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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



THE GOOD SHIP "WAR MYSTERY" 



The largest wooden steamer ever constructed, and the first of the fleet of six 5,000-ton vessels of the 



advanced type under way. 



THE 

 WAR MYSTERY" 



NO vessel that has been launch- 

 ed in recent years will be 

 watched with keener interest by 

 shipbuilders and seafaring peo- 

 ple generally than will the "War 

 Mystery," the largest wooden 

 steamship ever built, which was 

 sent into the water recently at a 

 Texas port for the Cunard 

 Steamship Company. Lloyd's 

 Agency, the foremost marine in- 

 surance experts in the world, 

 gave the vessel an A-i rating, as 

 high as could be given the most 

 substantially built steel vessel. 

 This rating not only is remark- 

 able for any vessel of a new type 

 of construction, but it is especial- 

 ly noteworthy when it is grant- 

 ed in the face of criticisms and 

 doubts expressed concerning 

 ships built of wood. The "War 

 Mystery" has a capacity of 

 4,700 tons. 



Any one who might question 

 the ease with which ship build- 

 ing timbers of all except the 

 most extraordinary sizes may be 

 obtained from the Southern pine 

 lumber mills would do well to 

 visit the ship yards of the Na- 

 tional ship Building Company 

 where the "War Mystery" was 

 launched on March 4. Here 

 may be seen wooden shipbuilding 

 material of the finest quality, 

 stacked in orderly profusion over 

 an area totaling several acres. 

 As was pointed out recently by 

 Mr. J. E. Rhodes, secretary- 

 manager of the Southern Pine 

 Association, the only require- 

 ment that hampers practically 

 unlimited production of ship tim- 

 bers by Southern lumbermen, is 

 that demanding such extreme 

 sizes that the lumber manufac- 

 turers are compelled to scour the 

 woods in a search for trees from 

 which they can be manufactured. 

 The method of construction in 

 use by the National company per- 

 mits of building up frames with 

 medium sized timbers, with no 

 sacrifice of strength or rigidity. 



