The Portland daily press., 1899-01-13
AN ICE BREAKER.
New York Press. J

New York Press }
AT Newcastle-on-T Tyne there has been
launched the pioneer ship of peiagic Ice
breakers. The employment of large ice
breakers had been confined 10 the great
lakes Of Canada until the direction of the
Siberian railroad ordered powerful yes.
selIof this class, which is being built on
the shores of Lake Baikal, In Siberia
Admiral Maakron drew the attention of
the Russian government to the experien &c
gained in these inland seas. and Induced
IL TO place an order for an oeean-going
vessel larger, heavier and more powerful
than any ice breaker yet built The work
which she is to undertake is much more
ambitious than any thiug that has hither-
TO been considered practicable, and IL Is
held by many men OF experience in nav
igation amid frozen waters That there Will
be no great difficulty in keeping open
many, If not all, OF the principal trade
routes of the world which are now i'm
passable every winter. The ice breaking
ferry steamers of the Canadian lakes sue
coed in maintaining practically unbroken
connection between their stations through
ice four feet in thickness, and they are.
called upon TO face what are actually
known us windows, when the q rift ice
has been piled up by the effect OF the wind
TO hight of sometimes twenty feet. The
greatest thickness OF field Toe reported by
Dr. Nansen is twelve feet, and this was
In ATTITUDES where even commercial enter
prise has not yet made for itself an outlet.
Within the limits to which trade has
hitherto been confined no such thickness
of ice Is TO be found.
The dimensions and appearance OF the
vessel would suggest u battleship, were II
not that the bow is cut away and forms
an exceedingly long overhang, which
a, IL. 4 ha
ice with which il comes in contact. by
concentrating the wis viva" OF the vessel
and of projecting the forward propeller
The earlier ice break ers weee designed on
the principle OF breaking down the Ice by
brute force. The cutaway bow enabled
the vessel to be run partially up onto the
ice, and If the weight thus applied was
not sufficient to break the ice, the ice
breaker went asterp until she came of
and tried IL again. The principle upon
which tho new vessel attacks the ice is
also brute force, but it is augmented by
science. The forward propeller by dis
turbing the water under the ice, deprives
10 of its support. and thus renders IL IA
comparatively easy task for the heavy
v. ssel to break through IT.
Inc principal dimensions OF the ship
are: Length, 305 feet; breadth, II feet;
and depth. AZ feet q inches When fully
laden, the draft win be 70 feet, and the
corresponding displacement about 5000
tons. The propelling machinery has been
di yided into four sets, OF which three sets
are aft, each driving its own propeller,
ana one set forward. The combined
power of these four sets OF machinery will
he IT, 600 horses. There is accommodation
for thirty first-class passengers, ten sec
ond class and fifty third class passengers,
besides that for the captain, officers, en-
pineers and crew of the vessel There is
u,ifr for cn thar Was
sci, In addition to conveying merchant
vessels through the ice. is capable of car
rying heavy cargo herself.
The stern of the ice breaker is cut to
form IA recess. into which the stem OF an.
other vessel can be securely dashed and
thus obtain the utmost protection from.
her powerful consort Admiral Maakroh
has also in view the possibility of aug
menting the ice-breaking capability of
this vessel by having the assistance OF Ihe
second vesssl pushing her, as to which
he has already made experiments. The
conveying OF merchant steamers is, OF
course. the primary obJect OF the Ice
expected that in "a very short time the
principal trade routes which depend on
baltic ports will be kept open In winter,
and thus provide continuous employment
for large community.
The hull is divided into no less than
for y eight compartments, each one of
which Is absolutely water-tight. Water
tight ulkheads are, of course, commonly
talked of. but no water tight bulkheads
have been subjected to such severe test as
those in this vessel. Every compartment
has been filled with wat r and put under
a pressure due to q column of water ex-
tending to the upper deck. In The case
of the large compartments, such as the
engine and boiler rooms, this represented
a very serious operation, as the capacity
of each boiler room Is nearly !, 900 tons.