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MARINE REVIEW. Won. "VT. Largest All Steel Merchant Steamer. Another of the Morgan line of steamships running between New York and New Orleans, the El Rio, is shown in the accom- panying engraving. The vessel, launched a short time ago at the yards of the Newport News Ship Building Company, New- port News, Va., is the largest all-steel merchant steamer now under the American flag. The principal dimensions of the new ship are: Length over all, 406 feet; length between stem and after side of propeller post, 380 feet; beam, 48 feet; molded depth, 33 feet 9 inches; draught when loaded, 23 feet; gross tonnage, 4,600 tons. The engines of the new ship are of the tri- ple-expansion, vertical, inverted direct-acting type. 'The three cylinders measure, respectively, for high, intermediate and low pressure, 32, 52 and 84 inches, with a common stroke of 54 inches. There are three double-ended Scotch boilers, measuring 20 feet 6 inches in length by 13 feet 10 inches in diameter. 'I'he boilers will work ordinarily under a steam pressure of 165 CLEVELAND, OHIO, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1oO2. No. 20. down at Newport News. 'hese vessels are built under the superintendence of Horace See, naval architect of New York, and their construction is in accordance with the rules of the American Ship Masters' Association. We are indebted to the American Shipbuilder for the engraving. A Great Side-Wheel Steamer. Another side-wheel boat now being built for the Fall River Line of Long Island sound steamers at the Delaware River Ship Building Works, Chester, Pa., will be the largest vessel of her kind in this country. She is 440 feet over all, or 20 feet longer than the Puritan. Her general design and arrangements are similar to those of the Puritan. The hull, which will be of steel, and double on the bracket system, will be divided into fifty-eight water-tight compartments. 'The engines will be double-inclined compound, of 8,000 horse power, and the boilers, ten in number, will be of the Scotch type. Her cost will be $1,250,000. 4 | MORGAN LINE STEAMER EL RIO, NEW YORK AND NEW ORLEANS. pounds to the square inch. Each boiler is provided with six furnaces. 'The engine pistons have no tail rods, but instead are fitted with adjustable followers. The valves are of the piston- slide variety, placed on the front of the engine close to the cylin- ders, and actuated by improved Marshall's valve-gear.. The sur- face condenser has 6,400 square feet of cooling surface, water being furnished by an independent centrifugal circulating pump. 'he crank shaft is 16 inches in diameter. The propeller is four- bladed, of the built-up type, and measures 18 feet in diameter. The bunker capacity of the El Rio is 1,000 tons. As the coal consumption does not exceed 60 tons per day, it is calculated that the new ship can coal in New York for the round trip, and on return have at least 200 tons of coal on hand. The hull and interior arrangements are patterned much after the order seen in the big El Sol and El Norte of the same line. This boat is ex- pected to be faster than the El Sol and El Norte. A duplicate of the El Rio, known for the present as No. 6, has just been laid Great Progress in Shipbuilding. John Harvard Biles, professor of naval architecture in the University of Glasgow, Scotland, who has just sailed for home, after a visit to Messrs. Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia, is the de- signer and architect of the Inman Line flyers, City of New York and City of Paris. He has been in this country to consult with the Inman company and the Cramps respecting the five new steamships which are to be built to carry the United States mail. Said Mr. Biles in an interview: "While here I have made a spe- cial study of American shipbuilding, both in vessels of war and the merchant marine, and I must confess my surprise at the as- tounding strides which are being made in shipbuilding in this country. 'The skilled labor which isto be found on every side, the magnificent machinery almost fresh from the hands of the inventor, and the marvelous rapidity of work are fast putting the marine service of this country in the foremost rank of the nations.'--Marine Journal.