Imperial and Royal Navigation Company of the Danube are so arranged that
the vessels belonging to its fleet can be hauled up high and dry or
be launched sidewise. They comprise three distinct groups, which are
adapted, according to needs, for the construction or repair of steamers,
twenty of which can be put into the yard at a time. The operation, which
is facilitated by the current of the Danube, consists in receiving the
ships upon frames beneath the water and at the extremity of inclined
planes running at right angles with them. After the ship has been made
secure by means of wedges, the frame is drawn up by chains that
wind round fixed windlasses. These apparatus are established upon a
horizontal surface 25.5 feet above low-water mark so as to give the
necessary slope, and at which terminate the tracks. They may, moreover,
be removed after the ships have been taken off, and be put down again
for launching. For 136 feet of their length the lower part of the
sliding ways is permanent, and fixed first upon rubble masonry and then
upon the earth.

Fig. 1 gives a general view of the arrangement. The eight sliding ways
of the central part are usually reserved for the largest vessels. The
two extreme ones comprise, one of them 7, and the other 6, tracks only,
and are maneuvered by means of the same windlasses as the others. A
track, FF, is laid parallel with the river, in order to facilitate,
through lorries, the loading and unloading of the traction chains. These
latter are 3/4 inch in diameter, while those that pass around the hulls
are 1 inch.

The motive power is furnished by a 10 H.P. steam engine, which serves at
the same time for actuating the machine tools employed in construction
or repairs. The shaft is situated at the head of the ways, and sets in
motion four double-gear windlasses of the type shown in Fig. 2. The