The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-06-19
IN FOREIGN LANDS.


IN FOREIGN LANDS.
10 Correspondence Of the lrtelligeneer.
There is probably not q person who
reads these lines who has never felt q
desiret to go abroad; and in common with
many othe.swe had for years lopged for q
trip to foreign lands consequently it
was With the keen satisfaction which &C.
companies, the realization of long cher
ished hopes that on n,as bright and beau
tiful May morning as.one could wish,
s.grip:sack" in hand, just as the ten
minute bell was sounding, we stepped on
msgnifcentste City of Chicago,
Of the Inman line, bound for Europe.
Atlast the dreams of our boyhood were
to be realized. At last ne were to visit
those wondrous lands beyond the sea,
whose history was; old thousand years
before America was thought Of. At last
we we're to view those works Of art which
have been Joy to the world for centu'
ries. At lastwe were to see those grand
old cathedrals, whose towers and spires
have been pointing heayenward for hun
dreds Of years, in silent praise to God.
At last weSwere to tread the streets Of
London the Mighty, Paris the Beautiful,
Rome the Eternal and q thousand other
places immortalized in history, in song
and in story. There was Joy in the
thought.
Promptly to the moment, the cables
we're thrown of. the massive engines
started and amid the waving of handker.
chiefs and the last farewells of friends on
shore to those on board, the great ship
Royes slowly out from her pier and down
she Hudson river to the bay, where the
puny batteries of Governors Island and
Fort Hamilton are soon passed, and tax
ing q last tlook at the green hills of Staten
Island, the beautiful fields Of Long Island
and the low lying shore of New Jersey,
we drop our harbor pilot to boat in
waiting at Sandy Hook and bid farewell
toland forithe present.
Assmany of the readers of the INTEL
LlaEHoER have probably never seen an
ocean steamer, perhaps q brief description
Of the vessel in which We are embarked
may. not prove totally uninteressing.
The City of Chicago was built in 1883,
by Chas. Connell & Co, on the Clyde,
and is 45O feet, Or q rods in length, with
45 feet breadth Of beam and "a feet depth
of hold. It is an iron ship, with iron
masts and spars, the former rising about
14O feet above the water. Its tonnage is
$500 gross, and is registered at 1883. Its
engines are of the most approved type
and are provided with three cylinders,
one thigh pressure) of 56 inches and two
(low pressure) of 80 inches each diameter,
and Eve feet stroke. There are six boil
ers and into the 80 furnaces beneath them
45 iremen shovel nearly 100 tons of coal
every "a hours. The engines are of
Asbcut $50 nominal horse power, but work
up TO nearly 5000 horse power. The
shaft is2O inches in diameter and the
screw propeller 81 feet ID diameter, with
pitch ST 80 feet; and at every. revolu-
ton of its massive blades this immense
vessel is driven through the water about
20 feet. The steering apparatus is driven
bylsteam and steam is also used for heatss
ing, the entire ship being lighted by the
Swan-Edison system Of electric lighting.
The City Of Chicago hes accommodations
for 13O 1st st.cabin passengers, about 80
intermediate and 1000 stserage, and her
crew numbers about $50. She is pro.
yided with s boats, 8 life RATS and 900
life buoys and is divided into 8 water
tight compartments, with steam pipes
leading to sach for use in case of fire. In
short every precaution is taken to pro-
vide for the safety as well as the comfort
of the passengers and crew. The cap
tain, r. i. Leitch, is a most genial and
courteous old sailor and has had an ex-
perience of over fifty years on salt water,
thirty of which have been spent with the
Inman company. He is the oldest cap
tain on the Atlantic and has made more
voyages across it than any other living
man, he having accomplished over $50
passages.
Among the novelties found on ship.
board by landsman,s the reckoning of
time deserves an important place: Every
twelve hours from noon to midnight or
from midnight to noon is divided into
three watches of four hours each, and
each watch is dividedsinto eight bells;
consequently at half past twelve o'clock
one bell is struck; at one o'clock two
bells, and so increasing one stroke for
each half nour until four o'clock when
eight bells are struck and at half-past
four one bell again, eight bells always
being either twelve, four or eight o'clock,
Meals are served at acy time when
ordered, but the regular hours are break
fast, from 800 to $50 a. NJ, lunch, 1890
to l:3O p. m. and; dinner from $50 to7:OO
pm. The food is of good quality and
we'll prepared and the service excellent,
the menu comparing favorably with first
class hotels on shore.
= Our voyage vas IN the main an unin-
.teresting though pleasant one. For the
first few days the surface of the ocean
was almost unbroken and the great ship
sped on its way with scarcely any per-