The Shunfung ('Uninterrupted Success") a very powerful new tow-boat, built at the International Dock by Messrs. 8. Farnham, Bord and Ca, to the order of the Kochion Transportation and Tow-boat Ao., Ld. of which Messrs. Hopkins, Dunn & Ca. are the agents, trial trip on Tuesday afternoon. Bhunfung left the P. & O. joy about 3.30 p.m. and took an up-river course, thet in the Sh they had really first-class tow-boat. She would prove good poor-man's boat, as of course they were not looking for anything with gilt edges. He had always found Messrs. Farnham, Boyd and Ca. most obliging in every way, and hoped the Company would be able to place with them another order before the end of the year. the coupled with the name of the He had pleasure in proposing success to indefatigable Mr. Mauchan, Present on the trip were several representatives of the builders, agents, and owners, the Istter including several Chinese shareholders. The many shipping firms represen! 1) expressed in the Settlement were also pleased and satisfied with the afternoon's The Shunfung, which was built according ta the designs and under the supervision John Ford, consulting engineer, is a steel, single-screw tow-boat, more attention having been paid in her construction with to the let of H. Astrea, the regard to power than to peed, although French gunboat Kersaint, the German she can average close upon 11 knots per cruiser Seeadler, tke Austrian cruiser hour, her contract speed being 10.5 knots. Kaiserin Elisabeth, the German cable-Her prin jeurions are: length over steamer Stephan, and the Chinese cruisers all, 100 f; length between perpendiculars, Kingehing and Nanshan, all moored in 96' ft; beam, moulded, at Trenteat width, single file in a line stretching from the Senior Naval Buoy tothe Chinese Bund, Then the Russian interned men-of-war Askold, Mandjour, and Grozovoi, all looking spick and span in their new coats of paint, Were seen alongside the wharves on the Pootung side, and just above Tungkndoo alongside the wharf was the barntout shell of the L-C. Yuenwo, Farther up the river were no leas than five Chinese cruisers and gunboats and two torpedo-
20 ft.; at deck, 19.5 ft.; depth, 11 ft. 6 in, Her draught aft, in ordinary towing trim, without water ballast, will be 8 ft. 6 in., and she is fitted with ballast tanks fore and aft for trimming. She has watertight bulkheads, each, firtod with sluice valrerod, deck socket, and sounding pipe. On the main deck, forward, is " powerful steam windlass, made by Clarke, Cuapman and Con warping barrels and hand gear.
Aft o® the windlass is the arsenal under its present management, the dock and engineering department becomes, at the end of the present month, and, under the title given above, a commercial undertaking in which Vi Yuan Shu-kai and Chaa Fu are jointly interested. It will still, of course, be entrusted with Government work, indeed one of ita first tasks will be the gradual reconstruction of most of the vessels of the Peiyang squadron, the Commander-in-Chief of which, Admiral Yeh, will be director-general of the new concern, with Captain Woo as director under him. In this connection it may be mentioned that it is probable that in the near future a post-captain of the British navy will again be appointed to take charge of the squadron, holding the same rank as Admiral Long, who retired at the outbreak of the China-Japan war, and the fest is to be reorganised on a more modern basis.
The joint foreign managers of the now undertaking will be Mr. L. Basso and Mr. R. B, Mauchan, the present Superintendent of the International and Cosmopolitan Docks. Mr. Rawsthorne, the senior boiler-maker of Messrs. Farnham, Boyd & Ca., also joins the Chinese "venture, which starts under the most encouraging circumstances. Already a large amount of business is promised, and it is evident that the breaking down of the monopoly hitherto held by Messrs, Farnham, Boyd & Ca, is widd welcomed. The Kiangoan Works are already furnished with most complete and modern plant, and " large staff of skilled boats, and then the river was clear of rytbing but nat nnfung was running against the last el saloon skylight, and then comes the deck- operatives is immediate lable. Autihouse, with saloon entrance and. lavatory cipating forward, and aft of which are the galley one dock, the diredtore have secu: ed the necessity of having more than the ebb and was making good speed, her engines working very smoothly indeed, at about 120 revolutions per minute. The Powder Mill and the Lunghua Pagoda wor and left astern and the Sicawei Observatory tower could be plainly seen in the distance. At 4.40 p.m. the vessel reached her turning point at a place about nine miles above the Pagoda, some way beyond the Seven-mile Reach. Here she was tosted for turning and performed her test most successfully, turning in about twice her own length. The journey back was against the first of the flood, and good time was made, the boat and lamp room, fette works of the if nie 1 by the louse and engine room. Aft again is the entrance to the crew's quarters. On the boat deck is a spacious wheel-house, fitted with modern compass and hand steoring gear, and a Chadburn engi room telegraph. On the port si a life-best, fally equal to any emergency. Below deck forward are the chain locker, in the fore peak, next to which is a corns fortable saloon with two cabins forward-Aft come the boiler room and engine room, and right aft are commodious quarters for the crew, with excellent and arriving at the P. and O. jetty at 5.
'30 airy accommodation for fourteen hands. The vessel is pro ceted with hardwood On the way back Mr. R. B. Mau-guards, 9 in. by 9 in., and is fitted with chan, who was in charge of the vessel 14 towing hook. for the builders, proposed success to the Th hi Shunfung and to her owners, the Kochien Transportation and Tow-boat Ao., Ld. Ho said that the Company had shown great enterprise, as evidenced by the factthst within the space of one year they had ordered two boats from Messrs. Farnham, Boyd and Ca. He hoped for another order from the same Company before the end of the year. With the toast of the owners, he coupled the name of Mr. J. Talloch, who sise deserved great credit for the enterprise shown by the owners. The toast was enthustically honoured, accompanied by three cheers and the inevitable tiger.
In reply, Mr. Talloch said that about 'a year ago Messrs. Farnham, Boyd and Ca. built for the Company the tow-boat Ling-kong, whose name signified " pilot." She had indeed been a good pilot and if the Shunfung turned out anything like the Lingkong she would be a complete snecoss. The Lingkong had ran for a whole year without a single hitch, and now that they possessed the Shunfong, the Company would be able to give the Lingkong rest. He be-being compound, surface the direct acting type, with. inverted cylinders of 16 in and 35 in. diameter by 24-in. stroke, and fitted with both hand and steam reversing goar. There is one mild steel, cylindrical return-tube boiler, single-ended, and 12 ft. 6 in. in diameter, with three Morrison suspension furnaces, supplying steam at a working pressure of 180 Ibs. and tested to hydraulic pressure of 260 Ibs. per square inch. The propeller is 7 ft. 9 in. in diameter
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.