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| THE WHALEBACK STEAMSHIP - Among the novelties
of the World's Fair was the craft which is portrayed in our engraving
- the Christopher Columbus. On a cigar or torpedo-shaped hull which
is three hundred and sixty-two feet long, there rise seven turrets,
one of which is seen at the prow. These seven turrets support the
double deck, a structure on which the passengers ride, and the waves
may roll over the hull without reaching the people. The white steel
cylinder or hull holds seven hundred and thirty tons of water as
ballast, in nine compartments. Engines with two thousand six hundred
horse-power propel the craft at a speed of twenty miles an hour. The
whaleback idea had been in use for freight steamers, and is the
result of the studies of Commodore Alexander MacDougal. The Columbus
was built at West Superior to serve the Henry steamboat monopoly,
which secured the privilege of carrying passengers by lake from Van
Buren to Sixty-fourth street. The operation of this monopoly was
highly beneficial, resulting in a fine viaduct and wharf at Van Buren
street, a low fare, and a delightful trip. It may ben seen, however,
that on a rolling sea the passenger will be seriously disturbed, and
on one trip from the park to the city ninety people were ill, and
fifteen of them could not be immediately removed on reaching the
docks. The Columbus arrived in Chicago, May 18th, 1893, and was the
greatest marine wonder of our time. |
