The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-09-03
eUNeoAT IN l,6oo PIECES.

That's the Way II 10 to Be SHIPPED
frsm England to Lake Nyassa.
English naval constructors are very
much interested In . gunboat WHICH
has just been completed for service on
Lake Nyassa, in Central Africa, and
10 to be shipped to that point in pieces
like Chinese puzzle. This boat, the
Guendolen, is now split up into 1900
packages for transportation. A re-
porter Of the London Echo describes
the boat in his account Of his inter-
view with J. A. Rennie Of the engineer.
ing firm which built the Guendolen:
so there Is going to be fighting on
Lake Nyassa?" l remarked tentatively.
II never said 3d." he replied with
fitting diplomacy.
Then that's my mistake; ! merely
Judged SO from the fact of your taking
out what on lake would be consid-
cred flrst-class battleship for the
Guendolen Ia heavily armed, is she
not?"
Eyes, II you call six Maxims and four
Hotchkiss guns big armament. She
is intended to replace the three small
gunboats now on the lake which are
practically obsolete, and Ia vast i'm
provement on them in every way. Her
length is 1876 feet, beam % and ton
mage $50, and with draught of I feet
inches Is intended to steam twelve
knots"
II suppose the depth Of the lake did
not necessitate shallow draught YES
SELF"
by no means. as there is plenty Of
water even close inshore; that enabled
us to have twin screws, for on shall
low water such as the Niger or the
Khoja (by means Of which the Rus
SLAMS in 1894 penetrated far up toward
Chitral) sternwheel Is absolutely
necessary. She Is quite . normal type,
except Or the fact that she is fitted
with Fraser's underlined 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 q cost Of some 210 per ton,
such Ia the difficulty Of transport"
And that difficulty will be increas-
ed in the case Of a gunboat, should
imagine?"
Not SO much 40 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 IT.
ting together Of every part. In this
condition the Guendolen was inspected
by Sir Edward Reed, who expressed
himself as thoroughly satisfied with
her. Then she was taken to pieces,
every piece being previously num-
bered, and on small model these
numbers are marked of, the internal
fttings-of course the model Is only
of the outside Of the hull-having
their proper numbers marked on scale
drawings. Drawings and model ac-
company the ship, which is split up
into $500 packages, that containing
the boiler Of 2h tons being the heav-
lest, 30 that on her arrival there need
be no difficulty whatever in putting
her together again."
Mr.. Rennie added that IL one of the
packages should be lost, 1t would be
difficult to replace 1t. The packages
are to be transported for miles over a
rough country by bullock wagons, and
as extra weight 1t is an important con- |
sideration, no spare parts are carried.
Commander Cullen, r. N. R., the COM
mander-in-chief on the lake, has charge
of the transportation, and he will SUI
perintend the assembling Of the parts.