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300 molded much more gracefully. In addi- tion it has been found advisable to thicken the skin a bit and make other slight changes, for when the Fairu was, placed in drydock after her launching _ it was found that certain weaknesses had already developed. That there was no occasion for uneasiness has been demonstrated on the trial and actual trips of the vessel. The San Francisco Shipbuilding Co., pioneer in this country in the con- struction of ocean-going concrete steam- almost as soon as she left port, with waves running 35 feet high ‘keeping her, decks continually awash, the Fairu, a 5000-ton cargo steamer, the first of the ‘American vessels built of concrete, made her maiden voyage from San Francisco to Vancouver, B. C., with a cargo of salt and copper ore without shipping a drop of water. On June 9 she began her return trip to Seattle and San Francisco. Such is the story told at Washington of this pioneer craft which, according to her owners, has pointed the way to a new type of construction which will exert a powerful influence on the ship- building industry of the country and throughout the world. However opin- ions may differ on this point, the story of the FairH cannot be forgotten even should she be the last of her class. Upon completion of her trip, her skipper, Capt. R. C. Connell, wired the shipping board that she acted like any steel or wooden vessel he had _ ever handled and that she stood the test of the rough sea as well as any veteran bottom. Witnesses of her effort on this occasion were F. R. McMillen and H. S. Loeffler, Emergency Fleet cor- poration engineers, and C. C. Brush of the lighthouse service. Scientists made the trip also and it is said their records show the test of strength, of vibration and of other Doe is an B5-mile gale qualifications of seaworthiness equalled ° in many instances and surpassed in others the records of steel or wooden ships. Her speed is reported at Wash- ington as about 11% knots per hour, although her steam pressure is said to have fallen 15 to 20 pounds below the required minimum. The FarirH was built in approximately six weeks. She required about 1500 cubic yards of concrete poured around 550 tons of steel reinforcing bars. Her total cost is said to be close to $750,000 or about $150 per deadweight ton, com- plete. Experts say concrete ships re- THE MARINE REVIEW ers, is backed by 10 San Francisco shipping men, each of whom subscribed $25,000 to the company’s capital. This quarter of a million dollars was the amount estimated to be necessary to put the first vessel in service. Only $15,000 was expended in preparing the yard as compared with the half-million invest- ment necessary for steel vessel con- struction. The cost of building a con- crete vessels is, of course, much _ less than the cost of one of steel, while the additional weight of the concreters BY M. L. FEISER Washington Editor, The Marine Review quire about one-tenth the labor employed in constructing steel or wooden vessels and that very little of that need be skilled. The successful demonstration of this new boat has already interested the ship- ping board. The Emergency Fleet cor- poration has let contracts for 18 such ships, nearly all tankers, and has made appropriation for 24 more. These are in addition to numerous concrete barges and tugs. The 42 concrete ships will add 298,500 tons to the total tonnage to be de- livered under the shipping board’s schedules. Most of them will be tank- ers of 7500 tons each, capable of carry- ing 50,000 barrels of oil. Each is to have 2800 horsepower and a speed of 10% knots. There will be some 5000- ton cargo ships and others of 3500 and 3000 tons. The construction of these ships is to be carried out on 20 ways, four each in five government-owned yards. They will be built under what is known as agency contracts. At Wilmington, N. C., the Liberty Shipbuilding Co. will build eight. So will the San Francisco Shipbuilding -Co., the builder of the FaitH construct. eight. The other three yards are at San Diego, Cal. operated by Schofield Engineering Co.; at Mo- bile, Ala. operated by Fred J. Ley & Co.; and at Jacksonville, Fla., operated by A. Bentley & Sons Co. In addition, there are two private concrete ship- yards, one at New York city and the other at Brunswick, Ga. There is now before congress a bill to authorize» $50,000,000 for concrete ships, of which $15,000,000 is to be appropriated. The bill was introduced by Senator McCumber and was re- ferred to the appropriations committee of the house, where, it is said, efforts are being made to permanently pigeon- hole the measure. Regardless of what the house com- mittee does with the bill, there is nothing to prevent the shipping board to July, 1918 is about 20 per cent. The time of build- ing is about the same when the three weeks necessary to age the concrete is considered. When the government announces the official location of the concrete shipyard plant on San Francisco bay in which eight vessels of the new 7500-ton type are to be built, the San Francisco Ship- building Co. will receive a superintend- ing contractor’s or engineering fee of $30,000 for each of the vessels ordered to be built. ’s Views on Concrete Ships make such appropriations as it may see fit out of its own funds which congress authorized - for ships. The type of vessel was not. specified. Chairman Hurley of the shipping board, asked for the $50,000,000 authorization, how- ever, upon the authority of the Presi- dent. Air Hose The United States Rubber Co., New York, in a circular issued recently, points out the importance of air hose in riveting; A remarkable riveting record made by a gang of men at the South Brooklyn yard of the Morse Dry Dock & Repair Co. is described. The gang of six men, during a period of 4 hours and 10 minutes, drove 1480 regulation size, 34-inch buttonhead rivets. Although they were forced to travel 34 feet for every 18 rivets driven, and worked on girders on which the rivets were 12 inches apart, each hour they increased the number driven. In the first hour, 352 rivets were driven and during the fourth hour, 362 rivets. Propeller Design The American Screw Propeller Ce; Philadelphia, has issued a booklet per- taining to propeller design. The com- pany specializes in such work, The booklet contains an interesting history of screw propulsion from its infancy to -the present time, and also complete data necessary for the designing of screw propellers. This gives the shipbuilder a complete list for making up specifica- tions to be used in ordering propeller designs. Many testimoniai letters are included in the booklet, together with a list of large shipbuilders and steam- ship operators who have used the com- panys designs. A record of 12 frames raised 10-hour day has been set at the tional shipyard, Orange, Tex. in a Na-