The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

a MARINE REVIEW. NEWPORT NEWS SHIP BUILDING PLANT. ata! Section E in the gallery column 30, transportation building, is the location of the topographical model of the plant of the Newport News Ship Building and Dry Dock Company, Newport News,Va., comprising some 100 acres, and believed to be the best equipped ship building plant on the eastern coast. The build- ings cover six acres. A detailed plan of the yard is shown by an accompanying drawingand the half mile of water front is represented by an illustration from a photograph. No expense was spared in furnishing everything necessary to the economical construction of steel ships when the plant was built, while other yards have added these things at intervals. Naval work is all that is wanted to give the yard the importance it really merits. S gx - charts could be printed in a day of eight hours, while the largest size come off much more slowly. In connection with this a model of the United States survey steamer Blake is shown, with her deep-sea apparatus. The Blake was launched in 1874, and since that time has been chiefly employed in deep-sea soundings, Since 1885 she has chiefly been engaged in investigating the cur- rents of the gulf steam. For the estimation of time, latitude, and longitude there is a splendid collection of instruments, including transits, chronometers, and zenith and meridian telescopes. In the department of magnetics there are instruments for estimating the variation of the mariner's compass and other apparatus of a technical sort, and globes and charts. The same government department that cares for the coin THE NEWPORT NEWS SHIP YARD FROM THE WATER FRONT. A 20-foot model of one of the Morgan line of steamers is shown. These ships have 5,000 tons carrying capacity and make up one of the finest lines of steamers engaged in our coasting trade. The dry dock which is an important feature of the plant is 600 feet long, 130 feet wide on top, 50 feet on bottom and 25 feet deep. It can beemptied in an hour anda half. 'The machine, boiler and blacksmith shops are located in three brick buildings, each 100 by 300 feet. Several of the larger buildings of the plant were constructed by the Berlin Iron Bridge Co., E. Berlin, - Conn. The office building is three stories and is 40 by 200 feet, the pattern shop 60 by 300 feet, the ship fitters' shop 60 by 320 feet and the blacksmith shop is 120 by 208 feet, the other build- ings ranging in size down to the 43 by 60-foot pump house. In addition to the goo by 500-foot outfitting basin, there are four piers having a length of nearly a half mile. 'There are two ship 'ts ae : a - Byes noe 'SECOND AND FIRST ORDER LIGHT HOUSES. ways 400 feet long, two 450 feet and four 500 feet long. An average of about 100 vessels are docked each year. THE LIGHT-HOUSE EXHIBIT. Captains aud mates who refer to their charts so often will no doubt be interested in the exhibit to be found in the government building where they are printed. It is in charge of Chas. J. Hatchlow of the U. S. coast survey. 'The copper plate is inked with a roller. The printer then rubs off all the surplus ink, leaving the lines filled, and then the impression is taken by push- ing the plate under a felt covered roller.. Every particle of ink must be removed trom the surface or imaginary islands and shoals will appear where there is clear water. About 800 Sault river and currency of the nation has charge of the light house estab- lishment, immediately cared for by the light house board. 'There- fore another attractive marine exhibit is found in the treasury department of the government building? The most striking of all the articles is what is known as the hyper-radiant lantern, 9 feet in diameter and 20 feet high. This is larger than any lan- tern now in actual use, its value, with lamp, being $17,000. It comes from France as do the others that are shown. It is moginted on a pedestal and is made of a series of rings of glass, arranged concentrically,so united that linesof union are concealed. When the work is completed a glass basket encircles the lamp, which in this particular case is 600-candle power. By using rings of glass joined together the effect of great convex lenses is ob--- tained without the excessive thickening--leading to obscurity-- which otherwise would be necessary. Other lenses of lesser LENSES. THE FIRST U. S. WAR SHIP. magnitude and various patterns are shown. Two model light- houses are exhibited, one-of masonry, the other being arranged on pillars. An electric buoy is shown with lantern and lamp at- tached. -- An interesting exhibit is that of the whistling buoy. The action of the air by varying the degree of compression of a column of air contained in the buoy, causes a whistle to sound. One of the most interesting of the various articles is the model of a light-ship, with specimens of the lamps and lanterns. 'The light-ship Service is arduous, the constant tossing of the little vessels, in wild waters and the loneliness and exposure producing hardships of greater moment than those to which the lightkeep- ers of the coast are subjected. 'The men find recreation in litera- ture, books being provided by the government,