The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-07-27
IN. Y. Tribune.l
How the Obelisk Arrived.

The Dessouk is an iron steamer OF 100 tons
burthen. She was built in England and sold
to the Egyptian Government, by which she
was used as a mail boat in the service to Con-
stantinople and the Red Sea- She is about
252 feet lorg, twenty-eight feet beam and
twenty feet in depth of hold. She carries two
masts, is ship-rigged and painted black. She
was purchased from the Egyptian Govern
ment by Commander Gorringe for a reasona-
BILE sum, and has been found admirably suited
to the work of conveying the obelisk to this
country. Though not particularly fast ves-
sci, her average speed being only eight or nine
knots an hour, the Dessouk is of unusual
strength, the iron plates upon her sides being
of three-quarters OF an inch in thickness. An
American flag fioated at her peak, a Turkish
flag at her main. .+.-r. --- ... -.
Most of the visitors apparently expected to
see the obelisk looming up the deck. On
the contrary, it is.only after descent of two
flights of stairs that the monolithscan be seen.
1t is in the forward hold of the steamship held
in position by countless timbers and resting on
steel and wooden beams. In the hold aft lie
the large stones which compose the base,
while between decks are the blocks on which
they rested. The weight of the obelisk is 1856
tons. 1t is seventy feet in length, eight feet
square at the base, and five feet three inches
square at the top. 1t occupies space in the
hold of the vessel seventy-ive feet long.
The Dessouk left Alexandria on June r.
Commander Gorringe told the story Of the voy-
age to Tribune reporter as follows:
after we left Alexandria we had strong
head winds against us until we reached Glib
ralter which was on June d. While there
we received great number of visitors of all
classes. Lord Napier, the governor general of
Gibraltar and his staff, and nearly all the la
dies of the garrison came on board. They all
went down into the hold-not very easy task
for the ladies-and examined the obelisk. Lord
Ripon, who was at Gibraltar on his way home
from India, called on us. They all seemed
surprised that we had been so successful, and
were very hearty in their congratulations. Two
engineers from Trieste also called to see us
The weather was very good after that with
the exception of one day, when we were about
forty-eight hours sail from Gibraltar. The
Fourth of July was celebrated in o quiet way
that is, by firing off our cannons. IS
"The next day, Monday, when we were half
way across the ocean, the shaft of our aft en-
CINE broke. Luckily we had extra shafts
aboard. 1 purchased the vessel and all her
contents, but when the former owners found
out about these extra shafts they objected.
However, L persuaded them to let me have
them We lay to quietly then for six days, re-
pairing this shaft, during which time we were
fortunate enough to have good weather. If
the shaft Of our forward engine had broken,
instead of the aft engine, we could have kept
on. July q, the day after we met with this ac-
cident we were spoken by the Austrian barque
Rettuno, of Perzagno, and we gave the captain
the following note which he promised to leave
at Gibraltar:
9. To the Honorable Secretary of the Navy
Steamer Dessouk with obelisk, broke crank
shaft July 6, latitude 81, longitude AZ. Spare
shaft is being fitted Probable detention ten
days until repairs are completed. Will try to
keep between parallels 81 and $3.50.
LIEUTENANT GORRINGE.'
''She was bound for Constantinople, but she
promised to stop at Gibraltar to telegraph the
information. She has probably not reached
there yet"
"About seven or eight days in all. Wewere
remarkably fortunate to have such good
weather while we were making our repairs.
OF course we could have worked If the weather
had been rough, but it would have been at
great disadvantage"
"What of the rest of your voyage?'
There is nothing to say. We had good
weather but we came along rather slowly.
We ran in close 10 Fire Island, so that we
could be seen and our friends would know
that we were not lost.
"Did you meet with much opposition in
Egypt"
overcome opposition from nearly every quar-
ter. NUMBER OF Syrlans once even formed Il
secret league to secure the obelisk This was
discovered, however, aud the Government
soon put an end to il.
WAS not Mahomet Tewfik favorable to
you?"
'YeS. but he was sorry that his father had
ever given the obelsk away. Yet, as he had
given his word he believed in fulfilling his
fathers promise.
''How did the English treat you?'
"I did not have very much trouble with
them. The Syrans undoubtedly gave us the
most cause for anxiety"
''You have had great many obstacles
thrown in your way, haven't Sou?' ,
at has been nothing but obstacles from the
day we arrived at Alexandria. For instance,
we had great time with the insurance men.
First they demanded twenty-five per cent,
but finally came down to two per cent alter
the ship and the method of slowing lts cargo
had been examined by experts
What do you intend to do now?
81 shall be occupied at the custom house