to the feed water line. A
number of possibilities could be mentioned, all speculative. However,
there was no doubt that this equipment could be properly installed in
the reconstructed hull, either on the lower deck or in the hold.

Two questions have been raised as to machinery arrangement--whether
the engine, and boilers also, might have been forward of the wheel
shaft, and whether the wheel shaft was above or below deck. If the
engine were placed forward of the wheel shaft, the wheels might be
farther aft than is proposed in the reconstruction. However, the
smokestack could not then be forward of the wheel shaft as shown by
Marestier because it would have had to pass through the engine frame,
thus interfering with the movement of the large crosshead. If the
engine were abaft the wheel shaft, the stack could have been only as
shown by Marestier. The boilers might then have been forward of the
wheel shaft only if the stack were at the end away from the firebox.
However, the length of the boilers as indicated by the Russian
description would then have required them to pass through the bows!

Models have been built of the _Savannah_ in which the engine and
boilers are forward of the paddle wheel shaft, and the shaft below the
main deck. This was accomplished by placing the engine off center so
that the stack came through the decks alongside it. This is an
impractical arrangement because it would have created an impossible
ballasting problem. The weight of the engine, to port in the models,
would have to have been counteracted by ballast to starboard. Due to
the coal bunkers, and the possibility of two boilers below the engine
in the hold, there would not have been room for sufficient ballast. In
addition, were such ballasting possible, the combined weights were too
far forward to give proper trim, and a great deal more ballast would
have been required far aft, a most impractical proceeding.

The position of the wheel shaft was determined as described earlier.
The ship was apparently well-advanced in construction at the time of
purchase. Her clamps and shelves supporting her upper deck beams,
which then would have been in place, were important strength members.
In reconstructing, to place the wheel shaft below these members would
not only bring the engine nearly level--it is described and shown
inclined by Marestier--but also would immerse the paddle blades too
deeply for the draft and depth of the hull. To place the sha