Connecticut western news., 1889-11-27
THE SHIPS IN PORT.

| AAAA SAAAA " AAN A SAN4t
 Arrival of the United States Squadron in Boston Harbor.
 Description of the vcsaels of the Fleet and Their Armament and Equipment. i The Cuited States squadron of evolution, 1 composed of the cruisers Chicago. Boston and Atlanta and the gnnhoat Yorktown. en- i tered Boston Harbor it noon. Friday, and at half-paSt one reached the anchorage In front | of the clty. On account of the thick weather | the night had been spent at Provincetown, from which place tho squadron started at $ i o'clock Friday morning. Although the | weather was unfavorable, the arrival of the vessels was witnessed with the greatest in- | terest by thousands of spectators on wharves l and houSetOpS on Such cruise a> this. The 1 night order of steamng is the same that hy day, except that thc Yorktown will take position on the port quarter of the Atlanta. 1 The order then formed is that technically known as ''doublc eci,elon." the fleet occupy ing the two sides of ! V. with the Chicago at the joint.
 The flagship Chicago is the largest vessel of l the fleet and is 342 feet I S-S inches over all, :,25 feet water line. 4S feet 3-S inches ex- treme beam. and draws I. feet 6 inches of water forward ard 20 feet inches aft, a mean dr:us sht of 10 feet. Her displacement is 4556 tons ard she is barque rigged. spread ing l4,SS0 square feet of plain sail. Like the | other vessels of the squadron she is built of ] steel of American manufacture and Of supe- rior quality. She has twin screws, six steel boilers and two pair of overhead beam com- pound engines. having cylinder for each pair, the high pressure cylinder being 45 inches and the low pressure $ inches. with 5I inches stroke. The estimate is for 5000 s.>ls minute. The maximum speed of the vessel l is a little more than 16 knots per hour. The capacity of the coal bunkers is 34,941.4S cubic feet, containing S3l. .94 tons, giving steaming distance of 2556 knots at full speed, of 3O36 at 15 knots per hour and of 5763 at 10 knots per hour.
 The machinery and boilers are covered with . steel protective deck of 1h inches thickness. The top of this deck Is about foot above the water line amidship, and ex- tends four feet below the water on each side of the vessel. The coal bunkers are subdi- vided SO as to form 34 water-tight compart- ments, which, with the subdivision of the compartments in the vessel. The quarters for the 35 officers and 43O men composing the crew are of the most comfortable kind, while in electrical and other equipments the vessel stands unrivaled.
 Her armament consists of four S-inch breech-loading rifles on the spar deck. eight 6-inch breech-loading rifles and two 5-inch breech-loading rifles on the gun deck, to- gether with six revolving cannon in addition to smaller rapid firing guns, all in bullet approved modern designs, and are mounted 80 as to be easily and rapidly trained and handled. The large ones are fired by the captain from the ''conning tower' on the forward bridge. Like the others of the fleet the Chicago is painted white, at present the regular naval color. She was built by John Roach at Chester on the Delaware, and cost about $1 800 900 when ready for sea:
 The Boston and Atlanta, next in size to the Chicago, are sister ships, and though the same in many details of construction, differ widely in form. They have only single screw, and are of the type known as "super- structure ships;" that is, the forward and after ends are open, and on each end are placed the larger guns of s-inch calibre, while the 6-inch guns are covered with a central superstructure. Their length between per pendiculsrs is 270 feet. and they are 2S3 feet over all, with 8 breadth of beam of 42 feet and mean draft of T. feet at displacement of 31S9 tons. They are brig-rigged, with a sail area of 10 400 square feet, the masts being of steel They are also built with double bottoms, and above the entire length of ma chinery is placed 8 steel protective deck of shields are placed on the gun carriages to pro- tect the crew from rapid firing guns.
 A radical departure is made in these vessels In the quarters of the officers, as the cabin of the captain is amidship instead of aft. This cabin, together with the wardroOm and living quarters of the crew, are well ventilated with steam-blowers and fitted with electric lights. The motive power consists of a three cylinder horizontal compound engine, having high pressure cylinder of 5f inches ill diam eter aud two low pressure cylinders of s4 inches. The boilers are cylindrical, and eight In number, with 3i2 square feet of grate sur face. The estimated speed of these vessels was 15 knots per hour, with $500 indicated
 
 and Boston averaged 15.5 knots. and the max imum speed obtained WIS 16.33 knots, with f23S indicated horse power.
 The amount of coal carried is 800 tons, with which the vessels at 6 maximum speed can reach 950O miles. and, at 10 knots per hour, 4OOO miles. The complement of men Is 250, with provisions, &c., for 100 days. The contract cost of each vessel with MT. Roach of Chester was xS1S.Mn. They each have 30 officers and about 300 men. Their breech loading rifles. together with a sec Ondary battery of revolving cannon and rapid firing guns.
 The Yorktown, though the smallest of tho fleet, is by far the fastest, having a record of over seventeen knots, though in this in- creased speed is represented three years ot progress and improvement in engines and boilers. She is .30 feet water line, 36 feet beam and IA feet mean draught, with 5 dis placement of 100 tons, and is rigged as | HOO square feet. Motive power is given by twin screws driven by compound engines, which, on the official trial. developed 3iOO horse power, the boilers having great sur. lace of 240 square feet.
 The ships bunkers will carry 400 tone o1 coal which, with 30 tons which can,be carried on deck in bags, will enable her to steam four days. or about ,6O0 knots, at full speed, or tC steam sixteen days, or 3.S40 miles, at speed of 10 knots. She is not an armored vcsse and has no protective deck, the only protec. tion by extra plating being on the coming tower and gun shields. Her armament is very powerful for vessel of her size and consists of six 6-inch breech-oaalng rifles an6 3 secondary battery of rapid-fire guns. Two of the rifles are mounted amidships on spOn sons so as to increase the range of fire, while two are mounted forward and two aft. ], There arc eight torpedo tubes, one in thu , bow and one in the stern, which are fixed and six on the broadside, which can bt trained. The Yorktown was built at tht , yards of William Cramp < Sons, Philadel phia, and the contract price, exclusive o } armament, was $455, ,OOO. To this was , however, added over $5O, ,OOO in premiums offered by the Government for extra hors, power and speed. She carries 8 crew of l: , officers and 150 men. During the stay of thu war ships in the harbor the hours for visit . tug will be from 10 to F in the forenoon ant to in the afternoon.
 STRUGGLED INTO CANADA. , Fully 5000 Barrels of American whiske, , Gets in Duty Free.
 , c. A. Corneillier, who investigated tn, , whiskey smuggling at Quebec for the govern ment, states that, 50 far as can be traced ther, have been smuggled into Canada, by way O , Pierre de Miquelon, this year 5000 barrels O : American whiskey, and as each gallon shoult have paid S2 duty, the government has los