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Whaleback Passenger Steamers. Some idea of the appearance of the McDougall passenger steamer for the World's Columbian Exposition, upon which work has been commenced at West Superior, may be gained from the drawings presented herewith. 'These drawings accom- pany Capt. McDougall's applications in this country and in Great Britain for patents on one style of passenger boat of the whaleback type. The world's fair boat will differ from the plans shown here in as much as she will be distinctly an excursion boat, will not be double decked above the whaleback hull and will be otherwise a modification of the ocean-going o> 9 0 FIG. 4, FIQ. 6, passenger whaleback, to which the barge company has at least given attention to the extent of preparing numerous plans and securing patents in different parts of the world. Ever since Capt. McDougall secured the assistance of capital in the building of freight-boats he has given a great deal of his time to designs of whalebacks for different branches of water transportation business. Plans for Atiantic liners 700 feet long with triple screws have been prepared after the style shown here, and the variety of designs turned out by draftsmen at the West Superior shipyard includes even lumber carriers with masts and sail. The descriptive matter accompanying the application for patents on the passenger boats in Great Britain is as follows: This improved form of vessel consists generally of a long metallic hull, having approximately straight sides, with a spoon- shaped bow, a cut-away stern, and a long cabin supported lengthwise above the hull on three rows of cylindrical turrets with supporting braces at each side. This vessel is intended chiefly for passenger service, and the principal objects sought to be attained by the inventor are the provision of large and airy cabins, and the attainment of high rates of speed with less mo- tion at sea than other vessels. [he general features of this modified whaleback steamer will be understood from the FIG. 1 Tait it [eat alee fee) EL. Wee Ls 'el leom = FIG. 2. FIG 3 accompanying illustrations, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, which rep- resent a side elevation, a longitudinal vertical section, a plan of the hull, a front elevation, and a transverse section respec- tively. The hull has longitudinal and transverse bulkheads, and a water bottom having a metallic top C, which forms a false bottom for the vessel. 'Ihe bulkheads extend from the false bottom to the top of the hull, thus preventing the admission of water in case of the vessel being thrown out of its equilibrium. D represents a deck situate some distance below the top of the MARINE REVIFW. 7 hull, which may be of any length. A 'Alare the engine and boiler rooms. The engines may be of any suitable number, but preferably three, for operating triple screws. A collision cham- ber E is provided at the bow, and a deck G is secured to metal- lic turrets F and additionally supported by stout braces H shown. 'These braces, which are virtually pipes, also serve for ventilation purposes. 'The hull is accessible from the cabin I by staircases through the turrets. A modification of this type of vessel is illustrated and described, in which the cabin extends from a point near the stern to a point midway between the bow and stern. The inventor claims: A hull for a vessel, having an arched top and an arched bottom, with a deck D, forming the chord of the arched top and with a false bottom C, forming the chord of the arched bottom; in a vessel the combination ofa hull and deck G, mounted above the hull upon turrets and extend- ing from a point near the stern to a point near the bow, so as to form a truss for the hull; a hull for a vessel having longitudinal bulkheads, extending from the extreme top of the hull to the false bottom C, and with cross bulkheads; in a vessel the combi- nation with the hull of the deck G, supported upon turrets and extending from a point near the extreme bow to a point near the extreme stern, and cabins I and J secured to the said deck G. Sault and Suez Canal Traffic. Returns regarding the the traffic passing through the Suez canal during 1891 have just been published by the British for- eign office. Although during the season of navigation (seven months) in 1889 and 1890 the traffic of the St. Mary's Falls canal, connecting Lake Superior with the other great American lakes, has exceeded that of the Suez canal for the full years, there is a difference of 298,092 tonsin favor of the Suez for r8qr. Trafic of both canals for twenty-three years past is shown in the following table: SUEZ CANAL. ST. MARY'S FALLS CANAL. Vieng No. of . Net yon No. of Net vessels. tonnage. vessels. tonnage. 1869 10 6,576 1869 1,338 523,885 1870 486 436 ,609 1870 1,828 690,826 1871 765 761,467 1871 1,637 722,101 1872 1,082 1,160,748 1872 2,004 914,735 1873 1,173 1,367,767 1873 2,517 1,204,446 1874 1,264 1,651,650 1874 1,78 1,070,857 1875 1,494 2,009,984 1875 2,033 1,259,534 1876 1,457 2,096,771 1876 2,417 1,542,676 1877 1,663 2,359,447 1877 2,451 1,439 ,216 1878 1,593 2,269,678 1878 2,537 1,667,136 1879 aa 2,263,332 1879 3,121 1,677,071 1880 2,026 3,057,421 1880 3,905 1,734,890 1881 2,727 4,136,779 1881 4,004 *1 567,741 1882 3,198 5,074,808 1882 4,774 *2,,029 521 1883 3,307 5,775,861 1883 4,315 *2 267,105 1884 3,284 5,871,500 1884 5,689 *2 874,557 1885 3,024 6,885,752 1885 5,880 *3,256 628 - 1886 3,100 5,767 ,655 1886 7,424 *4 027,759 1887 3,137 5,908,024 1887 9,355 4,897 ,598 1888 3,440 6,640,834 1888 7,803 5,130,659 1889 | 3,425 6,783,187 1889 9,579 7,221,935 1890 3,389 6,890,014 1890 10,557 8,454,435 1891 4,207 8,698,777 1891 10,191 8,400,685 Against Forward Turtle-Back Decks. In the construction of costly steamers there are features in- troduced one year that are often abandoned in the year follow- ing or within a comparatively short period when the cost of these styles or fashions--they can not well be covered by any other term--are taken into consideration. 'Take, for instance, the turtle-back deck forward, so popular among some owners a year or two ago. Some of these same owners have built boats during the past winter without turtle-back decks and would not have them on any account. Masters have presented strong ob- jection to the turtle-backs in their claims that they can not see well ahead and that sound is entirely different during thick weather and at times when every advantage is demanded for safety. SEND 50 CENTS IN STAMPS TO THE MARINE REVIEW FOR TEN PHOTOTYPES AND GRAVURES OF LAKE STEAMERS NEATLY BOUND.