i86 AN ELECTRICALLY PROPELLED 



thing really in that line of engineering, and comparing that with the very latest 

 modem practice. I doubt, however, whether a three-shaft vessel operated second 

 hand from a generator would equal the consumption I have just mentioned for the 

 direct-acting oscillating engine. You know in Scotland the oscillating engine with 

 the side-wheel steamer has the place that the beam engine has here, and they 

 have both been developed along that line to a remarkable degree of efficiency. I 

 simply mention this one fact about the condenser, and that is what brought me up, 

 and while I am on my feet I desire to say that it is a matter of pleasure to me to 

 meet you gentlemen, whom I have not seen for a long time. 



Mr. Charles M. Englis, Member: — I would like to make a few remarks in rela- 

 tion to this paper, inasmuch as I was one of the builders of the steamer Grand 

 Republic, and therefore ought to know something about it. The paper states, referring 

 to the engine used in the Grand Republic, "while its origin is now uncertain, it is be- 

 lieved to be between fifty and sixty years old." I would hke to inform Mr. Donnelly 

 that that engine came from the steamship Morro Castle, which was built about 

 i860, was removed from S. S. Morro Castle in 1877 and placed in the ship Grand 

 Republic in 1878, and to-day the company owning the Grand RepubUc are nursing 

 the engines preparatory to putting in new "gaUows frame" and "engine keelsons," 

 and no doubt it could go on for fifty years longer. 



Further than that, I would say, in regard to expense, Mr. Donnelly does not 

 tell us what the ship designed by him is going to cost. I am afraid that the cost 

 would be such that the men in the excursion business in this port of New York would 

 find it absolutely prohibitive. The excursion business is of short duration, and a 

 very costly boat would not be profitable in that service. 



The history of the steamboats Grand Republic and Columbia is as follows: 

 The boats cost, at the time they were built, less than $100,000 each, engines, boilers, 

 and all the outfit complete. Mr. R. Cornell White managed and ran these boats 

 for two years, when he failed. They were then sold and brought $70,000 each. 

 The company which bought them and ran them for a time could not earn any money 

 with them and they were sold, one to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for $60,000, 

 and the other, the Grand Republic, to another company which operated it, for 

 $60,000, and these same people also owned the General Slocum. The Grand Re- 

 public was then sold to the people who now own her for less than $30,000, and they 

 are the only people who have made any money on her. The Columbia was the boat 

 which was sold to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. 



I do not see where you can add $90,000 to the cost of any vessel, and get that 

 money back, or anywhere near get it back. Much emphasis is laid in the report 

 regarding the loss of life by fire. I made the remark to a gentleman sitting near me 

 that I have been in the business for many years, and know of but two cases of loss 

 of life by fire on board a steamer; one was the General Slocum and the other was 

 the Seawanaka. 



The paper states that wooden vessels were not built after 1878. I would like 



