The Hawaiian gazette., 1885-10-27
THE FLEETEST SHIP.
Description of the Etruria--Tho Largest
and Swiftest Transatlantic Steamer.
Cost 100000; Built for
the Americans.

Liverpool, England, last trip the captain
notified passengers and officers that the
passage was to be made in the shortest
possible time. The EtrTia was going to
try to beat all the records, Just shake her
self ont and fly. Great interest was
aroused and towards the close of the voy
age excitement ran high. Only those
initiated into the mysteries of a ships
smoking room know how much money
changed hands among gentlemen betting
on each days run. Smoking room is the
neatest of all euphemisms for that luxuri-
ously furnished apartment which is sacred
to the lounging hours of men alone. They
are supposed to smoke there, and they do.
But they gamble awfully besides, I've
heard. Besides the betting in the smOk
ing room it is by 10 means unlikely that
the weaker sex, who must stay outside, did
not do their share of the betting too on
this memorable voyage. We did 1t when
| crossed, and | remember won shill-
ing. That was the share of the pool that
fell to me-
Each day the ships log was reported to
the eager betters. The first day out from
Queenstown she made 424 miles. The
next day the record was 464 miles, from
noon to noon The highest notch was 465
in one day.
The Etruria cost S2,OOOOOO The officers
say she will never pay for herself They
declare the Cunard line built her for the
Americans. They wished to do something
handsome for the comfort and pleasure of
their cis-Atlantic passengers, just TO show
their appreciation of us. 1t Is much
pleasanter to believe that people mean
what they say.
A STATE ROOM.
In the staterooms, the wash basins are
let down and shut up by patent arrange
ment, that conceals them from view and
keeps them out of the way when not in
use. These wash basins are III pairs, one
for each occupant of a room.
The Etruria is lighted throughout by
electricity. She is sumptuously fitted out.
The beds are made upon wire mattresses.
The curtains about the berths are decor
ated in the style of the Italian prenais
sance-the style of Raphael. The woods
throughout are of the hardest and finest
hnds-satin wood, mahogany, rosewood,
walnut, etc.
THE PANTRY.
The tableware is likewise altogether
"nobby." In the pantry, the ceiling is
hung full of it. Here are teapots, dear TO
the British heart, water pitchers and cream
and syrup jugs, all of silver, On ship
board everything must be suspended that
can be, on account of the motion of the
vessel 1t is not desirable to have several
crates of crockery sliding off shelves and
going to smash every day. In this pantry
are steam tables all around, ON which food
and dishes may be heated
This is for keeping the joints 'ot,' said
the steward
British cookery would be nothing with
out its Joints"
Here are great vessels of copper, bur
nished to the last degree of brightness.
They are coffee tanks. Steam and hot
water circulate in plenty through this
model pantry
The tanks need to be large to supply the
Etrurias American passengers. We Yam
KEGS are rs fond of coffee as our British
brother is of tea. And the EGuria is able
to carry 100 saloon passengers. This last
trip she carried more than thousand
travellers, saloon and steerage together,
and their passage tickets cost at least
$4,000 And yet it is said, no doubt with
truth, that the vessel is not paying ex-
penses. You can hardly form an idea of
the immensely of this steamer. A square
of New York street is 200 feet long. But
the length of the EHuria is $40 feet. Walk
two and three-ffth squares of city street
and you will have travelled the length of
this floating town.
The captain had said, on leaving Queens
town, that he expected to reach Sandy
Hook in six days. 1t is customary in reck
oning time to count from this port on the
Irish coast Captain Theodore Cook kept
his word. The passengers left Queenstown
on a Sunday afternoon. The splendid
Etruria landed them at her own pier in
New York city the next Saturday after
noon, at half-past 6, after being duly
detained at quarantine. Her passengers
had only slept ON shipboard SIX nights.
The time from Queenstown to Sandy Hook
was days, 5 hours and A minutes. That
was the actual time, the period that should