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386 TAE Marine REVIEW Passenger Steamer La Touche HE great and rapidly increasing trade between Puget Sound and Alaska ports is no better indicated than by the vessels being built and add- ed to the fleet of carriers operating be- tween these points. Another important addition has been made by the completion of the freight and passenger steamer La Touche for the Alaska Steamship Co., Seattle. La Touche is a single screw, steel vessel, 250 ft. over all length, 41 ft. beam, 19 ft. 3 in. depth. Although built pri- marily as a general freight carrier, there are accommodations for fifteen first-class i also provided for. The cargo hatches, 1€ ft. 6 in. by 32 ft. are two. The two steel masts aré each provided with two five-ton derricks and one 20-ton der- rick. Winches for handling cargo are installed on the extensions of the fore- castle and poop decks. Power is sup- plied by one -vertical triple-expansion engine, designed and built by Moran Co., with cylinders 17, 28 and 47% in., with a stroke of 36 in. and about 1,000 ih. p.. Steam is generated by two single-ended boilers, 12 ft. diameter and i it. 9 in. long; fitted for oil fuel, The building of La Touche was a 'October, 1910 for the past six months, having completed the Kulshan, as noted in THe Marine Review for August, the La Touche, and having under construction two submarine torpedo boats, the Pickerel and Skate, besides minor repairs to a number of ships. About 400 men are at present employed in all departments. Producer Gas Yacht The first yacht having producer gas engines for propulsion, to be built in Scotland, is now on the stocks of Messrs. MacLaren Bros., yacht builders and motor engineers, Dumbarton, and will be launched early in October. It is to the order of Messrs. Mavor and mt | ASA PASSENGER STEAMER LA TouUCHE, OF THE ALASKA STEAMSHIP. Co.'s FLEET. passengers in a house on the poop deck, and on the starboard side under the poop are accommodations for seventy- five steerage passerigers. The latter quarters are fitted much better than the average steerage compartments. Apart. from her passenger accommo- dations, La Touche is very similar in design to the steamships Riverside and Stanley Dollar, operated by the Robert Dollar Co., of San Francisco. The gross tonnage of the La Touche and Stanley is 1,838 and 955 net. Special care has been taken in providing equipment for handling freight easily. All machinery is aft under the poop deck, with quar- ters for the officers and crew on the port side under the poop and under the forecastle deck. Wireless equipment is record for the Pacific coast. The con- tract for her construction was let Feb. il, 1910; she was launched Aug. 25, and made her trial trip and was accepted by the Alaska Steamship Co. on Sept. 8. On her trial, La Touche developed an average speed of 12 knots, two knots above that called for in the builders' contract. 'When launched on Aug. 25, the ship was nearly complete, with all machinery i position. She was christened by Jennette Lawrence Young, the ten-year cld daughter of J. H. Young, president of the Alaska Steamship Co. After the launching, a lunch was served by the builder, at which a large number of guests were present. Moran Co. have been extremely busy Coulson, electrical engineers, Glasgow, whose H. A. Mavor is well known to naval architects and engineers the world over for his study of and proposals in connection with turbo-electric propul- sion of vessels, and is intended to be used for experimental work designed to assist in solving this problem. Built of steel, the vessel is 54 ft. long by 10 ft. 6 in. beam, and while having good living accommodation, the feature of the little craft will be her engine room and _ suc- tion-gas_ producer plant, which are grouped aft, and entirely isolated from the living quarters. It is understood that the engine will be of vertical four- cylinder design, of at least 50 h. p., but facts as to the machinery details are not yet available.