Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-09-20
The Largest Steamboat In The World,

The Od Cu,onv Steamboat company.
| operating the Fall River line of boats, and
owners of the splendid steamers that
should succeed even these in size, elegance
Of finish. and speed. ro satisfy their de.
mands, Messrs. John Roach ~ Sons under.
| took lu build for them the largest ana
fastest steamboat in the world. Last July
The hull of this monster craft was launch
ed from the famous Chester ship.yard ana
was christcned, in honor of the old Bay
State, the Pilgrim. The huge boat bui 1t
by Constructor Faron, has a length over
all of 800 feet, an extreme beam of 81
feet, and draught of II feet. Her normal
rate Of speed is to be twenty miles an hour
Thus she is ten feet longer than the Bris-
tol, two feet wider, one loot deeper, and is
designed to travel two miles an hour fast
cr. She /, Lult with two iron huls, one
inside OF the other, and so rigidly braced
rs TO equal in strength Il solid hull of
4 thickness of the space existing between
the two, and capable of being driven
through the ice that sometimes obsttucts
Long Island Sound, as though it were
cardboard. The space between the hulls
s divided into ninety.six, and the inner
null beneath the iron main deck into seven
watcrlight compartments, so that it is be.
yond the limits Of possibility for any known
form OF accident to sink the vessel
When the attempt was made to launch
he Pilgrim she slid along the ways until
l3O feet Of her length overhung the water
and then stopped, the heat Of the weather
and the friction of her own moving mass
having melted and dried off the lallow
with which the ways were creased. For
nine days she remained in this position
before the Efforts made to move her were
successful, and serious fears were enter
tanned that she might become strained
When. however, she was finally safely
aloat, it was found that not seam had
opened, nor II butt of her wood work
started, nor did the staunch hull betray
the slightest evidence of the terrible strain
to which it had been so long subjected.
After being launched, the Pilgrim was
towed to New York, and now lies in the
East River at the foot of ninth street, of
John Roach a. Sons Morgan Iron Works,
where, amid the incessant din of hundreds
of hammers, and in the glare from the
Pletonian fires of the vast forges, she is
receiving her boilers and machinery, and
having her woodwork supplied. Here
she will be finished ready for service,
Il labor that will take five or six months
TO complete, and she will not make her
first trip until the opening of the next
summer season.
The paddewhcels of the Pilgrim are
II feet in diameter, and to turn them the
largest shaft in the world has been con-
strncted. Tho Great Eastern was origi-
nally a side.wheel steamer, but each of
her wheels was driven by its own engine,
so that two shafts were used, neither of
which was rs large rs this one of the Pill.
grim. This shaft was forged in two sec
tons, each of which weighs forty tons.
The great hammer by which it was beaten
into shape weighs 1900 pounds, and
driven downward by steam power, is
capable of delivering blow of $4,000
pounds weight. After being forged, the
huge piece of metal was placed in lathe i,
and turned rs nicely and with as great
accuracy rs though it were Il pinion of a
watch. The accuracy with which this
turning must be done may be realized
when it is understood how the shaft and
crank piece are fitted together. The crank
; bored about an eighth of IN inch less
ia diameter than that of the shaft, and
heated until the metal expands and the
bore IS exactly the same size as the shaft.
Tnen the shaft, which has been kept at Il
much lower temperature, is inserted. If
thi, is done too slowly, OF if from irregular
turning the shaft is not perfectly true to
its bearings in the crank the whole work
is destroyed, and the iron must be broken
up for The hot crank piece has already
closed upon the cold shaft with such Il
grip that they can never again be separated.
The huge cylinder, weighing thirty-iine
tons, having an interior diameter of nine
feet and two inches and II fourteen. foot
stroke, was cast in the same foundry, and
its removal from the yard and careful
placing within the iron hull was most
serious undertaking, and one requiring
the utmost skill and attention. 1t was,
however, successfully accomplished, and
formed II scene of such interest to our
artist that he chose it as his subject of illus
tration. The great walking-beam of the
Pilgrim, already cast and waiting to be
placed in position, is twenty-nine feet long
by fourteen feet and six inches across at
its widest part, and weighs thirty eight
tons.