN DETROIT, MAY 31, 1926, TIED UP AT THE NEW DOCK READY TO BE SCRAPPED sels at Detroit it was realized that additional towing units would be neces- sary. The Ford Motor Co. there- fore arranged for the reconditioning of three of the “Lakers” lying at anchor in that port. The names of the reconditioned steamers are LAKE BENBOW, LAKE ORMOCK and LAKE GoRIN. Towing of ‘Lakers’ from the Gulf with the three reconditioned steamers and tugs commenced early in the spring. First Two Ships Arrive The last vessel was towed from Mobile to New York, from New Or- leans to Detroit and from Orange, Tex., to Fordson, Mich., on March 4, April 20 and May 25, 1926, re- spectively. All of the seven tugs and the three reconditioned steamers are now kept busy every minute in tow- ing vessels loaded with scrap from Norfolk, Va., Chester, Pa., and New 14 hours and 30 minutes. Their itinerary may be tabulated as fol- lows: Port Arrival Departure New Orleans April 14 Quebec _......... May 17 Montreal cichuret vice cuset May 18 Ogdensburg, N. Y.. ........ May 24 May 25 Port Malhousie ....0........:.. May 27 May 28 Port Colborne s. cui May 28 May 29 OVASON eS CI 1Cie a itescancecccccseoeese May 31 ; These two vessels were the first to arrive at the Fordson plant this year. On account of the exception- ally late and severe ice conditions on the Lakes progress in bringing in additional vessels was _ necessarily slow at first, but since May 31, up to Sept. 17 55 boats have arrived. A total of 381 of these have been loaded with 1000 tons of scrap each, from the coast yards where the “Sub- marine” type are being dismantled. Vessels for scrapping and with scrap in their holds are therefore now arriv- ing at Detroit at the rate 3% each October, 1926 week. If all goes well there is good reason to anticipate the arrival of 37 additional vessels before the close of navigation. Concident with the arrival of the ELIZABETH and the FRENCHTON the new dock, accommodating 10 vessels in line, with tracks laid, equipped with five traveling gantry cranes of ship- yard type, four locomotive cranes and one 200-ton wrecking crane and a LAKE ELIZABETH IN TOW FROM NEW ORLEANS—APRIL 14, 1926—FIRST UNIT FROM THE FLEET AT THIS POINT special drydock for lifting the cut down hulls for final cutting up, was completely ready for scrapping opera- tions on a greater scale than ever before attempted. Without a per- sonal inspection it is difficult to real- ize with what order, neatness and dis- patch this tremendously large scrap- ping program is being carried out. Every tool necessary to lighten and to expedite labor has been supplied. Cranes for Ship Scrapping By June 1, 1926, four 60-ton stand- ard gage locomotive cranes had been purchased and were in_ operation. Each crane has a 60-foot lattice boom. Air brakes are applied on all eight wheels, and there are special combina- tion beam and roller type outriggers. The lifting capacity for a 16-foot radi- us is 120,000 pounds; for a 25-foot radius 74,000 pounds; and for a 60- foot radius 20,000 pounds, in each case without outriggers. Five gantry type cranes were bought. They are 35-ton, 8-wheel, 5-motor, variable radius gan- try cranes with main and auxiliary hoists and traveling and rotating su- perstructure. The capacity is 35 tons at a 20-foot radius and 15 tons at a 55-foot radius while the auxiliary hoist capacity is 3 tons. These cranes are of the customary shipyard type. Each crane is equipped with two 85- horsepower 550 revolutions per minute