New-York tribune., 1901-08-11
NEW JAPANESE STEAMERS.
THE KAGA MARU IS A MAGNIFICENT
SHIP, RECENTLY PUT IN COMMIS-
SION AND ENTIRELY CON
STRUCTED IN JAPAN

miral Seymour, who commands the British Ash
| attic Squadron. at recent dinner in Shanghai
| The japanese present We're very much pleased
| and patted another the back There
| more cause for a show of pride few days later.
| however when the new Nippon Yusen Kaisha
liner, the Kaga Maru. of the Hong Kong Yoko-
hama Seattle route pulled alongside the Shang-
| hal wharf.
she is the finest mail and passenger steamer
| that has ever been alongside the wharf at
Shanghai" the verdict of shipping people
who her.
| I'VE made every bit of her" said the Japanese.
And they did
| The Kaga Maru is of three
sells which have been built for the Japan
America The others the Shimano
Maru, recently built in Glasgow, and now on
| her way to the Orient, and the Iyo Maru n
other product of Japanese shipbuilders which
is being fitted up at the Nagasak shipyards
They will run across the Pacific in connection
with three vessels which have been on the
for several years, increasing the service from
monthly to fortnightly trips.
| The Kaga Maru arrived in Seattle a days
ago. after fast run from Japanese ports. She
is said to be fine vessel as the Japanese
have ever constructed. She is built of steel
| throughout, and has twin screws which give
her high speed She has a gross tonnage of
63O1 and registers net $500 tons. She is ago
l
hold. Her length of poop is GA feet, length Of
| bridge deck 12O feet and length Of forecastle
| deck % feet The other two vessels will be
near like her as it is possible to make them
The new boats will carry limited number OF
| cabin passengers, for whom elaborate quarters
have been fitted UP amidships. The Kaga has
eighteen staterooms in steel house the
| bridge deck Each is fitted for the ac-
commodation of two passengers, and is as
| oil hOr al fUrnic chpd Cypilav
transatlantic liner. The dining saloon is under
the bridge in the between decks. The builders
have departed from the orthodox fashion fol-
lowed in the East of finishing the cabin interiors
in white. Fine grained Japanese maple has
been used with panels of the wood,
grained by peculiar process The wood, which
the Japanese call 'kagi.' has only recently been
used for this purpose. Tt is found in Hokaido
Province, Japan. To correspond with the maple
all of the metal fittings electropIated- Deli
cate Japanese carving of exquisite design ap-
| pears in the dining saloon The ship has a
small social hall on the bridge deck, which IS
fitted with piano and music foIios There is
large smoking at the end of the passen-
ger promenade deck.
To Americans the most interesting thing con-
nected with these Japanese ships is their crews.
They are japanese to the man, sturdy little
brown skinned fellows who obey orders like
men-of-war's men, who keep their heads in time
of accident, and who can do a vast amount of
work which seems utterly out of proportion 10
| their small stature.
The officers are European. at least far down
the scale the second officer. The captains
are English, German and Swedish first officers
mostly Englishmen and chief engineers English
or German The third officer. purser and
sstant engineers are japanese. Some day
very far away the services of Europeans Will lie
entirely dispensed with They longer en-
ployed on the coasting lines of the company
| There is no real need of our employing Euro
| peans TO officer boats,'' said one or The
Japanese stockholders of the Nippon Yusen
Kasha when he visited the United States e.
| Gently. ''It is a concession which make
our white passengers You see, Japan Is Il new
country, and you people who have been longer
civilized have not yet learned to trust US Be
sides, old captains and engineers have been
with for years. They trained the younger
japanese officers who vessels home.
and we do not like to turn them off,
| Captain Ekstrand, who has been given COM
mand of the Kaga Maru, has been navigating
the Seven Seas for than half q century
he is the senior captain OF the Nippon Yusea
Kaisha Company and is known Com
modOre of all Japan" for he commanded the
first foreign rigged ship that left Japan