The Portland daily press., 1895-08-19
SPEEDING THE KATAHDIN.
How the Ram Looked When Seen From
Squirrel Island.
Especial, TO THE PREss.l

Squirrel Island, Aug 17.-That fine
looking engine of destruction, the Am
men ram, entertained the summer visit
ors here today. The ram was given
eight trial spins over the mile course in
the bay opposite the island General T.
W. Hyde of the Bath Iron Works, some
time ago had tall white poles erected on
the Southport shore There are four of
these poles, set up in pairs, the distance
between the pairs being mile. Each
pair of poles is set on a line at right an
giles to the course to be followed by the
vessel out in the bay, so when the craft
when speed is to be tested gets to place
where the first TIVE poles range, that is
when they are in line, so that only that
nearest the shore can be seen by the
watchers on the vessel, the starting point
has been reached. The steamer has, of
course, be en- started some distance away
and when the imaginary line on the wat
er is passed she is supposed to be going
at her best speed. Time is taken and then
the seconds are counted by thoseaon board
as the ship flies along until the second
pair of poles range and5theSmile is over.
The ram appeared nere from Bath early
this forenoon and was soon speeding back
dutl lOrUu UH6T bu0 COuES6 AuIulTtbl n III
mems invention would not make good
excursion steamer Her cigar shaped
hull sits low in the water and when she
is going at rate of sixteen knots an
hour, her sharp Prov cutting way
through the water, sends it curling out
ward in two green waves flecked with
froth. She leaves white capped wake of
waves big enough to make small sail
boats dance about in lively fashion.
Seen from distance, the ram seems to
consist Of a tall yellow funnel, which
would make factory chimney of respect
able size, and low hull of glistening
white. When you get a nearer view, you
find that the white is the foam on the
waves through which she is racing and
that the hull is in reality of reddish yell
low color. So far as could be seen today,
however, the water which was sent
whirling up by the ram, did not fall in
any quantity on the deck, being thrown
outward and away. The coming tower
forward was covered with people who had
come from Bath on the ram and others
were on the after deck.
A noticeable thing about the strange
looking craft was tthe ease with which
she seemed to gather headway. She
would turn comparatively near the start
ing point then the increasing speed
could be told by the appearance of the
two big waves at the bow and when she
SnOU over bne line, Sn6 WOULD De Qo1ngrher
prettiest 1t was also .notieeablessthat she
madefa small circle in turning. Ease in
gaining headway and lodging about will
be essential qualities should the Katah-
din ever be called upon to turn her great
steel PROV against a ship Of war.
During the spins over the course today,
the ram travelled at a speed at times ex-
ceeding sixteen knots an hour. She will
now have her present propeller replaced
by the larger one recently made for her
and which it is expected will materially
increase her speed.
There is no summer resorts.on the Maine
coast where there is more sailing in small
pleasure craft than ats-Squirrel Island and
the nearby places In fact, Boothbay is
famous for the number, beauty and speed
of it's sail boats, the Boothbay cat having
reputation extending far along the
coast. About score of these jaunty fly
ers were lowering about the course when
the Katahdin made her trials today and
on the shore at Squirrel Island large
part of the summer colonists were watch
ing the ram. The new steamer Salacia
brought large number of excursionists
from Portland, including a party from
the Ottawa House. The Salacia after
making her landing at Boothbay Harbor
returned to the course with va party of
people from the Harbor on board.
Squirrel Island is having one of the
best seasons in it's history and the new
Hotel Eastern which takes the place of
the house burned two years ago, is crowd
ad all the time