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OP ge a Se < = MARINE REVIEW. yo. WL Science in Ship Building. At the recent Engineering Congress in Chicago, a naval architect, who is at the head of the profession in this country, said in conversation following one of the morning sessions that it would be far better to give no recommendation at all toa young man seeking employment with the Cramps of Philadel- phia than to say for him that he had taken a course of prelimin- nary training in any of the scientific schools, here or abroad, de- voted to naval architecture or marine engineering, and that what is true of the Cramps is also true of the managers of many other ship building establishments in this country. Dr. Elgar, who represented the scientific men of Great Britain in the congress, and who was a party to the conversation referred to, said that in that country, with all its advancement in the art of ship building, the greatest difficulty has been found, for many years past, in coping with this feeling among the older heads in the business, and although it is gradually being overcome, there are yet many draw-backs on account of it. As proof of Dr. Elgar's statement, it may be noted that in an English journal just at hand--Fair- play of London--a writer, who represents what might be called the practical element in Great Britain, ridicules "the professor"' to the extent of a column or more, in a manner tending to leave the impression that the naval schools of countries farther ad- vanced than the United States in the ship building aor are utterly useless. a. : "Tam sometimes almost tempted to ask," says the critic, who is writing editorially in the English journal, "what benefit has been conferred on the world by the institution of the chair of naval architecture at the Glasgow University. 'To put the ques- tion in another way, what on earth is the use of the new-fashioned professors of naval architecture? happily living amongst us, and in some form or other in daily evidence; but I fear that, so far as practical business is concerned their value lies rather in what they profess than in what they perform." 'This is followed by sarcastic reference to alleged fail- ures made by Professor Biles in the management of the South- - ampton Naval Works and in designing the Windsor Castle, a - famous fast paddle steamer, while Prof. Elgar, who is a director _in the Fairfield Ship Building and Engineering Works, is charged with being responsible for a superfluous amount of vibration in the Campania. \ Is it any wonder then that in this country the same condi- tions exist and are complained of by men in all ship yards, who _Tealize the advantages of a combined theoretical and practical fitness for their work? Only a few days ago, a naval architect -inone of the lake ship yards, who does not find his work alto- gether congenial, on account of being deprived of sufficient help to make necessary calculations, ete., but who is paid a good found sum for valuable services on an important contract, was talking over this subject, and to illustrate his argument cited a case of a steel vessel built to go through the Welland canal. The boat was to pass through the canal locks very often, and the Most important instructions laid down by the owner was with -ategard to her draft. 'The expense and delays of pontooning were to be avoided, while the necessary features of seaworthiness and other qualities were to be secured, of course, and the distribution of material, in accordance with dimensions aside from the depth, taken into account. Unfortunately the boat had to be built from stock that had accumulated in the yard, aud therein lay the We have a brace of them CLEVELAND,..O.; anp "CHICAGO, ILL, AUG 2a eq No; & greatest source of annoyance. "'It was an uncommon occurrence," said the designer "to find an attempt to use a five-eighth piece of material where half-inch had been specified, and worst of all, I was told after my calculations proved correct and the boat had passed the locks by the closest kind of a margin, that it was all luck. This is only a mild case of its kind, but it will serve to show that the work on such calculations is not labor lost."' It is fortunate for this country that the ship building in- dustry here begins to show a revival at a time when the fact has been demonstrated, however much may be said to the contrary, that science enters very largely into ship building, and there will. be less prejudice to overcome than has been encountered in Great Britain and other countries that have been in advance of the United States since the advent of metal ships. Lake builders will continue to construct coarse freight carriers along the prac- tical lines developed with more or less progress in the hundreds of such vessels already built, but a better class of ships in other branches of the lake trade will be in demand in the future, and the builders who encourage a higher practice than that involved in turning out the present type of freight boat will profit by such a policy. Lake Freight Matters. With exports from the seaboard of 40,000,000 bushels of wheat during the past eight weeks, it would seem that Kuropean countries are taking the grain in sufficient quantities to warrant an immediate movement to Atlantic ports of the wheat still re- maining in Chicago elevators. Dispatches from Chicago tend to create the impression that delay is caused mainly by the refusal of the banks to provide freight charges. Some people well posted in the grain business do not believe that such is the case, how- ever, and they declare positively that the wheat has been sold against December delivery by heavy speculators, who are back of the present inactivity in shipments. A leading authority in ~ Cleveland for this statement is at the head of one of the largest trunk line railways of the country. If there is probability, then, of shipments of grain being delayed throughout the remainder of the season of navigation, the outlook for the vessel owners is certainly discouraging. There is little hope of the iron business developing enough improvement to render any assistance to the general freight market during the closing months of the season, as shipments are well up to sales, and with vessel owners forced now to accept part payment in paper on freight contracts, the amount of unsold ore brought down must, of necessity, be very light. The best proof of this is the action of concerns like the Lake Superior Iron Company and M. A. Hanna & Co. in placing their own boats in ordinary. The former company has just tied up four of its steel boats, and, as is well known, all of the Men- ominee line of six steamers have been out of commission for several days past. The steamer W. B. Morley has been chartered for a trip with grain and mill stuff from Duluth to Kingston. She was built to go through the canal, but is a little longer than the steamers of the Vermont Central Line, and will be the largest boat ever pass- ing through the Welland. FIFTEEN PHOTOTYPES OF THE LATEST LAKE STEAMERS AND A PICTURE OF THE GREAT EASTERN, NEATLY BOUND, FOR 50 CENTS. WRITE THE MARINE REVIEW, NO. 516 PERRY- PAYNE BUILDING, CLEVELAND, 0. ee ee wee nT ae TS, | ee