The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-11-12
A GREAT SHIP.

sells was in pursuance of the company's
promise to construct two steamships in
this country of equal tonnage to its
steamships Paris and New York, If
Congress would pass a bill admitting
the two latter vessels to American regis
try Congress passed the Dill, and 1t
became a law in 1892. Soon afterwards
the International Navigation Company
placed an order with the William Cramp
& Sons Ship and Engine Building Com
pany to construct two steamships to
meet the bills provisions.
The first frames for the vessels were
laid on July q, 1893. and the St. Louis
is the first of the two to be launched.
Both ships are American from truck to
keel. AS soon as their construction was
determined upon determined efforts
were made by British rolling mills,
forges and foundries to obtain orders
for their material. and remarkably low
| figures were offered, all the material
being free of duty. But all these offers
were refused. and every ton of material
used in the vessels is of native pro-
duction and American brain, skill and
| muscle have constructed the steamships.
A description of one vessel is a de-
scription of both. The dimensions of
the ST. Louis are:-554 feet, 2 inches
over all; So feet extreme breadth and
26 feet draught. The gross tonnage is
1O77O tons and when loaded to the
draught line the steamships displace-
ment will be 5000 tons.
The cargo capacity is 1920 tons on
normal mean draught of about rs feet
with full coal supply; but the total
hold capacity when loaded to the maxi
mum draught of about % feet win be a
little more than $500 tons. The motive
power will be supplied by two quadruple
vertical sx-cylinder engines on -four
cranks, driving twin screws, with
working pressure of 200 lbs. of steam,
supplied by ten boilers. The ST. Louis
will be the first steamship to be sup
piled with, quadruple expansion engines
the triple expansion engine having here
tofore been used and the results obtained
from such powerful machinery will be
| interesting to watch. 1t is calculated
| that the engines will be generated for
the propelling machinery by forced
draught, whereby, together with the new
| and bold application of quadruple ex-
pansion to such colossal engines, the
space and weight occupied by the ma
| chinery have been considerably re-
POSSIBLE SPEED
| No prediction for speed can be made,
| but as the contract calls for sustained
| sea speed of 20 knots. it is more than
| likely that the St. Louis Will prove
| faster than the Paris and New York
| St. Louis will be speedier than any other
steamship afloat. with the exception of
the. two big Gunarders. the Campanla
! larger than the st. Louis. and their
horsepower is much greater, and it is
| not probable that the St. Louis will
equal their sustained sea speed OF over
Special attention has been directed
| towards the safety of the st. Louis.
| The system of bulkheads used makes
so divided by bulkheads that any two
OF. even three compartments may pc
filled simultaneously with water tl, with
broken subdivision of compartments has
also an incidental advantage in making
| the St. Louis fireproof, as the fire
| in which it originated. Besides the sys-
| tenn of compartments, there are all the
| modern appliances for safety and some
| new ones. and in the improbable event
| of the ship laundering or being cast
away, boats and life rafts sufficient to
accommodate every soul aboard will be
carried. In order to reduce greatly the
| risk of accidents resulting from the
| breaking down of machinery, the st.
| Louis is fitted with two sets of engines,
| each set driving a separate screw. The
engines are in two separate compart-
| ments, subdivided by watertight bulk
head, and the boilers are in separate
compartments, completely cut off from
| each other so that these vessels might
| be in collision by being struck on the
| bulkhead and could have a breakdown
| in their machinery such as may occur
| in any ordinary ship and still be navi-
gable and thoroughly safe and sea-
= - QUICK STEERING.
They are also very much better able
| to avoid collision by having two sets of
machinery, one of which could be readily
reversed while the other was going ahead
| thus turning the vessel very quickly.
| The rudder power is very large compared
with that of other ships of similar size
and type, which, in connection with the
| cutting away of the deadwood or drag
aft increases their hardness in turning
and general nanoeuvrng to an extent
| unknown to any other ships afoat.
The material used in the construction
of the ST. Louis is open hearth steel of
the best quality, and the records of its
inspection show an average considerably
above Lloyds standard The steering
screw gear type, with steam and handing
steerage. engine, and the rudder is, OF
the single plate type The ST. Louis has
| five decks, and when completed will be
a floating palace. The cabins, saloon,
smoking room, library, ETC., will be of the
most luxurious character and everything
that the most exacting ocean traveller
could desire will be at his command.
Four dyna1nos will supply the electric
city to light the vessel, and powerful
fans will force the foul air out of the
ship and pure air in. Pure air will be
drawn from tunnels above the shade
deck and forced into every part OF the
ship In cold weather the pure air will
be heated in its passage down the fun
nels, and as the occupant of state
room may control the ventilation Of his
apartment by turning OH or the air
exhaust every one can regulate the at
mosphere of his cabin to suit his own
comfort.
The ST Louis will have acconamoda-
tions for 800 first cabin passengers, 226 s
second cabin passengers and $40 steerage
passengers. The crew, including stew
ards. etc, will number AGO. making to-
tai of 1,84G people that the ship can carry.
The St Louis has two smogestac cks and
two steel masts. The masts are intended
to be used as derrieks and for. signalling
purposes and not to carry sail.
One point of great Importance has re-
ceived more attention than it has in any
other fast Atlantic steamers. 1t is not
an uncommon thing for some Of the
fastest vessels to make quick passage
wait for high tide for several hours !
outside the harbor bar either in New
York or Liverpool. In order to avoid
such necessity the St. Louis and the
st. Paul have been designed for light
6ihaurht. Proper immersion for their
screws will be obtained by the use of
water ballast in the double bottoms,
which have ban fitted throughout their
length On the passage over and before
reaching the bar this water ballast will
be pumped out ana the Vessels oraught
greatly lessened.
These double bottoms are built upon
new princfple specially desigrAd by