A 1,650 HORSE-POWER GASOLINE FIRE BOAT. 
By A. D. STEVENs, Esg., MEMBER. 
[Read at the thirtieth general meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held in 
New York, November 8 and 9, 1922.] 
While the need of a fire boat for a city having 7 or more miles waterfront, over half 
of which is actively used by commerce, is self-evident, the special conditions existing at Jack- 
sonville made it somewhat difficult to design a boat that would satisfactorily fill all the 
requirements. 
While a portion of the frontage is occupied by large industrial plants and extensive 
transportation terminals that demand a powerful boat of great capacity, yet the main busi- 
ness portion of the city is bordered by narrow and shallow slips and a collection of wooden 
piers and structures which menace the valuable abutting structures on solid ground. 
A steam fire boat of sufficient capacity could not be used to any advantage in this last- 
mentioned locality as its draught and size would be too great. 
A dozen or more years ago the writer endeavored to satisfy these conditions by design- 
ing an all-gasoline motor-driven boat of about 4,500 gallons per minute capacity, which 
could have been built at that period for less than $50,000. The use of gasoline on so large 
a scale did not appeal to the fire department which was still wedded tc the steam fire engine 
and had no use for gasoline, and so the project was abandoned for the time. 
Four years ago, after the department had been converted to automobile trucks and motor 
fire engines, the fire-boat project was revived and the design of motor fire boat brought up 
to date. 
Financial and political considerations, however, held the question up until finally a com- 
promise was effected by deciding to purchase one of the government 110-foot wooden sub- 
chasers for a nominal sum and fitting her up as a fire boat. 
The writer submitted designs and specifications for the remodeling and conversion of 
S. C. 145, the boat the city had bought, which were accepted and ordered carried out under 
his directions as engineer in charge. Proposals were advertised for and finally awarded, 
and the boat has been completed. 
As far as the writer can ascertain, this is the first complete full-powered fire boat to 
be entirely motor driven. 
As a capacity of not less than 5,000 gallons per minute at 150 pounds pressure was 
desired and it was necessary to retain two of the three 220-horse-power propelling motors, 
it will be seen that there was no room to spare in a light wooden hull 110 feet by 14 feet 
by 8 feet. 
The plan adopted was to build up the hull for 50 feet amidships, 3 feet higher, using all 
steel construction. This was done by first clearing away everything in this space clear to the 
skin of the hull, cutting off deck beams flush with shelf and putting on an inside facing 
strake which, with the waterway and shear strake, formed a complete box girder. (See Figs. 
4 and 5, Plate 45). Steel angle frames were mortised through the waterway alongside every 
