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Welded Clam Shell Dredge for Levee Construction now has under construction at its Chickasaw yard Mobile county, Ala., an all welded, non self pro- pelled, steam powered, 7% cubic yards, clam shell dredge for the Mc- Williams Dredging Co., Chicago. This dredge, which is named the Ala- bama, is 140 feet in length over all;; breadth molded, main hull, 49 feet; breadth including pontoons, 65 feet 3 inches; depth molded, 9 feet; draft, mean, 4 feet 10 inches; displacement loaded, 1200 tons; and bunker fuel oil capacity 120 tons. For supplying steam to the winding engines, pumps, steam engine driven generators and other auxiliaries there are two Johnson, locomotive type, fire tube, oil burning boilers of 1385 horsepower each. The oil burning equipment was supplied by the Coen Co. The two electric generators are of Engberg type supplied by the Troy Engine & Machine Co, The winding engines were supplied by the Marion Steam Shovel Co. and Bucyrus Erie Co... Pumps are of Gardner make. Te: INGALLS IRON WORKS CO For Levee Construction This dredge which incorporates a number of unique features, referred to below, was designed for levee con- struction on the Mississippi river and its tributaries. Its long boom (210 feet) is necessary to place the mate- rial in the levee without rehandling, the dredge being held away from the levee by the usual 100-foot beam. The following description of the dredge Alabama, pointing out the unusual features of design, was pre- pared by Wilbur F. Powers, naval architect and engineer, the McWil- liams Dredging Co.: Unique Features of Design In building this dredge, the Mc- Williams Dredging Co, has endeav- ored to improve upon other clam shell equipment, and has made a few departures from its 5 cubic yard clam shell dredge Texas, built three years ago. In the fist place, the hull was made 49 feet molded beam, or just wide enough to install the 36-inch square steel spuds, within the side of the hull, but outside the deck house. The spuds being 70 feet long, the spud wells were cut in the side plating, and the spuds arranged to be held with six cast steel gates. These gates allowing the spuds to be _ shipped without lifting the spuds above the deck. To get the necessary breadth of hull, to give the required transverse stability, to handle the long steel 40 boom, pontoons 140 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 7 feet 6 inches deep, ar- ranged for bolting to the main hull, on each side, are provided. These pontoons are designed so that they may both be attached on the same side, if desired, to move the center line of the boom closer to the bank, and thereby increase the outreach. This gives a very flexible arrange- ment, allowing the dredge to be tak- en up narrow channels, or operate with a shorter boom without using the pontoons, The second departure from previ- ous experience was in the adoption of a steel boom. This boom is made of a 30-inch x 15-inch x 180-pound eye boom and is 210 feet long. It is made of three pieces, the lower, butt end, being 104 feet, then a 26-foot removable section, so that the boom may be shortened, and an 80-foot end, carrying the boom paint sheaves. The eye beam section was adopted, to give flexibility to the steel boom, and avoid if possible, failure by crys talizing of the steel, from flexure, which takes place every time a load is picked up or dropped, due to the weight of the wire rope in the ten part topping lift. All Welded Throughout The third and major departure was in the construction of the dredge itself, which is a 100 per cent weld- ed job. No rivets being used in either the hull or superstructure and only a few fitted bolts in the A frame connections. In designing the hull, angle bars and flanged plates were used with the toe of the angle welded continu- ously to the plates, the plating is either lapped or strapped and weld- ed continuously, both inside and out- side, so that nowhere in the hull are there any faying surfaces which are not completely welded all around to prevent rust from forming be- tween them. The superstructure was designed to give a pleasing appearance, by making a panel effect, using tee bars at the plate joints, and doing all welding on the inside of the struc- ture, so that all sight edges would be sharp and true, and not marred by welding. Boom Swings 180 Degrees The swinging arrangement is de- signed to allow the boom to swing a full 180 degrees. This is accom- plished by using wide grooved sheaves, mounted on an overhead ta- ble, carried on cantilevers. This was first worked out in the design of the MARINE REvIEw—April, 1934 dredge Texas by the writer, and with that experience, the company rebuilt its 4 cubic yards dredge Louisiana, to operate in this way, To handle the longer and heavier boom, and loads on the _ present dredge, the design has been enlarged and improved. The hoisting and swinging cables on this dredge are of 1%-inch wire rope, with a breaking strength of 157,000 pounds. As the winding en- gines have sufficient power to break these cables, the boom is designed to take this load with a maximum stress, in compression, of 13,334 pounds, with a radius of gyration of 90, and boom rigging with a factor of safety of 3 or more. The working load, taken as 25,000 pounds for the bucket and nine cubic yards of earth at 28,000 pounds, a total of 53,000 pounds, gives a compressive stress in the boom of 5200 pounds and a factor of safety in the rigging of 8 or more, Mississippi River Cruise The enterprising Baltimore & Ohio railroad, announcing a thirteen-day Mississippi river cruise on the fa- mous packet steamer Cape GIRARDEAU, deftly takes advantage of the Amer- ican craze for cruises. Leaving New York by special train on March 31 and stopping briefly at Washington, the party, which is lim- ited to 100, arrives in Louisville, Ky. Easter Sunday morning; then on to Memphis, Tenn., where they will embark on their ‘“‘cruise ship’’ in the evening for the leisurely trip down the river. First stop, April 2 is at Natchez, the great cotton center and on the sec- ond day thereafter they will arrive at New Orleans for two days of sightseeing and entertainment. On the return voyage, stops will be made at Baton Rouge, Natchez, Vicksburg, Greenville and Memphis, where pas- sengers re-entrain. If this is not the first long cruise of the kind promoted by an Amer- ican railroad, it is at least the first ambitious revival in many years, and a full passenger list is anticipated. Terminal at Cartagena The new Colombian liner Harr, which recently left New York for Haiti, Jamaica, Colombia and Pan- ama, was one of the first vessels to dock at the newly completed $1,000,- 000 terminal at Cartagena, Colom- bia, and in the future all vessels owned by the company will now dock at and sail from the new pier. The new terminal at Cartagena is one of the most modern in the world and is particularly well equipped with facilities for passengers and cargo. The harbor of Cartagena has also been greatly improved