“THE STONE SHIP.”

Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4905, 26 June 1918, Page 5

“THE STONE SHIP.”

FIVE THOUSAND TON VESSEL Several times latelv reference has been made in cables to the success of the new ships built of ferro-con-crete. American journalists have been exercising their ingenuity in the matter of nomenclature, and “The Stone Ship” seems to be the most popular. The Portland Cement Association is naturally deeply, interested in anything tending to an extension of the ferro-concrete business, and in a recently-issued pamphlet appears a description of the “Faith,” the largest concrete vessel afloat. Mr. Willis Polk, a leading Californian architect, referred to this vessel in the San Francisco Chronicle of March 16. 1918. writes:—“A match will float, a tank will sink, hence the primitive wooden ship, thence the marvel of the iron ship—now the incomprehensible stone ship! The Faith, a concrete ship, releases the wood and steel industries to more urgent uses; it is an omen and a token of world democracy greater than the submarine has been a menace—it is the Monitor versus the Merrimac; it is history repeating itself; it is had news for the Kaiser.” The Faith is a 5000 ton concretevessel, by ten times the largest ship of stone ever built. Thousands of persons ashore and afloat witnessed the launching, just as about 100 Tears ago thousands assembled on the Clyde to see the first steel ship float. A great flock of gulls that had been following a steamer on her trip from San Franisco suddenly deserted it and flew to the newly-launched concrete hull, thus promisingly adopting the new era inaugurated in shipbuilding. Triple expansion engines, capaoie of developing lv 60 horse-pov er, vei e installed in' the Faith, at the Union Iron Works. When leaded witu 5000 tons of cargo, the Faith wiJ draw, it was estimated, 24ft. A feature about the new concrete. ship is that, -on account of the weight oi the hull, no provision Is made for the carriage of ballast, as it is considered to be unnecessary. One pape,, referring to file Faith, has the following: “A ‘poured’ ship complete in six weeks, and 34 to come in _IS months. That’s almost like carving them out of solid stone, only quicker. Torpedo will here in vain against its bottom.” Concrete floating pontoons to carry heavy naval guns have already been used by the Italians on the River Piave. The Chamber of Commerce of the United States has urged upon Oongi'ess to appropriate 50 million dollars for the immediate construction of concrete ships on the ground that the vessels can be built quickly of materials readily available, the use of which materials will not interfere with, other war needs. It is also claimed that damages to concrete ships can he repaired much moro quickly, and also more cheaply than is the case with steel vessels. Another feature of the concrete ship is that a good deal of the work can be done by unskilled labor. If would seem that concrete . vessels will help to solve the shipping problem.