OF SHIP CONSTRUCTION. 7^ 



From A. H. Bull & Co., New York City:— 



"* * * Our steamer Millinocket is the first boat built under this system in 

 American yards. She is now seven years old (letter dated June 7, 1917), so that 

 sufficient time has elapsed for any structural weakness or defects to develop that 

 might show an increase in the cost of upkeep over ordinary construction. We have 

 found no difference in the cost of upkeep. * * *" 



From A. F. Kalveness & Co., Christiania, Norway : — 



[ Translation. ] 



"* * * we have had but one ship built to the Isherwood system, namely, 

 S. S. Storstad. 



"This vessel has been employed chiefly in the ore trade betwen Newfoundland 

 and Sidney, C. B., and partly in carrying general cargo. We have found the Isher- 

 wood system satisfactory in that the vessel has been strong and has fulfilled our 

 expectations." 



The answers received from the naval architects connected with shipbuilding 

 firms were uniformly in favor of the Isherwood system of construction, but it is 

 not impossible that this favorable opinion was to some extent due to the greater 

 ease and economy of fabrication and erection of the Isherwood ship. 



The longitudinally framed vessel contains more bracket and small fitting work 

 than the transversely framed one, but this item is more than offset by the lesser 

 amount of furnacing of shapes. In erecting, the Isherwood ship offers two dis- 

 tinct advantages that tend to increase both the speed and economy of construction. 

 One of these has already been mentioned in connection with cleaning and painting, 

 namely, the greater accessibility to the various parts of the vessel, an item that 

 seems even more important in erecting than in cleaning the ship. The second ad- 

 vantage is that the Isherwood ship can be erected in stories, as it were. That is to 

 say, after the inner bottom has been completed, the side transverses up to the lowest 

 deck may be erected, together with the transverses for that deck. All the material 

 then taken on board, such as the deck longitudinals and plating, need be hoisted 

 only high enough to clear the deck reached, not, as is the case with transversely 

 framed vessels, high enough to clear the tops of the side frames, which, for the 

 lowest deck, may mean a difference in the hoist of from 8 to 32 — or more — feet, de- 

 pending on the number of decks. This holds true for all decks except the highest 

 one, although the height of the unnecessary hoist is, of course, reduced as the higher 

 decks are reached. 



To show what this apparently small item means to the shipbuilder, let us give 

 a moment's thought to, let us say, a passenger ship of 20,000 tons displacement 

 having four complete decks, the deck height being 8 feet in each case. This means 

 a total height of 24 feet from the lowest to the highest deck, or an average hoist of 

 12 feet above the lowest deck level for all material for that deck and for the decks 

 above. • A total weight of perhaps about 1,000 tons would, then, have to be hoisted 



