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10 MARINE REVIEW. Marine REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. Published every Thursday at No. 516 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, O. SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per yearin advance. Singlecopies Io cents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on appli- cation. The books of the United States treasury department contain the names of 3,761 vessels, of 1,261,067.22 gross tons register in the lake trade. The lakes have more steam vessels of 1,000 to 2,500 tons than the com- bined ownership of this class of vessels in all other sections of the country. The number of steam vessels of 1,000 to 2,500 tons on the lakes on June 30, 1893, was 318 and their aggregate gross tonnage 525,778.57; in all other parts of the country the number of this class of vessels was, on the same date, 211 and their gross tonnage 314,016.65. The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1893, was as follows: Gross Class. Number Tonnage. Steartt vessels.........sccccccccsssccsosesencsseveees 1,731 828,702.29 NSAIIINS VESSEIE.cccsoesrecasscceembaeveus-asveeszes 1,205 317,789-37 Canal boats..........++- SS ee oreo cetalas cabot Cagueass 743 76,843.57 BAY POG... ccdeccccsnsscnsceiccscceccevesconsevesscesss 82 37,731-99 Total....... Meena rsiiest aisecje isos iiavlen'stsi 3,761 1,261,067.22 The gross registered tonnage of vessels built on the lakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States com- missioner of navigation, is as follows: Number. Net Tonnage. MBOQnetacmesaecevactersessccsceces Mateseaceceents« 225 107,080.30 Mics Oe enis sep eeseteleaeteiesesieisetenteneneieenctinss 218 103,515.00 CU sheer eecneeirsustiscrencccstcnecssecedesecss 204 I11,856.45 OO 2 ameaectcasmenss itece teal ecsdecs sree 169 45,168.98 MOO Bier eco sitet vanes de cuteness creitewincine sles «se 175 99,271.24 PUG een teeesie otra disteanscconstsess 991 471,891.97 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1893. 1892. 189t. 1893. 1892. 1891. No. vessel passages} 12,008 12,580] 10,191 3,341 3,559 4,207 Ton'ge, net regist'd|9,849,754) 10,647,203 8,400,685 || 7,659,068} 7,712,028/8,698,777 Days of Navigation 219 223, 225 365 365 365 Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. C. H. WEstTcorT'?, supervising inspector of steam vessels in Detroit, discusses in a public interview the communication of A. K. Cooley, Esq. of Bay City, in the last issue of the REVIEW, regarding the neglect of many captains of vessels on the lakes to answer passing signals. In addi- tion to the penalty attending conviction in the United States courts for violation of the law covering passing signals, the steamboat inspectors are empowered to revoke the license of any officer convicted of such of- fense. Mr. Westcott is of the opinion that violation of the iaw is so com- mon as to warrant the treasury department in making special efforts to locate the offenders, and says that he will give prompt attention in his capacity as inspector to any reports made to him. Would it not be well for some careful masters who know of violations of the law to give Mr. Westcott or some others among the inspectors an opportunity to show how far they will go in putting a stop to this negligence. A NAVAL, officer who has been on the lakes during the past week, and who is well informed regarding department matters in Washington, says that leading navy officials have expressed a desire to see lake ship yards compete for the building of the three torpedo boats, for which an appro- priation has been secured in the last naval act. The question of treaty relations with Great Britain regarding the construction or maintenance of war vessels on the lakes would undoubtedly be again raised in event of an attempt to award sucha contract to a lake ship yard, but with a suc- cessful bid and the support of the navy department there is a possibility of technicalities being overruled in thiscase. It would seem that this question of being barred from undertaking naval work of any kind is wor- thy of united action on the part of lake ship builders. Let a meeting be held and the subject submitted to the navy department in proper form. Now that contracts are being let for constructing a part of the Henne- pin canal, and with the Chicago drainage canal well under way, a few people interested in lake commerce are wondering why the subject of a lower water level on the lakes as a result of these projects has not been given more serious thought. In acommunication elsewhere, Mr. Richard P. Joy of Detroit directs attention to this matter. That there is some reality in the Hennepin canal project there can now be no doubt. Con- tracts for the four-mile section, let several days ago, have been approved by the war department. The second four miles will be let late this month and the third four-mile section early in December. ----_ Wirn the completion of the two light-house tenders for which appro- priations were made by the last congress, the light-house service of the United States will have thirty-two steamers and two sailing vessels en- gaged in the construction and maintenance of aids to navigation. This is irrespective of thirty-four light-ships also employed in the service. The two new steamers--one for the lakes and the other for the New England coast--are to be the finest in the service, as they are to cost $175,000 each, although only $70,000 for each has as yet been appropriated. pee eee "THE proposed Lake Erie ship-canal between the Ohio river and the lakes looks a little nearer practical materialization" says one of the New York papers. Yes, about as much so as the Keeley motor and various other chimercial projects wildly conceived in the minds of impractical people. But the writer of news paragraphs several hundred miles distant from the lakes is not to be blamed for error of this kind, when senators and representatives from lake states will permit of appropriations being secured for surveys attending such canal schemes. Fog Signals. The Siren, invented by Cagniad de la Tour, was adapted to use as a fog signal by A. and F. Brown of New York under the direction of Profi Henry. A first-class fog-siren has a trumpet like the Daboll trumpet. The sound is made by driving steam through radial slits in a fixed and a rapidly revolving disk placed in the throat of the trumpet. There are twelve radial slits in each disk, and the moving disk revolves 2,400 times in a minute, thus producing 480 vibrations per second. A pressure of _ fifty pounds of steam is required, and under the most favorable circum- stances the first-class siren can be heard at a distance of from twenty to thirty miles. It is made in various sizes. A self-acting siren, made by the same firm, is not so expensive and nearly as effective. It requires no engine, as the steam itself revolves the disks. A Crosby signal, a clockwork device, gives the characteristic auto- matically, and automatically winds up each time the siren blows. One of them, in duplicate, is at Execution Rocks light station on Long Island sound, and cost $925 without boilers. A first-class siren, in duplicate, with- out boilers, costs $4,800. The light-house board has bought the patent on the Crosby signal. Experiments have been made with a smaller siren costing about $500, and consisting of a hot air engine and a centrifugal blower. From the results of experiments made by General Duane, the power of the first-class siren, the 12-inch steam whistle and the first-class Daboll trumpet were expressed thus: Siren, 9; whistle, 7; trumpet, 4; but the relative expenditure of fuel, siren, 9; whistle 3; trumpet, 1; and the relative economy of fuel, siren, 1; whistle, 2%; and trumpet, 4. Length of blast and varying intervals between blasts in these three kinds of fog- signals indicate to the mariner the location of the fog signal he hears. The ninety steam and hot air fog signals of the United States have cost about $7,500 each, and the yearly expenses of maintaining them is about $1,250 each. As has been said, the sound of the fog signals is subject to aberra- tions not easy to explain, so that they may be heard loudly where we would expect them to be heard faintly, and heard faintly, or not at all, where we would expect them to be heard loudly. It seems proved that the mariner approaching a fog signal from the windward, should go aloft, and when approaching from the leeward, he should go as near the surface of the water as possible, to pick up the sound of a fog signal most quick- ly. The mariner should not judge his distance from a fog signal by the intensity of the sound.--Cassier's. Miscellaneous Mention. Tonnage of New York state canals from the opening of navigation to Sept. 1, for the past ten years, as compiled by the canal officers at - Albany, was as follows: 1885, 2,489,942 tons; 1886, 2,994,159; 1887, 3,088,244; 1888, 2,590,875; 1889, 3,003,246; 1890, 2,983,859 ; 1891, 2,461,695; 1892 2,271,021; 1898, 2,413,047 ; 1894, 2,622,486. Notwithstanding the dull season, the traffic through the Portage lake canal this year has shown a decided increase over the corresponding pe- riod of last year. The large increase is due to the fact that the canal and Portage river entrances have been greatly improved, and now admit of vessels of much greater draft passing through. The Avon went out of the canal this season drawing 15 feet 1 inch and went up the river drawing 14 feet 9 inches. One of Uncle Sam's most faithful servants, in Maine, but one that draws no salary, lives at the Portland Head lighthouse. 'This is a large gray parrot brought from Africa some time ago and presented to the keeper ofthe light. The bird soon noticed that when the fog began to blow in from the ocean somebody would cry out, "Fog coming in! Blow the horn!" One day the fog suddenly began to come in thick and no one noticed it, as they were all busy. Poll noticed this and croaked out, "Fog coming in! Blow the horn!" And now, whenever fog is perceptible, Poll never fails to give warning.