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Navigating equipment is most com- plete and of modern type throughout including a Sperry gyro-compass. The propeller is a four-bladed, sold type Slocum wheel of 17 feet 9 inches in diameter. The rudder is a semi-balanced streamline type. The seatrain type of vessel was developed by Graham M. Brush, president of the Seatrain Lines Inc. As noted earlier in this article, the first vessel conforming to these ideas was built in England and has been in constant service between New Orleans and Havana since January, 1929. The two new American built ships described in this article em- body Mr. Brush’s original ideas with additional modern improvements for faster and larger ships. Special car-lifting cradles are pro- vided for the four tracks on each of the decks. The upper deck cradles are arranged to be watertight and serve as hatch covers. How Railroad Cars Are Handled Railroad cars are lifted from the shore tracks aboard the vessel by means of specially designed cranes which are located on the dock at the terminal. By means of these cranes the loading and unloading of freight cars from the vessel can be done at the same time. In the loading op- eration, the cradle, which is fitted with tracks, is placed in a gap in shore tracks and the loaded freight ear is run on the cradle. The crane then lifts the cradle, with the car upon it, up over the vessel’s side and lowers it into the hold, making a connection of the cradle rails with the deck rails. A mechanical car-handling device inside the ship shunts the car from the cradle on the deck tracks. While this cradle is still in place, a car intended for unloading from the ves- sel is placed upon it by the car han- dling device. This car is then lifted on the cradle from the hold of the ship and placed upon the dock. The ear is then shunted from this cradle and another car intended for load- ing takes its place, and is in turn placed on the vessel. The cars are held in place on the rails in the ship by screw jacks se- cured to the special jacking rails and by means of special quick-operat- ing rail clamps. The loading crane is so arranged that it will lower the cradle over the different tracks as necessary to keep the vessel prop- erly trimmed, and the process of loading and unloading is continued. When the four tracks on one deck have been filled, the cradles are put into place. These cradles act as hateh strong backs; each cradle has a ear on it, secured in place just as the other cars are secured in place on the decks. There are no switches from one track to the other in the hold of the vessel. Seatrain New York — Main deck, showing rails for car stowage in in- terior of ship Any doubt as to the practicability of handling freight cars in this way, due to the lost space in the vessel, is dispelled by the saving in handling time, the elimination of labor cost and a quick turn around of the ship which more than compensates for any loss of space. There are certain kinds of com- modities impossible to handle or transport overseas with profit by any other means. Cars are lifted on and off the ves- sels at the terminals by special de- sign cranes as shown in one of the accompanying illustrations. These cranes are. electrically operated. The cranes at the New Orleans and Havana terminals are of the follow- ing description: The main structure is supported on four legs with a clear distance between these legs of 57 feet in the direction of the pier, and at right angles to the pier the distance center to center of legs is 85 feet. The height of the tower is 104 feet. The length of trolley travel is 88 feet 6 inches. The horizontal boom is hinged near the front column so that the boom can be raised when not in use. Hoisting drums for the boom and a 40-horsepower motor are lo- cated on a rear platform of the trol- ley track level and the hoisting of the boom is accomplished by means of cable over sheaves at the top of the tower. The main hoisting ma- chinery is mounted on trolley girders (spanning the main girders, which reach out over the ship) and consists of two drums each driven by 250- horsepower motors. The crane col- umns are made of 14-inch Carnegie Engine room on the Seatrain New York—Turbine geared drive, single screw, 8800 shaft horsepower, maximum at 110 revolutions per minute MARINE REvIEW—November, 1932 27