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MARINE REVIEW. ee a Diamond Shoal Light-Ship. Difference of opinion is again expressed regarding the possibility of keeping a light-ship in position to mark Diamond shoal, Cape Hat- teras, where unsuccessiul attempts have been made to build a light-house. The announcement that a light-ship, built specially for this shoal, will soon be ready to take its station is the cause of discussion. The new light-vessel will show two powerful electric mast-head lights and be pro- vided with a fog signal that can be heard twelve miles in the heaviest weather. The light-house board itself is divided in opinion as to the feasibility of maintaining a light-ship at the location mentioned, but a majority of the members decided to try the experiment. Capt. Robley Evans, U. S. N., still favors building a great light-house on the shoal, and in this opinion he is supported by the army officers. Capt. Evans thinks that no vessel moored at Diamond shoal could stand the terrible poundings | which she will receive. He says: "There is no chain that can be forged that will hold this light on Diamond shoal for any length of time. There isa current at this shoal which sends the sands shifting around at a terrific rate and in a short time will cut any chain, or weaken it so that the first heavy gale will cause it to part. When that happens the light-ship will almost certainly drift ashore and the sixteen men on her will be lost. I have seen a buoy chain on that shoal worn as bright as nickel, and so thin that you could part it with a slight blow. In my opinion this experiment of the government will prove costly." Capt. Wilde, naval secretary of the board, thinks that a light-ship can weather the gales off Hatteras, and is confident that the new ship will - prove a success. She will be the most powerful vessel ever built for such service, and will be anchored fifteen miles from Hatteras light, in 30 fathoms of water. She will show simultaneously, from three lens-lanterns encircling each mast-head, a fixed white lamp for twelve seconds duration, followed by an eclipse of three seconds. 'Each lantern will have a 100 'candle-power incandescent lamp. The lights will be 57 feet above water, and in clear weather should be visible at a distance of thirteen miles. In case of accident to the electric lights, fixed white lights will burn without eclipse. The vessel will be called No. 69, and has a flush deck, two masts, smoke pipe, and fog signal between the masts. Around the Lakes. James Davidson's new wooden steamer Bermuda will be ready to go into commission in a few days. Thomas. Monson, senior member of the firm of Monson & Sons, wholesale fish dealers, died at his home in Cleveland, Sunday. He was seventy-six years of age. A note from Sandusky conveys the statement that Chicago. parties have completed arrangements for the erection on the Baltimore & Ohio company's property there of a 1,000,000 bushel grain elevator. _ Capt. Q. Gilmore, who was for some time employed in superintending tiver and harbor work under the direction of Col. Smith, United States engineer at Cleveland, died at his home in Lorain on Thursday last. It is understood that T. J. Corns, Capt. W. E. Comer and others who purchased the passenger steamer State of Michigan from the Grummond estate of Detroit, paid $10,000 for her and not $20,000 as reported. The vessel will be operated next season on the shore route between Toledo and Alpena. A lease of the Dawson dock property at Sault Ste. Marie, which was acquired some time ago by the Inter-Ocean Coal & Coke Co. of Cleveland, has passed into the hands of the Port Royal Coal & Coke Co. and the Brier Hill Iron & Coal Co. of Youngstown, O. A dispatch from the Sault says the property will be put in shape for forwarding and steamboat fueling business. : On Monday, Oct. 4, the Carnegie coal and ore railway from Conneaut to Pittsburg--Pittsburg Bessemer & Lake Erie Co.--will be formally de- clared open for general business, but the road is not as yet in condition to handle the ore traffic. It is expected, however, that by Oct. 15 ore hauling will begin from Conneaut harbor to the Edgar Thomson works at Bessemer, a distance of 145 miles. New York parties have taken options from W. H. Cook of Chicago on the steamers Westover and Roanoke, two lake vessels which it is pro- Posed to' send to Alaska next spring. If the sales are made the boats will probably be delivered in New York this fall. The Westover and oanoke were originally salt water craft, having been built at Wilmington, Del., in 1873. Very slight changes in the machinery are required to make them fit to double Capt Horn. A dispatch from Houghton says: The dredging above Princess point las been completed and there is now 20 feet of water right up to the west bank. The dredging at the upper canal is progressing rapidly and there will soon be an 18%4-foot channel 70 feet wide, which will allow any vessel of the lakes to pass through Portage waterways fully laden. The work Fat Portage entry channel is not progressing so rapidly, owing to the ull depth of 21 feet being dug out instead of 18 feet as was originally Conteinplated., Seen the newspapers say that the manila hawser used to tow the new gest ish dry-dock across the Atlantic from England to Havana is the big- ap y-Ver made," said an old salt in the Brooklyn navy yard, a few days ago. ne. of two that were bigger. This hawser is only 22 inches in cir- and Me while the two that we have had right here in the yard 'were 23 dite ees in circumference. They were made on the rope walk out- aboard Tooklyn. The 24-inch hawser was used as sheet anchor cable the? the old Tennessee, when she was on the Mediterranean station in if i She was in the Bay of Naples when a furious storm came up. They f cers ordered the crew to get the sheet anchor out oO the waist. an em nally did so, but the big hawser was so unwieldy to handle in such yard ee that when the Tennessee got back to the Brooklyn navy 93. tle hawser was sent to the oakum mill and made into oakum. The ..) fawser was used in anchoring the old receiving ship North Caro- mee Stream at the Brooklyn navy yard. Both were made by hand, eams eee big that they could not be carried in the usual way by ox - Men.". ey had to be dragged down to the navy yard by the rope walk » --New York Sun. ; Big Scheme of New Dry Docks. Acting Secretary Roosevelt of the navy makes public the report of the board appointed some time ago to consider the needs of the navy in the matter of new dry docks. The board finds that five new docks, to cost $5,775,000, are urgently necessary, while one--the Port Royal (S. C.) dock --should be enlarged immediately. Four of the docks, the board says, should 'be of 'concrete; namely, at Boston, New York, Norfolk and at Mare island, this last to be 500 feet long. At Algiers, near New Orleans (with Galveston or Pensacola as alternatives), it is proposed to place a steel floating dock and wharf. This would cost $750,000. In addition to these the board recommends (not in the urgent list, however) docks to cost $5,300,000 at New London, Newport News, Tortugas, San Francisco (concrete dock on Yerba Buena island, 700 feet long, $1,500,000), San Pedro (concrete dock, 700 feet loug, $1.500.000). This work seems very extensive, but the hoard says that with all the additions it proposes to the number of our dry docks we still would have for naval purposes on our entire coast line only one more dry dock than has Great Britain at one of its navy yards, Portsmouth, England. At present the United States has a total of eleven dry docks, only one of which at this time (that at Puget sound, Washington) can take in our battleships. ; . The department will very probably endorse the report of the board regarding the first list of docks required immediately, with the exception of that part relating to a new dock at Mare'island. Unless there is assur- ance of more battleships being built for the Pacific coast, it would net be advisable to build a second dock at Mare island. Channel at Amherstburg. Captains of the steamers America, Stevens and several other vessels recently reported striking in the channel near Amherstburg (vicinity of New York shoal), Detroit river. Col. Lydecker ordered the engineer in charge of work at this point on the river to search for the obstructions, and it seems that they have been removed. Capt. Andrew Hackett, of Bois Blane island, who keeps the vessel men informed of matters pertaining to the navigation of the river, says in a letter to Capt. Geo. P. McKay of Cleveland: ee "Four boulders, one of them very large, were removed from the vicinity of New York shoal a few days ago. The large boulder is very probably the one on which the America struck, as it was worn off smooth and there were pieces of oak in the crevices. Vessels bound down the river should pass on the island side of the channel, as there is better water on that side. A black stake should be stationed opposite the red one on New York shoal. On one of the days of low water last week, the steamer Waldo, drawing 17 feet, passed down on the island side of the channel without difficulty." few days ago, the captain of the steamer Sir William Siemens re- ported that his vessel struck abreast of the black stake at the north end of Bois Blanc island, which is also in the vicinity of Amherstburg. The mat- ter was taken up by Geo. L. McCurdy of Chicago and the attention of the enigineers called to it. Early in the spring, when this stake was placed in position, there were no obstructions to the east of it, but the stake may have been moved since, and the locality will therefore be examined for ob- structions. Many obstructions are being removed as a result of these re- ports from the vessel masters. Trying to Help the Coal Producers. A circular recently issued by G. M. Beach, general superintendent of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Co., will indicate the importance attached to the car question by managers of roads carrying soft coal to lake ports. Mr. Beach says: "The conditions of the lake coal trade are of such a nature that it will be necessary for the railroad companies to have the use of every available coal car, in order to enable coal shippers to complete their con- tracts before the close of navigation, and with this end in view, it is earnestly requested that the shippers of all other material shall, as far as practicable and consistent with their. business, restrict the use of coal cars for material other than coal during the period named, and that both agents and shippers will assist us by using every endeavor to promptly release all coal cars which may be received under load. Agents will report to the superintendent all cases, giving full particulars, where coal cars are not unloaded within forty-eight hours, with the exception of cars loaded with iron ore and limestone." To Arm Auxiliary Ships. Washington dispatches credit.President McKinley with an intention to urge upon congress a material increase in the number of battleships and torpedo boats, and it is also understood that the president will rec- ommend a liberal appropriation for the armament of our auxiliary fleet of cruisers, amounting in number to twenty-eight. Included in this divi- - sion of our naval establishment are several splendid first raters, like the ocean liners, St. Louis, St. Paul, Paris and New York. The heaviest of these ships are the Paris and New York. When in government commis- sion, each will be armed with twelve 6-inch guns, six six-pounders, and six machine guns. The estimate of the bureau of ordnance is that it will take to arm the auxiliary vessels thus far inspected and classified, forty~ six 6-inch, twenty-seven 5-inch, and 104 4-inch rapid-fire guns; fifty-four 6-pounders and eight 1-pounder rapid-fire guns; and 112 machine guns. To push the armament of this branch of the service, it is believed that the congress will be asked to appropriate $500,000 for the next year, and an equal amount annually until the task is completed. Luce's "Seamanship" has been a text-book at the United States naval academy for the past thirty years. It is being used by naval reserve organ- izations all over the country. It is a standard work, selling at $10, and will be mailed to any address at that figure by the Marine Review, 409 Perry- Payne building, Cleveland. The Review has excellent photographs of lake ships.