The San Francisco call., 1904-12-15

Ventura. SOnoma and Sierra have ac-
customed the people of this port to
passenger liners Of large size. and from
the Korea. Siberia, Mongolia and Man
churia people have learned something
of the superlaUve degree in modern
passenger carrying freighters. But the
Minnesota is in a class by herself.
She lacks the speed Of some Of the big
steamships familiar in these waters,
but in every other respect overtops her
floating sisters as the battleship towers
above the torpedo boat. She is the big
gest steamship flying the American
nag. As becomes the newest Of Yankee
liners, she has borrowed from the
school of scientific achievement all the
latest ingenuites. She is comfortable
as soft carpets, broad decks, elevators,
electric heaters, luxurious upholstery
and perfect ventilation can make her.
She could be rammed through and
through in half dozen places and still
float; cut in two, and each section
would remain on the surface. She is
practically unsuitable.
As floating hotel she has no equal
on the Pacific. and the burden of fifteen
miles Of freight cars can be slowed
away in her holds.
She is saio TO have cost more than
S2o00.0O0. and she looks like the price.
she is 65O feet long, 1876 feet beam and
50:l feet deep Her gross tonnage is
1O,flo- Her cargo capacity is q, 9S2 Gu
bic tons. Her total capacity including
bunkers, is 32,22l tons. When carrying
23,60O tons dead weight the Minnesota
draws thirty-eight feet Of water. She
has accommodations for $50 first cabin
passengers. IS intermediate passengers
and 1924 steerage or 1924 troops.
Electricity is the slave which works
most Of the wonders Of the Minnesota's
marvellous internal economy. There
is an electric heater and a telephone
in every stateroom. The central tele-
phone Office, where there will be an op-
orator always on duty, is one OF the
show places Of the ship Passengers in
their rooms can telephone 10 any de-
partment Of the ship or can talk over
the wire 10 any other passenger. The
electric heaters can be shut off or regu-
lated by the occupants Of the state
rooms by the simple process Of turning
a button.
The cooking is all done away down
below, out OF sight, sound and smell
Of the passengers. The prepaINd food
is carried by noiseless elevators, or
dumb walters from the lower regions
TO the dining saloon, where undumb
servitors viii distribute il in orthodox
style three times day. For the bene-
nj Of eccentric or abnormal appeutes
a buffet is maintained in another part
meal TO a sandwich viii be served day
or night
The saloon, around the tables of
which are 1SS comfortable leather-seat-
ed chairs. is handsomely furnished and
artistically lighted. There is a dainty
ladies parlOr, a well-stocked library
and a smOking-rOOm, in which the most
worried man in the world could forget
his troubles and imagine himself ]. J.
Hill without the railroad magnate'S re-
sponsibilities.
The handling Of cargo viii bring lit
tie discomfort 10 the passengers, as all
the work VIII be done by thirty-six
noiseless electric winches. The Mime /
sofa has nine pairs Of matches, and in |
the forest Of cargo bOoms is one capa- |
ble Of lifting a forty-five ton burden |
from the wharf and lowering it swiftly, |
gently and without noise TO the most
remote corner Of the deepest hold.
There are electrical devices in every |
part Of the ship. In the galley are cleo
trio brOilers, electric dough mixers,
electric plates for the making Of hot
cakes. In the pilot-hOuse il is electricity
that blows the whistle. electricity that
operates the steering gear, that carries
messages from bridge to engine-roOm
and other parts Of the ship. In the
pilOt-hOuse is an electric clock, which
takes charge Of the fog signal in thick
weather. and another electric device
which stands guard over the electric
lamps which constitute the side lights
and other law-required illumination. II
one Of these lights goes out bright
lamp glOWs IN the pilOt-hOuse and a
bell begins 10 ring. The lamp glows
end the bell rings until the eXtin-
guished light is again in commission.
One Of the Minnesota's glories is the
breadth OF her clean. white decks. AT
the forward end Of the bridge deck is
one clear space, 30 by IS feet, room for
q dozen sets Of lancers or for the drill
ing Of a battalion OF infantry.
The Minnesota's bridge, as she is
now loaded is sixty-five feet above the
water line Her smoke stack has
diameter Of nineteen feet fore and aft
by sixteen feet across. She has twin.
triple expansion engines Of 10, 600 horse
power She has two thirty-eight-ton
refrigerating machines and sixteen
NfcIausse water tube boilers. She is
fitted with a longitudinal bulkhead,
running the entire length of the ship,
has twelve water-tight bulkheads and
twenty-four compartments and a
double bottom which is used for water
ballast and is divided into twenty-five
compartments.
Travelling at fourteen knots per hour
the Minnesota burns 100 tons of coal
in twenty-four hours On her trial trip
she developed a speed Of sixteen knots
The Minnesota is commanded by
Captain John Iruebridge and her 9TH
er officers are: Chief engineer. George
Allan; chief officer. J. F. Blaine; first
officer, ". s. p. Keyes: second officer,
p. c. Grening, and third officer, John
Duffy.
The Minnesota encountered fine
weather all the way from the Atlantic
the liners size impressing even Cape
Horn into keeping the elements in that
neighborhood in order. There was
some trouble with the crew whom
Captain Truebridge describes as the
hardest crowd he ever went to sea
with one Of the sailors had a fight
-On the bridge with the second and
third officers and several OF the men
spent varying spells in irons as pen
ally for refusing duty.
The Minnesota has 5000 tons Of coal
for this port which viii be discharged
into lighters. She viii not come along
side any wharf during her stay here.
Guests holding invitations will be re-