The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1907-08-30
BUILDING BIG LINERS.
Belfast Builds Largest Percentage Of
Magnificent Giants.

AfthOugn ireland IS supposed 10 ne
very poor country, it is a curious fact
that in her city Of Belfast is built a
large percentage of magnificent ocean
liners than anywhere else in the world
For there is one yard in that city turn
ing out in monotonous regularity mon.
sters like the Adriatie of the White Star
line, The gross tonnage of this cnor
nous ship is $4,000 and she transports
nearly 1000 souls across the broad At
lantic in less than a week.
Imagine what a hive Of industry and
machinery must be the place where such
colossal ships are born. Think Of the
1900 men, assisted by q whole world
Of thunderous engines, extending over
eighty acres, and all at work upon
quaint skeletons which In a few brief
months win be floating palaces Of the
sea
In one year eight Of these giants have
been launched, and they developed alto.
gether the power Of more than l00,500
horses. Most of them have nine decks,
and carry about 5000 passengers and q
crew OF 500 or 600 Glance for a moment
at the very latest product, the immense
Adriatic, now the largest vessel in the
world.
Her length about ESQ feet--exceeds
that Of two towering skyscrapers placed
one ON top of the other; and her fun
nels being twenty four feet in diameter
would easily admit couple OF FULL
sized trolley cars driven abreast through.
out their whole length Of los feet Pas.
sengers taking their morning stroll on
deck win understand that circuit Of
the ship three and half times means
covering almost exactly mile.
As the monster lies on the ways one
obtains an admirable idea Of her vast
ness. 1t is like looking up at one Of
the pyramids; only instead Of rising
from a desert, the towering hull COM
mands one of the busiest industrial hives
of men. Stand on the forecastle in the
very eyes Of the leviathan, and the
ground is very nearly hundred feet
below A confused hum floats up from
the ioiners' and blacksmiths' shops, for
all are busy upon the giant carcass
which. even Ia this bare states, weighs
over 10000 tons even without engines,
boilers and palatial Accommodations for
passengers.
These, with che water in her boilers,
her stores and her 7,000-ton coal bunk
ers filled with the best the mines pro-
duee will raise the ships weight, with
ont cargo, TO $4,000 tons. The lowest
deck Of all is known as the 'lower or
lop'; then, rising tier by tier, we have
the main, upper. shelter, promenade, up
per promenade and boat-nine decks in
all.
Her vast ribs are covered with 10000
steel plates, the largest 40 feet long and
weighing about five tons. To fasten
these to the mighty structural framework
took 100000 rivets. and some OF these
weighed three pounds. The rudder alone
weighs sixty.five tons, or including the
castings for the stem, stern post and
shaft bracket. $50 tons. Three anchors
Of ten tons each are carried to control
the giant, and each Is proveded with
500 feet of cable, made up of twenty
two inch links, the iron in which is
nearly four inches in diameter. Think
Of chain Of which every link weighs
a hundreweight and a half!
There are even electric elevators for
both passengers and mails. As to the
electric plant, there are over 5000 lamps
fed by 200 miles of cable. One novel
feature is kind of central inquiry bu.
reau which may be ring mp by any one
Of the thousands Of passengers upon any
matters on which information Is desired.
r. it any wonder that such a ship would
require 10000 horses TO drive it across
the ocean,
And in the place where such ships are
built there is also o kind of marine
hospital where surgical operations on a
vast scale are conducted The great In
dian liner China, for example, was
patient. She sank in the Red Sea near
Perrin and her bottom had 20 be entirely
reconstructed. Another case was the
Paris. now renamed the Philadelphia.
She had run onto the dead Mcnaeles
rocks off the coast Of Cornwall, England,
and required an entirely new stern, as
well as new engines and boilers, which
were ruined.
Again, the South African liner Scot
was taken into dock here In Belfast cut
clean into two parts and an additional
length of fifty feet built into her body
amidships. A similar operation was per
formed on the Hamburg America liner
Auguste Victoria.
4 recent incident showing the valre
Of these watertight compartments IS
that Of the steamship Sueyic, which ran
upon the rocks oil the Lizard on the
English coast this year The forward
part Of the vessel was badly crushed,
but the watertight compartments pre-.
vented the water from filing the vessel
After the high sea had abatcd the rivcts
of the framework and outer plates were
looscned and assisted by "a blast Of dy
Mantle, the vessel was separated into
two parts the forward onethird re-
naming on the rocks, while the after
two thirds proceeding to Liverpool under
her own steam st. Nicholas for Au,
gust