New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-08-03
August Violets
COLGATE'S
Violet Water

tons remaining The daily coal consumption VIII
vary from 200 t. $50 tons"
no HISTORIC PARALLEL.
This much completed the story Of Lieutenant
Dripos He was asked If there exists any historic
parallel hy which to measure this feat Of the
Columbia
"None that am aware d." he replied after a
moments thought "Of course. there have been
numerous long voyages made by warships OF
various countries but never any effort Of this
sort; believe however. that something WAS eN-
pected Of the Kaiserin Augusta, the German
triple screw cruiser, when she came over To at
tend the Columbian celebration. she was 10 be
specded TO Hampton Roads. but while | have
not the figures at hand, she did not come within
mile Of us.
The Lieutenant's emphasis duly and properly
placed on the word mile" demonstrated the
marvellous elasticity of this figure Of space as
existing in his mind. 1t was measureless
Lieutenant briggs asked as to the truth OF
the reports about damage TO the ship from DOCK
ing her at Southampton. He remarked mat
there had been good deal Of exaggeratloh.
Still. he confessed that sight OF some OF 'he
dents in her bottom plates would be surprise
To the report that she had been left in dock for
hours after the insuficiency Of her bookings had
That is not true. emphatically. II is true that
we had TO wait upon the tide. but while the
water was being pumped from the dock the men
were at work all about the ship on sagngs.
washing down her sides. by the time the dock
was clear of water the shin was clean, and the
work Of panting was at begun. IL was
found that when the dock empty the blocks
were not properly spaced Merchant ships nave
their ribs three feet apar.. while in our SHIPS OF
war the ribs four feet apart Now. the
bookings had been arranged for merchant YES
sells in the Southampton dock. SO you can see
wha; mean by improper spacing The docks
did not fall under the ribs in each case. and por-
tons Of the ships bottom rested upon BLOCKS
without the supporting rib inside. But there
was nothing 10 interfere with the speed OF the
ship. nor with her perfect working, az the out
come Of the voyage demonstrates.
HOW THE MACHINERY WORKED
Chief Engineer William H. Harris was seated
in his cabin when a reporter called
Here are some more OF them. Chief. shouted
Lieutenant briggs cheerily. for he himself mad
guided the men down the companion stairs ana
into the den Of the master mind Of the Column
bias engine-room. "
Here you addressing the Tribune reporter;
elevate yourself into that bunk there. ana
a
temperance advocate, Just sit right down
there on that box. It's a case OF gin. but
guess you won't absorb any OF II. III you thihk
YOU will why sit somewhere else for don't
want that gin wasted. All seated. No" ioi
IL"
The first thing. of course, was the horse
power displayed. and Mr.. Harris did some
lightning calculating. drawing his estimates
from pages Of pencilled paper before MIN ~
Average horsepower was 10000; but the fu
capacity Of the Columbia is 81, 900 We have eight
hoile nd al
There are slxty-four furnaces. No. sir: We had
not particle OF difficulty with any OF the ma
chinery during the entire voyage-no trouble from
overheating Of bearings whatever. The only mis-
hap--and that was trihIng-fell upon two OF the
boilers. On the third day out two tubes In one OF
the boilers blew out and we had 10 plug them
No. there stoppage OF the machinery ior
that. In fact. this machinery never did stop from
the time We left southampton Til We dropped our
anchor here in the North River. We didn't stop
even for the pilot at the Hook AS he came on
board he said vessels usually stopped for him. and
we nearly swamped his boat: but we laughed at
him and said we were different On the fourth
day one Of the tubes In another boiler blew out
like the two Of the previous day: but we just
plugged that also. without break or pause.
We had good coal for the purpose. although
it was not the selected coal such as Naval war
ships get for their trial runs. But IT was first
class Welsh coal from small mine turning out
a choice quality OF coal H. fact the output Is so
small that the coal is Difficult; 10 get. and we
were fortunate In securing what we wanted By
paying shilling in advance Of the price per
tOn we Hdu OH Dodru at tHe VI
1873 tons"
NOT 4 BOLT LOOSENED BY THE RUN
Revertng to the machinery. Mr.. Harris again
expressed his admiration for the perfect manner
of its working He said that he knew nothing
comparable to the engines. and spoke Of the ex-
perence of the engineers of the Kaiserin Au-
gusta on her Columbian trip to this side. THE
officers whom ! met told me- he remarked.
that when the ship reached this side all Of her
engines were badly racked. Not bolt was
oosened in our machinery. AS to our working
force. we have 1876 men In the engineers depart
ment. divided into three sections working four
hours each. And part OF the time. when the
coal just beside the boilers had become ex-
hausted our stocking force was augmented by
forty-eight men from the crew. No. do not
know that could handle larger force Of
stokers than We had, for The reason that In the
far-rernovei bunkers the way to them is through
the wings, which are so narrow that the men can
only work in single line
Asked with what favor he now views the
triple-screw plan for ships the chief replied:
81 wish that for this voyage the blades Of that
middle could have been taken off and
placed the deck leaving the work to the
wing screws under forced draught ! believe we
would have made a bcttlr record. No sir. am
not In favor Of triple screws | presume II not
running, that II would interfere with the prog
ress Of the ships although the Germans who
have expermented with their Kaisern Augusta
by taking off the blades Of the middle screw,
replaced them
me COIuIilpld cOuiu Nv i"n i'i ,"'"'S -'"'''
hours under forced draught." He said In response
to further query. "and II course the coal con
sumption would be materially Increased. 1t
would be at the rate Of about four hun
dred and fifty tons per day. which IL too
expensive We made the entire voyage
under natural draught. and at the last were
hampered more less by the distance Of the
coal from the bunkers and W. were burning
coal that had been IN tie ship ever since have
been in charge Of her
This evidently reminded Mr.. Harris Of his pred
ecessor. Chief Engineer Andrade. now OF the
New York for ne looked about him with a
twinkle in his eye he said:
But by the way, what Is this prank that old
rascal Andrade has been playing on you chaps?
OF course, he tickled with the Kie reception
OF the New-York. and understand that he has n
pair of gloves that he Is going to frame. because
the German Emperor shook hands with him.
Bill. we called hin. when were on the other