The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-04-08
A new STEAMSHIP
Will be Added to Pacific
Mail Line.
New Vessel VIII Equal Atlantic
Greyhounds i'm Speed and
Appointments

SAN FRANCISCO, March SIC. p.
Huntington will shortly begin the con-
struction of a 1O,O0O-ton steamship for
the Pacific Mail Steamship Company at
his shipyard at Newport News. The
steamers City of Rio de Janeiro and
Peru will be taken off the run between
here and the Orient and the new
steamer, which will compare favorably
in tonnage and speed with the big
ocean greyhounds of the Atlantic, will
be the only other Pacific Mail vessel in
the Oriental service. Such are the
plans of the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company for conducting its share of
the Orietnal traffic when the Togo
Kisen Kaisha becomes factor in the
trade. This will all be in accordance
with the agreement that has been eff
fected between the new Japanese line
and the Pacific Mail and Occidental
and Oriental Steamship Companies, the
details of which were exclusively pub
lished in the Chronicle two days ago.
The intentions Of the company in re-
spect to the new China steamer were
made public by President Huntin gton.
1--WE have agreed with President
Asano, of the Togo Kisen Kaisha, to ac-
cord his line equal privileges with the
two established lines in respect to a
direct rail connection and in all other
respects said Mr.. Huntington. Mr..
Asanos line will consist of three ships,
and the Pacific Mail and Occidental
and Oriental lines will be cut down to
the same number of vessels. AS far as
the Pacific Mail is concerned we do
not want the service to retrograde,
and we shall retain in the service the
two best ships in the fleet, viz, the
China and the City of Picking, and
complete our quota of vessels by build
ing another modern vessel
81 propose to build vessel Of about
10000 tons. Some of our people favor
a smaller vessel, but | think a 10000
ton ship will about meet the require
ments The White Star steamers Teu-
tonic and Majestic are 10000-tOn YES
sells, and / think that we need just
such a vessel The cost? Well that
will depend on how we build it. The
TeutOnic and Majestic each cost some
thing like SLIGO 900. They were built
in Europe. and l think we can build
them just as cheap in this country
The ship we shall build will probably
cost much less. 1t will be the same
size as the big White Star vessels, but
we will effect a big saving by elimi-
mating some of the costly decorations
that are found in the Atlantic liners
The ship may cost something like ST.
100000. l think by leaving out the
costly carved decorations the ship
could be built for 81 ,300,0 900. I build the
best ships in the world at Newport
ri hi
standard. We wouldn't turn out of our
shipyard some of the vessels that are
built in Europe, those tramp steamers,
for instance. that go out under heavy
insurance and go to the bottom when
they get to sea. 7 believe in plain dec
orations and finishings aboard ship. In
all other respects the new steamer will
compare favorably with the big At
lantic liners.
''The item of speed will be an impor-
tant consideration in the cOnstrTc-
ton of the vessel. OF course,
the service does not demand that
we build a ship with the speed
of the Campania or Lucania, but
the steamer will be the fastest on the
Pacific. Her speed will probably be II
knots per hour. Any speed beyond that
would require the consumption of too
much coal TO make her prOntaDle YES
sci. I am told that the steamer New
York can steam II knots an hour on
100 tons of coal day, but to maintain
a speed of 20 knots requires the con-
sumption of 425 tons of coal a day. I
don't know whether these figures are
correct, but I know that with the in
crease of a steamers speed the con-
sumption of coal increases at & 'rigbl-
full ratio
President Huntington said that it is
his intention to build the new ship at
his shipyard at Newport News, I'M
less some unforeseen obstacle makes it
necessary to have it built elsewhere.
He is now eXpending 100000. he says,
on the improvement and enlargement
of his shipbuilding plant, and he has
recently acquired more land for the en-
largement of the yards. The Newport
News shipyards. he says. now extend
over one mile of water front. Work on
the new China steamer will be begun
in the near future. and it is expected
that the steamer will be finished with
in a few months after the Togo Kisen
Kaishas are placed on the new run be
tween here and the Orient.