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_ with large monied interests building large fleets. ° could never do; preparing the way for a great export business. 12 MARINE REVIEW. --= DEVOTED TO LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. hlo Published every Thursday at No. 409 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohlo, a by John M. Mulrooney and B. M. Barton. Sunscrrptron--$#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, 1896, contained the names of 3,333 vessels, of 1,324,067.58 gross tons register in the lake trade. The number of steam vessels of 1,000 gross tons, and over that amount, on the lakes on - June 30, 1896, was 383 and their aggregate gross tonnage 711,034.28; the number of vessels his class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 315 and their Essen 138s SLB, so that more than half of the best steamships in all the United States are owned on the lakes. 'The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1896, was as follows: Gross Number. Tonnage. Siig vessel i us Sailing VESSEIS ANG DATLES..........ccccsccesscenncsrerreeccncese 120. ATAU OAUS Eo cesrestescesccscnisrersscesrsse-venaccsacsscurccereoses 416 45,109.47 NOGA eeceeivscsvcravecetessevesere. sense esessscccses 3,333 1,324,067.58 The gross registered tonnage of the vessels built on the lakes during the past six years, accordiig to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows: ding June 30. 1891 204 111,856 45 Bees ae? oe 1892 169 45,968.98 sf sf 7 1893. 175 9,271. ef es se 1894 . 106 41,984.61 ° f a BOD ire starosessetecccecsenccesssessssenseses' 93 36,352.70 os ey = 1896 117 108,782.38 MO LHEerrcecetcayecssotaccreacoe-csenecechescssscaenessescsesere 864 444,216.36 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. (Mrom Oficial Reports of Canal Officers.) St.Mary's Falls Canals. Suez Canal. " 1896* 1895+ 1894. 1896 | 1895 1894 Number of vessel passages- 18,615 17,956 14,491 3,409 3,434 3,352 Tonnage, net registered...... 17,249,418} 16,806,781] 13,110,366]| 8,560,284) 8,448,383] 8,039,175 i 232 231 234 365 365 365 Days of navigation...... ...... *1895 and 1896 figures include traffic of Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie. One of the oldest shipbuilders now in the business expressed an opinion the other day that the advent of Rockefeller and Carnegie in the ore and vessel business would prove a blessing in a short time. "They are doing," he said, "what smaller concerns in the same lines This will in turn benefit all classes. I have gone through two other periods of depression in the lake business. They were not caused by men If the Rockefeller fleet had not been built some one else would have built in the next two seasons what was built in one." And however it may effect the business it must be remembered that the present Bessemer fleet will carry only 60 per cent. of the Rockefeller ore, and for the other 40 per cent. he must go into the market for tonnage. probably done this for all his ore had not he been compelled two years ago topaya lake freight of $2 per ton on ore that brought only a trifle more than that at Lake Erie ports. it would seem that he had the right to construct ships to carry his own ore on the common highway open to all citizens of the United States, without any one feeling that his rights had been invaded. The kind of arbitration that is thought to be most effective by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt, is shot and shell arbitration, backed up by a powerful navy, He says that preparation for war is the surest guarantee for peace. Arbitration is an excellent thing, but ultimately those who wish to see this country at peace with foreign nations will be wise if they place reliance upon a first-class fleet of first-class battleships rather than on any arbitration treaty which the wit of man can devise. Nelson said that the British fleet was the best negotiator in Europe, and there was much truth in the saying. More- over, while we are sincere and earnest in our advocacy of peace, we must not forget that an ignoble peace is worse than any war. A really great people, proud and high-spirited, would face all the dis- asters of war rather than purchase that base prosperity which is bought at the price of national honor. There is a shortage of seamen in the navy, there being some 700 vacancies. For this reason the gunboats Helena, Annapolis and Nashville, although ready for service are kept out of commission. In view of this a naval recruiting station may be opened on the lakes, If this number of men were recruited at Chicago it was thought that in He would have. Under these circumstances the fall it might affect wages through causing a scarcity of lake seamen, but twice as many could be spared without causing a scarcity in this line. The Importance of Speed in War Ships, A ship-of-war is, in her design, but a combination of compromises, For one service, she may be given great speed; for another great bat. tery power. Whether either is excessive, that service in naval wap alone will show. In considering speed, per se, as an element of offensive strength, the weight of expert opinion seems largely in its favor, as compared with other qualities of a war vessel. In the swift progress of naval science the gun, the means of attack, has distanced, time and again, the armor, the means of defense; and the theory is no longer novel or wholly unsupported that armor will yet be abandoned, that "armored ships will be as obsolete as mail-clad men." Indeed Lord Armstrong is credited with the statement that, in the future, "'light vessels of great speed, armed with quick-firing guns, are likely to be the order of the day." Speed of hull and rapid- ity of fire would seem to be, with him, the primary essentials. The ultimate test of expert opinion as tc the cardinal importance of speed as a factor in sea fighting, lies in the incessant striving to attain it that is seen in battleships to some extent, but most notably in the many cruisers which come in swift succession from the dock- yards of the world. It may be possible for the designers of one fleet to err in a '"'craze for speed;" it is not probable that those of all great navies should go astray in a matter so vital and so costly. By far the larger proportion of the first-class cruisers, armored or protected, which, in recent years, have been projected or completed, are ships with speeds varying from 19 to 21 knots; and, of those which equal or exceed 22 knots--projected, building or afloat--there is now a moderate fleet, among the leaders of which are the British Powerful and Terrible, armored cruisers, 14,250 tons, 25,000 horsepower, 22 knots; the French Jeanne d'Arc, armored cruiser, 11,000 tons, 28,500 ° horse power, 23 knots; a protected armored cruiser for Italy of 10,500 tons, 13,000 horse power, 23 knots; the Buenos Ayres of Argentina, protected cruiser, 4,500 tons, 14,000 horse power, 23.2 knots; the Chil- ean Blanco Encalada, protected cruiser, 4,420 tons, 14,500 horse power, 22.78 knots; the Nueve de Julio, of Argentina, protected cruiser, 14,500 horse power, 22.74 knots; and the Yoshino of Japan, an im- proved form of the latter vessel, with a speed of 23.08 knots It would seem that expert opinion favors extreme speed for large cruisers.-- Wm Ledyard Cathcart in Cassier's Magazine. 600-Foot Lake Vessels. The prediction that within ten years 600-foot vessels will be built on the lakes, is not probable, on account of the available depth of channel, but the Detroit Free Press prophecy is given for what it is worth. It says that it is thought that in the next ten years the present length of 440 feet will be exceeded by 150 or more feet. Experiments are being made with a central arch of steel running fore and aft, as it is in the length, not the width, that weakness is shown in a seaway. Then it is thought that girders will be so changed in position and com- position as to give greater strength and that strakes will not only be made stronger but better fastened as the method improyes with exper!: ment. The limit as to depth is certainly reached now, though 55 feet and even a little greater may be attainedin width. Therefore it would be necessary to introduce the arch and other means of strengthening. Not only the seas but the action of the engine gives the long hull the snake-like motion that is plainly perceptible if one stands at the after end and looks toward the bow. A steel arch, running amidships the length of the vessel, and well-braced, would so strengthen the modern steel vessel hull as to allow of the 550-foot length and greater, and at the same time not handicap the vessel with dead weight, giving it great draught when with light cargo. An excellent chart of Green bay and approaches, on a large scale has just been published by the United States h ydrographic office and may be had from the Marine Review. The chart is corrected to March 1, 1897, and takes in, with Green bay, the west shore of Lake Michigan from Manistique to Kewaunee. It will be of great value to masters of Lake Michigan trading vessels, as well as the men in charge of the larger ore and coal carriers trading to Escanaba. Soundingsare in feet and there is a scale of statute miles attachea. The price is $1.25, but the chart is so complete in detail that it is larger than the single sheet charts of either Lake Superior or Lake Michigan.