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306 THE MARINE REVIEW atty, 198 YARD OF BEAUMONT ORK is well under way on the shipyard being estab- lished on the line of the New Orleans industrial canal by Doul- lut & Williams, ship contractors of the Crescent City, who have obtained contracts from the Emergency Fleet corporation for constructing eight 9600-ton steel cargo steamships, at a total cost of $15,000,000. The first launching is scheduled for October of this year and work on the yard was begun June 1, so that speed of construction is the main essential in the new plant. The site selected is near the Lake Pontchartrain end of the industrial canal, and a dredge has begun work ‘on that end, while two others are at work on the main ditch, having eaten their way in from Bayou Bien- venue, which is to be one of the laterals of the main canal. This is the largest shipbuilding con- tract ever placed in the south, both as to money involved and as to num- ber of ships to be constructed. The plant will be the largest in the en- tire south. The vessels involved are to be the largest for which contracts have been awarded on the gulf coast, the next in size.being War Mystery, War Marver and City or Bonuam, wooden ‘steamers recently built and launched by the National Shipbuilding Co., Orange, Tex. These were of 4700 tons. Four shipways are to be _ built, according to Capt. M. P. Doullut, who is in active charge of the work. Two of these must be ready within 60 days from June 1. As this plant is being built, the canal and the launching basin will be dredged, while as soon as the first shipway is completed a vessel will be commenced irrespective of whether the canal or the basin is completed by that time. Four months after the first way is completed, the contracts call for the launching of the first ship. This means that the first way must be ready to receive the fretkeel. not later than July. 1). The first launching must take place in October, the second in December and thereafter one ship a month will be sent into the water, according to Captain Doullut. Doullut & Williams have been en- gaged in civil engineering and general and marine contracting in New Or- leans for the past 15 years, special- izing in river and harbor work and the construction of foundations, espe- cially under water. the. trin« consists of: Capt. Ma °F, Doullut, his son, Paul Doullut, and W. Horace Williams, former presi- dent of the Louisiana Engineering so- ciety. On April 25, this firm organ- ized the Doullut & Williams Ship- building Co., Inc., with a capital of $1,000,000. Captain Doullut is presi- dent, Paul Doullut vice president, and Mr. Williams secretary-treasurer and general manager. L. H. Guerin, chief engineer, will have charge of the details of construction. James P. Ewen will be assistant to Mr. Guerin. The steel ships to be built will be 400 feet long by 55 feet beam and each will draw 27 feet of water, load- ed. The engines of each will develop 3000 horsepower, planned to give a minimum speed of 12 knots to the loaded ship. Full complement of men for work in the yard is placed at 2500. All machinery will be installed and vessels completely equipped at SHIPBUILDING & DRY DOCK CO., BEAUMONT, TEX., WHERE FIRST First Wood Ship Built in Texas for Emergency To THE yard of the Beaumont Ship- building & Drydock Co., Beaumont, Tex., C. O. Yoakum, general manager of the yard and vice president of the firm, goes the honor of launching the first wooden ship (Ferris type) built in Texas for the Emergency Fleet corpora- tion. The launching was at night, Sat- urday, May 11, and the big boat slid into the water without mishap, Mrs. William Pettus Hobby, wife of the lieutenant governor of Texas, acting as sponsor. Peculiar interest attached to Mrs. Hobby’s appearance in the launch- ing, inasmuch as her father, S. B. Cooper, for 16 years represented the Beaumont district in congress, and gave John Henry Kirby, one of the owners of the Beaumont shipyard and now busy keeping all southern yards supplied with material for ships, his start in life by having him appointed a page in the Texas senate. C. O. Yoakum was in charge of the launching, and as_ the ship dropped down the ways she left behind her the frames of five others of similar type and. size, which will be launched soon. The ways she. vacated have been filled with another keel, so that the Beau- mont company is now at ‘work on six Ferris-type ships. In addition, an 8000- ton drydock and a 3200-ton marine rail- way are being built, New Orleans, and they will leave Lake Pontchartrain under their own steam, the first time such a thing has occurred in that section of the country. The eight ships will , call for the transportation of 26,000 tons of steel to New Orleans, much of which, it is expected, will come by water from the Alabama mills. At the other end of the industrial canal, on the river side of New Or- leans, at the plant of the Foundation FERRIS