The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-07-16

Monster Liners Have All
Shore Comforts.

49, $500 $50 4A& 0@&&sAA@aAAM Aa4N3 &&&
passage barely three generations ago,
or even when men and women not get
cid made their first transit" says q
bulletin from the Washington head.
quarters OF the National Geographic
society. "The larger ships have come
to be called ocean ferries and the
name is in many ways appropriate.
You do not expect to be tossed about
much on q ferry; and you needn't be
shaken up much now In crossing the
Atlantic, unless you choose the stOrmi-
est seasons. Ferries run on close
schedules and when you 60 aboard a
crack transatlantic liner nowadays
you know pretty well within a few
hours when you win step ashore $500
miles away.
"The two biggest Of them are prac-
tically great wandering steel islands
that, defying the usual rules Of geog,
raphy, make themselves now a part
Of the Eastern hemisphere, now a part
Of the Western. Their length an
prOaches 1000 feet, almost a fifth Of a
mile; their beams are 100 feet, as
wide as a boulevard. Many a proud
building, housing the population OF a
town. rises from a land area smaller
than the hulls Of these great ships.
Populations Of Towns.
"The ships are themselves pracH-
eally great buildings, whose gand' as
well as their superstructures was
fashioned By man; and they, too,
house the population Of q town. When
you cross to Europe on such q boat
il Il no longer a matter Of being ma
TOOned for a week or ten days with
q small group Of people. It IL as
though you spent six Aoeting days
(they aro days OF q hours) in q town
whose population was far above the
average IN culture, prosperity, and In
telligence; whose government func-
toned perfectly; and which main
talned numerous attendants to look
after your comfort.
There are few shore comforts that
you cannot have on such q ship. You
sleep in beds, not hunks. There Is
running water In your staterOOm. You
dine as you would at a great land
q hOsteEy; and you win feel uncOmfort-
able II you are not prepared to dress
the part Of a metropolitan diner.
There r good ~Orchestras which play
for tea and for dances In a great
ballroom each evening. The prone
made deck on which you take your
walks Is nearly a quarter mile In cir
cult. There are numerous deck games,
Including two sorts Of deck tennis,
and even golf tournaments for the
championship Of the boat. On the
lowest deck RJRrga swimming POOL.
There Ia a card room for votaries OF
bridge; g W~ell-stOcked library; and a
smoking room that surpasses In COM
fort that Of many an exclusive club.
There is a barber, a hair-dresser, q
tailor, q doctor and ~disDensary, Of
course. Whether you are well or I'll,
and whether you crave mental diver
sion, athletic sports, or luxurious ease,
you can End what you wish.
Power Houses Of the Sea.
Operating a ship of this sort Is a
tremendous enterprise. In the linen
closets and In use are close to 100000
pieces Of linen. On the trip from New
York to CherbOurg the biggest liners
might throw overheard a piece OF
linen every three seconds, leaving q
hare and hound trail Of towels,
sheets, stewards aprons, and the like
entirely across the Atlantic, no two
pieces many feet part. And the ship
would arrive on the other side with
several thousand pieces left.
Star down in the hull Of such a
ship, In the section seen by few pas
sengerg and well below the water line.
Is the tremendous, complicated ma
chinery that shifts these islands ft6ni
hemisphere to hemisphere; I'm eject.
huge power houses.
-four great shafts 1914 inches
Through and more than 100 feet long
are spinning around at $50 revolutions
per minute, nakedly between their
bearings and the turbines that turn
them. Toward the rear Of the hull
you see them disappear through the
steel wall. Just outside, fixed rigidly
to the shafts, the big propellers are
churning, pushing nearly 60,OO0 tons
Of steel and humanity through the
ocean at IS miles an hour. The briny
ocean trickles in about these final
SHAFT bearings In sturdy streams. You
ask the chief engineer about It with
some nervousness. He laughs reas-
surance above the din. It is necessary
that the packing be not too tight. And
the pumps are always busy. They
suck up these riIls and many more
ike them and spew the water back
into the sea.
Gas q matter OF fact the machinery
reaches out into the ocean and sucks
the sea into the ships in Gargantuan
gulps. A pipe three feet through Il
the intake. Through it are pumped
22.000 tons Of sea water per hour t.
condense the steam. AS soon as ii
has served Its purpose out It Il