The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-04-02

all Of which are slightly over 800 feet long.
The queens new yacht is as large as the
cruiser Baltimore, larger than the New
Orleans and much larger than the German
emperors yacht Hohenzollern. The latter
is, in reality, only protected cruiser with
regular armament and protective decks,
but with quarters fitted up for the EN-
peror The royal yacht now building will,
on the other hand, be simply yacht for
pleasure cruising.
The keel of the new craft was laid at
Pembroke on December %, 1897, and since
that time progress has been much delayed
by strikes. At present, however, the men
employed in the construction of the yacht
are working overtime and as only the best
artisans in the United Kingdom are en-
gagged for the task it is more than likely
that IL Queen Victoria goes to the south
of France in the early spring of 1900 she
will be able to cross the channel in the
new boat.
This huge pleasure craft is to be $50 feet
in length, so feet beam, Is feet draught and
her displacement 1900 tons. The hull is to
be of steel sheathed with wood and COW
cred with copper and will be provided with
double bottoms. She will have three fun
nels and two masts.-The vessel will have
orlop, lower, main, upper and forecastle
decks.
Speed is to be important considera-
ton, and the yacht will have two sets of
triple-expansion, four-cylinder engines
driving twin screws and having indi-
Gated horsepower of II 900. The high
pressure cylinder of each engine will be
2613 inches in diameter the intermediate
cylinder Az inches in diameter, and two
low-pressure cylinders SO inches In dame
ter, all having a stroke of 80 inches. Steam
will be supplied by eighteen Belleville boil
ers, working at a pressure of 800 pounds,
which will be reduced at the engines to
$50 pounds. The crate area under the boil
ers will be $40 feet and the heating surface
will be 5000 square feet. This machinery
is expected to drive the-vessel through the
water at a speed of thirty knots an hour,
with the engines making 140 revolutions
minute
The new yacht will be far more elabo-
rately decorated than any vessel of this
kind previously built. Heretofore the adj
mirality has been averse to giving out in
formation concerning the plans for the
queens yacht, but it Is already known
that by the time the yacht is launched her
estimated cost will be nearly $1,200000 and
that by the time her interior fittings have
been put in place 100000 more will have
been expended, making her total cost
million and a half dollars.
Some idea of the magnificence and cost
of the hull may be gained from the fact
that recently the admiralty ordered 700 feet
of rope moulding for the sides of the yacht.
The moulding is to be carved out of solid
mahogany and is to represent a 15-inch
cable laid rope. When in place 1t will be
richly gilded.
The bow Of the yacht villa be decorated
with shield bearing the royal arms and
surmounted by a crown three feet In dame
ter. The shield itself will be set off with
scroll work. from which ornamental cary
ing will trail back some fifty feet on each
side of the stem. The stern of the vessel
will be even more handsome than the
bow.
On the starboard quarter will be q 10-foot
figure of Britannia, and on the port quar-
ter similar sized figure of Neptune In
| the center of the stern will be an immense
| shield bearing the royal arms, with the
| rose, shamrock and thistle underneath.
1t has not been stated yet as to Just what
| armament the new craft will carry. AL
though she is built for pleasure 1t is more
than likely that she will be fairly well sup
| piled with guns as are the pleasure crafts
! of all governments nowadays from that
of the Emperor William to President Nc
| Kinleys Official yacht. What Is to become
| OF the present royal yacht has not been
| determined. though 1t IL probable that she
will be preserved In one Of England's Dock
yards as natural curiosity.