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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



# J 



there was feasting and rejoicing at hog island on the day that th^ 

 shipyard's first vessel was launched 



A view of the tables where luncheon was served to the guests at the greatest going-in 

 party ever given in a shipyard. The thousands who came to see the launching of the Quist- 

 conck stood in the noonday August sun for hours, and 500 were overcome by the heat. 



discard. It was a splendid achievement, 

 and all the more glory belongs to the 

 builders of the Tuckahoe because their 

 example has inspired other yards to even 

 better records. 



A SPEED CHALLENGE TO EVERY SHIPYARD 

 IN THE COUNTRY 



When the Tuckahoe was launched, a 

 speed challenge went forth to every yard 

 in America, and since then three ship- 

 building plants have succeeded in lower- 

 ing the record. First came the Bethlehem 

 Shipbuilding Corporation at Alameda, 

 Cal., which put a 12,000-ton cargo boat, 

 the Invincible, into the water in 24 work- 

 ing days after the keel was laid. Then 

 the Great Lakes Engineering Works, at 

 Ecorse, Mich., built a 3,500-ton freighter, 

 the Crawl Keys, in 14 days. More re- 

 cently the Grays Harbor Motorship Cor- 

 poration built and launched the Aberdeen 



in 17% days from keel-laying. This was 

 a wooden boat, and the record is so much 

 better than any previous performance in 

 the history of wood shipbuilding that it 

 defies comparison. 



Now, remember that two years ago the 

 building of the Tuckahoe would have 

 taken a year or a year and a half, the 

 Invincible two years or more, the Crazvi 

 Keys nine months or one year, and the 

 Good Lord only knows how long it would 

 have taken to build a wood boat. 



The success of American shipbuilders 

 in lowering the time required for build- 

 ing steel vessels is due to three important 

 factors : 



First, and in my mind foremost, is the 

 splendid spirit that actuates the men in 

 the yards and leads them on to better and 

 better performance. 



Second, the organization that has been 

 built up in our yards in the last year 



