The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-08-20
THE NEW BRUNSWICK.
The First of the Pennsyl-
vania's Double Deckers
Finished.

The New Brunswick, the first of the
double-decked ferry boats of the Penn
sylvania Railroad, was towed from the
shops of Hoffmeyer g. Son, in East New
York. to the company's shops ut the foot
of Second street, Hoboken. There the
finishing touches will be put on and it is
expected that the boat will be ready for
travel by September l. Through the
courtesy Of Superintendent Garfield re-
Dor,er for THE NEWS was escorted through
the boat by H. S. Desanges, the COM
pany's draughtsman. The New Bruins
wick, it will be remembered, was almost
totally destroyed by fire some months ago
in the North River Although the flames
burned fiercely the hull of the boat and
her engines were practically unharmed,
and the company at once set about to
rebuild her. Her engines were origi-
and are very power full. Horace Theall,
of the same firm that originally built
them. rebuilt them anew after the fire.
All of the joiner work was then done by
the firm OF HoffLneyer & Son. from whose
shops the boat has just been received.
The outward appearance OF the rebuilt
boat is very fine. She resembles steam
boat more than ferryboat. The walk
ing beams are completely hidden from
view, being housed in the middle of the
upper deck.
A MARVEL OF ELEGANCE AND COMFORT.
The reporter first visited the ladies'
cabin on the lower deck. The cabin is
yet in its crude shape, but when finished
will no doubt be a marvel of elegance
and comfort. The ceiling and walls have
been beautifully carved in wood. Ex-
tending about three feet from the seats
on each side the flooring will be richly
carpeted The centre of the cabin will
be tiled. Right alongside of the paddle
box in each of the TWO commandments of
the cabin are stairways which lead to the
upper deck This shortens the former
length of the cabin considerably The
gentleInen's cabin will of course not be
quite as elegant as the ladies', but it will
nevertheless be elegant and comfortable.
There will be tiled flooring and there will
also be two entrances to the upper deck
from the cabin.
The upper deck is the innovation in the
ferryboat. When one mounts the stair
way and reaches the upper deck he for
gets that he is on a ferryboat. The ferry
boat loses its identity here and becomes
steamboat. There is the regulation
steamer cabin. 1t is circular and is in
closed by glass windows. Six sliding
doors lead from the cabin to the outer
deck. The deck is about eight feet in
Width. The pilot houses are on q slight
elevation, ana so is the house in which
the walking beam is concealed. The
deck runs almost the extreme length of
the boat, but in the centre it has been
cut circularly to the depth of about seven
feet. This is to allow the pilot all oppor-
tunity to see the lower decks. At the
present time an iron railing extends all
the way around the upper deck, but when
the boat is ready to receive passengers
here the railing will be cut away on the
side and swinging gates will be erected.
HOW PASSENGERS WILL BOARD THE BOAT.
Railroad passengers embarking at the
elevated station in this city can walk
depot. If they choose they can then walk
down any of the four stairways to the
cabin beneath.
Passengers from Jersey City will still
be landed and will board the boat on the
lower deck, unless they desire to take the
elevated trains in New York, when they
can either 90 aboard on the upper deck
from the depot or go upstairs from the
cabin of the boat. The wagon traffic, of
course, will enter the boat from the lower
slip.
The New Brunswick was originally
built in 1866 by d. Burtes & Son, of
Brooklyn. Her gross tonnage now is
1,062. She has condensing apparatus and
side wheel. Her length over guard is 206
feet her beams moulded is Sc feet, over
guard Ga feet and 6 inches. The depth of
her hold is ~ feet inches.
The company, it is said, will build all
of their new double-decked boats with
propeller like that now used on the Ber-
gen, of the Hoboken line.