LUXURY AT SEA.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11588, 20 May 1903, Page 9

LUXURY AT SEA.

What is hoped will he the fastest Atlantic liner afloat is now (says a London paper of April 2nd) receiving her finishing touches. The Kaiser Wilhelm 11., the North German Lloyd Company's latest leviathan, will make her maiden trip from Southampton to New York on April 15th.

The arrangement* for the luxurious comfort of the passengers, their safety, and speed -without vibration are remarkable. "Imperial" suites with dining, drawing, bed, and bath rooms, greater subdivision of the vessel into -water-tight compartments, and four separate sets of engines are the keynotes of the general scheme. The Kitmmer rate for an "Imperial" suite is £400 for the single voyage. The principal dimensions of the ship are: Length, 706 ft 6in; beam, 72ft; depth, 52ft 6in. These are not, of course, records, although they come to within a few feet of the measurements of the Cedric. There are in all seven decks. Two propellers at eighty revolutions will drive the Kaiser Wilhelm 11. at twenty-three and a. half knots on hour. Favouring seas and the maximum of 40,000 horsepower from the engines will, it is expected, break the Deutschland's record for Sandy Hook to Plymouth in five days and seven hours. Tho driving shaft weighs 265 tons. There are forty-six and a half miles of tubing in the condensers. The nineteen boilers bare a heating surface of about two acres and a half, and each weighs 114 tone. The coal bunkers are equal to those of the four largest battleships afloat. For conveying the coal to the furnaces there is a railway track 200 yards in length. Four kitchens can, if required, provide meals daily for 2900 persons, but this figure is not likely to be reached, as the actual number of passengers ie to be limited to 1888, witih a crew of 600.

Children have their own saloon to play in, and there are private safes to guard passengers' valuables. Viennese cafee, which constitute an innovation, will offer a temporary change of surroundings.