Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-01-02
sEAsERPENT BOAT.
MARINE WONDER TO BE BUILT
ss IN VIRGINIA.

3 nhARlNG aWONDER 10 BE BUILT
* IN VIRGINIA..
The "seascrpent boat" which is her
aided as one OF the greatest inventions
aof this age. and which is to be con-
( structed at the Newport News ship
yards. is described in Sundays New
York Herald as follows:
James Gresham, OF Brooklyn, is pre-
pairing to build the first of his serpen-
line boats for the syndicate headed by
. w. J. Arkell.
+ ut Is expected that this tyne of bont
Will cross the ocean in less than three
days, driving Itself Like screw through
the water at the rate of sixty miles an
hour. and it is the intention Of the syn
dicate to try to procure the contract
for carrying the transatlantic malls.
Mr.. Gresham believes his boat, which
Is to built at Newport News, will be
ready for her trial spin in about six
months
THE Gresham boat will probably be
the strahgest looking craft that ever
sailed the seas. 1t will look moro like
seaserpent than anything else. with
body llgt an elongated Rugby foot
pail and i prov and stern curvng up
INTO the air like the ends of an ancient
galley. Around the body will be the
pig spiral ilange which is to give to 1t
us forward motion as the outer shell
Oh me ship revolves rapidly
me boat VIII consist of two sec
Mons. one within the other The inner
smell VIII be shaped like a cigar. round
III The middle and tapering to n. noint
at each end. a round tube will ex-
TEND from 1t fore and aft, turning nm
v. ana outward like q swans neck.
II VIII terminate In an omen ,no,,ti,
which will be the Ventilation of the sbi,,
Ground the neck Will be u gallery. This
VII ne the deck of the ship, the only
open place in the whole vessel Tho
a ,r gallery will be used for the Wheel
bridge. ior the
rms inner hull will be swung lilo
& a d hammock lnnmock In the outer shell. which
completely envelopes it, letting onlv
.ie Dow ana stern. protrude. 1t rests
~ oa'i bearings. which, Mr. Gresham
says. reduces the friction to almost
y nothing "t''ioS.
All the machinery is slowed IN Tho
e bottom of the inner hull SO as 70 baIe
ance 1t and keep 1t stationary. Pen
etfating the lower section of tbe VII,
ls revolving shaft, which is raoraa
to the outer hull. BY revolving this
shaft the outer she'll is sDun aro,,ni1
the inner hull $50
Around the outer hull is wound the
great steel fiange, which is the main
principle OF the device.
This Is the great Archimedean
screw" said Mr. Gresham to me YES.
3 terday. "Archimedes said that if hs
! had room for fulcrum he could lift
the earth. Well. in this case we make
the water, our fulcrum. The hull of
the boat. operated from within, re-
wolves. and the flange drives the vessel
forward should say that the speed
of such boat is limited only by the
strength of the material used in its
& construction.
The boat we intend to build will
be so feet long. II feet In diameter In
the middle, will weigh about liz tons.
+. and have displacement Of less than 4
tons. 1t will be built of fine steel. and
the f1ange will be II inches wide at its
6 widest part.
Three revolutions will drive the boa
Its own length. We would probably
T run her at one hundred revolutions per
minute. although I believe we could
make four hundreds turns. But at one
hundred she would be making speed
of sixty miles an hour and would cross
Z the Atlantic in less than three days. -
Mr. Gresham will not disclose the
Il nature of the power he will use in
{ turning the vessel. He says it Is q Sc
oret power Of his own discovery.