An interesting and pleasant ceremony fowk place at the International Dock on Suturday afternoon, when the Japanese river gunboat Sumids, built by Messrs. Thorneycroft in England, and put together by Messrs. Farnham, Boyd and Ca., was Inunched. The guests to whom invitati had been issued to witness the launch went down to the dock in the ta Samson.
On the landing stage were a detachment of Chinese sailors and Chinese naval band. The former presented arms when the Japanese Consul, Mr. Odagiri, approached the launching stage, hile the Jatter struck up the Japanese National Anthem. The launching cere-many took place at about 2.30 p.m. As began to move down the slip Ydagiri broke a bottle of champagne ie boy, and at the same time cord Mr. von Ricker then proposed the health of the ladies present, and then all returned to the Samson to be brought back to Shanghai.
The Sumida is a shallow-draught river, gunboat and was built in England by Messrs. Thornycroft in ten separate floatable sections. She is 145ft: long, 24ft. broad and with a load of 30 tons draws 2tt. of water. The hull is constructed of mild steel and the sides above the water line are of Barveyised steel. The sections which came out here on a Japanese steamer are bolted together with double frames. Sne has nine transverse water-tight bulkheads and " longitudinal bu-khaad in the engine-room. The upper deck is supported by steel columns, girders and cross bearers, sufficiently strong to enable guns to be fired and troops carried. There 1s a conning tower on the upper deck on top vf w.ich is x powerful searchlight. The steering year consists of uwo rudders worked by two steam steering engines, one in the engine-room and the other on the upper deck. She is titted with two of Thornycroft's patent turbine-type propellers working in tubes. She has two sets of double compound, surface condensing engines to drive two propellers ata pressure of 140 Ibs. to the "q. inch. Steum is taken from two Thornycroft water tube boilers of the Speedy type. On her trial trip in England with her propellers
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.