John A. Donald to William G. McAdoo

UNITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD
Washington

My dear Mr. Secretary
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of May eleventh, and answering the inquiry of the President regarding the alterations on the PENNSYLVANIA, PRESIDENT GRANT and PRESIDENT LINCOLN in order to increase the carrying capacity, I beg to advise that the removal of the second, third and fourth class accommodations on those ships will not affect their stability even when these spaces have been filled with cargo instead of passengers. These spaces are situated in the tweendecks and orlop decks of the ships and therefore when filled with cargo they will not be above the metacentric height of the ship.

Besides, when stowing deadweight cargo, i. e., cargo which stows in forty cubic feet or under, the full capacity of the ship under deck would not be filled and therefore there would be no danger of upsetting her stability. If, on the other hand, the ships were wanted to carry assorted general cargo, it is always arranged to put the heavy cargo in the bottom of the ship and fill up the tweendeck spaces above with light weighing, but bulky, cargo. Besides this, as those vessels are of great beam dimensions, any questions as to stability with any kind of cargo, if properly stowed, may be considered quite remote.
Trusting that this answers the President's inquiry and all of which is respectfully submitted,
I am,
(Signed) JOHN A. DONALD