The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-02-02
.LEVIATHAN COSTS
$7SO,OOO A YEAR
TO REMAIN IDLE
Worlds Greatest Steamship
Being Kept in Condition
by 30 Experts.
LOSS Is NOW S4.17O.OOO
Furniture Worth $4,000, 900
Junked When Vessel Be-
came a transport.
CHARTER is PROBABLE
Shipping Board Seeks Way to
Restore Former Liner to Pas
senger Service.
CHARTER Is PROBABLE

What is to become of the greatest
ship that ever sailed the seas, L. S. s.
Leviathan, once the German Water
land? Idle and dismantled at her pier
in Hoboken. this white elephant of the
ocean is costing Uncle Sam about $685.
900 a month, or s7s0,000 a year, mere
ly to see that rust and rot are held at
bay.
! 1t has been estimated that Levia-
than's year and half of idleness has
cost Uncle Sam about $1,000,000 In
net earnings that might have been
anticipated from the big passenger
carrier. And to this S1,000,000 and
TO the $1,17O,O0 that 1t has cost the
ship from falling apart must be added
the loss of the furniture and fixtures
| that were junked, thrown away or
destroyed when the Leviathan was
taken over from her German owners
and made into a United States Army
transport. Great Britain. canny and
thrifty in big matters as well as small,
was too wise to throw away the fur
n;ture and expensive fixtures OF the
Mauretania, Aquitania or Olympic, or
of the large German ships she was
able TO get her capable hands upon.
These costly articles of equipment or
decoration were carefully stored away,
all precisely numbered and ticketed,
and when the time came to restore the
various ships to passenger service
their proper equipment was immedi-
ately found and easily restored.
In the case OF the Leviathan at
least $4,000, 900 worth OF furniture
and fixtures were irreparably lost. So
that, UP to date and entirely aside
from her transport service, the Levia-
than has cost the Government s4,-
10000, cost that has nothing what
ever TO do with maintenance III service
but which represents dead loss.
Idle steamships. especially steam
ships of the supersize OF the Leviathan,
are peculiarly susceptible to deteriora-
ton. A months. even a weeks neg
iect might easily mean utter ruin to
the vast bulk which was once the pride
Of the German merchant marine and
which later won sterling honors un-
der the American flag in the war
against Germany.
Force of Eighty Men mt Work.
Therefore force of eighty men is
kept at work daily searching the great
ship-mere shell as she is-for the first
signs of disintegration and deteriora-
ton. The tremendous surface of steel
plating, the vast and complicated ma
chinery. the enormous surfaces of
paint require incessant inspection and
repair. All OF this makes up the
months and years cost that Uncle
Sam is paying while he tries to make
up his mind what to do with the great
vessel
Rear-Admiral William S. Benson, Y.
s y. (retired), and present head OF the
shipping Board, is extremely hopeful
tnat something
the future OF the Leviathan can be
evolved within the next few months. but
| Admiral Benson admits frankly that the
Shipping Board has not been able to
come to n definite conclusion. and that
the Leviathan remains to-day what she
was a year ago-a white elephant among
ships.
"The best oppo rtunity that the Gov
ernment had to get the Leviathan re-
stored to passenger service and as tho
star ship of the American merchant ma
rine was blocked by the Injunction suit
brought by w. r. Hearst year ago at
the time the International Mercantile
Marine submitted a bid OF So 100000 for
the ship and offering also to rccondition
Ter at its own expense, making the total
cost to the company perhaps s12,000.000
THAT offer was made before | came 10
the Shipping Board. but In my opinion
II was fair offer. fair to the Govern
r1ent, I mean. Since then the Shipping
Board has asked for bids. but In every
instance the offers made were absurdly
low-out Of the question.
THE France and Canada Corporation.
fer example. offered $4,000, 900, but this
was contingent upon a loan OF $4,000, 600
teing made by the Shipping Board to the
corporation to pay the cost OF refitting
and refurnishing the Leviathan and re-
storing her TO service. The Shipping
Board could not then. nor can II now. see
its way clear TO make any such arrange
u.ent