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28 THe MarRINE REVIEW LAUNCHING THE J. E. UPSON In presence of thousands of persons, the bulk freighter J. E. Upson was launched from the Cleveland yard of the American Ship Building Co. on Saturday morning and was christened by Mrs. E. H. Churchill, daughter of the man in whose honor the ship was MRS. E. H. CHURCHILL, SPONSOR. named. Mr. Upson is president of. the Wilson Transit Co., owners of vessel, but he is better known as the president of the Upson-Walton Co., which has been continuously in busi- ness for the past, 37 years and has fitted out more vessels than any other ship chandlery house in the United 'States. Following the practice of the Cleveland yard the Upson went over- board on time, in fact anticipating the time schedule by a few minutes. Mrs. Churchill made a very clean break of the bottle, baptizing not only the ship but also quite a number of spectators on the launching stand. _ The Upson is 524 ft. over all, 504 ft. keel, 54 ft. beam and 30 ft. deep. Her engines are triple-expansion with cylinders 23, 38 and 63 in. diameters by 42-in. stroke, supplied with steam from two Scotch boilers, 1414 ft, by 11% ft. fitted with Ellis & Eaves draft bad allowed 180 pounds pres- sure. Capt. J. S. Wood will be. her -master and Fred Harmon her chief engineer, The luncheon at the Union. Club following the launching of the steam- er was marked by exquisite attention to details and was in perfect taste throughout. *To begin with the ban- quet room was beautifully decorated, the tables being literally buried be- . Mr. Upson, "i "acy of Capt. the neath a wealth of roses, tulips, daffo- dils, carnations, sweet peas and ferns. Certainly no such floral display has ever marked a launching before. ae room, being artificially darkened, the illumination was by candle light. W. Walton acted as toastmaster and acquitted himself well. Naturally his opening remarks were a. tribute to his partner whom he had known since boyhood and had never known him to betray a trust. her namesake. n er eae said that the Wilson Transit line had been or- ganized as' a corporation since 1890. Capt. Thomas Wilson was its guiding spirit until his death in the -Holy Land in 1900. The conservative pol- Wilson has never been He felt that he might be more free to speak were Mr.. Up- 'son absent and he could not propose any. better toast to the ship than that she might steer as straight a course as an occasional dividend. Regarding the steamer J. E. Upson, however, with Capt. Joseph Wood in command, Fred Harmon in 'the engine room and Capt. Morton in the office, an exception might be noted, and thatitis expected that. the J. E. Upson will "not ~ be found at the tail end of any proces- sion. He added that while the Wilson 'Tnanstt:. Go» shad: "lost 'ships it. fad never lost a crew. © He proposed a toast to the success of the new steam- "er and hoped that she, would get 60 cents on coal to Milwaukee, 3 cents on corn from Chicago and $1 on ore from Lake Superior in 1908. Capt. Wood and Chief Engineer Harmon responded briefly to toasts and then Russel C. Wetmore, vice president of the American Ship Build- ing Co., spoke. Mr. Wetmore stated that the launching marked the con- clusion of nine years of existence of the American Ship Building Co. as an MR. J. E. UPSON, departed from by the company, it be- ing practically alone among the steam- ship companies on the lakes in that it issues no bonds upon its new vessels but provides the total sum in cash for their construction. The company, while it has neve® tried to make a record in speed, carrying capacity, etc., does not fail to quiet its stockholders by incorporated body. During the nine years ended Feb. 29, 1908, they had launched 271 vessels, an average of 30 a year. He could do no_ betfer than to wish that the one which they had just seen launched would be the most successful of them all. He pro- posed a toast to the sponsor, who re- sponded quite wittily by saying that ; 4 5