The Navy Secretary Goes Down Into the Big Hole

Secretary of the Navy Herbert spent yesterday in special inspection of the dry dock at Port Orchard, going over with a party of guests on the lighthouse tender Manzanita, which thus had the honor of being the first vessel to fly the flag of the Secretary of the Navy on Puget Sound. The secretary then made his first trip on the Sound, and the day, though opening dull and cloudy, proved an ideal one for showing the beauties of spring on these waters; for about noon the sky cleared and the heat of the sun caused a general shedding of upper garments.

The secretary made a thorough inspection of the dry dock and decided a question as to the manner of doing the work which had been awaiting his coming.

The party left the Ocean dock about 9:15 a.m. on the Manzanita, commanded by Capt. William R. Gregory, and went direct to the dry dock, arriving about 11 o'clock. On board were Secretary Herbert, Miss Herbert, Miss Buck, Mrs. McNicoll, Lieut. L. L. Kearney, U. S. N.; President K. O. Graves of the Chamber of Commerce and Miss Graves; Mr. and Mrs. Columbus T. Tyler, Gov. McGraw, Hon. Eugene Semple, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Hardin, C. J. Smith, Judge Thomas Burke, Gen. Gilbert Meem, F. M. Gilmer, Capt. Frank Taylor, U. S. A., and A. P. Burwell. On reaching the naval station they were taken by a steam launch to the receiving ship Nipsic, where Commander Morong, U. S. N.; G. White and R. G. Hollyday, the civil engineers in charge of the work for the navy department, all in full naval uniform, and Paymaster J. R. Martin and his clerk, William R. Wilson, met them, and, accompanied by Lieut. J. A. Blish, assistant lighthouse inspector of the Thirteenth district, escorted them to the dry dock.

As the Manzanita dropped anchor in the harbor the official flag of the secretary of the navy, blue with four stars and a foul anchor, was unfurled from her masthead, while the pennant of the lighthouse establishment fluttered forward.

On reaching the dry dock the secretary went to the bottom of the big hole, which is rapidly being transformed by Byron Barlow & Co., the contractors, into the finest of a great shipyard. He was accompanied by Lieut. Kearney and other officers, and was met by Mr. Barlow, J. E. Blackwell, his partner and the civil engineer of the firm, and J. M. Dugan, the superintendent of construction. Then began a discussion of the piling for the foundation among the various officials, during which two test piles were driven at the secretary's request. After an hour or two had been thus spent and a general examination of the work made, the whole party returned to the Nipsic, where the ladies of the naval station were met, and all partook of a bounteous lunch as the guests of Commander Morong. Immediately afterwards the secretary and Messrs. White and Hollyday retired to the cabin to consult regarding the piling of the dock, and were afterwards joined by Messrs. Barlow, Blackwell and Dugan in a conference which lasted until nearly 4 o'clock. While they were thus engaged the rest of the company whiled away the time in hearing the music of the First Regiment orchestra, which had accompanied them, in dancing, or in wandering in the woods and gathering flowers. The ladies of the naval station, Mrs. Morong, Mrs. White, Miss White, Miss Etta White and Mrs. Hollyday, proved welcome acquisitions, especially as they preserved the balance of power between the sexes in the dancing. So enjoyable did the ladies find the amusement that those of Port Orchard were invited to join the party on the return trip to the city and take part in the dance which followed the reception at the Rainier hotel last evening.

The start home was made before 5:30 against wind and tide, but the lapse of time was not noticed, for Miss Herbert led the ladies to an impromptu vocal concert in which they sang all their favorite songs of the North and South and several of the men chimed in. It was a merry party, of which Miss Herbert, as charming and unaffected as she is handsome, was the life and spirit. By this time the clouds had almost cleared away and allowed the white summits of Mounts Rainier and Baker and of the main Cascade range to peep above them, rounding out the beauty of the scene.

The work at the dry dock has been going on with great speed and promises to be completed a year less than the contract time, unless unexpected obstacles intervene. It is 630 feet long, 70 feet wide at the bottom and 130 feet wide at the coping. It is 42 feet deep and mean high tide comes within seven feet of the coping, giving 35 feet depth of water. The bed consisted of a hard compacted yellow sand, a partially formed sandstone, and in this piles are being driven four feet apart lengthwise of the dock and averaging three feet apart across it. To support ships, 12x16-inch keel blocks made of Ohio oak rest four feet apart on heavy timbers running the whole length of the dock.

But a serious question has arisen as to the depth to which the piles are to be driven in the foundation, which has delayed work for over a month. The following bed is so solid that the piles cannot be driven deeper than nine feet without being frayed at the head and split so far down that they are weakened and cannot be driven deeper. Yet the bureau of yards and docks has ordered that they be driven to a uniform penetration of fifteen feet and has refused payment for some of the piles already driven because they do not meet this requirement; in fact for some which are covered with concrete already paid for. This is the dispute which occupied the greater part of the time of Secretary Herbert yesterday, piling having been suspended since April 14 until the matter could be submitted to him.

The position of the contractors, which is strongly supported by Mr. White, the government engineer in charge, was thus stated by Mr. Blackwell, the engineer for the contractors: "The specifications require that the piles in the bottom be driven to a 1/4-inch test—that is, that a hammer weighing 3,000 pounds and falling twenty-five feet shall drive them not more than a quarter inch at the last blow. The natural bed is composed of such closely compacted sand, half-formed sandstone in fact, that the piles when driven to this test only penetrate from four to eight feet. We drove two test piles today, one penetrating seven and one-half feet to a 1/4-inch test with eighty-three blows and the other penetrating nine feet three inches with the same number of blows. In trying to drive one pile further, even with an iron ring around the head, we frayed the head and split it further down so as to almost destroy it. Yet the bureau of yards and docks has ordered them to be driven to a uniform penetration of fifteen feet. We contend that our contract does not call for this, that it is unnecessary, and that it can only be done by pumping them down with a water jet, which would destroy the formation of the earth into which they are driven. Pumping piles down with a water jet defeats the very object of driving them, for it is like digging a hole and dropping the pile into it."

Secretary Herbert finally decided that the piles should be driven with a water jet as a test, but the matter is likely to come up again, as Mr. White is very emphatic in his opinion. In talking of this controversy and the work at Port Orchard in general, Mr. Herbert said to a POST-INTELLIGENCER reporter: "I decided that they ought to put the piles deeper, and instructed them to use a water jet and see what was the result. Otherwise the work is going on well; the dock seems to be substantially built and is making fair progress. The site is a good one for a navy yard, the only objection being that it is not on the right side of the bay, where there is likely to be a railroad. I hope to have a railroad there some day, as it would be of great advantage in bringing in supplies, and there also ought to be a telegraph station there. I rely confidently on the enterprise of the people to supply these needs, for whatever is necessary I think the people of the state of Washington are going to do. You have a splendid body of water here and your people ought to be able to make it a great center of ship building."

The first sod was cut on December 10, 1892, and the contract time is three years four and a half months, but Mr. Blackwell hopes to complete it a year short of the time. During the winter work has been carried on continuously by electric light at night, and now it is carried on for sixteen hours a day by two shifts. It will be the largest dock in America, and two in Italy are the only larger ones in the world.

The gentlemen having in charge the entertainment of Secretary Herbert arranged an impromptu public reception in the parlors of the Rainier last evening, which was largely attended by the society people. Secretary Herbert, assisted by his charming daughter, Miss Herbert, and his niece, Miss Buck, received the guests, and for an hour several hundred people filed in and out of the parlor, shook hands with the secretary and ladies and passed on. At 9 o'clock the dining room was cleared for dancing, and the guests, who had assembled in full evening toilets, whiled away several hours in the mazy waltzes of the best composers.