Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-06-27
THE sT. LOUIS
SUGGEST VESSEL EVER BUILT
IN AMERICA.


Arrangements Of che Crest ship.
The new American liner st. Louis
is beautiful craft. alike In regard
to her lines. her sumptuous internal
arrangements, and above all. her
speed. 1t has not been claimed that
the vessel has been built for speed.
but when she returned from her sixty
hour trial trip it was known that she
had developed the remarkable speed
OF 2l} knots an hour without being
pushed, and that when she was asked
II she couldn't do any better the
crack liner had plowed her way
through the Atlantic at the rate OF
| % knots and some odd fractions.
This signifies that the st. Louis, to
put 1t in plain English, can travel at
the rate of about "a miles an hour.
and II she can do that in her trips
across the Atlantic there isn't an 9TH
er ship afioat that will be able te
keep pace with her.
She is the first Atlantic greyhound
and the biggest steamship that has
ever been built in America. The st.
Louis is altogether American-built
in an American shipyard, manned by
an American crew of 400 men and
commanded by an American captain.
The st. Louis has been built in less
than two years. The first frames
were erected on July %, 1898, and
she was launched fifteen months
later. Her dimensions are Length,
554 feet; length between perpendicu-
lar, 535 feet; extreme breadth, 63
feet nodded depth, AZ feet; num-
Der of decks, 5; number, Of water
tight compartments formed by trans
verse bulkheads and fats. IL; dis
lance of collision bulkhead abaft Of
stem, 33 feet; displacement at rs feet
draft, 10000 tons.
The machinery of the st. Louis
| consists of two separate engines,
each driving separate screw. There
are ten enormous boilers, six OF which
have double ends and four single
| ends. In addition to the main en-
gines there are no less than forty
nine auxiliary engines used in the
working Of the ship and twelve adj
ditional ones for lighting and ventil-
ating the vessel, independent Of the
propelling machinery. Her gross
tonnage. IL $40.
The ventilating system Of the ship,
- is believed, will be the source of
the greatest comfort to the passen-
gers. There are four large ventilat-
ing plants, each operated by cleo
tricity. By this system it is possible
to change the air completely in every
room in the vessel in ten minutes.
Each OF the plants has two fans, one
for exhaust and one for supply. AS
fast as one fan draws the Initiated air
from the rooms another pumps fresh
air in. In cold weather this fresh
air is heated by means Of ventilators
near the top and the bottom Of every
apartment; the passenger may regu-
late the temperature and the ventil-
alton as he chooses.
The lightning system is elaborate.
All told there are more than thirteen
hundred electric lights in the ship
and four large dynamos are required
in operating the extensive plant.
That would be enough to supply o
town of large size. The passenger
capacity of the ship is First cabin,
$50; second cabin, 200; steerage,
800. The crew will number about
400.
Among the interesting facts about
the ship are that there are fully one
thousand tons of piping of the vari-
Gus kinds in the ship. The circulat-
ing pumps will pump up at least fifty
million gallons OF cooling water u
day, probably double the amount Of
water required for the use of New
York City in single day. The fur
naces will consume no less than the
enormous amount Of 1900, 900 cubic
| feet Of air an hour. The amount Of
coal used q day will be little more
than three hundred tons. The length
of the boiler tubes il placed in q
straight line would be nearly ten
miles and the length of the condenser
tubes would be more than twenty
five miles il put in line The total
number OF separate pieces Of steel
| in the main structure of the ship is
no less than 40, 600, and the total
number of square feet of timber used
in the construction is more than
/, 200. 900. The total number OF
rivets used in building the vessel is
not far from million and quarter.
The people OF st. Louis are natur-
ally proud Of the ship that has been
| called after their town. AS sense
of their appreciation they have pre-
sented the st. Louis with 1,622 stand
ard volumes for the saloon library
and $50 volumes for the second
saloon. Some folks in st. Louis
also presented the ship with
2O0 copies Of hymnals and prayer
books. Other gifts from the town in
cluded ten ornamental glass windows,
portraying prominent features Of st.
Louis, and beautiful set o! flags.
The vessel is SO divided that in
case OF collision two and even three
water tight compartments could be
flooded and not enianger the safety
OF the ship. The fastening edges Of
the bulkheads have been made un-
usually secure, so that II the ship
sustained q shock in that place in
collision the chances are that only
one compartment would be flooded.
This same arrangement has been
made in the engine and boiler spaces.
The boilers are In two groups, one
for each funnel. They are entirely
separated from each other, and IL
one set of boilers became incapaci-
tated the other set could do the work
| Of supplying steam to the engines at