The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-02-03
FAMOUS FLEET
OF OCEAN LINERS
The Great Eastern viii Probably Soon
Be Duplicated.
EIGHT NEW MONSTER STEAMERS
They Are in Course of Construction
and VIII BE Greater Than Any Ncs-
sci Now Ahoat--Somc Interesting
Details Concerning the New ships.
The Tonnage Capacity.

Philadelphia, Feb. WHEN the fam
Gus old British steamship Great East
ern was broken up for junk it was
thought she would never be duplicated.
but the size and tonnage of new vessels
is constantly increased until at no dis
tant day the old monarch Will be dupli-
Gated i'm every particular. Eight mon
ster steamers are now building in Eu-
rope and shipping people the world over
are Watching the developments with in
terest.
When the length of vessel is stated in
figures no adequate idea of their i'm
mense proportions is conveyed If the
biggest one, with d length of GAO feet,
could be stood on its stern ii would rise
higher than the Washington monument
at the capital. All Of them would tow
er from 25U to $50 feet above the sky
scrapers of New York. The St Paul
building, now the tallest structure in
the metropolis. could be placed in the
huh of one of the ships and the vessel
would be only half full To lead one of
the monsters with a full cargo of grain
it would require the yield from 4O,OOO
acres of land; a good sized county. This
amount of grain would need 1870 rail-
road cars for its transportation, max
one were to be loaded with soft coal she
would need the contents of 1000 big hop
pcrs. Each vessel is capable of carry
ing enough food to give a pound pack
age of flour. coffee or meat to over half
the population of these United states
or to be exact A SOO,O ,OOO pounds, Were it
possible to load one with beer in bulk
! she would carry 15,OOO,OOO gallons, al
| fn Cri
| everybody in greater New York,
AN ARMY OF SERVANTS.
| Down in the bowels of each ship will
| he 100 stokers and coal trimmers, work
! ing in gangs of % at time, feeding
| two-scOre of furnace mouths. Ten or
| twelve engineers will look after the en-
gines. which will have eight cylinders,
each cylinder as large as the rainWater
cisterns seen on the tops of houses and
shafts of steel 200 feet long and foot
| thick. There will be another hundred
men employed in the three separate din
ing saloons and kitchens In a single
| voyage, with a thousand passengers
aboard, these men will handle 225 tons
| Of drinking water, $4,000 pounds Of meat
| 25O0 cans of vegetables, 200 boxes of
! lemons. 5000 pounds of butter, 80 gal
Ions of cream, 10 carloads of potatoes
| and 10000 eggs. The eight vessels viii
be built of steel and will have twin
screws. The exterior size of one vii
be greater than any ship now ailoat
while the others will be greater car
riers than any ships on the seas. The
two largest steamers are to be y knot
vessels and are to try for the ocean rec
ord. Following are the names of the
eight giants. The names and particu,
lars of the Great Eastern and the pres
ent largest ships anoat are also giVer
for the sake Of comparison. The ton
mage of all the vessels is about tin
same, but the new ones are the greater
carriers, owing to the adoption of {
number of new ideas, one of which i!
the carrying of all passengers aboV,
decks by the North German Lloyd ships
The first six vessels are building for thu
Lloyds and the two last ones for th
Hamburg American line.
Length. Breadth. Depth. Ton
mage