282 ENGINEERING. (SEPARABLE SHIPS, MARINE ENGINEERING, FERRY BOAT " BERGEN.' 



mus will be 228 feet. Lack of funds and defect- 

 ive organization have rendered the progress of 

 the work slow, when compared with similar 

 works driven by modern machinery under com- 

 petent direction. A maximum force of about 

 3,000 men has been employed, with 15 locomo- 

 tives, 700 cars, and 6 or 8 dredges. The largest 

 day's work was about 10.000 cubic yards, and the 

 total estimated amount of excavation will be 

 somewhat in excess of 11,000,000 cubic yards. 

 The line of the canal is perfectly straight, and 

 about 4 miles from gulf to sea. The original 

 contract contemplated the expenditure of $5,- 

 280,000, but this proved inadequate, and the total 

 cost will probably be about $12,000,000. This 

 canal will shorten the voyage from Turkey in 

 Asia into the Adriatic Sea by 185 miles, and for 

 vessels coming through the Straits of Messina by 

 95 miles. It is estimated that 4,500,000 tons will 

 annually make use of the canal. 



Separable Ships. An ingenious system of 

 ship construction has been introduced on the 

 Great Lakes. A large steamer, the " Mackinaw," 

 of 3,578 gross registered tonnage, was finished in 

 October by the Steel Steamship Company, of 

 Saginaw, Mich. The vessel is 290 feet long, 41| 

 feet bottom, and 26 feet molded depth. She is 

 of steel throughout, and is a double-bottomed 

 water-ballast vessel, designed to class Al for 

 twenty years. The peculiarity in construction is 

 that she is designed to be taken apart amid-ships, 

 so that she can pass through the locks of the 

 Welland and other canals, and be put together 

 again on reaching Montreal. In point of fact, 

 she left the building yard under her own steam, 

 and was put in dry dock on reaching Buffalo. A 

 row of rivets was cut out ail around her mid- 

 ship section, and the two halves were separately 

 floated out of dock. The after half proceeded, 

 stern foremost, under its own steam, to the canal ; 

 while the forward section was towed by two or- 

 dinary tug boats and kept company with its 

 better half, through Lake Ontario and the lower 

 canal, until the two could be rejoined at Mon- 

 treal, whence the vessel went to sea as a com- 

 plete ship. The owners of the ship are F. W. 

 Wheeler & Co., of West Bay City, Mich., and 

 the work of construction, disconnection, etc., was 

 conducted under the superintendence of Mr. 

 Williams, a member of the firm. 



Marine Engineering. The steamer "Ulun- 

 da," of 1,800 tons, went ashore on Aug. 26 at 

 Brier Island, in the Bay of Fundy. Her bottom 

 plates were badly stove on rocks, and she was 

 considered a total loss, and, having been aban- 

 doned by the underwriters, she was sold where 

 she lay to a Halifax company for $3,000. Short- 

 ly afterward she was still further damaged by a 

 storm, all the bottom plates forward of the en- 

 gines being knocked off. The purchasers bolted 

 pine planks to the under side of the second deck, 

 calked them, and at low tide placed 1,200 empty 

 casks in the hold; as the tide rose, the vessel 

 floated. She was towed to Westport, where she 

 was beached and fitted with a temporary wooden 

 bottom, and proceeded thence under her own 

 steam to Halifax, where she has been repaired. 



Another noteworthy case of marine engineer- 

 ing is that of the British war-ship "Sultan," 

 which ran upon an uncharted rock near Malta. 

 She sank in water of such depth that all her 



deck works were submerged. Several unsuccess- 

 ful attempts were made to raise her, her gr 

 size rendering ordinary appliances unavaili 

 Her displacement when armed and loaded 

 9,200 tons. She is 325 feet long, 59 feet beam, 

 and ordinarily draws 27 feet of water. When 

 sunk she had her full battery of eight 18-ton 

 muzzle-loading guns on board, and four 12^-ton 

 guns, besides the usual complement of breech- 

 loading and quick-firing guns. Observations of 

 divers show that the starboard side of the ship 

 was indented in all directions, the plates being 

 in many cases forced up through the double 

 bottom, and the longitudinal frames twisted in 

 every direction. The difficulty of floating the 

 ship, even after her battery was removed, was in- 

 creased by the fact that she was literally wedged 

 between two beds of rock, so that portions of the 

 rock had to be blasted away before the divers 

 could examine parts of the hull. This was final- 

 ly accomplished, and the openings were tempo- 

 rarily stopped by means of wood, canvas, and 

 oakum, a new cement being used which hard- 

 ened under water to the consistency of putty, 

 and made temporarily tight some of the rents 

 that could not otherwise have been stopped. 

 This done, the ship was successfully pumped out, 

 floated, towed to Malta, and eventually taken to 

 England for repairs. 



New Docks at Southampton, England. 

 The Southampton Dock Company has been in 

 existence since early in the present century. It 

 began its first docks in 1838, and opened them for 

 business in 1844. Since then the shipping re- 

 quirements of the port have largely increased and 

 compelled additions to the docking facilities of 

 the company. The clocks are at the mouth of 

 the river Itchen, and, as originally designed, 

 afforded ample accommodations for the shipping 

 of that period. There is a curious phenomenon 

 of double tides at this port. In addition to the 

 usual regular tidal movements, there is a second 

 high water about two hours after the first. This 

 is accounted for by the peculiar conformation of 

 this part of the coast, and has to be considered in 

 the construction of docks. The new deep-water 

 dock, opened by the Queen on July 26, has an 

 area of 18 acres ; it is of an irregular quadran- 

 gular shape, the northwest and northeast and 

 southwest wharves being 850 feet long each, and 

 the southeast wharf 800 feet. The entrance, 

 opening to the southeast, is 175 feet wide, with 

 side walls 200 feet long. At low water there is 

 26 feet of depth in all parts of the dock, so that 

 the largest vessels likely to be built for many 

 years to come can be safely moored alongside 

 the wharves, with direct connection by rail in all 

 cases. Alfred Giles has had charge of the work 

 as superintending engineer. 



The Ferry Boat " Bergen." A new type of 

 ferry boat has lately been placed in service on the 

 Hudson river, between New York and Hoboken. 

 In size she does not differ materially from the 

 ordinary paddle-wheel boats used in this neigh- 

 borhood. The novelty of her construction con- 

 sists in a long propeller shaft running lengthwise 

 of the boat and provided with a screw at either 

 end. The propellers, therefore, are rotated to- 

 gether, one pulling and the other pushing, a 

 single compound engine driving the machinery. 

 The advantages claimed are, first, that the engines 



