The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-28
BOATS THAT NO ORDINARY FIELD
OF FROZEN WATER CAN
STOP
THEIR BOWS FORCED ON TOP
Their Weight Then brushes It
Steaming Through Mixed Ice
Twenty-Five Feet in
Thickness.


merce through the frozen seas. The
thorough test which will be made Of the
ice cruSher in AXE Baikal is of unusual
Importance. Half way across Siberia,
says the Chicago Tribune, right in the
path of the trans-SiberiGn railway, lies
the lake which has presented so many
problems to the Russian engineers. TO
build the railway around the lower end
of the lake would necessitate a detour
of $50 miles through such a difficult coun-
try that the cost would be enormous.
So temporarily at least, the Russians
decided upon a ferry across the lake.
Rut the lake freezes up in December
and remains frozen until the end of
April, so no ordinary fe,ryboat would do
for winter traffic. 1t was first proposed
to lay rails across the ice for the win
ter traffic, but taking a leaf from the
experience of the Americans on the
Great Lakes. and awaiting themselves OF
the ideas of shirbui!ding which have
proved so successful in ice fighting on
our great inland seas, it was finally de-
cided to build a fer1yboat that could
defy the elements and run all the year
around. So the great steam ice crushing
ferryboat Baikal was built at New
caste-on-Tyne, carried out to Siberia
in sections, put together on the shores
Of the lake, and there launched.
The Baikal is built on the principle of
the Ice crushers OF the Great Lakes. 1t
does not try to batter its way through
the frozen mass, but climbs uron it
and brushes it through sheer weight
This work is made easier for it by
screw under its shelving bow, which
screw, revolving in a reverse direction
from the stern screws which push it
ahead, sucks cut the water from under
the ice and weakens its support This
is purely a Yankee idea. The first tine
a beat was ever built on this principle
IL
was built to run in the winter time
across the straits of Mackinac. These
straits separate the two peninsuias
which form the state Of Michigan, and
in summer their waters laugh in the sun
shine to the delight of the tourist, but
in winter the nine miles of water be-
tween the two peninsu,as becomes
hridged over with ice sometimes six
feet thick, which occasionally piles up in
great 'winrows"
The Algoma was the result of a study
of the difficulties to be overcome and of
the demonstrated fact that the old style
OF ice breaking, by ramming the frozen
surface of the water with sharp-bowed
ships, was a failure. A railroad has
been built coming down to the shore
on either side of the straits of MAXI
nae, and the two sections of that railroad
must be Joined together. So Yankee
ingenuity stepped in and joined them by
building the Algoma, the first vessel of
its kind ever launched and the proto-
type of all the ice crushers both in this
country and in Europe and Asia. It's
bows were cut away, giving it an enor-
nous Overhang forward in proportion to
its size, and two screws were placed IN
its stern for driving it, Tremen 5ous
engine power for so small a boat was
given to it Probably no boat of it's
Eize at the time it was built had such
H. A
gonna was too small to do the work for
which it had been built, it demonstrated
that it was built on the proper princi-
pies, and larger boats were constructed
to take it's place, and in them was
placed the forward screw.
The AlgOma was of only 500 tons bur-
den, and its engines developed 2000
horsepower. The great Baikal, which
this winter will crash through the Ice
of the lake from which it is named is
of 4,G00 tons burden, and its engines are
of $3.50 horsepower 1t is of great
weight itself and carries a passenger
train and two freight trains upon its
deck. So it will be seen that at least
it does not possess the defect of the
first vessel of it's kind, the Algoma, in
being too light. Though the Baillal has
been tested to some extent, this winter
will be its real trial, and if it is sue
cess another similar boat will be built
Otherwise the breaking down of the
Baikal would stop all traffic on the Trans
Siberian railway beyond the lake. Just
now, when Russia has a great army in
China, on the Chinese border and in Man
churia, 1t is Of especial Importance to her
that the Trans-Siberian railroad should
be kept open. Therefore the Baikal looms
into an added Importance. SITS success or
failure will decide whether it will be nee
essary to build the long and expensive
branch south of the lake or not, and upon
its accomplishing the work assigned to
it this winter and not breaking @wn
viii depend largely the question of Russia
East should necessity arise for doing
SO, and the facility with which she can
supply those already there with food,
ammunition, clothing, ETC. good deal
depends upon the giant son of the old
Algoma this winter. A reason for being
hopeful of the success of the Baikal
is found in the success of the Russian ice
crushing steamer Ermack, built by the
same company which built the Raikal,
and embOdying in it's hull the same prin-
clples OF construction. When tbs ice
on the Algoma principle, became an as
Sured success, Russian naval officers
we're at once sent over here to study
the construction of the vessels and to
report upon the feasibility of building a
fleet of similar boats for Russian waters
The result was the building of the cele-
6rated Ermack to fight the ice in The
Baltic sea. 1t was success in every
way, ard has forced path through
mixed ice twenty-five feet thick 1t is
the vessel with which the Russian Adj
miral Makeroff now proposes to try to
reach the North Pole Admiral Makeroef
was one of the Russian officers who visit
ed the great lakes to report to his govern
ment upon the Yankee ice crusherS In
his Arctic work the ADMIRAL does not
propose to use the forward screw, as he
thinks the ice will be so thick that it
will have little effect in sucking the wa
ter from under the mass to be crushed
So the little Algoma will have two giant
sons attracting public attention. one try
ing to reach the North Pole and the other
striving to enable the vast empire of Rus
STA to keep up railway communication
from ocean to ocean. On its trial trip
the the Balkal succeeded in breaking through
ice thirty-eiSht inches thick with a hard
crust of snow on top of it five inches In
thickness, and it has crushed through
SlXty-flYe inches of solid Ice To break
through ice with a snow crust on top of
1t is, 1t may be remarked, harder than
TO break through mass formed entirely
OF Ice. 1t is expected that, loaded with
ITS train of cars, it will be able to crush
ice thick as that through which fhe
Ermack has passed.
On the Great Lakes the greatest oh
stacles which the ice crushers have to
heaped-up hedges of ice piled high by the
action Of the wind when the lakes are
freezing over. But in spite of ali oh
stacles the ships of the ice-crushing fleet
of the Lakes now manage to keep open
throughout the year, with only now and
then temporary interruption. passage
ways across such bodies Of water as the
Straits of Mackinac, the Detroit river
the st. Clair river, and the Sault Ste
Marie Not only do these ice-crushers
keep open waterways but they crush