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12 | MARINE REVIEW. Published every Thursday at No. 409 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohlo, by John M. Mulrooney and F. M. Barton. Surscriprion--$2.00 per year in advance. Single copies 10 cents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, $1.00. Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second class Mail Matter. The books of the United States treasury department on June 30, 1895, contained the names of the 3,342 vessels, of 1,241,459.14 gross tons registerin the lake trade. The number of steam vessels of 1,000 gross tons, and over that amount, on the lakes on June 30, 1895, was 360 and theiraggregate gross tonnage 643,260.40; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 309 and their tonnage 652,598,72, so that half of the best steamships in allthe United States are owned on the lakes. The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1895, was as follows: Gross Number. Tonnage. IS GORINDVOSSG] Sittere eet ceseretsscsestay.th soc eiavscceceessoastacts 1,755 857,735.13 WALITMPEVESSOISoeoei oh. cass tatheccsecetcensecnioethccece dot bcosvaneecbs 1,100 300,642.10 (Urs eee ae sce acer e sateen ee cose save Cae asta sewsiate 487 83,081.91 RO GA oe iacetee sc oh tus. hetege cess 3,342 1,241,459.14 The gross registered tonnage of the vessels built on the Jakes during the past tye years, according to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows: EATON ON xoUIMO Is sel Sle cere cocsetsccncceccschectsaieerccausesae 204 111,856.45 fs ne ' 189% 169 45,968.98 ue 0 ss 175 99,271.24 re ye 106 | 41,984.61 i oe se 93 36,352.70 ARO tle acc vetoes entis Siiee o's dates 347 335,433,98 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. (vom Official Heports of Canal Officers.) St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1895* 1894 1893 1895 1894 1893 No. vessel passages,........... 17,956 14,491 11,008 3,434 3,302 3,341 Tonnage, net registered...... 16,806,781] 13,110,366] 9,849,754)| 8,448,383) 8,039,175] 7,659,068 Days of navigation.............. 231 234 219 365 365 365 * 1895 figures include traffic of Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie, which was about ¥ per cent. of the whole, but largely in American vessels. Referring to the fining of vessels for running at a speed greater than that provided by law for the navigation of St. Mary's river, Mr. H. E. Schmuck of Springfield, Mass., said in a communication recently to the Review: "I donot think Capt. Davis or his men have any way under the present arrangements of determining, with any degere of accuracy, the speed of a yvessel--whether it is 5, 7, or 10 miles an hour--only by their own judgment." Mr. Watson, editor of the Engineer of New York, takes up this paragraph and proceeds to tell us that "it is quite possible to ascertain the speed of a vessel at any time within very small margin either way by the speed of the screw."' But Mr. Watson evidently failed to understand that the Capt. Davis referred to is the captain of one of the United States revenue cutters and that he passes judgment not upon the speed of his own vessel, but that of others, which are sometimes far rerroved from his revenue cutter; and his judgment as to speed will very probably be upheld in most cases, no matter what the other fellow may have to say about the revolutions of his propeller. But the New York editor's note about determining speed from the screw is, nevertheless, interesting. He says: "Suppose the engine makes 40 revolutions per minute, and the pitch of the screw is 20 feet. In 60 minutes there would be 2,400 revolutions, which, multiplied by twenty, equals 48,000 feet per hour run by the screw. This divided by 5,280, the number of feet in a mile, gives 9 2-5ths miles per hour. It is very easy to regulate the speed of a vessel by the turns of the screw, so as to make whatever speed 'may be called for. We have made no allowance in the above rule for loss by slip; 10 per cent. should be deducted for it."' It is probable that, on account of the great number of big river and harbor and coast defense works that are now demanding the at- tention of army engineers, no engineer officer will be selected to suc- ceed Col:.Wm. Ludlow, who was until recently attached to the United States legation at London. There has been no increase in the engineer corps since 1863. The work of the corps has steadily in- creased, and at present the engineers have more work before them than ever before. In addition to the vast amount of river and harbor work authorized by the last congress, contracts for coast defenses, in- volving an expenditure of $5,000,000 or $6,000,000, will soon be awarded, 'These contracts include," says the Army and Navy Jour- nal, "a large number of gun forgings, the manufacture of rifles and: the purchase of material with which to begin the preparation of the various sites for seacoast batteries. Land for emplacements in the majority of the cases has been obtained, and where it has not, con- demna"ion proceedings are being taken to secure it. The plans for the defense of the more important cities has been decided upon. The plans will not be made public, and the cities the fortifications are in- tended to protect will not know the actual number of guns to be mounted or the character of the works until they are nearly complet- ed. Congress has allowed $12,000,000 for the protection of the larger and more important cities from sea attack. The 16-inch rifle, now under construction, is intended solely for such fortifications, " The order in council from the new Canadian government opening the canals on Sunday may be welcomed in some quarters, but it is certain that as a whole the shipping community on this side of the lakes is not in fayor of an increase in Sunday work. Shippers and vessel owners in the iron ore and coal business especially have had enough of Sunday work and would gladly welcome a strong movement towards abolishing it entirely, if a leader could be found to undertake the task. Every dock manager on Lake Erie will admit that he has never profited by labor on Sunday. Losses can always be traced to temporary gains made in loading or unloading vessels on Sunday. An idea of the extent of the free light-house service in the United States may be gained from the statement that at the time of the board's last annual report the number of aids to navigation maintained in all parts of the country was 8,307. Of these 2,859 were lighted aids and 5,448 unlighted aids. The light vessels numbered forty and the fog signals 311. The British admiralty goes right along with the adoption of water tube boilers for war vessels. 'Thornycroft and Babcock & Wil- cox boilers have recently been ordered for four torpedo gunboats at a total cost of about $500,000. Two cruisers are also to be fitted im- mediately with boilers of this kind at a cost of about $140,000 each. Although the displacement of the French torpedo boat Forban, built. by the famous Normand of Havre, is only 150 tons, her engines have feveloped 3,250 horse power. It is not surprising, therefore, that she covered a distance of about 35 statute miles in an hour. Strange Accident to a Ship in Dry Dock, The strange accident to the wooden side-wheel passenger steamer Muskegon of the Goodrich line at the dock of the Milwaukee Ship Yard Co. has caused quite a discussion among vessel men. A ship builder who has seen the vessel in dock says she is a most complete wreck. "Tt seems," he says, "that the Milwaukee company docks vessels regu- larly without the use of horizontal side shores, which is a safe enough practice when the vessels are of full form with a long midship body, and when they have bilge blocks all ready to take and support the bilges. With a side-wheeler like the Muskegon, which has a short midship body and very fine ends, the procedure in docking should be different. It is best in vessels of this form to use side horizontal shores from about the fender strake to the side of the dock, to keep the vessel perfectly upright on the keel blocks, until the dock is pumped out and the bilge blocks are placed under the bilges. In fact, many builders keep the shores in place on side-wheelers until they are floated from the dock. It is claimed that the Milwaukee people did not place any side shores on the Muskegon, and the few bilge blocks amidships not fitting well, she lay over to starboard and plunged forward a bit, tripping most of the keel blocks, and those she failed to trip went through her or forced her bottom in. She is broken in three or four places on the keel forward and in one place aft: Both arches are broken clean through, and arch posts split to pieces. Her planking as far aft as the paddle wheels is torn apart. The cabin forward is broken to pieces and twisted out of shape, right fore and aft. She went into dock for the purpose of tightening a few holding-down bolts on the engine bed and was in good shape when she went in. She would have remained in service for some time yet this season if the accident had not occurred.' It will be quite a job to get the wrecked steamer out of dock. The Muskegon was buiit in 1871. She was of the old type of side-wheel steamers, with high arches and a wide overhang. Her insurance value was $25,000. Reduced rate tickets are offered for sale by the Nickel Plate road to points in Michigan, Wisconsin and the southwest for the benefit of hunting parties. 337 Nov. 1.