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eo MARINE REVIEW. [ December. 5, ~NEW CLYDE LINERS AND WARSHIPS. [Special correspondence to the Marine Review.] Glasgow, Scotland--No improvement has occurred in the demand for new ships, but no abatement can be discerned in the activity of the ship yards. There is plenty of work for some months to come, though the men's leaders are becoming anxious about next year. As activity abates after the New Year the wage question is bound to come to the front. At present ship builders, boiler. makers, machinists (engineers, as we call them here), and, indeed, all the labor of the ship yard and engine. shops, are receiving the highest wages they have ever earned. As the price of ships must come down before there can be a revival from the approaching depression, all the elements of cost will have to come down. It is os only that wages are high, but labor is made still more costly by waste o time. This is particularly the case with the riveters, who work in '"'squads" . in such a manner that when one member of a "squad" chooses to laze, or go "on the bust," the whole of the rest are thrown idle. This is an old cause of complaint and the officials of the Boilermakers & Iron Ship Builders Society (trade union) have repeatedly lectured the men on the subject. They have now taken up the subject again on the complaint of employers about riveters leaving their work unfinished. But not only that; in several cases the riveters have refused to abide by the price list, drawn up three years ago by a joint committee of masters and men with a standing rates committee to arrange any differences that may occur with regard to items on the list. By refusing to abide by this list and to accept the decision of the rates committee when it is against them, the men are euilty of a gross breach of agreement. The executive council of the trade union, recognizing this, have put down the foot and have notified all their members in this district that they insist upon the agreement being honor- ably and honestly fulfilled and will compel malcontents to obey in the interests of the society itself. This is a proper course for trade union officials to take but the riveters are a queer lot to manage. Meanwhile, the prospects of the freight market are not improved by the action of the miners, who are trying to prop up prices by restricting the output. This is merely serving to check the foreign demand, with a consequent smaller demand for tonnage. Many boats are now being laid up rather than accept the unremunerative freights offering, and the price of second-hand steamers has fallen enormously. One of the most interesting vessels launched recently is the Dano- American liner Oscar II. This is a twin-screw boat built by Messrs. Alexander Stephen & Sons, Lrd. to the order of Det Forehede Dampskibs-Selskab of Copenhagen for passenger and cargo trade between Denmark and America. She is 520 ft. in length and of 10,500 tons register, has a depth of 59 ft. and her hull has been built in nine months. This vessel has seven complete or partial decks, most of them steel. wood sheathed, the exposed weatier-deck covering being of teak. The Copen- hagen company has a fleet of 150 steamers, many of which are employed in the principal passenger and tourist line between Scandinavia and Eng- land. The Oscar II is expected to reduce the present steaming time from Copenhagen to New York by five days, and the accommodation is supe- rior to anything hitherto provided. The boat has been constructed under the rules of the Bureau Veritas to the requirements of their highest class, special survey with P. R. mark. She has enormous strength forward (the shell plates being 1% in. thick and the framing in proportion) in view of her route; on which she will often meet ice, especially at the European end. Her bulkheads are so arranged that she is practically unsinkable, and to insure greater strength and rigidity a steel middle line bulkhead is placed fore-and-aft at the center line. The emigrant and third-class pas- senger berths occupy the whole length"6f the upper 'tween decks, and accommodation is provided for over 700 persons: The third-class is divided into two, four, six and eight berth sleeping cabins, and the emi- grant space into separate compartments for not more than twelve people each. Spacious dining and sitting rooms, finished in polished woods, are fitted up for each of these classes. The first and second-class passengers occupy the awning deck under the bridge, while special rooms have been built for superior first-class on top of bridge deck. Each class have dining saloons, smoke rooms, and deck promenades and lounges exclu- sively for their own use. Rooms are fitted up for 150 first-class and eighty second-class; and the saloons, occupying the full width of the vessel, can dine every person of each class at one time. Something like 1,200 persons can be accommodated each voyage. Electric light has been fitted in dupli- - cate and each of the dynamos is capable of maintaining the full current required for all lights in the ship. Large holds and storerooms are insulated for the conveyance of game, butter, milk and vegetables. The refrigerating machinery for this purpose is capable of maintaining each of the seven compartments independently of one another, at any temperature ranging as low as 4° below zero, Celsius. 'The vessel has been designed to carry 8,000 tons deadweight, and her facilities for rapidly loading and discharging general cargo are up to date and very extensive. Ten steam winches and sixteen cargo derricks on derrick posts are fitted on the upper decks, while a special boom is provided for handling heavy pieces of machinery. There are two independent sets of powerful triple-expan- sion engines, and nine boilers supplying the necessary steam. The engine room is complete with all the latest and most improved description of pumps and other auxiliary machinery. Both hull and machinery have been entirely constructed at the Linthouse works of Messrs. Stephen & Sons. The new Union-Castle liner Alnwick Castle for the London and South Africa service, built in the historic yard of Robert Napier & Sons, now owned by William Beardmore & Co., has just completed her official trials and been handed over. She is the first of two similar steamers ordered from Messrs. Beardmore for this line, specially designed for the company's extra cargo service to South Africa, with a carrying capacity of 7/000 tons on a moderate draught of water and a good sea speed. The general dimen- sions are: Length, between perpendiculars, 400 ft.; breadth, 50 ft.; depth to main deck, 29 ft. 8 in., molded; and gross tonnage 4/800: There: is a courpptete teak shelter deck right-fore-and-aft and a cellular double bottom for water ballast.: The vessel is built of steel to Lloyd's highest 'class under special survey. The most modern improvements have been supplied for the efficient working of the ship and the rapid handling of cargo, and comfortable accommodation has been provided for first-class passengers in a commodious deck house amidships, while a large number of thira- class passengers and emigrants can be carried in the 'tween decks. The refrigerating space is on the lower deck aft, with suitable machinery for maintaining the various chambers at a low temperature, and the vessel has a very complete installation of electric lighting. The machinery con- sists of two sets of triple-expansion engines with cylinders 21%, 35 and 58 in. diarheter by 4 ft. stroke, with four single-ended boilers, for a working pressure of 200 Ibs. per square inch, fitted with the most recent appliances for efficiency and economy, including Howden's hot draft, bronze pro- peller blades, etc. On the trials a speed of 14 knots was easily attained. A new Allan liner is always of interest on both sides of the Atlantic, and in the United States not less than in Canada. The latest addition to the fleet is the Ionian, built. by Messrs. Workman, Clark & Co., Ltd., which has just completed a preliminary cruise and her speed trials. The dimensions of the Ionian are: Length, 470 ft.; breadth, 57 ft.; depth, molded, 40 ft.; and she will carry over 9,000 tons of cargo. The vessel has been built to the highest class of the British Corporation of Shipping, has the board of trade passenger certificate, is fitted to fulfil the requirements of the American passenger regulations, and has been specially designed for the North Atlantic trade. The bottom is constructed on the cellular double-bottom system for carrying water ballast, and ballast for trimming purposes is also carried in the fore and after peaks and in a deep tank placed aft of the engine room. The cargo space is divided into six holds by watertight bulkheads extending to the shelter deck, forming nine water- tight compartments. The cargo can be worked simultaneously from six large hatchways, with twelve powerful steam: winches and derricks. There are three complete steel. decks, extending from stem to stern with a long bridge house amidships and a topgallant forecastle. The first-class pas- sengers are placed in the bridge house, with additional state rooms on the upper deck below. On the deck above the bridge house is the entrance hall opening on to the promenade deck and enclosing a handsome stair- case. Adjoining the entrance hall and entered from it is the music saloon. The second-class passengers are berthed on the upper deck aft of the engine room, and are comfortably fitted. Steerage passengers will be accommodated on the upper deck aft of the second-class space and forward of the machinery compartment, where berths are provided for about 500 passengers, with ample dining space. Refrigerating chambers for the carriage of perishable cargoes have been fitted up in the lower 'tween decks, and on the upper deck a cold store is provided for the reception of stores for passengers' consumption during the voyage. An installation of electric lighting is fitted throughout the vessel. All the living rooms throughout the ship are heated by steam, with the latest type of fittings The propelling machinery consists of tow sets of triple-expansion engines, with the most modern improvements in auxiliaries introduced. Steam 1s generated by four steel boilers working at a pressure of 190 lbs. per square inch, with natural draft. The Ionian takes her place in the Liverpool and Montreal service of the Allan line. A type of vesse! which may, perhaps, bé new to some of your readers has just been launched by Messrs. Ramage & Ferguson, Ltd., Leith. This is a new steel steamer built and engined for the East Coast Salvage Co., Ltd., on the special design and under the supervision of the well-known salvor, Mr. T. N. Armit, manager of the company. She is arranged for general salvage and towing work. Her principal dimensions are: Length, 110 ft.; beam, 25 it.; depth, 10 ft. She is of very light draught, a hand- some model and is meant to be an excellent sea boat. Her engines are compound, 18-in. by 36-in. cylinders and 24-in. stroke, with large boiler power to give her an average speed of 10 knots. Her equipment com- prises, amongst other specialties, extra strong towing gear, very large steam winch, horn at bow, very long and powerful derricks, steam digger, and other appliances for salving cargo; also eléctric light and special cocks and connections on main boiler for supplying steam to powerful salvage pumps. It is said of the boats of this salvage company that they can go anywhere and do anything. A very severe storm delayed the launch (afterwards successfully com- pleted) of the latest addition to the "County" class of cruisers--the first of two ordered by the government from the London & Glasgow Engineering & Ship Building Co., Ltd. Glasgow. The principal dimensions of the Monmouth are: Length between perpendiculars, 440 ft.; molded breadth, 66 ft.; load draught, 24 ft. 6 in.; displacement at load draught, 9,800 tons. The Monmouth is of the protected type of cruiser, her armor consisting of a belt between main and lower, or protective, deck, extending from the bow to the aft end of the machinery space. The main citadel armor ex- tends the whole length of the engine and boiler space, and is 4% in. thick; forward of the boiler space it is reduced to 3 in.; about the bow 2 in., and the bulkhead armor is of 3 in. The main deck, forming a crown to the armored portion of the vessel, is of two thicknesses, and is generally 114 in. thick. This and the lower deck, with the side and bulkhead armor, form a thorough protection for the machinery and other vital parts of the vessel. The vessel is divided into numerous watertight compartments, magazines and shell rooms are placed at the ends of the vessel well under the water line, and the coal bunkers, carried along each side, form an additional protection to the machinery space. The bunkers have a coal capacity of about 800 tons, but with reserve bunkers the quantity can be in- creased to 1,600 tons. The splendid machinery consists of two sets of triple-expansion four-crank engines, each set arranged in pairs, with the cranks of each pair directly opposite to each other and the cranks of the forward pair placed at right angles to those of the aft pair. The diameters of the cylinders and the order of their positions from forward are: Low pressure, 69 in.; high pressure, 37 in; intermediate pressure, 60 in.; low pressure, 69 in.; all havinga stroke of 42 in. The combined power of the two sets of maifi engines will amount to 22,000 I.H.P. when running at 140 revolutions per. minute. There are four surface condensers for the main engines, and two smaller condensers for the auxiliary engines. Each of the four main condensers is provided with sluice shut-off valves so that » any part of one may be overhauled while the other is at work. The total condensing stirface in the four is 23,000 sq. ft. The condensing water is supplied by four centrifugal pumps, each capable of serving two con- densers. The air pumps for the main engines are worked by levers on the high, pressure engines, one pump for each;set of engines. There are six main,and auxiliary, feed-pumps, two hot-well pumps, four fire and bilge pumps, one latrine and one drain tank pump. The main girculating pumps, together with fire and bilge pumps, give a total pumping capacity of 5,200 tons of water per hour from the bilges. The crank, intermediate and propeller shafting is nade by Messrs. John Brown' & Co., tia' There are two sets of evaporators, each set consisting of two evaporators' and ohe distiller, the combited output of which will amount to 200 tons per