The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-09-11
The Monterey in Excellent
Condition.
WORK AT THE MAYNARD.
The Channel at Mare Island to Be
Deepened-Cost of Repairing the
Hartford.
Correspondence of THE MORNING CALL

VALLEJO. Sept 1o.-After being thor
oughIy scraped and painted, the monitor
Monterey is ready 10 come OUT of the dry
dock and will go up alongside the coal
wharf for coal. An extension to the rud
der has been made of wood for the pur-
pose of ascertaning whether her steering
! qualities will not be improved thereby. 1t
| is expected that trip will be made down
! to Monterey Bay and other southern
ports. A force Of some seventy-fye men
have been at work on her during the past
week putting finishing touches to her ma
! chlnery aud other parts. She now looks
as trim and neat as one would wish or ex-
pect to see monitor.
The caiss0n belonging to the dock will
be hauled up alo ngside of the big crane in
day or two for the purpose of being
! turned over TO enable new rubber gas
ket to be put on the sides and keel TO keep
tina water from seepIng in the dock when
pumped out.
The three huge bending-rolls have been
! set in position near the pump house. The
! hydraulic keel-bendlng plant will be the
| next piece of massive machinery to be put
! in place. This will be secured to a firm
! foundation of granite and concrete now IN
| readiness to receive the heavy burden.
Naval Constructor Taylor is personally
supervising the placing in position OF the
plant, which requires the greatest care
and eXactness.
AS soon as the material for the building
| to be erected over the plant is received,
work will at once be commenced on the
same.
A large lot of sewer pina has just been
| received at the yard for the purpose of
! Offi
| south of the Communicates, thence across
The low land from near the sawmill to the
water front. This low land will soon be
| filled mp, as bids were opened at Washing
ton few days ago for dredging along the
line OF wharyes. sectional dock basin,
dock entrance and quay wall. The con-
tract price is close to $40, 600, and the COM
| pany will be required to dredge over
! 100000 cubic yards OF mud, clay and silt
| and deposit it on the low land mentioned.
! To properly hold the debris in place a Dor
ton of the grounds will be bulkheaded off
and then filed to the level of the drydock
! coping. Heretofore the dredged material
has been dumped in sCows and then lowed
TO the rear end of the island and deposited
IN San Pablo Bay.
| A uniform width of 100 feet will be
dredged to depth of twenty-five feet at
mean low tide. The material will be
dredged by hydraulic process through
20-inch pipes led along the lines of the
water front.
An old casson, or p0ntoon, the relic of
one OF the old wooden docks, which for
| years has been imb edded in the mud, and
| is now IN the way, will have to be re-
| moved. Is there are no aDpian ces to
hoist It, and 1T being impossible TO break it
up in any other way. it is proposed to blow it
up by means OF guncotton. This will prove
an interesting experiment and give a prac-
tical Illustration of the powerful effects of
this engine of destruction.
ann 6orr
surroundings of the drydOck is enhanced
by the removal of old buildings and other
objects that have lost their days of useful
| ness. The old turrets formerly in use on
board the old Monadno ck have been taken
apart, and the sheets of iron will be made
10 perform duty on other objects.
1t often occurs that condemned objects
are considered entirely worthless. for in
stance, band of four or five horses have
been offered tor sale for the past couple of
weeks, To be sold under sealed bids. The |
time for opening the bids was Wednesday
last. Not single bid was handed in |
They will therefore have to die of their |
own accord or be killed to save further ex-
| pense of kee ping them alive.
On Monday board of officers consisting |
of Captain II. l.. Howison, Ca tain Louis |
kempf and Captain c. Z. Cotton, will |
| convene by order of the Secretary of the |
Navy for the purpose Of examining Com |
mander Henry Glass, U. S. n, for pro-
The final report of the board of survey |
on the Hartford has been received at the |
department 1t is estimated the needed !
repairs will amount 10 5000. 600, to wit: |
100000 for construct on purposes, $500. 1000 |
| for machinery and 100000 for modern |
ordnance. With the above sum the his |
toric flagship could be made as good as new |
and perform service for many years to |
come.
AS soon as the flagship Lancaster, now |
on the Asiatic station. is relieved from
duty, she will come at once to the Mare |
Island Navy-yard and go out of commits |
sion, as her three years sea duty will tn Ell |
be up,
The Alert is expected TO arrive from
China at almost any time. She, too, will |
probably go out OF commission for the |
present. and when again put in commits |
sion will be supplied with modern guns |
She is fine little ship aud just the kind
for northern sea service.
The Boring Sea fleet will soon be dis
perSed, as orders have been dispatched |
for the vessels to leave about the 18th inst |
One vessel will remain to prevent poach-
ing on Prilyloff Island late in the season. |
The Mohican will reach the yard about
| October l.
The Adams and Boston are still at Homo
lulu. The former is reported to be in
good condition for protracted service and
will likely remain there for some time
| longer.
The Alliance, now down at Corriento, Is
expected to be relieved by the gunboat
Yorktown. 1t is expected she will then be
ordered to New York and become a part of
the training squadron on the Eastern
coast.
Commander J. ]. Brice. u. S. N, and
wife are expected out from Chicago in
few weeks on visit TO San Francisco.
where they have host of friends.
Civil Engineer Frank o. Maxson, U. S. |
NJ. who has been East for the past M onth,
will return to the yard Wednesday morn
ing.
Lieutenant George NJ. Stoney, U. S. N,
aid to the c0mmandant, left with his
family last week for the East on three
weeks vacation.
The friends of Lieutenant James A.
Turner, U. s. ID. Corps, are glad 10 see
MIN back to duty at the barracks fully re-
stored to health.
The Thetis is expected to sail for the
lower coast OF California about the latter
part OF the week on survey duty.
Quite force of sailmakers is employed
IN the equipment sailloft ON the outfit for