Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-07-14
NAVAL EXHIBIT.
THE NEW NAVY ILLUSTRATED
AT THE FAIR BY THE ILLINOIS.
Complete I'm Every Detail Except
Sails and Rigging A Type of
the Finest Naval Vessel
known to the Public.

tlAlt VI 70 lA'lAA iIA'A AAi"t A"Aio N'Ah "a W.
lake Michigan, and there Is no danger
of her breaking loose from her moor
ings and floating away, for the very
good reason that she is built there and
that she couldn't float at all if she
were moved Her name is the Illinois
and, SAYS the Washington Star,
she is the naval exhibit at the Fair
She Is the largest man of-war in the
navy, but when the big battle ships
Indiana, Massachusetts, and Oregon
are completed there will be three 9TH
crs as large RS she
She Is decidedly a novel ship, for
she is built OF brick upon piles and
heavy timhers. Any one who sees the
big ship Mt distance of 100 yards
might easily be fooled into the belief
that She is II genuine modern man-of-
war waiting for her orders to proceed
to some far distant shore "to protect
American interests But Il close in
spection shows her in her true charac.
tcr-a perfect model, and one that
enables any one to learn all that is To-
he learned about the fighting ship of
the present day. Along the water line
she measures 34S feet; her extreme
breadth is eiNty-nine and onc-quurt ar
feet her displacement is 10, 23l tons !:
if she could move she would go ut he
rntcot fifteen knots an hour, propelled
by two sets of triple-eXpnsion en-.
gines, with IL horse power of 900 Az
il is, of course she has no engines. as
the berth-deck rests on the timbcrs
and piles which are the ships lOunda-
ton On the hcrth-dcck, however, is
very extensive exhibit, not only of
the fittings and tixings which would
belong there as to man-of-w 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.
structcd of Georgia pine, and here
there are thirteen-inch turrcts, places
for rapid-hre guns and the usual fit
tngs for working ship. There are
genuine matches and skylghts for the
greater convenience of the use of the
berth deck. There is n lnrge military
mast constructed of steel plating, stiff
ened with iron, and on top of this is u
signal mast. The larger mast is hul-
low and II person can climb up inside
Of it by means of Jacobs ladder.
The turrets on the deck. in which are
the big guns, are very good imitation
OF steel armor plate, being mudc ont
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 bc fired
There is also captain 5 cabin fitted mp
very handsomely, ward room. store
rooms, paymaster's room, dispcn-
sary, etc. Then come windlAsses. boat
davlts, pumps, watertlght 81 ding
doors, water-tight swinging doors,
"chocks, y 'winches' and the thousand
and one details of ship A novelty
among these details is the Franklin
life buoy. 1t comprises four water
tight air chambers of sheet copper.
One man can be easily supported by
1t and three men can hang on to it III
the water. 1t il unique in that it has
automatic lighting apparatus and
torches for night signals The illu
mination is effected by phosphidc 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 fur simply u
brilliant experiment.
There is one thing, of course, in
which the Illinois IL 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
tho Navy and those that belong to nd
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, Tunis and Liberia. The
I loGt nunn1 Inv Tho 70
the American flag, except that the
blue field contains only single star.
There is library, too, such as ships
are allowed to have by the Navy De.
partment 1t begins with Holy BIZ
bic, includes 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
OF travel. but there il not q single
novel.
When the Illinois was illuminated
for the first time the great crowd i'll
the grounds was fairly taken aback at
the splendid appearance she presented
She has full supply ofelectricity, and
she applies it according to the most
approved methods of the present day
Among other lights the marvellous
electric search light was put into oper.
alton. In these mirrors are used on
all sides of the protector, and an OBJ
Ject can be seen clearly ona dark night
at distance of 5000 yards.
When it comes to the guns of the
Illinois, the larger ones have been
shown only as dummies, because the
construction of the ship is such that
it would not bear the weight Of the
real metal, but there are four six-inch
brcech-loading rifles on the main deck,
beside n five. inch raniI fra ann ouJ