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May, 1916 effecting a saving of $16.36 per day in favor of the diesel engine. The advantages claimed for the diesel engine over steam engines may be summarized as follows: The ther- mal efficiency of the diesel engine reaches 41 per cent, while the best steam engine does not exceed 14 per cent. The diesel engine, ’ therefore, produces the greatest amount of power from a given amount of fuel. Comparing steam engines using about 1% to 134 pounds of coal per indi- cated horsepower-hour with diesel engines using % pound of oil per brake horsepower-hour, the cost of fuel per hour for the same _ brake horsepower will be less for the diesel engine, even if oil is 3% to four times the price of coal. Diesel engines use only one-quarter as much fuel oil as a steam engine having boilers fired with oil. Fewer men are required to operate the diesel engine than the steam engine as the stokers and trim- mers are dispensed with and there is an enormous saving in space, while stand-by expense is eliminated. As soon as the vessel stops the fuel con- sumption is also stopped. The reliability of these engines is attested to by the fact that all sub- marines now being built by the United States navy are being equipped with heavy oil engines of the diesel type, manufactured by the New London Ship & Engine Co. The New London company manufactures engines with two, three, four and six cylinders from 60 to 360 horsepower inclusive, of the four-cycle type, and 6-eylinder engines of the two-cycle type ranging from 300 to 2,500 horsepower. The latter are single acting and reversible. STARBOARD SIDE OF 240-HORSEPOWER DIESEL ENGINE BUILT BY NEW THE MARINE REVIEW 185 CAR FERRY OF SOUTHERN PACIFIC RATLROAD New Car Ferry By A. A. Willoughby Contra Costa, said to be the largest car ferry in the world, is now in service transporting passenger and freight trains of the Southern Pacific. railroad across Carquinez straits between Port Costa and Benicia, Cal. She replaces the car ferry SoLtano which had been in continu- ous service for 10 years with but one important interruption. The ferry oper- ates on the main line for eastbound and northbound trains from San Francisco. Contra Costa is shown in the accom- panying illustration. The ferry was constructed entirely by the Southern Pacific company, the ma- chinery and boilers being built in the Sacramento shops and the hull in the ship yard at West Oakland. Her dimen- LONDON SHIP & ENGINE CO. sions are: Length, 433 feet, 4 inches; length over guards, 420 feet; molded beam, 66 feet, 6 inches; molded depth, 19 feet, 5 inches; depth amidships, 19 feet, 9 inches: The hull and super- structure are wood. In the construction of the vessel, 2,000,000 feet of lumber, 30 tons of spikes, 76 tons of round iron and 16,000 trenails were utilized. Some of the timbers were 26 inches square by 66 feet long and 18 inches square by 116 feet long. There are four engines, two sets being used for each paddle wheel. Each wheel is driven independently. Steam is gener- ated in four oil-fired boilers of the Scotch dry-back type. Four tracks, each 420 feet long, run the length of the boat. They have a capacity of 36 freight cars and two engines or 24 passenger coaches and two engines. Time Saved by Canal Its approaching reopening makes the time which is saved by use of the Panama canal of renewed importance. In addition, the shorter route will greatly increase the effectiveness of fleets. Between the Atlantic and Pa- cific coasts of the United States, one vessel now can haul practically what two would have been needed for over the route around South America. The recent record set by PENNSYLVANIA clearly demonstrates this fact. PENNSYLVANIA belongs to the Amer- ican-Hawaiian fleet. Her time of transit from Philadelphia to San Fran- cisco was 14 days, 17 hours and 25 minutes. Her average speed over the course of 5,130 nautical miles was about 14%4 knots, or 348 miles a day. If PrENNSYLVANIA had made the voy- age from Philadelphia to San Fran- cisco by way of the Straits of Magel- lan, a distance of 13,003 miles, at the same speed, the voyage would have