The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1862-07-25
IL vests 10, 400 tons.

Mr.. Rideout has not been in active business
for few years past, although familiarity known
as the "Shipbuildng King of Maine, having
built and launched nearly If not quite seventy
vessels some of them of enormous proportions
His many friends will be glad to find his name
once more coupled with the actire shipbuild-
ers of the State. In addition to the large num-
Der of vessels now building, several others are
talked of, the frames being on hand, and they
will doubtless be put under way during the
season. These vessels are all built in the most
thorough manner, fastened heavily with copper
and iron, modelled finely, and designed to re-
fleet credit upon the builders and to furnish a
noble contribution to the commercial wealth
of the city.
The steamer in process Of construction by
Oliver Moses, ESQ.,, one of the most enterpris-
ing business men of the State, and the efficient
President of the Androscoggin Railroad, is de-
serving off more specific and extended no
tice. She will be schooner rugged, with pro-
peller wheel, and as she differs materially from
anything ever LAUNCHED upon the Kennebec
waters, we have taken pains to gather few
details, which may be interesting to those who
see beauty in ship, or admire such noble
structures OF art. This steamer is 165 feet
long, IS feet beam, 10 feet deep, two decks,
with two houses upon the upper deck, and
will measure about 500 TONS She will be fur
nished with boiler 2S feet long, shell IL feet
diameter, with 10 flues; and two engines of3O
inches cylinder and 30 inches stroke The
wheel will be 10 feet diameter, and the power
ute, which will afford a speed of IA knots per
hour. The boiler is the same size as that in
the steamer New Brunswick, and at the At
lantic Works, East Boston, where the machin-
eryis being built, it is said that this new steam
or will have more power in proportion to her
size, than any steam vessel for which they
have ever furnished machinery.
In model she is very sharp, with three and
a half feet deadrise, the object of this being to
secure greater submergence to the wheel and
at the same time to prevent rolling The
great objection to propellers is their lack of
Stiffness and their disposition to roll from side
TO side. With their usual round bottoms there
is nothing to prevent this A round log will
roll easily in the water, and lie upon either
side with almost equal readiness. Reduce it
to triangular shape and rolling is impossible
Ii will foat with one of its accute angles down
and fiat side up. This well known fact is
sufficient to suggest the reason why vessel
of such deadrise will be sitter in the water than
one shaped on the under side more like log.
As this vessel is not intended for shallow wa
ter, but for the line between Bath and Boston,
there is no practical difficulty in the way of
her unusual draught-l2 feet-for vessel of
her size, while the large draught affords op-
portunity for combining stiffness with the per-
feet submergence ofthe wheel. In mode of fin
ish she resembles the gunboats Of last year.
having the same kind Of iron straps diagonally
crossing her timbers upon the inside, and the
same strength of knees, size of bolts, and solid
ity OF frame beneath the boiler, machinery and
other exposed parts. The frame is ofhackme-
tack, the ceiling do, and covered with oak
plank four inches thick; the same as is used
upon the large ships. She is being constructed
under the careful supervision of Master Frank
Packard-one of the most thorough master
builders in the city-and it is to be ready for
cargo by the first of September
And what, it may be asked, do the Bath
shipbuilders see ahead to stimulate them to eff
fort? Answer: they look through and be-
yond the gloom of the hour. At present their