he fared forth with troops on board.

The _Leviathan_ stood the test. And to-day we all know what a great part
she has played in carrying our soldiers to France. She is in fact, a far
better boat than on her maiden trip, for our engineers were surprised to
find how sloppily she had been built in certain respects.

In preparing her for sea the engineers found it necessary to overhaul,
partially redesign and reconstruct many important parts of the
_Leviathan's_ engines. As in her case, the most serious typical damage
was done by breaking the cylinders, valve-chests, circulating pumps,
steam and exhaust units in main engines; dry-firing boilers, and thus
melting the tubes and distorting furnaces, together with easily
detectable instances of a minor character, such as cutting piston and
connecting rods and stays with hack saws, smashing engine-room telegraph
systems, and removing and destroying parts which the Germans believed
could not be duplicated. Then there was sabotage well concealed: rod
stays in boilers were broken off, but nuts were fastened on exposed
surfaces for purposes of deception; threads of bolts were destroyed, the
bolts being replaced with but one or two threads to hold them, and thus
calculated to give way under pressure. Piles of shavings and inflammable
material with cans of kerosene near suggested the intention to burn the
vessels, intentions thwarted by our watchfulness, while the absence of
explosives has been accounted for purely on the ground of the risk which
the crews would have run in attempting to purchase explosive materials
in the open market.

No great amount of damage was done to the furnishings or ordinary ship's
fittings. Destructiveness was similar in character throughout all the
vessels and involved only important parts of the propulsive mechanism or
other operating machinery.

We have spoken of the investigation of the vessels by Shipping Board
engineers. They were appointed by the board not only to make a survey,
but to superintend repairs. The collector of the port of New York also
named a board of engineers (railroad engineers) to investigate the
damage done the German ships, and to recommend repairs through the
agency of welding. The railroad men, after due study, believed that
their art could be applied to as great advantage on ships as upon
locomotives. The Shipping Board engineers recommended, on the other
hand, the renewal of all badly damaged cylinders. The railroad
engin