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MARINE REVIEW. Water-Tube Versus Cylindrical Boilers. Editor MarInE REVIEW:--Although I may not always agree with your deductions, your editorials always interest me. In your issue of July 380th you admonish your readers to "Look for a boom in water-tube boilers," and you state that every issue of English trade journals of late brings accounts of the adoption of water-tube boilers in yessels of all kinds, ete. ete. That the "intensity" of this boom is more imaginary than real, I will with your permission endeavor to demonstrate. When cylindrical boilers are used in steamers--as they are in at least nineteen-twentieths of all those constructed the world over --the manufacturers of them do not find it necessary to "proclaim" the fact from the "house-tops," as if it were some "unusual oceurrence;" while the water tubular men, on the other hand, are '""vociferous"every time they get an order,and make such a "hubbub" about it, that the "uniniated"' are apt to conjecture that they are doing a "tremendous"business. I think I have remarked before in one of my communications to the REviEw, that "facts are stubborn things." To illustrate--steamers, as a rule, are run to make money for their owners. Steam yachts are an exception to this rule, and so are the navies of the world. There would be about as much sense in adopting water-tube boilers because the British or any other navy had adopted them, as there would be in adopting for the mercantile marine the same style of engines and other appurtenances that are put into pleasure craft or fighting machines, where the cost of maintenance cuts no figure or is a secondary consideration. Now for those "stubborn facts."? Thirty years ago it required 44 Ibs. of coal to produce one indicated horse power in marine prac- tice. To-day, in the most advanced practice with cylindrical boilers, it requires 1.07 lbs. of coal to produce one I. H. P. or less than one- fourth; and if any of your readers are sufficiently interested to know exactly how this is done, I beg to refer them to an article in Cassier's Magazine for this month on "Five Crank Marine Engines,"' by Thos. Mudd, with a cut of the engines. It is almost unneces- sary for me to state, that this remarkable result is partially brought about by the use of Serve ribbed tubes in combination with the Ellis & Eaves induced or suction draft, and that by the use of these ad- vanced appliances, the weight of cylindrical boilers for a given I. H. P. can be reduced. about one-third from the weight required to pro- duce the same power with cylindrical boilers with plain tubes and natural draft. ; Neither you nor I will live to see cylindrical boilers superseded by the water-tubular type for the mercantile marine, for the simple reason that it "won't pay," to say nothing of other insuperable objec- tions. The required power can always be obtained at less cost with cylindrical boilers if interested parties go the right way about it; and with less weight, if the increased quantity of coal it is necessary to carry is considered, to say nothing of the increased space taken up in a steamer by water-tubular boilers, which in many instances is enor- mously greater. The steamer Inchmona referred to in Cassier's Magazine, belongs to Messrs. Hamilton Fraser & Co. of Liverpool, and was built by Messrs. Wm. Gray & Co., West Hartlepool, England. She is quad- ruple expansion and is the first steamer ever fitted with five cranks. Why five cranks instead of four, is fully and lucidly explained by Mr. 'Thomas Mudd, who has written the article. | : The Inchmona is carrying 5,000 tons of cargo at 9 knots ona daily consumption of 114 tons of coal with a working pressure of 255 pounds. If you know of any steamers fitted with water-tubular boil- ers that are doing as well, or anywhere near as well, in point of economy, you will doubtless confer a favor upon many of your readers who are interested fn ships, by "putting them in evidence" to sustain your prediction. _ Very truly yours, New York, August 11; 1896. C. W. WHITNEY. Pleased With Howden Hot Draft. _ Editor Marine REvVIEw: Within the past few days, I have been aboard two lake steamers that have boilers fitted with Howden hot draft appliances, and as I have noticed some reference to this system of draft in recent issues of the REVIEW, it occurred to me that you would be interested in a few additional notes on the subject. The big Side-wheel steamer City of Buffalo has the Howden draft, and Mr. T. a Newman, general manager of the company, whom I met before boarding that steamer, told me that she was running on 24 tons of j il coal an hour, all of it Ohio grade, which is not as good as the Pitts- burg steam coals. As the ordinary 3,000-ton lake freight steamer, running only 12 to 13 miles an hour, burns full two tons of coal per hour, it would seem that the fuel consumption of the City of Buffalo is very low, especially when it is known that she runs regularly 18 or 19 miles an hour, and has as many as twelve auxiliary engines. But Mr. Newman, who is very much pleased on account of the low con- sumption of fuel on the Buffalo, makes a stronger comparison, as he says that she burns practically no more fuel than the State of Ohio, the older boat of the line. But aside from the question of economy, the great advantage of this draft to my mind is the positive blessing that it secures to men in the stokehold, which can be left open. This is a great adyance over any closed stokehold system, which as the name forced draft implies, involves the closing up of all openings between the-hold and the out- side air, the interior of the stokehold being under constant pressure of air. I have wondered why men who have vessels that are heavy con- sumers of fuel have not taken more readily to this system of draft. Sometimes I think it is because they are slow to try new appliances of auy kind, fearing complications, annoyances to engineers, etc. But there is nothing to annoy an engineer and nothing' complicated about this system. The air is simply drawn by means ofa fan through heating chambers situated at the front ends of the boilers, where it is heated by the gases from the furnaces as they pass to the smoke-stack, Kngine room as well as fire hold is cooled by it. An ordinary fan works noiselessly and takes up little room, and the power required to work it is hardly worth mentioning, as it would not be more than five horse power on a freight steamer having main engines that would develop 1,500 horse power. M. - Chicago, Ill., August 10, 1896. Conrad Starke. As a result of being thrown from his buggy, Conrad Starke died at his residence in Milwaukee Saturday morning. The deceased was born in Kohlenfelt, province of Hanover, Germany, fifty-two years ago, and settled in America nine years later. He came to Milwau- kee with his brothers, C. H. and Henry Starke, and some time later they engaged in the towing business. Capt. Starke was also president of the Sheriffs Manufacturing Company, and was the sole proprietor of the steamer HK. A. Shores. He had a large interest in the fleet of vessels owned by the Milwaukee Tug Boat company. Capt. Starke was first in command of the tug L. H. Boole, He then owned and commanded the tug G. W. Tifft, later the E. L. Anthony and finally the tug J. J. Hagerman: He was known as a straightforward, honest citizen and was noted for his generosity and at the samé time for a re- markable firmness of character. He knew no fear and was often found running a tug when no one else would venture out. He was an honorary member of Milwaukee branch of the Shipmaster's association.