THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



195 



Committee on Public Information 



STRAIGHTENING THE MINUTE BEADES ON THE SHAFT OE A TURBINE ENGINE 



The first turbine-driven vessel ever built was the Turbinia, which developed a speed of 

 34^2 knots an hour on its trial trip in the spring of 1897. Today most of the high-speed mer- 

 chant and naval craft of Great Britain and the United States are equipped with turbines. 



suggests the ramified interests which it 

 affects. E. F. Carry, until recently di- 

 rector of operations of the Shipping 

 Board, is the chairman ; Vice-Chairman 

 S. M. Felton represents the War Depart- 

 ment's interests ; Rear Admiral H. H. 

 Rousseau is spokesman for the Emer- 

 gency Fleet Corporation ; the navy is 

 represented by Captain A. C. Hodgson ; 

 J. H. Rosseter speaks for the Division of 

 Operations of the Shipping Board and 

 Pacific Coast steamship interests, T. C. 

 Powell for the United States Railway 

 Administration, and G. S. Dearborn for 

 the Atlantic Coast steamship interests, 

 while E. Logan Hill, formerly assistant 

 general manager of the Erie Railroad, is 

 the dynamic secretary of the Commission 

 and F. T. Chambers, U. S. Navy, is its 

 chief engineer. 



The task which lies before the Com- 

 mission is Herculean. It must devise 

 ways and means to enable our ports to 



handle an unimagined volume of war 

 material, foodstuffs, and troops in less 

 time than man ever before attempted 

 such a feat. 



The speed with which ships can be 

 loaded and bunkered on this side, un- 

 loaded Over There, and started back for 

 another cargo is the supremely vital fac- 

 tor in the maintenance of the three-tons 

 per fighting man ratio. Any slackening 

 of pace necessarily means additional ton- 

 nage, for a ship that makes a round trip 

 between New York and Bordeaux or 

 Brest in six weeks is exactly one-half as 

 valuable as the ship of the same tonnage 

 which can make the "turn-around" in 

 three weeks. 



The price which a rapidly growing sea- 

 port pays for its prosperity is the develop- 

 ment of its shipping facilities along lines 

 of transitory expediency rather than those 

 of lasting and economical expansion. 

 New York presents a flagrant example 



