S84 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mat 38, 1891. 



MAID OF HONOR. 



THE steel steam yacht shown in the accompanying plans was 

 designed by Mr. Dixon Kemp for the Earl of Cawdor and is 

 now building by Day & STimmers & Co., of Southampton, Eng. 

 Her dimensions are: 



Length over all 142ft. 



L.W.L 117; t. 



Beam 17ft. 9in. 



Draft 10ft. 6in. 



Displacement, long tons 198 



Boiler, steel, length 8ft. Bin. 



diameter 9ft. lOin. 



Eurnaces, two, diameter SCt. 



Heating surface 818sq. f t. 



Grate area 3teq. ft. 



Steam space IBOsq. ft. 



Cylinders, diameter lOJ^ and 30'n. 



strolie gSin. 



Propeller, bronze, diameter 8ft. 



pitch 13ft. 6in. 



surface of blades , ITsq. ft. 



The hull is built entirely of steel, under Lloyd's special survey, 

 and will be classed 100 Al. The arrangement of the interior is 

 clearly shown by the plans. 



The question of having a boiler pressure of 1601bs. instead of 

 lOOlos. and tliree cylinders (triple compound) instead of two was 

 considered, but the advantages claimed for the higher pressure 

 are scarcely available for steam yachts. The saving of coal is the 

 chief advantage and this saving, as between steam of lOOlbs. and 

 leOlbs. pressure, is, as nearly as possible, 18 per cent. A steam 

 yacht of the horse power to be developed on board the Maid of 

 Honor will consume about 100 tons of coal in a season; the saving 

 would therefore be only IS tons, or say £25, while the additional 

 cost of the boiler and machinery for working at 1601bs. would be 

 at least £500. the interest of which alone would equal the saving in 

 coal. Ot course, if very long voyages are comtemplated, during 

 Wblcb the yacht might steam 20,000 or moi-e miles, the case would 

 be altered, as the saving would be very considerable, and, more- 

 over, for any given bunker space the coal which could be stowed 

 would last longer. 



IN THE DELAWARE TIDES. 



SATURDAY, from a yachting point of view was just about right; 

 a bright, breezy day, the very dust cloxids on snore making an 

 excuse to get out as nearly as they could to where the white caps 

 chased each other rapidly over the old "Coffee grounds" bar. Bar- 

 ring the promise that the wind would go down with the sun, 

 the day was an ideal one for sailing. (Standing around with 

 hands m pockets, secretly wishing some other fellow would come 

 along ana gel his feet wet bendiug on tuat jib, the captain of the 

 little keel sloop Nance sudaeniy awoke to the fact tuat the new 

 Burgess center boarder was about to get under way for a trial spin. 

 The question of a possible wetting was out _o' sight at once; to 

 hustle out a crew of two, bend on tne delinquent jib and clear up 

 the disorder the carpenters had left took but a short time, and by 

 the time the Burgess thirty bad a start ot half a mile, the little 

 20-looter was heeling down smartly to the fresh so'westerly wind 

 and dashing throtigh the flying spray like something alive. With 

 all lines neatiy coiled down ana in place we were in trim once 

 more and wnile ihe big boat sticks to her reefs and storm jib we 

 are carrying whole sail with tolerable comfort, the crew scrung 

 out along the weather rail. 



While the treeze kept fresh the more powerful boat keeps her 

 lead and we got no closer. It is a straight look down the river, 

 however, and presently under the lee of the big Quaker City ware- 

 houses and manuCactoriea we are almost in a calm. The big fel- 

 low evidently disdains to shake out a reef for so small an opponent, 

 so we crawl slowly up on him.foot by foot, until we can easily read 

 the big gilt initials on the hanasome Burgess counter. A stiff pulT 

 between the buildings takes oft her captain's hat and opens out 

 the space of clear water between us beiore we feel it. By close 

 windward work we manage to pick the hat up and, as tne wind 

 grows lighter and lighter for the next two or tnree miles, we are 

 able, when nearly opposite naughty old Gloucester, to tof s it to its 

 owner. Knowing full well the licking that awaits us should we 

 venture down the breezy shore with our big companion, and satis- 

 lied with our impudent achievement, about we go and with lifted 

 sheets start homeward. Dodging the force of the stream we edge 

 close along the Pennsylvania snore, in and out of the docks, the 

 lessening wind barely giving us headway against the four knot 

 tide. To our sorrow we venture over the flats below the Southwark 

 quarters, keeping as nearly as we can judge about a foot of water 

 uader our keel. A sudden "Look out anead," a sharp turn of the 

 Wheel hard to starboard— and we bring up with a proverbial "dull 

 thud" that is simply sickening in its grim promise that we shall 

 stay just where we are until the tide turns. Oft' comes the canvas 

 and hard at it we go with pry and hawser, uselessly of course. The 

 tide is leaving us fast and in twenty minutes a foot of red is show- 

 ing below the waterline. Then only are we able to see what we 

 have srruck and find we have driven directly through the rotten 

 side of a wrecked barge, long forgotten, and the receding waters 

 leave us high and dr^ m a perfect cradle. Supported on an even 

 keel by the decayed ribs of the wreck, her bow nigh in the air, the 

 poor little jSance looks a most mournful sight, seeming to say to 

 us piteously as we row olf in the tender "Please let me down." 

 Satished ot her temporary safety and seeing nothing to do else, 

 we hie us to Gloucester by dint of a hearty white ash breeze and 

 regale ourselves on all we can get— planked shad and "Roches- 

 ter;" no bad diet for hungry men. We are back again with the 

 turn of the tiae, but it is eleven o'clock before it touches her, and 

 well into the quiet of a cltar SSunaay morning before it lifts us 

 softly off our unsought perch, and home we go in the dawning. 



Jib Hank. 



BENDING WOOD. 



A MARKED feature of the new part steel construction that Is 

 rapidly coming into use in American yachts is the steamed 

 and bent frame that is used between the steel frames, the com- 

 mon practice being two steamed frames between each pair of 

 double ones. 



The use of all double sawn frames, that was universal but a 

 few years since, has been largely abandoned in the construction 

 of racing yachts under 50tt., and the bending of the oak frames 

 has become quite an important matter. 



The common method is to bend the frames to shape over a tim- 

 ber block, tne plant being of a primitive sort, and tne percentage 

 of spli t and damaged frames very large. The frames, after being 

 stay lathed, are set up m the same manner as sawn or steel ones 

 and regulated by batten. In the new Fife cutter Barbara, the 

 bent frames, of which there is one to every steel frame, are wider 

 and thinner than in the American boats, and were steamed and 

 put in place after the plaukmg was fastened to the steel frames. 

 The same method was followed, we believe, by Mr, PiepgtKS in 

 Bedouin, Uriva, Ileen and Wenonah, all of which have alternate 

 sawn and steamed frames. 



The bending of oak lor frames is not a difficult matter with the 

 proper plant, but as usually carried out there are plentv of frames 

 hidden by plank and celling which should never go into a boat, 

 especially into one in which every member is expected to do its 

 full share of the work with the least possible weight. The fol- 

 lowing letter, which we copy from the Iron A(i6, shows to what a 

 degree of perfection the bending of wooa nas been brought in 

 otner branches. Of course there is a dilBculty in yacht work 

 from tne fact that but few pieces of any one snape are required, 

 but this IS not insuperable, and there is room for a very great im- 

 provement over existing methods: 



"Of course, benaing wood is a science; the wood must be steamed 

 just right, with the right kind of steam, or it will be brashy and 

 soft. Nearly all kinds of wood will bend, if treated right. The 

 writer lient a carload of black birch double not long since. The 

 latest use to which the bent wood has been successfully adopted 

 is for the rims or faces of wooden pulleys, it was a difficult work 

 at first to master the rims. They nad to be bent for large pulleys 

 from great heavy plank 14ft. long, 4in. thick and 13in. wide, and 

 for all the pulleys as wide as the lumber would run. The largest, 

 strongest and latest improved machinery was constructed by the 

 Menasha Wood Split Pulley Company, ot Menasha, Wis., who had 

 determined to make bent wood rims for pulleys. They have the 

 largest bending machine in the world, it will bend a rim for a 

 12-inch diameter pulley one minute, and the next moment will 

 Dend a great, strong, heavy, hard wood plank for a 9fa'-inch diame- 

 ter pulley. It will bend a stack of rims as high as the highest 

 church steeple in one day. The men who operate the steam Doxes 

 and the machine have bent stock for wagons, sleighs and plows 

 for twenty years, and the rims are as square and true and perfect 

 as it is possible to make any rim by any means. They tnink they 

 nave done badly if they break more than one single piece in a 

 week. Now and then tne steel straps used with cast iron upsets 

 to inclose the lumber while bending will break, ajid the heavy 

 plank, released from its bend, wiU fly off and knock the men flat 

 down on the floor or strike them in the ribs or stomach, or they 

 Just barely escape a flying piece of iron; still, they very soon get 

 up aad at it again as if nothing had happened, These iittle 

 kaeeWovvBS their pastimes, and add tba only variety te the 



gTEAM YACHT "MAID OP HONOR," DEisrouBD by Dixon TSmm, Esq., 1890. 



