The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-05-21
euNsoAT m 1,soo pIEcEs.
rhass The way II u to He shipped From
Kuglnnd TO Lake NyAaas.

1nkkD e08 W " - - - - Cs@kk~~ -
Rnsl.nd to Lake Nyaaas.
English naval constructors are very
much interested In gunboat which has
Just been completed for service on Lake
Nyassa, In central Africa, and is to be
shipped to that point in pieces like Chi
nese puzzle. The boat, the Guendolen, Is
now split up into 500 packages for trans
portation A reporter of the London Echo
describes the boat in his account of his in
terview with J. A. Rennie Of the engineer
ing firm which built the Guendolen:
so there is going to be fighting on
Lake Nyassag" remarked tentatively.
II never said SO, he replied, with fit
ting diplomacy.
"Then that's my mistake. I merely
judged so from the fact of your taking out
what on lake would DO considered n first
class battleship, for the Guendolen Is heay-
lily armed, is she notS"
Eyes, if you call six Maxims and four
Hotchkiss guns a big armament. She Is
intended to replace the three small gun
boats now on the lake, which arc practical
ly obsolete, and is vast improvement on
them in every way. Her length is 1856
feet, beam 23 and tonnage $50, and with a
draft Of feet inches is intended to steam
10 knots"
II suppose the depth of the lake did not
necessitate shallow draft vesseli"
by no means, as there is plenty of wa
ter even close inshore. That enabled us to
have twin screws, for on shallow water
such as the Niger or the Khoja, by means
Of which the Russians in 1894 penetrated
far up toward Chitral, stern wheel is alb
~, H. Ia ,r,,itn n normal
type, except for tho fact that she is fitted
with Fraser's under fired boilers and will
burn wood fuel, of which there Is an
abundance in and around the lake. Coal
is only brought up from the coast for the
use of two or three FORCES at u cost Of some
$40 per ton, such is tho difficulty Of trans
port"
"And that difficulty will be increased In
the case of gunboat, l should imagine"
mot SO much as you think" said Mr.
Rennie. "You see, we can only bolt, not
rivet, her together in the yard here, SO as
to insure the perfect fitting together OF
every part In this condition the Guen-
dolen was inspected by Sir Edward Reed
who expressed himself as thoroughly salts
fed with her. Then she was taken to
pieces, every piece being previously num-
bered, and on u small model these num-
bcrs are marked off, the internal fittings
Of course the model is only of the outside
Of the hull-having their proper numbers
marked on scale drawings. Drawings and
model accompany tho ship, which is split
up into 900 packages, that containing
tho boiler of az tons being the heaviest, so
that OH her arrival there need be no diff
Guilty whatever in putting her together
again."
Mr.. Rennie added that if ono Of the
packages should be lost, it would be diff
cult to replace it. The packages are to be
transported for miles over rough country
by bullock wagons, and as extra weight Is
an important consideration no spare parts
are carried. Commander Cullen, r. N.
r., the commander In chief on the lake,
has charge of the transportation, and no
will superintend the assembling Of the
parts,