The St. Louis Republic., 1901-06-16

, msnt will bs huge Tho danger, Of course
lies principally In encountering storm hu
Is not deemed especially hazardous
Ocean Tow1llS Possible.
The Standard OIL Company has been tow.
inF oil barEes from the Gulf OF Mexico 6 e
! the Superintendent Of coastwise traffic as
sured me that the Cuban project was quite
"Indeed, he believes the scheme of
towing big cargOes acrOss the Allan
tic by high-p0wered towbOats Is
to be rTs TO 81 the he ss.s .Srx !.
the prime one Of economy Of time
consumed. The factor of safety "a
eliminated ~ the towing cra1t ,n.. !.
machinery adequate.
Towing said he. is compromise be
tween steaming and sailing. Take out
steamers machinery and fuel space and
there Is % per cent more room for cargo.
But n sailing vessel Is longer eu route than
a steamer: tow IS faster than sailing
Time IL a big item A vessel able to steam
across the Atlantic. ssly. eleven or twelve
knots and hour, should be able to proceed
barge. The only difficulty Is that OF keep
ing in touch with the barge In gale or q
storm Excellent towing machinery has
made this problem easy Of solution
IA captain would rather tow a barge In
the summer across the Atlantic. where
there Is abundance OF sea room, than up and
chance Of having his barge blown ashore.
The tug Cuba. which starts this innova-
ti0n. Is the bes: craft that money and in
are: Length. IsS feet: beam. "a feet: depth
1873 feet: gross tonnage. 60: coal fueD car
rying capacity. $50 tons She has steam
steering gear, camplete electric light plant.
including a powerful searchlisht: two single
ended Scotch boilers. with three furnaces
apiece; triple expansion engine: two white
mainsail and foresaii. for auxiliary power.
1t Is understood a sister vessel OF equal
steamIng radius will be built very soon.
while on the subject of big tows, II Is
pertinent to state that the steamer General
o. NJ. Poe of the Steel Trust fleet left Du-
luth last month with two steel barges. the
iron ore. At TWO Harbors the barge smea-
ton was picked up. and the aggregate car
goes Of the four boats were 1.3Oe gross tons
record was q. .ooS tons. These boats are ali
Of the largest class, and were formerly part
Of the Rockefeller feet. According to the
Nautical Gazette. the string was nearly a
mile long. All together the Steel Trust has
sixty-nine steamers and fOrty-three barges.
This gives one an idea Of the tremendous
growth Of the towed barge methods now OBJ
tanning in American lake and coastwise
Chicsgo-Hamburg Line.
Another index of the evolution In our
patches Of Juno Z announcing the arrival OF
the American steamer Northman ut Ham
OF dsys OF Which
had been consumed in traversing the Great
l-akes anG canals.
"The Northman IS the first steamer in the
ocean. Her voyage was watched with in
tense interest by maritime circles every
where as a test Of the probable success OF
this newest American transportation un-
THE Northman carried ploushs. reapers.
etc. from the Chicago a manuiactories- She
vessel. but unfortunately the latter was de.
tained by a mishap and lost the honor of
being the first cargo carrier TO make the
the Northwestern are about 800 tons net.
The round trip between Chicago and Ham
burE u expected to take az Isl, sixty s,d days; s
building all over the Union continues with
ynabated vigor. The new plant Of the New
York shipbulding Company at Camden, n.
j.. IL turning out big fleet. At New Lon
don the Eastern shipbuilding Company is
making great progress with the two levi.
Msansps Mar,Ss, Of 200 tons essn Tor the Great
greatest cargo carriers in the world
They are OF American production
throughout Designed by an American. built
ship company, they are intended for carry
ing the products Of American mines. man
ufactories and Western farms to the new
Of the Oceanic Is 1900 tons: Of the VIII
helm der Crosse 1889; Of the Ivernia. a.
-. OF the PennsyivaniA. H..D: OF the new
Cramp International liners. n5o0.
The Great Northern twin. will have a
gross tonnage Of over 2o.ooo tons displace-
ment. or total weight loaded approaching
n0o0 tons. While they will be able to ac-
commodate 800 cabin and loo steera9e pas
sengers. they are primarily cargo vessels.
designed to carry a vast amount Of freight
at q moderate speed with low running ex-
D feet beam. s feet depth. and viii draw
= fest-the maximum that present harbors
allow.