DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.33567#0079
27
The ship s frames were replaced as fast as there was room for them to be fitted into position, and
almost as soon as the point of the pyramidion was within the vessel the last frame was up and riveted.
As soon as the obelisk was entirely inside of the hold it was lifted clear of the track, which was
then removed from under it. There was hardly room enough to lift the weight clear of the channel
irons ; the work of removing them and the balls was tedious and trying beyond description. There
was so little room to spare that all operations inside of the vessel were greatly embarrassed and
delayed.
Plate xv illustrates the apparatus for turning the obelisk to parallel with the steamer's keel, with
the axis directly amidships. The bending of the heel beams of the turning structure, it will be re-
membered, had caused me much chagrin when the weight of the obelisk had been transferred to them
(see page 14). The bent keel beams (A) were utilized in the arrangement of the " turn-table,"
shown under each end of the obelisk in this figure. The obelisk was landed on them, with soft wood
intervening to prevent injury to the edges ; underneath the keel beams were the iron plates (7, also
belonging to the turning structure. These are shown on Plate ii in the position they were used while
turning the obelisk horizontal in Alexandria, and on Plate xxviii while placing it on its pedestal in
New York. Their function in the operation (illustrated on Plate xv) of turning the obelisk parallel
with the keel was simply to reduce friction. The arrangement of this " turn-table " occupied two days.
When it had been completed, hydraulic pumps (Jd Plate xv, lower figure) were applied to the two ends
of the obelisk, in opposite directions, and the obelisk was moved into position in three quarters of an
hour. Shores were set between the ship's side, where the pumps rested, and the dock, to form anchors
for the pumps to work against. The force exerted in turning the obelisk was equivalent to about
twenty tons.
PREPARING FOR THE VOYAGE.
On June 1, 1881, three weeks from the day the vessel entered the dock to embark the obelisk,
she was floated out with the obelisk on board. She was immediately hauled under the arsenal shears,
to re-embark her ballast and equipments that had been removed prior to entering the dock, and to
embark the pieces forming the base and steps of the obelisk. The largest of these pieces weighed
seven tons, and the smallest nearly a ton. A force of the best shipwrights that could be hired in
Alexandria was engaged shoring and stowing the obelisk for the sea-voyage. To obviate all risk
of breaking the obelisk by the working of the ship, it was placed on a bed of Adriatic white pine,
very spongy and soft, and ten feet of the extremities left without support. To prevent it from moving
laterally, a system of horizontal, diagonal, and vertical shores were fitted into the hieroglyphs, and
driven against the stringer-pieces of the steamer's hull ; and the vacant spaces between the deck
beams and the upper face were packed with wood so tightly that the wedges had to be cut out after
our arrival in New York. The diagonal shores from the lower edges of the side faces were notched
on the outboard ends, which were driven astride of the webs of the lower deck beams, and then
shored up from the wing stringer-pieces. This alone made it impossible for the obelisk to move in
any direction, and I have no hesitation in stating that the vessel might have laid on her " beam
ends " without causing the obelisk to break adrift.
A judicious distribution of the pieces forming the steps and base, the ballast, and the pieces
forming the turning structure, and other heavy material, brought the vessel to a good trim, and
insured easy motion in a sea-way. Additional coal-bunkers were provided by building bulkheads
between the upper and the second decks.
Providing a crew and securing a reasonable rate of insurance for the voyage had been the cause
of endless trouble and negotiation from the day the vessel was purchased until the day she sailed. As
there are no commercial steam-vessels of the United States trading to Mediterranean ports, I was
The ship s frames were replaced as fast as there was room for them to be fitted into position, and
almost as soon as the point of the pyramidion was within the vessel the last frame was up and riveted.
As soon as the obelisk was entirely inside of the hold it was lifted clear of the track, which was
then removed from under it. There was hardly room enough to lift the weight clear of the channel
irons ; the work of removing them and the balls was tedious and trying beyond description. There
was so little room to spare that all operations inside of the vessel were greatly embarrassed and
delayed.
Plate xv illustrates the apparatus for turning the obelisk to parallel with the steamer's keel, with
the axis directly amidships. The bending of the heel beams of the turning structure, it will be re-
membered, had caused me much chagrin when the weight of the obelisk had been transferred to them
(see page 14). The bent keel beams (A) were utilized in the arrangement of the " turn-table,"
shown under each end of the obelisk in this figure. The obelisk was landed on them, with soft wood
intervening to prevent injury to the edges ; underneath the keel beams were the iron plates (7, also
belonging to the turning structure. These are shown on Plate ii in the position they were used while
turning the obelisk horizontal in Alexandria, and on Plate xxviii while placing it on its pedestal in
New York. Their function in the operation (illustrated on Plate xv) of turning the obelisk parallel
with the keel was simply to reduce friction. The arrangement of this " turn-table " occupied two days.
When it had been completed, hydraulic pumps (Jd Plate xv, lower figure) were applied to the two ends
of the obelisk, in opposite directions, and the obelisk was moved into position in three quarters of an
hour. Shores were set between the ship's side, where the pumps rested, and the dock, to form anchors
for the pumps to work against. The force exerted in turning the obelisk was equivalent to about
twenty tons.
PREPARING FOR THE VOYAGE.
On June 1, 1881, three weeks from the day the vessel entered the dock to embark the obelisk,
she was floated out with the obelisk on board. She was immediately hauled under the arsenal shears,
to re-embark her ballast and equipments that had been removed prior to entering the dock, and to
embark the pieces forming the base and steps of the obelisk. The largest of these pieces weighed
seven tons, and the smallest nearly a ton. A force of the best shipwrights that could be hired in
Alexandria was engaged shoring and stowing the obelisk for the sea-voyage. To obviate all risk
of breaking the obelisk by the working of the ship, it was placed on a bed of Adriatic white pine,
very spongy and soft, and ten feet of the extremities left without support. To prevent it from moving
laterally, a system of horizontal, diagonal, and vertical shores were fitted into the hieroglyphs, and
driven against the stringer-pieces of the steamer's hull ; and the vacant spaces between the deck
beams and the upper face were packed with wood so tightly that the wedges had to be cut out after
our arrival in New York. The diagonal shores from the lower edges of the side faces were notched
on the outboard ends, which were driven astride of the webs of the lower deck beams, and then
shored up from the wing stringer-pieces. This alone made it impossible for the obelisk to move in
any direction, and I have no hesitation in stating that the vessel might have laid on her " beam
ends " without causing the obelisk to break adrift.
A judicious distribution of the pieces forming the steps and base, the ballast, and the pieces
forming the turning structure, and other heavy material, brought the vessel to a good trim, and
insured easy motion in a sea-way. Additional coal-bunkers were provided by building bulkheads
between the upper and the second decks.
Providing a crew and securing a reasonable rate of insurance for the voyage had been the cause
of endless trouble and negotiation from the day the vessel was purchased until the day she sailed. As
there are no commercial steam-vessels of the United States trading to Mediterranean ports, I was