---
White Star Line Announces Decision---Combustible To Be Carried Between
Shells
---
(By Cable to The Tribune)
---
London, Dec. 10---The White Star company has taken an important step in
connection with the alterations to the Olympic now being carried out at
Belfast by Harland & Wolff. These alterations include the construction of
what is practically an inner or second shell divided from the outer shell by
a three-foot space.

The owners were greatly exercised as to how that space between the shells
could be utilized, and it has now been decided to use the space in the
forward and after bunkers for the carriage of oil, which in turn will be
used in one of the boilers as fuel by way of experiment. The owners are
hopeful that the trials, which will begin immediately after the Olympic
resumes her sailings next spring, will be entirely successful, and in that
event provision will be made on the new White Star liner Britannic, now in
course of construction at Belfast, for the space between the two hulls being
used for storage purposes.

This decision of the White Star Company marks an important step in the
history of fuel for ocean-going purposes, and the experiment will be watched
with interest by other owners of large vessels who are trying to find some
means of making use of the space between the two shells, as it is probable
that a double shell will now become the rule rather than the exception.