Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1895 — COST OF A LINER’S TRIP. [ARTICLE]

COST OF A LINER’S TRIP.

HEAVY EXPENSES INCURRED BY THE ST. LOUIS. Her Captain Alone Receives a Large Salary, but the Bills for Coal, Supplies and Wear and Tear Ar« Enormous - - Handsome Profits Realized. Much has been written about the great steamship St. Louis, which promises to be the forerunner of a magnificent fleet of Yankee built and Yankee devised transatlantic liners. Her many wonders of workmanship and her great engines have all been described and applauded. Naval experts have studied her to discover her worth as a war vessel, as she now belongs to the auxiliary navy of Uncle Sam, and has been so constructed that almost instantaneously she can be converted into a swift cruiser, with speed enough to catch up with or run away, if the latter be necessary, from anything that floats. An interesting feature of the St. Louis, but one which has not been touched upon, is the cost of maintaining her. She is a little city or municipality in herself, the Captain being the Mayor and the officers the Board of Aldermen. The agents of the big ocean liners are inclined to be shy about talking of the expense of their steamer, as the rivalry between the different lines is so intense that none of them care to give out information which may be business ammunition for another. Clement A. Griscom, Jr., son of the president of the line controlling the St. Louis, however, agreed to give some figures on the question when seen by the writer. He figured for some time, and then said that the expense of the round trip of a steamer like the St. Louis averages between $60,000 and SBO,OOO, according to the season. This is the busiest time in the year for the big liners, and when the St. Louis gets back from Southhampton her maiden voyage both ways across the Atlantic will have cost fully SBO,OOO. The voyage between the two ports will take a trifle more than seven days, making the daily cost of operating one of the huge sea monsters something like $5,500. In the winter time, when the passenger traffic is down to a minimum, the expenses, of course, are much less, and that is when the cost gets down to $60,000 for the.round trip. Men who spend SIO,OOO a month on a steam yacht, as Commodore Elbridge T. Gerry does, are regarded as terribly extravagant, but maintaining a vessel like the St. Louis for a month would cost something approaching the sum of $200,000. No single individual on the St. Louis gets a large salary. Of course the captain heads the list, getting about $5,000 a year. Captains on smaller passenger steamers only receive SB,OOO a year, which in those times of great salaries is not any too large. The chief officer of a ship like the St. Louis gets only about $1,500, whioll la oonoowhat email when it is remembered that the bulk of the heavy work falls on his shoulders. The second officer’s pay ranges from S9OO to $1,200, according to the size of the ship, while the third and fourth officers only get from S6OO to S9OO. All of these men have to perform duties of a responsible kind, and as there are no bonuses attached to their work it can be seen that they are not overpaid. These items also show that while the vast sums of money are expended on running ships of the size of the St. Louis, none of it is thrown away. The crew of the St. Louis numbers 410 men. Two hundred of these are in the engineer’s department, and all of them are directly under the authority of the chief. The steward department is the next largest, numbering 170 in all. The sailors, including the deck officers, number forty. The engineer’s department is the most expensive of the ship, owing to the immense coal bills. The St. Louis burns more than thirty tons a day, or about 4,500 tons the round trip. This means an expenditure of $15,000 alone. The salaries of the men, the engineering supplies, including the thousand and one things needed for the vast machinery of a great ship, call for $5,000 more every round trip. The chief engineer draws SB,OOO a year, and his immediate assistants receive $1,500, $1,200 and SI,OOO respectively., The stokers or firemen average SBO per month, and the furnaces of the St. Louis require 180 of them working in different shifts. The purser, who is the most important person on board, does not get jjuch in the way of a salary, as the company, in fixing his pay, figured on the large bonuses he receives for changing money and performing the little services which the wealthy traveler does not hesitate to pay for liberally. His salary is only SI,OOO a year, but he makes another $2,000 in fees, and sometimes considerably more. The ship’s surgeon only receives S9OO a year for the same reason. He is brought in contact with numerous real and fancied invalids of the wealthy class and, although no one is compelled to fee him, few fail to do so, and a big popular tiiip like the St. Louis is worth in the neighborhood of SB,OOO. to $4,000 a year. The steward s department is one of the costliest on the ship, as it provides the provisions for all the passengers and crew. The provisions for a round trip cost in the neighborhood of $12,000, and the salaries of the steward’s men amount to SB,OOO more. The stewards are the least paid of any on the ship, for the reason that in the fees of the passengers they collect a very respectable sum annually. All the pay they get is S2O a month, but they take in S4O a month in tips. The real downright seasick man and woman are almost willing to give their last cent for some little service, and the stewards who are constantly thrown in witli this class, of unfortunates reap a goodly harvest The chief steward receives $1,500 a year and also comes in for’his share of the tips, as it is within his power to place many delicacies in the way of the liberal tourist. The chief cook is a great man on the ship, almost as great as the captain, and in all makes $3,000 a year out of his job. The breakage and wear and tear on the ship and its furniture is very «eavy, requiring an expenditure in

incidentals of about $5,000 each round trip. There are countless little things to be replaced, and a compartively little thing like the washing of the ship’s linen means an expenditure big enough to support a man for a year in the lap of luxury. While the expenses are great, of course the income is proportionately large. A round trip that costs $60,000 should bring at least SIOO,OOO into the coffers of the company, if not considerably more. But when the expenses are down to $60,000 the company is glad to break even. Here are some odd facts about the St. Louis. There are fully 1,000 tons of piping of various kinds in the ship. The condensers will pump up at least 50,000,000 galians of cooling water a.day. The furnaces will consume no less than 7,500,000 cubic feet of air an hour. The boiler tubes, if placed in a straight line, would stretch nearly ten miles, and the condenser tubes more than twenty-five miles. The total number of separate pieces of steel in the main structure of the ship is not less than 40,000, and the total number of cubic feet of timber used in ths construction is more than 100,000. The total number ofrivets is not far from 1,250.000. A distinguished marine engineer of England once estimated that in a ship of this size, if all the steel which composes it were made into needles and placed in a line, they would reach moro than ten times around the earth, or the distance to the moon, 240,000 miles. Another expert has estimated that if the ship were propelled by galley oarsmen, as in ancient times, it would require a force of 117,000 men continuously at work to develop the same power that the engines of this ship will produce.