Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-05-09
EARTH'S BIGGEST STEAMER
DETAILS ABOUT THE WHITE STAR
LINER CELTIC.
Account of Her Conjunction and
observation-disclosures "".'"'-
Accommodations for 1000.


r.
Irinz wilhelm. the latest new boat of the
North German Llovd. At Stettin last Sat
D. uriI,y. The Cologne Gazette remarked that
British shfpbuilders have apparently ceas-
ed TO compete with their German rivals
for tht. attainment OF the maximum In size
and speed of ocean liners. So far as size Is
concerned the observation is singulariy i'll
timed The ship which allied it forth has
gross register tonnage of l'Wo' the
/ Deutschland belonging t" the Hamburg
American company. is 5000. ana the
Kaiser Wilhelm der Zve.le INV being buiit
for thu North German Lloyd. is understood
to be- ~. -n. EuI the first two OF these
which are the largcst vessels of which Ger
MANY can at present boast. are beaten anu
we'll beaten. by the British Oceanic, with
her l. 2II tons. and the new mite star
boat Celtic. launched today from Messrs-
Harlaud Il Wuiff's ward here. can CIV" the
last IT them about ~" IONS. German JUDI
istipn To size i therefore not JuSuhe"
With regard To speed, however inns cpuH-
TRY must he admitted to he behind. ana 50
it will remain until. hist only until. BFltISh
steamship owners are convinced that more
money is to he mace iy vessels carrying
mere handful Of cargo, and depending on
rev high fares which only a limited num-
h-r Of persons are willing to pay, than by
S-ttrrrS which. like the Celtic, can convey
a huge amount of cargo together with
thousand passengers or 50 at rates that
are within the means of the ordinary trav-
eIer
The celtic has not been designed with
any view of attaining high speeds: her
claim to distinction lies rather in the fact
that she is the biggest boat that ever has
>been huilt or is now in process of con-
structior. The only vessel in the past that
approached her was the Great Eastern
which had gross tonnage of lSHl3 COM
pared with her 2o $50 Gross tonnage. how
ever. is not always conclusive as 10 the
comparative size of ships the mysteries OF
tonnage lodging may sometimes come
into play. and it is even possible to design
a powerful Iugnoat. which. 50 to speak, is
ali engines. in such a way that its gross
tonnage works out at zero. But If we take
displa cement tonnage-the weight of the
water displaced by the ship fully loaded
>d"wn To her fun draught with coal stores.
cargo. etC-. thu results are unequivoCa!
This Is tn" method of measurement always
adopted with warships; and when these
are considered this basis reIa lively TO
monsters nj the mercantile marine such as
the Celtic. they are far from presenting
the prcprnderance in size which they are
sometimes imagined to possess.
Structural Statistics.
The Formidable. for example. one of the
heaviest class of waTships afloat. has a
displacement AT full draught of 15.TsD tons:
the Celtic, at 81 feet Is inches draught. viii
siispIacs ~; 900 tons and cost about half
as much. To compare the new White Star
boat with The Great Eastern in this respect
is not easy. because there seems to be
II" general accord with regard OF the fig
ureS of the latter. The highest displaCe
rcHt attributed to her is $4,000 to %2.n0O
t1us-at what draucht is not stated-whiCh
Is Very decidedly below that of the Celtic,
while if "" take definite statement.
that the Great Eastern in 1856. when being
employed q cable ship, had a displaCe-
mt 1T 1f -I-tsr tons al mean draught of
3. feet. the advantage of the new boat just
LAUGHED at Queens Island is still more
nSTNei- of course. much of that advan-
tag is gained from her larger tIraught
and. indeed. there would he no difficulty
IN bGlIiiug vessels much bigger still If only
tn docks and waterways of the different
parts of the world were deep enough and
14rsr enough To accommodate them. Even
as II is there will probably be one or two
occasions ia the year when the Celtic will
not he able to come up to Liverpool until
she has been ightened of few thousand
tons OF cargo At New York, however. she
n--'i not fear this Inconvenience, for within
eighteen months the harbor board there
has undertaken To have channel forty
feet deep.
The length of the Celtic is given as 900
feet over al: she is. therefore, few feet
shorter IMAM the Oceanic. though still
ahead of tin. Great Eastern. In breadth
she is ~ feet feet more than the Ocean
ic. hut about the same amount less than
the Great Eastern 1t is this breadth of
beam that makes her much bigger than
I the Oceanic. while she surpasses the Great
Eastern because section of her amidShips
would he approximately a square. whereas
In Brun-I's boat il was approximately
triangle. one realized this sqUareness of
build i'll the Celtic most wildly when walk
ing under her before she had left the slips,
for over considerable portion Of her
length her bottom plates stretched over
head Ike an almost fiat ceiling of steel
Her depth again, is given as ~ fect-orIy
/ f"w inches more than the Great Easterns
l. but that Is Il technical measurement
which indicates the distance which sepa-
rates her keel from the highest point that
vii b. used by her officers in the ordinary
q h.
ter notion may be gained from the fact
thai above that ''structure-deck" there are
several other deCkS-indeed. very great
part Of her passenger accommodation
While the huge gantry by the aid of which
h'ih she and the Oceanic were built
Tough it towers something like a hundred
Tt above the ground, was not far above
I'M point To which her construction had
been carried even in the IIncomplcted con-
ditto; in which she left the stocks To
stand upon her f"re-peak. indeed. was like
being on a high hiII-aH Belfast Law below
In a Widespread panorama.
Nine Decks in ALL
TIL. details Of her structure arr almost
identical with those IF the Oceanic. The
same cellular double bottom extends
throughout her length. with the same inner
vertical keel AMI other arrangements to
secure IN" necessary quality of rigidity The
smell plates. which average ~ feet by :,
|, feet. ami are Is inches thick. number
thousands Of rlyets closed by hydraulic
power; Of rivets of all sizes the ship will
Contain over 2,tssI,'Hp. There are in all nine
decks. their names. counted from the high
est. being sun, boat. upper bridge bridge
upper middle. lower. dripp and lower orIDD.
and. - The lower Of these are plated decks
Of fun length they If themselves arr. an
element OF strength. The propeller shafts
ar "ntlre4y inbcard and the arrangement
"f their bearings also contributes to
strength; they are. as ii We're, a fold In the
SKIN u the ship, the frames and skin plates
being DosSed out in the form of a pair of
sp-ctacles. The advantages of this con-
structiOH are now widely recognized in com
parls1n with The supporting brackets af-
fordcd By tEs diamoud-shaped forgings fire.
quenl!y employed in twin-screw vessels
The prnpelIers themselves each have three
blades Of manganese bronze, and they turn
outward They are driven by two sets OF
quadrUp!e expansion engines which are
/ now HHishei- The moving parts are bal
| arcei on the Iarrow. Schlck and Tweedy
system - diminish vibration the arrange
In~Lt " The four cylinders In each being
from The fore end, high pressure second