The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-30
GREAT SPEED PREDICTED
1t Is Thought the Record of
the ST. Louis Will Be
Beaten.
READY FOR AN OFFICIAL TEST.
Cramps Shipmaster to Command
When the Actual Trial Is
Made.

ON BOARD STEAMSHIP ST. PAUL,
OFF REEDY ISLAND (DEL.), Sept. o.
The international Navigation Company's
new steamship st. Paul left Cramps ship
yard. Philadelphia, this morning at 7:10
O'Clock for her trial trip and made the ran
of forty miles to Reedy Island in four
hours. When the vessel arrived off here
anchor was dropped to await the high
tide. Although it was Sunday morning
and Philadelphia river front was practi-
c&lly deserted the st. Paul was saluted by
every steam craft she passed, and her
whistle was almost constantly replying to
salutes until she had passed the city.
II is matter of no small danger for a
ship of the ST. Paul's draught to make her
way over the shoals in the Delaware
River, and Pilot Lewis Chambers picked
the way as carefully as an old woman
crossing the crowded streets of a busy city,
and at no time did lie push the St. Paul
faster than thirteen knots.
The anchor was weighed at o'clock this
evening and the course shaped for Della
ware breakwater. The run to the break
water-sixty-five miles-will be made in
about four and half hours. The ship to-
night will anchor at The Brown, a few
miles above the breakwater. Tomorrow
morning compasses will be adjusted and
officers of the International Navigation
Company and some few invited guests will
be taken aboard from Lewes, Del, where
they came by train from Philadelphia
Then the st. Paul will go to sea, the
course being shaped for Gloucester, Mass
1t is expected that the vessel will arrive off
Gloucester some time Tuesday afternoon.
She will not enter Boston harbor, but,
weather permitting, will come to anchor
off Gloucester. The naval officers consti-
tuting the Government trial board will
come aboard at Gloucester, and on
Wednesday the trial run will be made
After the trial the ship will proceed to
New YORK, arriving there Thursday.
In her recent four hour trial in the Eng
lish Channel the st. Louis, sister ship.
averaged 22.03 knots an hour, which was
that length of time by passenger steamer.
Some changes, principally in lengthening
and increasing the diameter of the two
smokestacks, have been made in the st.
Paul since she and the ST. Louis were de-
signed and her builders expect her to ex-
coed her sister ships time on trial. They
will not commit themselves, however, be-
yond saying that she will make % knots
per hour, but it is safe to say they will be
disappointed if she does not average %. %
or even 22.50 knots on Wednesday. She
would probably LOG the latter figures easily
If the same conditions prevailed in the
engine-room as is the case on trials of
Government vessels, when the most ex-
pert firemen and stokers are at work feed
ing the fires with the best hand-picked
coal. In the engine-rooms of the st. Paul,
however, the force that will man her on
her regular runs is at work and only ordi-
nary bituminous coal is in her bunkers.
Captain Jameson, who will command
the ship when she begins her trips from
New York for Southampton, is in charge
now, but Captain Sargent, Cramps ship
master, went to Boston to-day to prepare
for the trial trip, during which time he
will be in command. The run will be
made over the regular Government course
of forty knots between Cape Ann and Cape
Porpoise Maine, and as in Government
trials, it will be staked off with boats at
regular intervals.
A noticeable thing in the run down the
river to-day was the stability of the ship.
The vibration of the engines was not at all
perceptible, so smoothly did they run.