Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-02-21

Enough information has drifted
across the sea to enable the compila-
ton of accurate forecasts of the twin
Cunard floating castles of steel which
are to be put over next year and to
make their maiden dips in New York
waters in June OF 1903, says the New
York World. They will be the longest
vessels In the world and have greater
power than any other craft atiOat.
Their correct measurements are: Seven
hundred and thirty feet length, seventy
feet beam, general speed twenty-five
knots, with indicated horsepower of
50, 7G0, burning from 500 to 1000 tons
of coal every twenty-fOur hours. a
team of horses driven in pairs, reach
ing from the Battery, New York, to
fifteen miles beyond POughkeepsie.
would exert 10 more power. They will
be of the triple screw type, with three
sets of six cylinder engines. The dis
placement OF each Will be 26,S0O tons.
Three twenty-four foot manganese
bronze propellers will drive them.
When this small city puts TO sea. a
daily newspaper. published from Mar
-
touch with Wall street, the race track,
the theaters and the news of the world.
The saloon passengers will be berthed
in the superstructure amidships. Such
features as Il theater, grillroOm, chill
dren's playroom, dining tables on deck,
elevators and a grand dining saloon
three decks high will be Incorporated.
In dull seasons the steerage can be
utilized for cold storage. There will be
twelve decks. including the water bot
tom.
AS for the mechanical devices, they
will include automatic stokers. longi-
tudinal bulkheadS and a sufficient num-
Der of traverse bulkheadS so that sew
eral compartments could be flooded at
the same time without sinking the steel
island. The number of saloon passen-
| gers will be about 900, of second cabin
$50 and of steerage 1000. A crew Of
500 will suffice. only fifty of them be
ing able seamen.
John Bull has set his heart upon re-
covering the blue ribbon of the Allan
| tic He does not care how much the eff
fort costs or how Improbable the Ell
| terprise, provided the German liners
! are beaten.
! With the prodigai generosity prompt
ed by patriotic and sentimental mo-
/ tives, of the British government the
new wonders are designed to wrest the
Atlantic record from the German III
ers. the Deutschland, the Kronprinz
Wilhelm. the coming Kaiser Wilhelm
II. and the coming new Hamburg
| American masterpiece. The Cunard
! giantesses will span the Atlantic in lit
/ tie more than four and one half days.
On Dec. 10, 1902, Lord Inverclyde,
| chairman; David Jardin, John William
/ son and the directors Of the Cunard
| Steamship company signed contracts
for one of these modern Great East
erns with the Fairfield Shipbuilding
/ and Engineering company of Glasgow
/ and for the other with the Nickers-
Maxim company of Barrow.
| The new ships will be christened the
Britannia and the Columbia. Each of
| them will cost $6.250,0OO. The Cunard
! contracts call for twenty-siX knots for
six hours and twenty-five knots for
| two days continuous Steaming. The
| calling for the bids under the admir-
! atty subsidy revealed the imposition
of this condition of unusual severity:
IF at the end of years running the
vessels shall have failed to achieve an
average of twenty-five knots through
out their voyages (round trips from
| Queenstown to New York and back
| they may be returned to their build
erS.'
The British government subsidies
| the Cunard line at $T50.O00 Il year.
The two boats are to be built on
| government loan, to be repaid in TWEEN
| ty years, the period beginning at the
completion of the second ship. The
company pledges itself to remain out
side of the Morgan steamship combina-
ton. known as the International Mer-
camille Marine company. and to remain
purely a British undertaking. Freights
are not to be raised unduly or prefer
entail rates given to foreigners. Its
entire fleet is to be held at the disposal
of, the British government, which is at
| liberty to purchase any or all of its
steamers at agreed rates.
! The governments loan for the con-
struction of the twin vessels will bear
interest at 234 per cent, the security for
| the loan being a first charge upon the
| ships and upon the assets of the COM
pany The principal is to be repaid in
annual installments.