New-York tribune., 1899-07-15
government of the United States to the people
they are trying to save from savagery.
MOTHER DAMAGED DRYDOCK.

| The wrecking of Drydock No. at the Brook
lyn Navy Yard occurred at time at once op-
Fortune and nopportune. The former, because
| happily no vessel was in the dock at the time
| 10 be involved In It's ruin. and we are not now
at war on the verge Of II, with urgent neeu OF
all possible dock facilities There is thus no
harm done except to the dock itself. ana no
loss save the cost Of rebuilding the structure.
But the disaster was also inopportune, to the
advocates of that kind OF dock. 1t was only
| the other day that the superiority or timber
over stone docks was being set forth IN tones
Of cocksure enthusiasm This very dock WIS
pointed 10 with pride rs an admirable example
Of the strength. durability and safety OF timber
docks II was declared without quali1catlon
that this dock was safe and efficient. that IT'S
abutments were sound and serviceabe. and
that II was not In need Of any such costly re-
pairs nc the Chief of the Bureau of Yards ana
Docks had secured an appropriation Tor. III
was in brief. a monument Of efficiency in dock
construction.
"And the next dag it rained." And as re-
suit of n drenchng thunderstorm the dock was
wreckeds One side of it was undermined, ana
collapsed, so that it will have to be entirely re-
built. and the other side was so seriously dam
aged that il may also have to be rebuilt. "A
reasonable estimate OF the cost of repairs Is
about equal to the original cost of the whole
structure, so that we may practically reckon
the dock TO lave been destroyed. The eXplana-
ton offered Is that the dock was already, be-
fore the storm. badly out of order and i'll need
of repairs. That scarcely tallies with the eulo-
gies of it which we have already quoted But
we are forced to conclude either that it was in
colt wanted to make, and which its apoogists
said were needless, or that perfectly SOUND
safe dock was wrecked in a single night by
summer shower just as it was pretty nearly
wrecked couple of years ago by an unusually
high tide in the East River
II may be- of course, that dock built Of
granite would have gone to ruin still more
easily We have not heard. however. OF the
disabling of the Brooklyn Bridge towers by
high tides Neither is there any record of the
anchorages and approaches to the Bridge hav-
ING been undermined. weakened. and made to
collapse by a single thunderstorm, or by any
number of rains. 1t is said that frost Will
throw out of place the blocks composing the
stone docks. If the masonry OF the Bridge
has thus been displaced, the fact has strangely
failed TO figure in any of the official reports or
the engineers of that structure. We are IN
clined TO believe. therefore. that drydock built
massively of granite and concrete. with ma
sonry foundations resting upon bedrock, would
resist the action Of frosts and of East River
tides. and even Of July thunderstorms, some
what more effectively than one built of timber
1t would cost little more at the outset But
In comparison with the value Of the property
placed in it its cost would be mere trife. In
single year a dock may contain SlOOoooOoo
worth of naval property. Yes. and in an emer-
gency 1t NAV be intrusted with the safety OF
the Nation itself. For such service there is n
higher law than that Of first cost.