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. €eSsive h _ Tse of 1] - SX€s trom th MARINE REVIEW. To Prevent Collision at the Encampment, Geo. L. McCurdy of Chicago, representing the underwriters who are ~~ jnterested in the so-called McCurdy-Prime syndicate, and in the publi- cation of the Great Lakes Register, has made a straight proposition to the Lake Carriers' Association to maintain a signal service at the Encampment ~ jn the Sault river, where there is danger of collision on account of a sharp ~ 'turn in the channel. Mr. McCurdy submits the matter to the vessel owners jn a communication to Capt. Geo. P. McKay, treasurer of the Lake: Car- . -rier's Association, in which he says: _ "Capt. F. D. Herriman, surveyor-general of Great Lakes Register, has _ just made a thorough inspection of the Sault river. He calls my attention ee particularly to the dangers to navigation at Johnson's point, Sailors' En- campment. I may say that I have had several communications from the _. masters of ships trading to.the upper lakes, who have noted with concern the danger of collision at this point. It is at times impossible for a boat - bound up to hear a down bound boat's whistle, and the point seems to be one specially marked as needing some safe-guard to be placed thereon in the interest of the lake marine. Capt. Herriman says that the suggestion that the trees on the point be cut down, would be of little value on account of.the rise of the land from the end of the point, but he says that it is ab- _ solutely necessary that something be done, and that the suggestion of Capt. __ Jj..F. Vaughan of the steamer Northern Queen and Capt. of the steamer Sir William Fairbairn, that a flag be shown in the day time and a light at night, is a valuable one and should be adopted. I am au- C. G. Ennes thorized in the interests of Great Lakes Register to make the proposition _ to you, as a representative of the Lake Carriers' Association, for your consideration, and I trust approval, that the Great Lakes Register, at its own expense, will maintain such signals at this point for the balance of the _. season, and is ready to take steps to install them as soon as the approval of yourself and the government is secured. An endorsement from you to ._ this effect will be met with our immediate action. The suggestion made is, . that a white flag indicates to the up bound vessels the approach of a down bound steamer; underneath this is to be shown a red and white pennant 'should the down bound steamer have a tow. At night these signals are to be. replaced by a. red light for a steamer down bound, and a red light with . awhite light underneath for a steamer accompanied by a tow. I trust; you _.,will give this matter early consideration.and reply." _....On account of the.general disposition among government officials to ' Oppose private lights, private signals, or the marking of channels in any _-way other than through the light-house service or regularly authorized _ departments of the government, Capt. McKay has deemed it advisable to _ first submit this proposition to Commander Folger of the light-house service, _ who is in charge of the Sault river district, and to Capt. Davis of the teyenue cutter patrol service, who is expected to exercise authority over the passage of vessels at the point referred to. The action of Mr. McCurdy and his associates is commendable, and the proposition will be acted upon as hurriedly as possible, but it is thought best to first have a clear under- standing with the government officials. _ The So-called «'Tidal Waves" of the Lakes. Scientists in attendance at the meetings of the British association in Canada have been giving attention to the so-called tidal waves of the lakes. In a paper on "The Great Lakes as a Sensitive Barometer," presented by r. F, Napier Denison of the Toronto university, an attempt is made to explain the causes of these "water spouts," or "seiche,"' as they are Scientifically termed. Mr. Denison's observations were taken in the shal- lower part of Lake Ontario, fronting Toronto, under conditions strongly resembling those at the Lake Erie ports where the "tidal waves" have been most noticed. The records show that the longitudinal and transverse seiche" movements are very marked preceding and during storms pri- marily due to differences of atmospheric pressure over the extremities of the lake, but greatly augmented when the gale strikes the water surface. he mean time interval of longitudinal "seiche" is four hours and forty- ine minutes; the transverse, forty-five minutes. There is a marked agree- ment between the time intervals of the smaller lake undulations and those found upon the corresponding sensitive barograph traces, both showing 4 predominance of twenty-minute intervals. aa re Denison explains the smaller lake undulations as due to atmos- Phetic waves, which are set up along the boundary surfaces of different 'at strata when traveling in opposite directions. The action of these at- tuebetic waves upon the surface of the water tends to form minute un- Wations, which increase in amplitude as they move into bays, where the Water becomes shallower, until finally they assume the proportions as Tecorded upon the instrument. It was found that marked rapid and large undulations often occur during the autumn and winter months upon both ecnents, when the barometer is actually rising and fine weather pre- Bieeacver all the surrounding territory. The explanation is that at such outh an area of low pressure, a cyclone, is situated over the south or n athe States, which usually moves over or near to the lake region. ay cases the recorded atmospheric waves are due to the lower, denser of the anti-cyclone moving towards the southwestern cyclone, along Whose upper boundary surface huge waves, extending to the earth, are reece a the rapidly opposing upper poleward ¢urrent. The mean ve- ya this upper current in summer is 60 miles per hour, and in winter cualaa €s per hour. On the other hand, during the approach of an anti- tions e attended by fine weather and westerly winds, these lake undula- "matel aad extremely small, because the lower air moves in approxi- of t a € same direction as the upper poleward current. In illustration an Irect action of these air waves upon the surface of the lake, Mr. Son notes that on March 8 last, during the passage of several suc- utes, th uge atmospheric "billows," the water rose 8% inches in ten min- ee crane fell 101% inches in fifteen minutes, followed by the phenomenal ermen ares in fifteen minutes. The information obtained from fish- interval hh akes Ontario, Erie and Huron shows that a twenty-minute "Odal eas been frequently observed. between the two or more so-called _~ Waves" that follow each other. est ingore H. Worthington of Cleveland, who owns a controlling inter- l schooner yacht Priscilla (cup defender), which was brought to the tive to diss; € coast some time ago, has authorized a New York representa- spose of her if a purchaser can be found at a reasonable figure. Programme of New Aids to Navigation. Executive officers of the Lake Carriers' Association are prepared to _ present to. the light-house board, in time for action by that body before the next session of congress, their suggestions regarding new aids to navigation. on the lakes. Fortunately, the appropriations to be sought for the lakes this year will not be heavy, as no expensive light structurés are proposed. The vessel owners will be satisfied with a liberal appropria- tion for gas buoys, which have proven so successful in lighting lake chan- nels. In accordance with numerous letters from committees of the Ship Masters' Association and from other sources, suggesting locations in all parts of the lakes where gas buoys will prove of assistance to navigation, Capt. George P, McKay of..Cleveland has canvassed the whole; subject carefully and has just forwarded to the light-house board a list of these localities, graded as of "first importance,' "necessary" and "desirable." Gas buoys for some of these places, where they are most urgently needed-- at Starve island reef, Lake Erie, for instance--will be established before © the close of the present season, but for the great bulk of the list new appropriations must be secured at the next session of congress. The list as finally forwarded to the Washington authorities is as follows: ~ -- Of first importance--Starve island reef, Lake Erie; Gull island reef, abreast of Middle island (Canadian), Lake Erie; North point, Thunder bay, Lake Huron; Middle island, Lake Huron (a light-house at this point would be preferable); St. Martin's reef, Lake Huron (a light-ship. with fog signal at this point would be preferable) ; Five-Foot shoal, Detour pas- sage, Sault river; Pt. au Chenes, turning point at lower end of Mud lake, Sault river; off Mission point, below Pt. Iroquois, upper Sault river; off Round island point, upper Sault river; Graham shoals, Straits of Mackinaw; Waugoshance 16-foot shoal, Straits of Mackinaw; Racine reef, Lake Mich- igan; off N. E. point of Squaw island, Lake Michigan; Nine-Foot shoal at ""Death's Door," Lake Michigan. - OS Sale ae Necessary--Off Charity island, Saginaw bay; Gravely point, Saginaw bay; Major shoals, Straits of Mackinaw; South Fox island, inside shoal, Lake Michigan; Boulder reef, south of Gull island, Lake Michigan; Whale- back shoal, Green bay; Peshtego shoal, Green bay; entrance to South Chicago; Grand island, east and west entrances, Lake Superior; new shoal between Kelley's island.and South Bass island, Lake Erie; Rose's reef, W. by. S. of Buffalo harbor; Horse-Shoe reef, Niagara river; Strawberry channel, Niagara river; head of Russel's island, St. Clair river; .Chey- boygan shoal, Straits of Mackinaw; Rose's shoal, near Wauguchance, Straits of Mackinaw; Vienna shoal, Straits of Mackinaw; Outer shoals, "Death's Door,' Lake Michigan; Calloo island: shoal, Lake Ontario: Desirable--Niagara river, about W. by N..% N. from Green 'island, Lake Erie; north of Garden island, Lake Michigan; Nine-Foot shoal, Rock island passage, 'Green bay; Richards shoal, W. by S. from head of Beaver island, Lake Michigan; southwest end of Madaline island, Lake Superior; Port Austin reef, Lake Huron; newly discovered shoal about 114 miles southwest from Gray's reef light-ship; Hog island reef, Straits of Mack- inaw; outer end of Hyde Park, Lake Michigan; South park shoal, off Chicago; Drisco shoal, Green bay; South Charity shoal, lower end of Lake Ontario; Seneca shoal, near Buffalo, Lake Erie; Sturgeon point, Lake Erie; east bank of St. Clair flats channel, Lake St. Clair; Pt. au Barques reef, Lake Huron; Ottawa point, Lake Huron; Reynold's reef, near Spectacle, Lake Huron; southeast end of Mackinaw island, Lake Huron; Wiggin's point, Lake Michigan; South point, Milwaukee; Flat Rock, Escanaba. StLT A ise There are also a few places in Canadian waters where gas buoys would be of great advantage, but it is not expected that the United States author- ities can do anything towards lighting these places. The Canadian, points are: Waverly shoal, near Buffalo; shoal off North Harbor island, Lake Erie;, Grecian shoal, off Little's point, Lake Erie; Grubb's reef, near Pt. au Pelee, Lake Erie; Point Abino, Lake Erie; lower end of Stag island, St. Clair river; upper and lower end of Woodtick island, St. Clair river. With a view to assisting vessels trading to Lake Ontario it is :pro- posed, in addition to the gas buoys for that lake referred to above, to seek an appropriation from congress for a fog signal at Thirty-Mile point, and probably for a fog signal also at the town of Niagara. Discriminating Duties. The question of discriminating duties involved in section 22. of the new tariff act is attracting attention from commercial bodies indifferent parts of the country, and the decision of the attorney general is awaited-with considerable interest. This section of the new law provides that 'a -dis- criminating duty of 10 per cent. ad valorem, in addition to the duties'im- posed by law, shall be levied on all goods, wares and merchandise which shall be imported in vessels not of the United States, or which, being: the production or manufacture of any foreign country not contiguous to: the United States, shall come into the United States from such contiguous country; but that this discriminating duty shall not apply to goods, 'wares or merchandise which shall be imported in vessels not of the United 'States entitled at the time of such importation by treaty or convention to be entered in the ports of the United States on payment of the same duties as shall then be payable on goods, wares and merchandise imported in vessels of the United States, nor to such foreign products or manufactures as shall be imported from such contiguous countries in the usual 'course of strictly retail trade, The specific question which has led to the necessity gf construing this provision arose out of the circumstance that a large invoice of teas and other goods from Japan had been received at the port of Chicago over a Canadian railway. The collector of the port asked the secretary of the treasury whether the 10 per cent. discriminating: duty provided for in the section referred to applied to those goods. The sub- ject was at once referred to the attorney general, who has heard: cotinsel representing important interests upon the question of the proper inter- pretation of the section. An opinion in the matter will not be long de- layed. eee a Luce's "Seamanship" is a book that is specially suited to assist young officers of the naval reserve. It is being used by naval reserve organiza- tions all over the country. It isa standard work, selling at $10, and will - be mailed to any address at that figure by the Marine Review, 409 Perry- Payne building, Cleveland. n\ eae LAS