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14 MARINE REVIEW. [August 17, plays a very important part in the structural strength. The arrangement of the material subject to longitudinal stress may 'be compared to a beam, of which the sipper deck is the top and the keel the 'bottom flange, the out- side plating forming the' web of the mean; therefore, this:deck in vessels of large size is plated completely over, in order to secure for the top flange of the girder the proper sectional area. On the ends of the beams are worked stringers of heavier plating than the balance of the deck plating, making good-connection with the sheer strake by means of heavy angle bars; the space between the stringers is filled in with plating as required. Great care is given to the butts and other connections, so that the entire deck may be as efficient as possible. In wooden vessels the strength at the deck is made up through the waterways, thick strakes and clamps, or shelves, which are strong pieces of timber or plank, running longitudinally. The decks of an iron vessel are worked in a similar manner to the upper deck except that where the frames pierce the plating staple angles are worked about them to make it watertight. Deck beams should be supported by stanchions, and as far as possible these should be in the midship line, but for convenience of state rooms and deck arrangements they are sometimes worked two to a beam placed ibeside the joiner work bulkheads. _ The fastenings of a wooden vessel are either of copper or iron bolts, iron spikes and treenails of wood. The plank is fastened generally by spikes or,treenails except at the butts, which are bolted. Several bolts are also placed in each 'shift of plank for additional security. Many parts are thoroughly 'bolted. The fastenings of a metal vessel:consist almost entirely of rivets, which are hammered into place while hot. A rivet gang con- sists of three men and a boy, the rivets being heated in a furnace with capacity to supply two or more gangs. The rivet boy carries the rivets from the furnace to che work by means of tongs and places them in the holes in the plating, one of the men, known as the holder on, places a heavy bar of iron-against the head to keep it in place while the point or clench is being formed by the two riveters, who by repeated and rapid blows force the soft iron into the countersunk hole'in.the plating, making the merry din so familiar to visitors at ship yards. 'After the rivet is driven down hard and flush, it is tested by the rivet inspector for watertightness, and if not satisfactory must be redriven. : abort When the planking is fastened, the seams of slight spaces between the edges of the plank are filled with oakum, and this is driven in with great care until it is as hard as the plank. To hold against the oakum the planks are laid with a slight bevel outward, about one-sixteenth of.an inch for each inch of thickness of plank; otherwise the .oakum..would be forced through the seam. An improved method has .been lately introduced whereby a recess is cut in the edges of the plank about midway of the depth, so that the oakum will spread into the recess and render it impos- sible to be driven through. After the calking, the seams are payed with hot pitch, a marine glue. In metal vessels all watertight work must be calked, metal to metal; that is, a slight layer of metal must be driven over against the adjacent metal until the joint is absolutely tight. This work, until within the past few years, has been done entirely ,\by hand; now a calking tool, operated by compressed air or electricity, is tised. The blows are so rapid that it produces almost a flow of the metal' PREPARATIONS FOR LAUNCHING. or aS The vessel 'thas 'been built resting upon the keel blocks and shores, and while here the shafting and propellers have been put in place, the rudder hung, the bottom painted, and all work below the waterline on the outside surface finished. Now the vessel is to be transferred from the fixed keel blocks to a moveable platform, which shall allow the vessel to move easily, and without damage, to the water. This is done by building on each side of the vessel about one-fourth of the beam from the keel a platform, or foundation, to which the weight of the vessel shall 'be transferred. In lay- ing the keel blocks the 'bottom pieces were made of sufficient length to allow of their forming the foundation of the platform. , On these are built up the ground ways, which are capped with strong pieces,of timber 314 to 4 feet wide, with smooth upper surfaces shored to prevent spreading; on these are laid the bilge ways, which are also large,.smooth pieces of tim- ber, free to slide with the vessel; on the bilge ways are constructed the cradles which are fitted to the ship's bottom; between 'the cradles and the bilge ways are fitted rows of long wedges of such thickness that when driven up the vessel will be lifted from the keel blocks and brought to bear on the ground ways. 'The upper surface of the ground 'ways and the bottom surface of the bilge ways are then coated with tallow and the bilge ways secured to the ground ways by strips of timber at the bow, so that they cannot move until the strips are sawn asunder. Then the wedges are set up until the keel blocks can be removed, and all clear for launching; when all is clear, the strips at the bow are sawn off.and the vessel, resting on the greased surfaces only, 'begins slowly to slide down the inclined plane prepared at building; she soon gains headway,.and is shortly in the water. After launching the fitting of the joiner work.and. cabins, the put- ting together of the machinery, the masts and rigging of.the ship are all hurried to completion until the vessel complete in all respects with outfit on board is ready to be delivered, and take her place for service. AWARDS OF PRIZE MONEY. The disbursements of the navy department auring the past year ag- gregated more than $70,000,000, according to the report of F. H. Morris, auditor of that department. In the report, which has just been issued, Auditor Morris says that the settlement of prize money claims for the Spanish war has not yet been begun, for the reason principally that there have been delays in the courts. The work of the auditor's office, he says, will be very protracted and arduous as soon as these settlements begin. The report shows that the total number of accounts and claims of naval of- ficers settled during the last fiscal year was 8,132, and the amounts allowed aggregated $50,997,411. The total appropriations and balances of the navy during the last year were $18,772,420. The net amount drawn out by warrant was $70,130,148, and the balance unexpended on June 30 last was $68,471,250. A small deficiency in funds necessary to be expended for the maintenance of the naval establishment during the current fiscal year is predicted by the auditor. The total disbursements of the navy department through its fiscal agents in London, England, during | the year ended June 30, were $3,195,899, the sum including payment for several vessels of war purchased last year. a tna mp fy fr ¢ eB NADL AMERICAN MACHINERY FOR BELLEVILLE BOILER WORKs. As a result of a recent visit to this country of Messrs. L. Piaud and G. Bische, representing the Delaunay Belleville Co., well-known many- facturers of water tube boilers of Saint Dennis, France, an 6rdef tias been placed through Manning, Maxwell & Moore, of New York, for $50,000 worth of engine lathes, radial drills, milling machines, boring and turning mills, cutting-off machines, large planers, etc. The machinery. purchased will constitute the equipment of a new plant in which the French firm wil] undertake the building of an engine ranging from 8 to 2,000 horse power for land and marine service. The French manufacturers sailed for home recently, after several weeks spent in the inspection of American ship build. ing and manufacturing plants. At Chicago they were taken through the works of the Q. & C. Co. and the Chicago Ship Building Co.; the latter, they declared, interested them very much. The works of Bement, Miles & Co. of Philadelphia and other prominent eastern concerns were visited, but what interested them most was the Cramp ship yard. Said M. Piaud: "T cannot help remarking the immense possibilities of that concern." The visitors, while bestowing high praise on American automatic tools, enter a protest against the prevailing high prices and poor promises of delivery. In conclusion, however, M. Piaud said: "Our new engine shops will be run on American principles, as far as practicable. This is only an initial order I have given, and as we extend our works I will pay America another visit, when I may possibly double the order." OLDEST AMERICAN VESSEL IN COMMISSION. The schooner Polly, now lying in the port of Bangor, Me., sound and seaworthy in every way, was built at. Amesbury, Mass., in 1805, and is said to be the oldest American vessel in commission. During the war of 1812 she was a privateer, and captured eleven prizes from the British. She was also captured once herself, but was retaken. She is a vessel of 45 tons, and is now engaged in the coasting trade. There were three privately armed vessels called Polly in commission during the war of 1812--a schooner carrying four guns and thirty-five men, and another carrying six guns and two hundred and thirty-five men, commanded by Captain Lafavour, and a sloop Polly carrying five guns and fifty-seven men, com- manded by Captain T. Handy. This last vessel and one of the schooners was from Salem. One of these vessels had an encounter with a British man-of-war and beat her off with loss in 1812. Another Polly, or perhaps the same as the last, was captured by the Barbadoes, 16, off San Domingo in April, 1814, after a chase of sixty hours. Another Polly was captured by the Statira, 38, off the Bay of Fundy, 1812. She beat off a sloop of 18 guns with a loss of many of her crew. Polly seems to have been a favorite name for public and privately-armed vessels during the Revolutionary war. There were at least a dozen of them, besides a Polly Sadler and a Polly Sly. A cruiser Polly, fitted out in Charleston, S. C., composed one of Commodore Biddle's squadron at the time he was blown up in the Ran- dolph frigate--Army and Navy Journal. CHART OF THE WORLD. A new chart of the world, setting forth the ocean tracks for full pow- ered steam vessels with the distances in nautical miles, has just been issued by Capt. J. E. Craig, chief hydrographer of the navy department. A note- worthy feature of the new chart is the presentation of the tracks connecting the ports of New York and San Francisco with the new. American posses- sions. It is shown, for instance, that the construction of the Nicaraguan canal would bring the Philippine islands only about 500 miles nearer the port of New York than by the present route. Were the Nicaraguan canal constructed a vessel sailing from New York to 'Manila would haye to cover 11,034 miles, making a difference of 552 miles in favor of this route over that of the Suez canal for New York. The longest stretch of the cable which the administration expects congress to authorize during the coming session will be from Guam to Midway, 2,304 miles. From Midway island to Honolulu the distance 1s 1,160 miles, and from Honolulu to San Francisco 2,100 miles. The chart shows in the Atlantic ocean the tracks used by steamers connecting New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Liverpool, Southamption and Gibraltar, showing the northern routes, used 'between August and January, and the southern routes, followed between January and August. The longest steamer route given on the map is that connecting New York and Esqui- mault by way of Cape Horn, 16,290 miles. This is exceeded by the track used by sailing vessels connecting New York and Yokohama via the Cape of Good Hope, which is 16,900 miles in length. \ A REPLY FROM COMMISSIONER CHAMBERLAIN. Commissioner of Navigation E. T. Chamberlain has effectually spiked one of the guns which the New York Post has been using extensively in violent and bitter opposition to the Hanna-Payne shipping bill. Mr. Chamberlain's self-explanatory letter is as follows: To the Editor of the Evening Post:--My attention has been invited to the surprise expressed in your editorial article of Aug. 4, that under the so- called Hanna-Payne bill, the International Navigation Co. would get from the government in twenty years twice the cost of each of its fast steamers. The alarm which the statement may arouse in your readers' minds may perhaps be quieted by the reflection that last year the German government voted a subsidy of 5,590,000 marks to the North German Lloyd Steamship Co. for fifteen years, and the company, in its argument for the bill, de- clarea its purpose to build four steamships, each to cost 4,000,000 marks. The North German Lloyd company will thus get from the German g0V" ernment for the next fifteen years more than the entire cost of a steamsmp a year! E. T. CHAMBERLAIN. It will be two or three weeks before the navy department will be able to announce the result of the competition for the contract of installing an electric plant of great power at the new machine shop of the Brooklyn navy yard. The bids cover boilers, engines, dynamos, cranes, et¢., an nee from $120,000 to $160,000. The General Electric Co. is, among the bidders. ik