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10 MARINE REVIEW. open. Found no trouble in making steam for this unusual speed. Barometer 30.10 inches. Test No. 5 was made at night. Dampers were closed. The condition of engine refers to the distance of the block in the reverse arm from position of full gear. Weighed all the ashes made during test No. 2 and found them to amount to 12.7 per cent. Fire hold was cool and entirely free from smoke all the time. ADVANTAGES OF THE ELLIS & EAVES SYSTEM, For two or three years past readers of the Review have heard a great deal about artificial draft, and now that a test of the Ellis & Haves system on a lake steamer is presented in this issue, it may be expected that the whole subject will be discussed from this time on with even more earnestness than it has been in the past. Although the advocates of this system produce strong arguments showing great results from small boilers and the highest efficiency with low fuel comsumption, they hold that it is nothing more nor less than natural draft intensified. That is to say, that there are no troubles or difficul- ties of any kind arising from its use that would not be met with in the use of natural draft with a high smoke-stack or chimney. By this system the gases are not driven in asolid body against the opposite side of the combustion chamber, rebounding on the tube sheet, but are drawn directly into the tube openings in streams as they come from the furnace. Hence it is claimed that with this system there is never any difficulty with leaky tubes. The absence of smoke from steamers using this system is referred to as an indication of its value over plain or other systems of draft. Smoke is-unconsumed carbon. The propor- tion of smcke indicates a proportionate waste of fuel, and in this con- nection attention is directed to the absence of smoke from the stack of the steamer under conczideration, the L. C. Waldo, a picture of which under full headway appears as a supplement to this issue. The accompanying engravings, taken in connection with the written explanation in the test, show very clearly the operation of the system. The following comment on experience with this draft is from a paper read recently at a meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects in England: "The main factor in the economy is the Serve tube, in combination with the retarder. It has on an average 75 per cent. more heat-absorbing surface than a plain tube of the same diam- eter. At the highest rate of combustion with 34-inch diameter tubes, the gases, when they reach the smoke box do not exceed 700 degrees. The heat-absorbing surface of the air-heating tubes completes the economy, the gases reaching the fans cooled down to 300 and 400 degree, having heated the air to from 200 to 300 degrees, according to the rate of combustion and amount of absorbing surface. In a num- ber of steamers working with Mr. Howden's draft, the substitution of Serve tubes for plain tubes has at once given an economy of 10 per cent."' Winter Quarters at St. Clair, Editor Marine Review:--As an old vessel captain, I take the liberty of writing you regarding facilities offered here for wintering vessels. Pine river, running through the city of St. Clair, twelve miles from Port Huron, is being dredged to a depth of 14 feet 6 inches. The work will be finishd about Nov. 15, and the outlay of $5,000 makes the river the safest place on the chain of lakes for wintering boats of all kinds. There will be no freshets or heavy flows of ice in the spring on account of crookedness in the course of the river. The city has all facilites necessary for taking care of vessels, includ- ing a good ship yard, machine and blacksmith shop, foundry, ship chandlery, etc. From the standpoint of safety, facilities are unequalled, as buildings in the vicinity are few in number and the water power is first class, with a fire department of the best kind. With large salt blocks here, salting of ships can be done very cheaply. St. Clair, Mich., Oct. 20, 1896. Geo. H. Couvrette. Cassier's magazine for November will contain another article pertaining to the fight between engineers and line officers in the navy. It is entitled "Inconsistencies in the United States Navy," and is said to present in a striking manner "the ridiculous policy pur- sued by the line clique of the navy in trying to belittle the engineer- ing features of the service and to impair its real efficiency." The November number of this magazine will also contain 'A Tribute to J. F. Holloway," by Charles H. Loring. Many Cargoes Over 5,000 Tons. Two steamers of the Rockefeller fleet, the Bessemer and Siemens, both built by the Globe Iron Works Co., Glevelina now lead all lait vessels in Lake Superior cargoes. The Siemens has just taken out of Duluth, on scant 16 feet draft, a cargo of 174,500 bushels of wheat, equal to 5,235 net tons, and the Bessemer has delivered at Conneaut from Ashland, on 15 feet 11 inches draft, an ore cargo of 4,637 gross tons, full weight, equal to 5,194 net tons. The steamer W. D. Rees has just delivered at the Cleveland & Pittsburg Ry. dock, Cleveland, a big cargo from Lake Superior. She brought down 4,518 gross tek on a draft of 15 feet 10 inches forward and 16 feet 3 stiches aft. Cor- rected cargo reco ds are as follows: Tron ore--Coralia, Mutual Transportation Co. of Cleveland, 5,088 gross or 5,699 net tons, Gladstone to Ashtabula, draft of 16 feet 10 inches: 8. 8. Curry, Hawgood & Avery Transit Co. of Cleveland, 4,569 tons gross or 5,117 net tons, Escanaba to South Chicago, draft of 18 feet. From Lake Superior--Steamer Sir Henry Bessemer, Bessemer Steamship Co. of Cleveland, 4,637 gross or 5,194 net tons, Ashland to Conneaut, draft of 15 feet 10 inches. Grain--Steamer Queen City, A. B. Wolvin of Duluth, 207,000, bushels of corn, equal to 6,210 net tons, Chicago to Buffalo, 16 feet 8 inches draft; steamer Maricopa, Minnesota Steamship Co., Cleve- land, 191,700 bushels of corn, Chicago to Buffalo. From Lake Superior--Steamer Sir William Siemens, Bessemer Steamship Co. of Cleveland, 174,500 bushels of wheat, equal to 5,235 net tons, Duluth to Buffalo, 16 feet draft. Goal--S. 8. Curry, Hawgood & Avery Transit Co. of Cleveland, 4,535 net tons bituminous, Conneaut to Gladstone; Selwyn Eddy Eddy Bros. of Bay City, Mich., 4,252 net tons anthracite, Buffalo to Milwaukee. Speed--Owego, Union Line of Buffalo, Buffalo to Chicago, 889 miles, 54 hours and 16 minutes, 16.4 miles an hour; Centurion, Hop- kins Steamship Co. of St. Clair, Mich., Buffalo to Duluth, 997 miles, 65 hours and 10 minutes, 15.3 miles an hour. First Passages at the Encampment, There has been some question as to vessels entitled to the distinc- tion of first passages through the new channel at the Encampment, St. Mary's river. Superintendent E. S. Wheeler of the St. Mary's. falls canal says in answer to an inquiry regarding this matter: 'On Sept. 16 the Colgate Hoyt and consort, both light, going up, passed through the cut. The channel at that time was not open; was in a _ dangerous condition, and the Hoyt was fined by the internal revenue officials for this action. On Oct. 11 the S. R. Kirby and consort went down through the cut, which, at that time, had not been opened to the public. She struck heavily and passed on. On Oct. 12 the ex- amination of the channel was completed and a depth of 174 feet of water was found witha width of 150 feet. There were six or seven large barges and consorts waiting to go through. The Mariska was | the first down bound, and the Fedora the first up bound."' | Capt. McKay and others who secured the buoys for Pelee passage and placed them in their present positions say that most vessels are not as yet shaping their courses so as to use the buoys to the best advantage. They should run straight for the red buoy, leaving it about 200 feet on the starboard hand; then run straight for the black buoy, leaving it about the same distance on the port hand; then direct for Colchester light, leaving it about a quarter of a mile on the port hand; then for Detroit river light. This would make a practically straight line from the red. buoy to the river light. Vessels from Cleveland could shape a course direct for the black buoy and save a little distance. Heretofore vessels have been going much too far - north, both at the middle ground and at Colchester. The department of public works, Chicago, Joseph Downey coni- missioner, is asking for bids for triple expansion pumping engines. Bids will be opened in two weeks, and marine engine building con- cerns that would like to bid can get specifications by writing to the above address. Plates for the new battleship to be built by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco will be ee by the Bethlehem Iron Co. of South Bethlehem, Pa.