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Launches on-Sinkable Ship BY. H...- DUNN HE Foundation Co. has com- T pleted the first of the five 9000- ton, nonsinkable steel freighters of the LeParmentiere type, it is building for the French government.' The launching, which was scheduled. for Sept. 10, was not a success, however, owing to a sudden drop of 2 feet in the tide in the Industrial canal, New Crleans, into which the attempted launching was made. About 1000 per- sons, including Mayor Martin Behr- man, of New Orleans, Consul General Earret, of France, Gov. R. G. Pleasant, 0: Louisiana, Lieut. O. G. Villion, repre- sentative of the French high commis- sion at the Foundation Co. plant, and a number of other prominent men, at- tended the launching, over which C. A. All ready to take the water--Gaucuy, a nonsinkable steel ship built for the D. Bayley, vice president of the Foundation Co. presided. Mme. Georges LeGrande christened, with real wine, the hull as it started a few feet toward the water, and named it GAuCHY, but hardly had she finished her few words, when the stern struck in the mud, the bow remaining high and dry on the land. Divers were in the canal inspecting the grounded stern be- fore the sponsor had left her stand. Shipbuilders and naval officials estimate that it will require at least three weeks' work by a dredge to clear a channel in ihe canal deep enough to float the hull. This is the first launching into the $25,000,000 Industrial canal, and when the hull is completely in the water, it will be outfitted at the yard and then : STRATION THE GAUCHY AS SHE APPEARED AFTER HER UNFORTUNATE gs pr iat SMALL ILLU IS OF HER SPONSOR, MME, GEORGES LE GRAND 481 French government taken around through Bayou Bienville, Lake Borgne, Mississippi sound, and thence 110 miles back up the Mississippi river to New Orleans--provided there is water: enough in the bayou and the lake to float her. The GaucHy is 328 feet 4% inches long over all, and her hull consists of two cigar-shaped steel cylinders, brought tegether at bow and stern, each cylinder 21 feet 10% inches in diameter. Her beam is 47 feet 6 inches, and the space in the. steel structure between the cylin- cers is devoted to storage of fuel oil. She has twin screws, driven by two: 700- khcrsepower steam engines, one in each hull cylinder and each separately con- rected to one screw, two boilers supply- ing the steam. Her speed, loaded, is guaranteed 8 knots. The capacity of beth cylinders, in which the cargo is stored, is 170,554 cubic feet. Her draft is 17 feet 134 inches. She carries a -ridge amidships, raised forecastle, raised poop deck, three steel masts, four cargo booms and two steam winches. Closeup, she looks more like an exag- gerated whaleback than any other type of vessel. According to Lieutenant Villion, the French government will cease construction of this type of vessel with the completion of the five now under way. The 10,000-ton drydock being con- structed by the Jahncke Navigation Co. at New Orleans, will be ready for use by the end of September. The dock is badly needed as during July and Au- gust 12 ships were sent away from New Orleans for repairs, owing to lack of docking facilities.