8th June.
THE rapid advance that is being made by our trans-Atlantic cousins in the art of naval construction is strikingly shown by the completion of the largest ship that has ever been built in the United States. This magnificent vessel is the twin-screw steamship Korea, one of two sister ships for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, to ply between San Francisco and the ports of the Far East. The Siberia, which is her equal in every respect, is expected to be completed very shortly. The dimensions of these leviathans of the deep are coles: Nearly fifty years have passed away since the Great Eastern was built by the Eastern Steam Navigation Company, which was forme! to maintain jan ocean steam-route to the East round the Cape of Good Hope. An actual comparison of that great vessel with the Korea would serve to forcibly impress on the mind the immense progress that has been made in ship-building during the last half-century. The almost insuperable diffichities that the engineer and builder of the Great Eastern were called upon to surmount have, by the inventive skill and ingenuity of modern engineers, been done away with, and the Korea, with all its wonderful appliances and ingenious contrivances, has probably been built with less expenditure of thought and anxious solicitude than was given to its great predecessor.
The length over all of the Korea is 572 ft. 4 in. (550 ft. between perpendiculars) and 63 ft. moulded beam. There are three complete decks, four tiers of beams, and promenade deck. The gross tonnage is estimated at The ship is designed to have a large cargo-carrying capacity, and accommodation is provided for a large number of passengers. As the trip across the Pacific is a long one, her coal bunkers are unusually capacious, but in order that the ship may make use of her sails if necessary, ample capacity for water ballast is provided. The vessel is expected to be capable of making 18 knots sustained speed. One of the most interesting and complete installations on the ship is the refrigerating plant. It is on a very large scale even for this class of vessel, and is provided with the idea of carrying cargo in cold storage as well as furnishing the passengers with all the luxuries and delicacies that cold storage makes possible. The accommodations for passengers and crew are confined entirely to the boat, promenade, upper and main decks, where there are provided quarters for 200 first-class passengers, 60 white steerage, 1,200 hinese steerage, and 236 crew.
Most of the staterooms are on the promenade and the upper decks, They are all panelled in white with dark cherry trimmings. Each is provided with a white enamelled iron bedstead, brass fittings, upper and lower berths, There is in each room also a transom seat capable of being pulled out and converted into a berth, and a folding lavatory stand with porcelain and cut glass fittings. All the arrangements and appurtenances of the ship are, in fact, of the most elaborate and luxurious style. The ship The dining-room is capable of seating is, indeed, a veritable floating palace. 202 persons, and is finished entirely in olive green, white and gold. The social hall is situated onthe promen-I.}ade deck forward. It is floored in slate and white rubber tiles, uphold-stered in red plush, and the walls ornamented with panels in staff work above a mahogany wainscoting. Just abaft the social hall is the music room, which is carpeted in red and upholstered in dark red plush. The woodwork is mahogany and the staff panels are tinted in light colours to harmonise with the general rich red effect. There are also four sets of staterooms en swire, two on the starboard side and two on the port side ofthe ship, the furnishing of which most handsome and costly. On the extreme after end of the promenade deck house is the smoking room, which is tiled in red and white rubber end upholstered in red plash; the woodwork being cherry of auch wine colour, In the centre is an endossed buffet, and on each side, and around the ends of the houses on this deck is an uninterrupted promenade over a tenth of a mile in length. The sanitary arrangements are all unto date and complete in every particular. Extensive toilet rooms are provided for ladies and for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.