SHIP-BUILDING. 



607 



accompanying sketch. They fasten under the main 

 and floor keelsons, and run up over the ends of long 

 rows of square pine masts, set up perpendicular 

 amidships, but inclined at the ends. 



The main chain is 24-inch bar iron, earned on 9- 

 inch square pine braces, rising 14 feet above the main 

 deck. The centre chain is 11-inch bar iron, the for- 

 ward end descending to the main keelson just under 

 the after end of the boilers, the chain running back 

 over the main braces and being brought down to 

 the keelson again about 15 feet from the stern-post. 

 The stern chain is l^-inch iron, passing over one 



Crops Chain* of the City of New Orleans. 



brace. The boiler deck and bow chain is IJ-inch iron 

 on short braces forward, as shown. 



Them are seven cross chains of li-inch iron rest- 

 ing on seven of the main braces, with struts as 

 shown, giving support to the bilge of the boat ; and 

 under the boiler deck and forward there are nine 

 more such chains of IJ-inch iron ; 48,000 pounds of 

 wrought iron are made use of in this system, and by 

 it the guards are made sufficiently strong to carry 

 any number of bales of cotton, the hull is kept from 

 breaking down at the ends, and the light scantling 

 of the West is rendered possible. 



On the upper part of the Ohio, the Mississippi, and 

 the Arkansas, and the other tributary streams of 

 the West, the passenger, freight, and towing boats 

 are stern-wheelers. The boats are not so wide, and 

 for shallow-water traffic are superior to the side- 

 wheelers. Naturally, the boats are different from 

 the side-wheelers. The wheel-houses and guards are 

 dispensed with, the cylinder timbers are carried aft 

 and project about 25 feet abaft the hull proper, 

 having a slight sheer upward. The paddle-wheel 

 shaft rests on these timbers, and the system of hog 

 chains is carried aft to support and distribute the 

 woight of the wheel. The lines of the boat aft are 

 completely changed, as there is no taper to the after- 

 end. The after-body is carried back square, and the 

 floor is brought up at the stern, giving an appear- 

 ance of two hulls when looked at from the stem. 

 Three or four rudders are used, the side ones hung 

 on the upright stern-posts, while the middle ones are 

 hung on stout rudder-posts and project partly under 

 the boat, being balanced rudders. The passenger 

 and freight boats of this class are handsome boats, 

 from 200 to 265 feet long and from 35 to 40 feet 

 beam. 



The towing boats are not so large and have small 

 cabins, but are built with very strong bows. The 

 way in which tows are made up on the western 

 rivers is different from the methods of the seaports, 

 as the tow is not towed but pushed. The barges 

 are arranged in groups, often eight or ten boats 

 wide and four boats long, strongly lashed together, 

 and arranged ahead and alongside the forward end 

 of the steamer, about one-fourth the steamer being 

 buried in the group. The deck is carried out square 

 to the bow, ending in a strong chock for pushing. 

 To steer such a fleet around the bends of swift rivers 

 requires a great deal of experience and judgment. 

 The stern-wheeler Jos. B. Williams, built at Pitts- 



burg, went south from Louisville last year with 

 a mammoth tow of 30 coal-barges, and six barges 

 and three additional vessels, amounting to 798,434 

 bushels, or 33,340 tons ; including fuel, 31,388 tons. 

 | This tow was 789 feet long including the steamer, 

 1015 feet long and 262 feet wide. To transport this 

 tow by rail would require 60 trains of 25 cars each, 

 20 tons to the car, and would extend over a con- 

 tinuous line of track of ten miles. 



There are four classes of barges in use on tho 

 Western rivers. The smallest is the flat-boat, about 

 90 feet long, 16 feet wide, and from 5 to 7 feet deep, 

 used on small streams for short trips for carrying 

 about 110 tons of coal, stone, or other rough 

 freight. Next, the coal-barge, which is an open boat, 

 strongly built, with raking ends, about 125 feet long 

 by 25 feet wide by 8 feet deep. They are mainly 

 employed between the coal mines in Pennsylvania 

 and West Virginia and the markets along the river 

 as far as New Orleans. The coal-boat or broad horn, 

 is a flat-bottomed, square-ended boat, with a strong 

 bottom but light sides, about 175 feet long by 25 

 feet wide by 9J feet deep. The fourth is the model 

 barge, hiving hulls built like steamers, sharp at both 

 ends, decked, and sometimes having a house. 



Flat-boats are built up on the sides of four or five 

 tiers of solid white-pine logs, 6 to 8 inches thick, 

 laid one above the other, and strongly bolted through 

 the edges with square iron spikes, with sheer pieces 

 on the top at each end. A number of cross timbers, 

 j about 6 by 12 inches and 12 feet apart, with the 

 | ends tenoned into the lowest log, form the side. 

 j Under these are fastened fore and aft streaks, and 

 | the bottom is then planked across with 2- and 

 3-inch hemlock, white pine, or oak. Iron straps are 

 placed at the corners. Uprights are let into each 

 end of the floor-timbers and bolted to the sides, and 

 bitts are provided for towing. These boats cost 

 from $500 to $650, tho labor on one of them amount- 

 ing to about $100, using from 13,000 to 18,000 feet of 

 lumber and 1450 Ibs. of iron. 



The coal-barge is simply a large barge, the side- 

 pieces being in several pieces about 20 to 50 feet in 

 length. It requires about 34,000 feetof lumber and 

 3000 Ibs. of iron for one. They cost from $1000 to 

 $1200, about $190 of this being for labor. They 

 weigh about 45 tons net, and draw about 5 inches of 

 water light. 



The coal-boat or broad horn has a barge-bottom, 

 with one side-log about 9 by 16 inches, strengthened 

 at the scarples by a piece inside 18 feet long, about 

 4 by 16 inches, fastened on with 10 large treenails, 



7 or 8 screw-bolts, and a number of spikes. A row 

 of uprights, 6 by 2\ inches, is set up perpendicularly 

 from the side or bilge-log all around the boat, and 

 the side planking is fastened to those. It is usually 

 It-inch hemlock. A couple of threads of oakum is 

 driven into the seams. A light clamp is nailed around 

 on the inside of the uprights to support light beams 

 or braces, about 4 by 4 inches, which are put in about 



8 feet apart. These boats cost from $800 to $900, 

 and, while having about twice the capacity of a barge, 

 contain about the same amount of lumber. 



These three classes of boats were originally pro- 

 pelled with huge paddle-wheels or sweeps, consist- 

 ing of a heavy pole with a stout board at the end. 

 This is no longer done, on freight barges, though 

 the sweep-propelled boat is still met with on the 

 Southern bayous and sluggish livers, in the shape of 

 flats that have been decked over and housed, and are 

 fitted up as travelling tin-shops, blacksmiths' shops, 

 and trading vessels. 



Of the model barges there are four sizes, carrying 



600, 800, 1000, and 1200 tons of cargo respectively. 



They are sharp at both ends, and are built about like 



I the steam-boat hulls, but have but one hog chain, 



; which hooks under the main keelson at the bow and 



