Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-07-21

Indiana. Massachusetts, and Oregon
are completed there will be three 9th
ers as large as she.
She is decidedly q novel ship, fol
she is built of brick upon piles anc
heavy timbers. Any one who sees the
big ship at distance of 100 yards
might easily be fooled into the BELLE
that she is a genuine modern man-ot
war waiting for her orders to proceed
to some far distant shore "tO protect
American interests But a close in
specticn shows her in her true charac
ter-a perfect model, and one that
enables any one to learn all that IS tc
be learned about the fighting ship OF
the present day. Along the water line
she measures 34S feet her extreme
breadth is sixty-ninc and one-quarter
feet her displacement is 10, 23l tons
if she could move she would 60 at the
rate of fifteen knots an hour, propelled
bv two sets of triple-expansion en-
gines. with horse power OF 900. As
il is. Of course she has no engines, as
the berth-deck rests on the timbers
and pile which are the ships founda-
ton. On the herth-deck. however, IS
verv extensive exhibit. not only OF
the fittings and fxings which would
belong there as to o man-of-war, but
of other things also which illustrate
the functions Of the Navy Department.
This berth deck is built Of Georgia
pine, and at those places where there
should be matches and scuttles leading
down to the lower deck there are very
excellent dummies. so as TO make It all
look real. Above the berth deck is
the main deck, which Is also con
structed Of Georgia pine md here
there are thirteen-inch turrets, places
for rapid fire guns and the usual fit
tinqs for working ship There are
genuine matches and skylights for the
greater convenience Of the use Of the
bortb deck. There is a large military
mast constructed of steel plating, stiff
ened with iron, and on top Of this is a
signal mast The larger mast is hol-
low and @ person can climb up inside
Of it by means Of a Jacobs ladder.
The turrets on the deck, IN which are
the big guns. are very good imitation
of steel armor plate, being made out
of wood framing covered with cement.
On the berth deck are two rooms,
one in the bow, the other in the stern,
for torpedoes. They inclose tubes
from which the torpedoes may be fired.
There is also a captain S cabin fitted up
very handsomely, ward room, store
rooms, a paymaster's room. dispen-
sarv, etc. Then come windlasses, boat
davits, pumps, water-tight Gliding
doors, water-tight swinging doors
"chocks. " "winches' and the thousand
and one details of ship. A novelty
among these details is the Franklin
life buoy. It comprises four water
tight air chambers of sheet copper.
One man can be easily supported by
it and three men can hang on to it in
the water. 1t is unique in that 1t has
automatic lighting apparatus and
torches for night signals. The illn
mination is effected by phosphide Of
calcium in two small tin cases. If a
wreck occurred at night and the life
buoy followed directions closely, any
body fortunate enough to get hold Of
it would find himself the center of the
most brilliant kind Of stage light. 1t
is hardly necessary to say that the
Franklin life buoy is thus far simply
brilliant experiment.
There is one thing, Of course, in
which the Illinois is lacking There
are no rigging and sails, for these are
bits of antiquity that are no longer
used by the most fashionable ships
Another very interesting part Of the
exhibit is that devoted to flags and
signals. Here you can see the Presi-
dents flag. the flag Of the Secretary of
the Navy and those that belong to adj
mirals, rear-admirals, commodores,
etc also the flags of all Nations, OF
which there are no less than forty
three, including such powers as Korea,
Madagascar, Tunls and Liberia. The
last named, by the wsy, is the same rs
the American flag, except that the
blue field contains only a single star.
There is library, too, such as ships
are allowed to have by the Navy De
partment. 1t begins with Holy Bi-
BILE, includes a copy of the Constitution
of the United States, laws relating to
the navy. Webster's Dictionary, books
on electricity, seamanship, histories
of many kinds, biographies and books