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6 MARINE REVIEW. Tips From the Man on the Dock. The opponents of the whaleback die hard. The other day I happened in Detroit and picking up an evening paper the fol- lowing met my eye in the marine column: "McDougall's whale- back tug Islay at West Superior needs a new boiler so soon. She is only a year old." This seems a trivial item in itself but for the fact that all marine items in Detroit papers tend towards belittling the work of outsiders, and the "whales" have come in for more than the usual dose of criticism. Passing over mis- statements as to the boat's age, has the learned "marine" who evolves the nautical notes for the combined Detroit press never known of anything but a whaleback requiring new boilers after a season or two's work? Ifhe hasn't let him inquire round a little and he will learn something. And by the way the Islay isn't any more a whaleback than is the ferry boat on which the aforesaid "marine" rides to and from Canada. A little further down the same column I notice a billious paragraph charged to a "Buffalo exchange'*in which great stress is laid on the wetting of cargo by the Colgate, and stating that the underwriters were wondering how the dickens the water got in, and that they were thinking there was something radically wrong with whaleback construction. When the learned underwriters are puzzled, what hope is there for the ordinary mortal? Yet fools might happen to rush in where angels fear to tread. He says this wetting in- dicates that she had a narrow escape from breaking in two. I suppose she broke part way anyhow. And I suppose also that no other beat but a whaleback ever wet a cargo. Methinks I do remember me of divers instances where the "regular pattern" disgorged many a bushel of damp unwholesome stuff, but that was an act of providence. Or perhaps they were so tight that sweating did it all. The able-bodied falsehood is also started on its travels that the "whales" never pass through a storm without wetting a good part of their grain cargoes. Just wait till '"Mac" gets after that marine! And that specter that was raised by other builders and labeled "light construction" is once more brought before the curtain and makesits bow. I thought 'Mac" had laid that out when he met it traveling under the auspices of a certain shipbuilding firm and offered to back the weight of material in his smallest "whale" against that in their largest steamer. Somehow or other the offer was neglected. I presume the other firm was too busy to attend to it. I never heard of any whalebacks going back to the yard to be strengthened, but I do remember what a s.urrying there was amongst the "regular pattern" to get in out of the wet last fall and get a bracer or two (ninety odd tons in one case and over a hundred in another) "not because they needed it but just because the owners and builders thought it best to be sure and be on the safe side." And now I remember that right in this same column I saw another paragraph that is quite pat. It concerned the Canadian steamer Rosedale. Here it isin full: " The Canadian steamer Rosedale had a wild time during the Oct. 14 gale on Lake Superior. Five pumps were kept going continuously. 'The boats were all washed away, the 4-inch iron davits breaking as easily as if they were matches. All hands wore lite preservers as they toiled. The spray put out the masthead light, 36 feet above the deck. During 36 hours the men never slept and had only wet bread to eat. Half of the cargo was damaged. 'The Rosedale was built across the Atlantic." Now how is this thus? A steamer built for the Atlantic trade, as the Rosedale was, and by the great British nation, and which was held up to us when she came here as "just the thing you know," ought to be superior to anything we can scare up in the way of a blow on "these here bloomin' ponds." But as you see she was out in the same blow as the Colgate and wet over half her cargo; and all this although she wasn't a "whale." What's the matter with the underwriters there? But then she got ashore on Lake Superior last spring the barge company fixed her up andthey probably hoodooed her. I saw it stated inan eastern marine paper a short time ago that many believe McDougall has horns, a tail, &c. 'This lends some color to the belief. It is now only a little over four years since the first whale- back scared the old timers up into the woods. It was called a pig. It certainly wasn't a bird. Just the same it had a litter and bye and bye one of them crossed the Atlantic, and when the savants "at 'ome" saw it, oh how they smiled and scoffed and pointed atit the finger of scorn! Especially did the London Engineer make merry over the "blawsted Yankee invention." But they got right at it to build others as near like it as they could get. Of course they missed lots of the good points, but we should not expect them to catch on too soon. The first one they built they called the Turret, and the Engineer gave a very flattering illustrated notice to the "new type of cargo boat, brought out by Messrs. So & So." I saw recently in the same paper a statement that the company operating her, the Turret Steamship Company, had whacked up a 20 per cent. dividend on less than a year's business. Today I was shown in the same paper full page illustrations, detail drawings, &c, of a genuine whaleback torpedo steamer of large size, spoon bow, arched cross-section and all. 'The editor serenely says 'we suggest a new type of boat," &c, &c. Coming back to our own lakes, I have never heard of any of the "whales'"' suffcring from stress of weather. Yet several of the "regular pattern" caved in this fall's gales and many a brave fellow went with them, and from sheer stress of weather too, More than one lake shipbuilder has tried to get as near the whaleback pattern as he dared, even though they scoffed at the same time. And while weare at it, there is at least one "whale" on the lakes whose work no other type of boat has ever equaled; at least so her owners say and they have had all kinds. I refer to the Pathfinder. I heard an old captain, who. sails a modern fine stcamer less than four years old, say that no matter what trim he was in or whether the Pathfinder and her big consort were light or loaded, she passed him just the same. I heardone of her owners say that dull as freights are and have been all the season, she will pay 16 per cent. I fancy mighty few of the "regular pattern" will do more than square themselves. Give us more 'whales' and let the underwriters croak. But it isn't the underwriters who are doing the croaking. It's the people who can't build whalebacks. Steam Tonnage on the Lakes. Thirty-eight per cent. of the steam tonnage inspected in this country by the officers of the steamboat inspection service during the year ending June 30, 1893, was in service on the lakes. This means, practically, that 38 per cent. of the steam tonnage owned in this country is on the lakes, as steam vessels are inspected once a year. Figures proving this statement will be found in the fol- lowing table, which is taken from advance proofs of the report of James A. Dumont, supervising inspector-general of steam vessels, and which again verifies the claim that not only is the steam ton- nage of the lakes greater than that of the Atlantic, but it is greater than the Pacific coast, western rivers and gulf coast combined: STEAM VESSELS INSPECTED IN THE SEVERAL DIVISIONS OF NAVIGATION DUR- ING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1893: DIVISIONS. Steamers.|Net tonnage. ee MMorthrernblalees, . 220. . oss... hatte. dese 2,139 652,923.60 9,136 PNUAMpICICOaS tgs sc .cts. Seas tp ee 3,519 588 524.83 15,736 NVCSTEENTIVELS: cece at tee. San ee 1,012 159,968.15 6,560 HRA CHIC* CONSUL. cA cc SINT. OU 632 154,031.31 3,426 Guilt Coagtac. untae eee oe ee ee 585 66,083.61 2,937 otalivertersetc eet 7,837 | 1,621,531.50| -- 37,795 Of fourteen inspection districts in which the tonnage is above 35,000 net tons, seven are on the lakes, and New York alone exceeds either Buffalo, Cleveland or Chicago in the number of vessels inspected. The following table shows the number of steamers, net tonnage and officers licensed in fourteen leading local districts : LOCAL DISTRICTS. Steamers./Net tonnage. ee Ne We OUKere Secret, re oe URES 1,169 297,428 5,708 TRUER ROMMEL t.... then). tR coke ckih, eves 349 148,005 1,518 Cleveland......... rahe otc, 308 137,277 1,284 ON Oe eam cuastiteeceess ce eee 290 133,853 "1,282 Samy Mnanotses. nota, bes kiran ied cess 256 102,559 1,717 sega ee a ee las foyer de. 369 61,460 1,501 Wily aticce meee oo Ste eset 226 59,465 865 Ba ltimoMnennece gees 4 el?.. cP hecese. SEA 310 58,748 1,527 Bo MtO nema ent ae 485 58,109 1,986 ING WAOIMEANNrs totter ae, test ee en! 288 54,270 1,749 ADE REE ete «tT. tee essed bes css. 164 . 51,135 981 DROIT eee wut 208 50,930 1,110 Be outs ce eee 3 eth ae oar 160 41,698.<| 1,197 TO ee, 156 35,357 499 SS Sa pp aan Eis (OTS 2 a