The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-04


ures of the boat are The uois,lCss1U-s IT
wOiUr and The hscncc of auV vibration
except under the highest speed Tho
lines or thC lurcfra arc So pcrfcrf lf tray
els through tho water very smoothly and
leaves no waves There Is absolute
freedOm IN Mir Astor's beat from
smoke, gas. heat. ashes cindcrs, dirt
and other things OF the kind that mar
the pleasure OF pass,ucVrs on boats pro
pollo0 hy steam or naphtha. There is no
noise. no government inspection, no
licensed engineer or any crew at all re
quIred of about the size OF Mr. Astor's.
The management is simple enough for la
dies 10 operate il with ease The full
power can be switched on in one second
and 10 has great stability from the fact
that the weight of the motive power is
beneath the flooring The entire boat
space Is free for passengers, and II has
about % per cent. more accommodation
than in steam craft OF similar dimen-
siOns
Mr.. Astor's experimental boat cost him
about 5000 His new schooner-rigged
electric boat will cost him in the neigh
borhoOd Of $3.50, 600 The furnishings will
be as rich and costly as Mr.. Aston can
make them and it remains to be seen
whether electricity can be practically ap-
piled as motive power for as large yacht
as Mr.. Aston will build The work will
be done at Cramps and the boat will
come of the ways about the same time as
the mammoth Rockefeller yacht
The furnishings in TIE Vanderbilt yacht
will cost a mint of money-One apartment
alone taking S2l coo. II will be the gold
room, the fittings being the most costly
that money can buy The furniture viii
all be done in rich gliding. A New York
firm is to do the furnishing of the Valiant
and had the pleasure of seeing the de-
signs Of the apartments Mr.. Vanderbilt
has already passed on.
The Valiant is of about 2,4OO tons ton
mage and she win be driven by triple ex-
pansive engines, combined capable of
9,O0O-horse power Most steam yachts
heretofore constructed had their boiler
and engine, their shaft and screw, but the
Valiant has her whole working machinery
duplicated. There are two distinct set of
boilers, two engines, two shafts and two
screws, both sets working independent of
each other. An accident on one side OF
the Valiant can in nowise affect the other
for the yacht is divided into two non-com-
municating halves by a solid longitudinal
bulkhead and each is fully equipped 10
propel the craft There are numerous
water-tight compartments which do not
communicate, so the Vanderbilt yacht is
said TO be practically unsuitable. There
ape sumptuous accommodations for 100 OF
Mr.. Vanderbilt's friends aboard the
Valiant.
In general the decorations will be of the
renaissance period and the prevailing
tones ivory and gold. There will be
hand-painted ceilings, while the panels in
the wall will be executed in a glyptiC
material in which tritous, nymphs and
other oceanic symbols will appear. The
finest woods and ornamentation will be
used in the yacht. There will be a grand
piano and organ in the salon. There will
be costly oil paintings representing ship
ping from some of its most picturesque
aspects, ships of war old and new yachts
of pleasure, past and present. There will
be rich carvings galore and inches hold
ing figures in high relief. The state
rooms will be very large with most
luxurious furnishings and toilet convent
ences. The private bath room for the
members of Mr.. Vanderbilt's family win
cost $4,000 alone. The yacht will carry
an electric light plant. The salon will be
Illuminated by hidden lamps. There will
be brilliant light but no lamps in sight-a
novel feature for pleasure craft.
Another innovation will be lifeboat
which will be utilized for decorative plr
poses when not in use. II is composed OF
reindeer hair confined in an embossed
in an embossed leather covering. 1t is
very much lighter than those of cork
weighing only two pounds, and will sup
port twenty-five pounds of iron in the
water. Reindeer hair is hollow and con-
tains air, being also impervious to water
Thus the lifeboat may be immersed for
any length of time but is still as buoyant
as when put in. The hair for the life
boat is obtained from the tanners at
Leipsic, to which place the largest mum
Der of reindeer skins are exported from
Norway, Sweden and Finland But time
and space forbids a further enumeration
of what will be a floating palace which
will surpass anything ever before seen in
American waters. 1t will take sixty-five
men to run the Valiant. That includes
men before the mast the officers, chief
engineer and three engineers, firemen and
oilers, but it does not include the chefs
department. About forty of the sixty
five men will receive on an average OF
$40 month. The balance, including the
officers, run from $3.50 a month down %
800 It is fair estimate that when the
Valiant is in commission her crew alone
will cost about Sc, 800 a month. The total
expenses per month of a luxury like the
Valiant will cost close 70 $4,000 if many
guests are entertained aboard the craft
Neil Olsen of the New York Yacht
Club, an authority, tells me that the 100
or more private steam yachts belonging
to the club represent an outlay of more
than $4,000, 600 for construction alone
The amount of capital represented by the
men who own these pleasure crafts would
be up in the hundreds of millions of dol
lars.
Eyes, there is tremendous rivalry
among our wealthy men TO build palatia
steam yachts said Mr. Olsen. ''EVhy
ten years ago a 200-fOot steam yacht was
novel sight indeed But in 1888, JAN
Gould's ATLANTA was launched on April Z
from the yard where Mr. Rockefeller is
now building in Philadelphia Then. in
1884, came William Astor's 25O-fooi
boat, Nourmahal, the biggest steam yacht
in American waters at that time. In
that year the first steam yacht
regatta took place, Jay Gould's boat max
ing the fastest time. The Alva was
launched in 1856 and her length, 2s5 feet
was considered gigantic for a pleasure
craft The ATLANTA claims to hold the
record, II miles an hour, in race on the
ger steamer. Mr. Esned was very proud
of his boat. Norman L. Munro's steam
yacht covered a mile on Nov 9, 1891, in
2:1225 and now it remains for Oui
mOnied men to establish a new record fol-
steam yachts, which believe, of course
they will shortly do Watch out for that
Astor electric yacht Every yachtsmar
in the country has his eye on her"
c. w. Coggeswell, a millionaire OF
Buffalo is going 10 cOmDete in the sDppd I