The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-03-12
MARINE INTELLIGENCE.
MIR. JOHN ROURKE AGAIN PLAN
MING FOR DRY DOCK.

From His Observations one Is Great
Iy Needed at SaVannah-He Be-
Iieves 1t Will Pay-Intends to
Attempt the Organization of a
Company Later On-Matters of In
terest TO shippers and Mariners.
Mr.. John Rourke is again considering
plans for drydoek at Savannah, and
may in a short time perfect them with
view to building a dock. With him il
is question of financing the undertake
ing, and not as to the need for dock.
He has the confidence in Savannah to
proceed alone with it were its magni-
tude not too great for any one man.
mo season passes that do not see
repeated evidences of the great need
for a dry dock at Savannah" said Mr..
Rourke yesterday. This is the princi-
pal of the South Atlantic ports, the
gateway for the outward movement of
all the leading products of several
states, and is therefore visited by
steamships representing practically
every nationality. The prestige the
port has with the shipping world pro-
misses to be held, for every year wit
nesses improvements that add to the
facilities. But it seems to me that too
little attention is paid to the matter
of building a drydock here, which l at
tribute largely to the fact that our
citizens do not all probably understand
its significance.
THE last case in point is the steam
ship Nyassa, now in port in distress,
and according to the repairs necessary
must be locked. Instead of being
locked here, the vessel must tow to
New York for this purpose, thereby
putting the owners to large expense.
1t is a positive injury to the port to
he without these Facilities. Realizing
the need for a drydOck at Savannah L
sent a representative to Havana when
the big Spanish dock was being offered
Tor SAFE there to inspect it and report
This was with a view to buying it if
satisfactory price could be agreed upon.
in that case, however, the price asked
was too high.
My plan now is to interest the mer-
chants of Savannah in this much need
ed river improvement" continued Mr.
Rourke. F rom my experience in ship
ping matters ! see no reason why
company should not be organized to
build a sectional drydock, which 1 feel
sure could be operated with good
profits to the stockholders. / expect
later on TO take this matter up with a
view to seeing what can be done. l
heVe always desired dock at Savan-
nah, and believe / will yet live to see
one built. This desire is based upon
my knowledge. CT the need for such an
Improvement. All the people are in
tcrested, for such an improvement
means much for the business Of SaVan-
nah"
MIR. Rourke tackles large undertake
ings successfully. but he makes it a
po-nt not to bite off more than he
can chew" He is now building at
large cost. and will soon complete,
AK Marine Railway, on which the
largest tugs may be hauled out. Work
on this has been delayed owing to the
weather, but it has been resumed and
ii is now expected the railway will be
ready TO operate soon
Among the arrivals yesterday We're
Usage arrived from Pritchardsvlle, S.
the Passport is up from Brunswick for
a raft.
Savannah Almanac, 10Th Meridian
Time.
Sun rises at 600 a. m. and sets at
5:51 p. IN.
High water at Tybee to-day at 9:19
a. m and $40 p. m. High water at
Savannah one hour later