The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-03-03
MAINE STEAMSHIP COMPANY
viii Name the New Steamer John
EngIis.
Delaware River Ship Building Company
VIII Build Her-She viii Be Entirely
of Steel-A Full Description of Her.


AZ New York on Saturday last the COM
mittee chosen by the stockholders OF The
Maine Steamship company, consisting of
NIessrs. John Englis, CT Libby andJ .B.Coyle
to close the contract for the large new steel
ship. accepted the bids and specifications
OF the Delaware River Ship Building com
pany of Chester, Pa. This company Is an
amaIaamation of the shipyard OF John
Roach q Sons and the Morgan Iron Works
of New York, who have had large expert
ence in iron and steel shipbuilding, having
constructed a number of our iron clads, as
well as many of the largest and best coast
wise steamers running out Of New York, to-
gether with the mammoth Fall River line
steamers Pilgrim plymouth "Puli-
tan" and PRISCILLA the largest of their
class in the world. The four last named
steel hulls have double bottoms, and were
launched from the yard of John Roach 81
Sons at Chester, and were towed to New
York to receive their machinery, but it is
understood that the entire work for the new
Maine Steamship company's ship will be
completed at Chester. The new
steamer Will be of the following dimensions,
viz: Length over all 80 feet, breadth of
beam As feet, depth OF hold IS feet, and
height between decks 10 feet 81 inches. Her
bottom will be double, SO that in case of
stranding,i the outer plating might be
pierced without allowing any water to enter
the hold of the vessel. The hull will be
built entirely of steel of the heaviest spec
ifications under the American Lloyds' rules
and classed A for twenty years. The gross
tonnage of the ship will be about $500 tons
hon Siy nf ha two
'sManhattan'' and ''Cottage City, combined.
She will be propelled by single screw of Is
feet diameter to make about 80 revolutions
per minute driven by a triple expansion en-
CINE of 1000 horse power. She will have six
Scotch boilers, arranged three on each side
with a fire room between them running fore
and aft. In addition to this there Will be a
large donkey boiler of the Scotch type to
heat the ship while in port. as well as to run
the electric light plant, and also the freight
elevators which will be double at both the
forward and after hatch. The ship will have
one smolzestack and be schooner rugged, the
two masts being of steel. Her freight carry
ing capacity will be large and the main deck
Will be,devoted almost exclusively to the
carrying of freight.
Above the upper deck will be the two sa-
state rooms for passengers, besides rooms for
the officers and there will be new and
novel arrangement of the rooms SO that
none of them will be inside, but every one
will have a window looking out upon the
water.
The dining room will be in the upper sa-
loon forward and will be very spacious, the
state rooms being left out at this point, thus
oil tho dipinO room TO extand the en-
tire width of the saloon with windows on
each side, which will make the room ex-
ceedingly light and pleasant. The kitchen
will be upon the lower saloon deck directly
under the pantry which will be connected
with the dining room. Quite large num-
Der of the state rooms will be of extra size
for the use of families. The cabins and sa-
looms will be built of pine, and will be fin
ished in white and gold, while the stairs
ratings, etc., will be of heavy mahogany
This work will all be done by the famous
william Rowland, of New York, who planned
and finished the saloons of the Fall River
line steamers which is a sufficient warrant
of beauty, of construction and finish. The
guarantee of the builders is that the ship
will make under average conditions of
weather eighteen statute miles per hour, and
It is expected the ship viii make the passage
easily between this city and New York in
twenty hours, OF four hours quicker than
the present steamers in the service. She
is to be completed and ready to go upon the
route March l. 1897. 1t is intended to name
the ship the ''John Englis," after the vet
eran shipbuilder (deceased) father of the
present John Englis, of New York, the
largest stakeholder of the company. The
III n t11o how in