Show IDLE SHIPS IN JAMES RIVER problem of disposal probably will reach congress early in the session HAVE VALUABLE MA MACHINERY CHINERY marine men say engines could be taken out and installed in other vessels skeleton crows crews have little to do norfolk va what to dp with about wooden and steel ships lying idle in james river is a question that will probably reach the floor of congress within nathin a short time the wooden ships are mostly anchored in the vicinity of claremont there are as ag many as six moored to geaber side by side so close that it Is possible to step from the deck ot of one ship to another without any danger of falling overboard skeleton arelis are employed and the only work they are inquired lequir ed to do Is to keep the decks and fixtures clean and stand watches thes they are called upon sometimes to daub a little paint on the sides side of the ships but five hours out of 0 the day they have nothing to do but play checkers cards or indulge in any other pastime they see lit fit there Is valuable machinery in the ships that marine men say could be taken out ou and put to use in other ves aels most of the ships are equipped ith the best of engines and the government ern ment it la Is claimed could realize considerable money out of their sale Ship shipbuilders builders say the engines could be installed in barges that could be used to transport freight between baltimore and ana philadelphia end norfolk ala la tho the inland waterway or in freight carriers operating between new york providence boston and norfolk constructive plan offered one shipbuilder makes this suggestion strip the machinery from the wooden ships then organize a corporation po ration or several corporations to build steel hulls bulls or barges on a comparatively ively inexpensive plan and install the engines in them these barges would be invaluable for coastwise trade or even for trade with cuba and could be operated at a cost much less ess than the present steamships of course it will take money to put such a plan in operation but it does not require a large financial outlay the steel hulls can be built in any 0 one of a half dozen shipyards on hamilton roads and the prospective 1 e c tive reduction in the cost of labor null the decrease in the cost of material competition would be keen for the building of these craft there is little chance of any of the ships ever being of any material service again because only a few of them would be worth the ex er alwn p tit of repairing ot of sea trade A gimi ninny of tile the ships are already beginning I to show decay and it would not ix be surprising it if several of them ere altogether within a ipar or so it Is the opinion of benor nien men that when ben the govern l ein ang e to tn di eard alio tin we n p a hips completely they will wilf be bio blown wn tit up with dynamite as if they were n menace to navigation the people of Cli cleremont tremont are divided on lit the benefit the has derived by the location of the fleet near that town the anchorage occupied by the ships is referred to as the bone yav many go in but none come out la Is tile the way robert M manter inter a river man mail who tilio hils has resided near claremont CIa remont since it a few days after the civil war refers to hie file boneyard bone yard last days of the monitors Mo minters opinion Is shared by others because all the old inhabitants ot of claremont city point and other james river landings remember the rate of seven monitors that the government decided to discard 25 years ago among these monitors were the catskill Maho mahopac pac ajax and Caco canonicus nicus III n their day they were looked upon with tile the smile respect as the present lay ilay dread dreadnought naught they mere flere the back lione hone of the american navy there canie caine a day however ichen tile llie government found it a burden to I 1 erp eel gliebe ships in active service so they were sent up to the lames james river for seen nen years they lay at anchor olt city boint then they were sent further up the tames james river to a point about five miles below Illch mond there they almost rotted to pieces and then alien they began to leak the government ordered them thein to norfolk to be on the junk pile the place for laying up idle ships is the york river this historic tream like the james empties into hampton ampton II roads lind and during the lat six sis weeks at least vessels that came caine into hampton ampton II roads did lot lint go out again instead they steamed lowly up york river and anchored at a point a few miles beyond hampton ampton II like their sister ister ships lit in the james they will remain until old father time the tides fishes and crabs pune lure holes in their bottoms |