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

20 MARINE REVIEW. [May 23, TWO MORE LARGE COASTERS. STEAMERS FOR THE MORGAN AND CLYDE LINES LAUNCHED AT NEWPORT NEWS AND PHILADELPHIA--OTHER NEWS FROM COAST SHIP YARDS. Another fine coasting vessel, the steamer El Dia for the Morgan line (New York-New Orleans service), was launched at the works of a Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. on Saturday. It woul seem that for about ten years past the Newport News company has been engaged almost continually on new vessels for the Southern Pacific Co. (Morgan line). El Dia, alike to her sister ships, is a vessel costing about $600,000. She was designed by Horace See of New York, con- sulting engineer for the Morgan and Cromwell lines. Dimensions are: hepa over all, 406 ft; length between stem and propeller posts, 380 ft. 814 in.; breadth, moulded, 48 ft.; depth, moulded, to awning deck, 3: ft. 9 in.; gross tonnage, 4,665; net tonnage, 2,905. The hull is of steel throughout, the outside plating having vertical lap joints below the water line. The ship has three continuous decks and partial orlop deck at for- ward end of forehold. It is rigged with two steel pole masts and neces- sary booms for handling cargo, together with steam hoisting engines located at the different hatches. The deck houses, as in the case of all of the late vessels of the Morgan line, are of steel, with round side lights. The vessel has two cross hatches, with an improved arrangement of covers for convenience in handling, etc. The rudder is built up with center plate and made with stock in two pieces, coupled together below counter. The vessel will be provided with steam steering gear at for- ward pilot house, ana a screw hand gear at the after house. There will be one Richtie compass with Hand's binnacle and stand in the pilot house; one Richtie compass with brass binnacle and stand on the bridge; one Sir William Thompson's compensating binnacle compass on main house and one Richtie liquid compass in the after house. A flying bridge con- nects the forward house with the main house. Steam windlass and steam capstans are provided for handling anchors, hawsers, etc. A complete electric light plant furnishes power for 112 incandescent lamps of sixteen candle-power each in engine room, deck house and crew space; portable lamps in cargo space; masthead light of fifty candle-power; side lights and a powerful searchlight placed on a stand on foremast. This stand is arranged similar to the crow's nest on the transatlantic ships and can be used for a lookout. A Russell-Sea running light control and indicator, connected with masthead and side lights, will be located in pilot house. Engines are to be of the triple expansion type with cylinders of 38, 52 and 84 in. diameter and 54 in. stroke. The distribution of steam in the high pressure cylinder is controlled by one piston valve; another valve of the same type performs a similar duty for the intermediate cylinder and two piston valves are used for the low pressure cylinder. The steam is introduced in the middle of high and intermediate valves, which pre- vents the high pressure steam from coming in contact with the valve stem stuffing boxes. All are worked by improved valve gear, with which each valve receives its motion from a separate eccentric. The valves are placed as close as possible to their respective cylinders. In the high pressure and intermediate valve gear, levers are introduced and con- nected to the stem and valve gear in such a manner as to cause the weight of the valve to counterbalance the weight of the connections below the lever, thereby dispensing with counterbalance cylinders. The engines are reversed by steam and controlled by a governor. The main pistons are constructed so as to dispense with the employment of tail rods and will at the same time insure their being steam tight without undue fric- tion. The piston rods and the valve stems are fitted with metallic packing. The crank shaft is 1614 in. in diameter; crank pins, 1614 in. diameter by 164 in. long; cross-head pins, 8 in. diameter by 9% in, long. The shaft is fitted with adjustable thrust bearings, one for go-ahead and another for backing. The air pump, single acting, is 32 in. diameter, stroke 25 in. Total cooling surface in condenser is 6,400 sq. ft. An independent cen- trifugal circulating pump is connected to the condenser, sea bilge and ballast tank. The propeller is built up, the hub being of iron and the blades of manganese bronze. Steam is furnished by three double-ended boilers, 13 ft. 10 in. diameter and 20% ft. long. Each boiler contains six corrugated furnaces, 43 in. inside diameter; total grate surface, 400 sq. ft.; total heating surface, 10,650 sq. ft.; working steam pressure, 180 lbs, There will be two hydro-pneumatic ash ejectors, a closed grease extractor and all other necessary conveniences for running the ship. The Risdon Iron Works, San Francisco, 'Cal., has decided to install, in connection with their new ship building establishment, a Crandall marine railway. The railway is to be constructed mainly of steel and will be suited to ships of 480 ft. extreme length. A second Clyde line steamer, which will rank among the best of the freight and passenger vessels on the Atlantic coast, was launched Saturday at the works of the Wm. Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co., Philadelphia, and named Arapahoe. The vessel was christened by Dor- othy Cramp, daughter of Mr. Edwin S. Cramp. The dimensions of the Arapahoe, which is a sister ship of the Apache, launched on March 30, are: Length, 303 ft.; beam, 48 ft.; depth, 30 ft.; with accommodations for 200 passengers, and space for 3,000 tons of cargo. The Apache and Ara- pahoe will ply between New York and Charleston and Jacksonville. At the ship yard of the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, a few days ago, the Alaskan, largest merchant steamer ever built on the Pacific coast, was successfully launched, and work on machinery and other parts is so well advanced that the vessel will be in service much sooner than is usual after a launching. The Alaskan belongs to the American-Ha- waiian Steamship 'Co. She is of 12,000 tons gross burden, and is intended to run between San Francisco, Hawaii and New York, The Harlan & Hollingsworth Co., Wilmington, Del., has contracted to build a double-decked screw ferryboat, for the Riverside & Fort Lee Ferry 'Co. of New York, of the following dimensions: 'Length over all 180 ft.; beam, moulded, 38 ft.; beam over guards, 60 ft.; depth, moulded, 15 ft. 6 in. The motive power will consist of a three cylinder compound engine supplied with steam by two Scotch boilers. Wm. E. Woodall & Co. of Baltimore have purchased additional property adjoining their ship yard and contemplate the construction of a floating dry dock as well as a large machine shop. Another of the torpedo boats building at the Bath Iron Works, the Biddle, was launched Saturday. The Biddle is a sister torpedo boat of the Bagley and Barney. WHERE THE OLD WOODEN SHIPS HAVE GONE. In the year 1877,-the epoch of the old time big wooden sailing ship was at its height, and no less than twenty-five were launched from Maine yards. Until the recent revival of shipping, a full-rigged American ship was something of a novelty, and here the question arises as to where they are all gone. To be sure there are a few left, such as have not been burned, wrecked or converted into barges, which latter fate seems bound to overtake the last of the old fleet. The list of 1877 is an interesting one and in that year craft were set afloat whose history would make big books and interesting ones. In that year the chips were flying in yards all along the Maine coast, many long since grass-grown and effaced. In addition to the ships there were also many brigs, barks, schooners, etc., on the stocks. But as this particular sketch has reference to a ship, look at the list of the famous craft born in 1877. At Bath went over the ships C. C. Chapman, Belle of Bath, Palestine, Challenger, Daniel Barnes, Hecla, St. Mark, St. David, Florence and James Yesmith; at Thomaston, the Baring Brothers, Levi G. Burgess and Alex. Gibson; at Freeport, the Sintram; at Searsport, the William H. Conners; at Waldoboro, the Willie Reed; at Kittery, the Granite State; at Camden, the Wandering Jew; at Damariscotta, the Normandy; at Kennebunk, the Vigilant; at East Deering, William G. Davis, and many others. These ships have carried the stars and stripes to many climes, ard their days were the glorious days of the old-time square-rigged, deep- water skipper. In the year 1877, was launched at Brewer a big ship, the Llewellyn J.. Morse, named for Capt. L. J. Morse of Bangor, and it might be men- tioned that in the same year the schooners Empress, Lester A. Lewis, and the brig Havilah were also launched on the river, the latter from a Ban- gor yard. The name of the Llewellyn J. Morse does not appear in the shipping reports these days. One might haunt the docks of the' Atlantic coast from Passamaquoddy to Corpus Christie and speak every incoming craft, but none could give any tidings of a ship called the Llewellyn J., Morse built at Brewer, Me., in 1877, 1,325 net tonnage, and which would show the signal letters J. S. L. V. The famous old ship has dropped out ct society. Many who noted her comings and goings have lost all track of her. Her old chums are nearly all out of it, wrecked, or worse--coal barges. The fact is that the Morse and a dozen other fine Yankee-built. crait that were once in the aristocratic trades of Hong. Kong, Manila, Singapore, Melbourne and The River, form a little fleet of old-timers that, to escape [rom the poor house, as it were, have hidden themselves away in a trade where they are seldom heard from or reported. Many an old- time skipper will tell you that he thinks the Geo. Skolfield, the St. Nicho- las, the Sterling, Eclipse and others that might be named--and the Llewellyn J. Morse were dead long ago. But they are still afloat. Scattered along almost the entire coast of Alaska are long, low, rough buildings on shaky piles--salmon canneries. In most cases the wild and barren wilderness grudgingly allows but a strip of beach barely wide enough for the buildings and the rougher shacks in which the operatives live for a time. The Alaskan coast is something like that of Maine, with many islands, inlets and bays. These are alive with salmon and redfish-- big coarse fish when compared with the Penobscot article, but red of flesh and nice to look at and eat by those who know nothing better. A score or more of syndicates operate these canneries in the season, but the exi- gencies of the business require that they bring their employes with them, for where the salmon are most plentiful there are no inhabitants except a few lazy, half-civilized Indians. The canning companies for the most part have headquarters at San Francisco. Here, in the early spring, they fit out their transports for the canneries. Some own and some charter good- sized craft. for they must carry from 200 to 400 people, including the Chinese who make the cans and pack the fish, as well as the fishermen, engineers for the seine steamers, and supplies of all kinds. And this is. what the solid old Maine ship the Llewellyn J. Morse has come to. For a few months she is tied up at.San Francisco, then with a miscellaneous cargo s*e heads far to the northward for Chiknik bay, where all summer, high and light, she swings at her moorings in the sheltered bay which receives the waters of the Chilkoot river. In the fall, when the season is over, she is docked, and case upon case and ton upon ton of the canned salmon are stored away in her spacious hold, the doors and windows of the canneries are nailed up, the boats housed, and with the last man on board, the Yankee craft heads down the coast once more. Her skipper probably never heard of Llewellyn J. Morse of Bangor, or Bath or the Penobscot river, but the craft is considered a pretty good ship yet. The Chiknik Bay Packing Co., who now own her, put down her value as $25,000. But the Llewellyn J. Morse is not the only Maine-built craft that is dodging the coal barge fate up towards the Behring sea. The bark Nicho- las Thayer, built at Thomaston in 1868, carries the supplies of the Alaska Salmon Packing & Fur Co. to Loring on Naha bay, and has as a consort the bark Electra built at Boston in the same year. When the ship Geo. Skolfield, 1,275 tons, was built far up the Kennebec at Brunswick 30 years . ago, the Bowdoin class prophet did not foretell that the beautiful craft to which he alluded by way of a very pretty and convenient simile in con- nection with the class of '70, would ever be freighting Chinese laborers up the Pacific coast; but that is what the Glacier Packing Co., who can salmon at Point Highfield, Wrangell island, use the one-time pride of the Kennebec for. And there are still others. The ship Invincible, built at Bath in 1873, runs to Pyramid Harbor, Chilkoot inlet; the bark Prussia, Bath-built in 1868, goes to Kadiak island for the Arctic Packing Co., also the ship Santa Clara, built at Bath in 1876, and the St. Nicholas, built at the same port in 68, are in the same business. Of others of the salmon fleet, which years before slid into the Atlantic waters on the Maine coast, is the ship Meron, built at Phippsburg in 1870; bark Kate Davenport, Bath, 1866, rerigged from a ship; ship Sterling, Bath, 1873; ship Eclipse, Bath, 1878: ship Bohemia, Bath, 1875; ship B. P. Cheney, Bath, 1874; and the bark Coryphene, built at Millbridge in 1878. Several large ships and barks built in Massachusetts help make up..a considerable fleet which head northward for salmon every spring. But for a proud Yankee ship to carry Chinamen, loaf all summer and then load up with imitation Penobscot salmon, seems very much too bad. The government's new floating dry dock at Havana was launched a few days ago. It will float vessels of 6,000 tons and will be ready for use in about six months.