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MARINE REVIEW. Steamboat Inspection Service. The two pages of correspondence between George L. McCurdy of Chicago and Inspector-General James A. Dumont of the steamboat serv- ice, which appeared in the last issue of the Review, were followed by another letter from Mr. McCurdy. This last letter contains.some very plain criticism of the steamboat inspection service, which would indicate that Gen. Dumont's explanations have not been satisfactory to the Chicago insurance interests, and that another influence has probably been added to those already asking changes in methods attending the b-siness of this branch of the treasury department. The letter is as follows:. Gen. James A. Dumont, Supervising Inspector-General, Washingion, D. C.--Dear Sir: I am surprised and disappointed by your letter of Oct. 27. You concede having only distributed extracts of the law. of 1895, instead of the complete statutory rules with your inspectors' rules, and you quote the statute to show that it contains no express mandate for you to publish and distribute the statute, and then seek refuge behind the claim that the law did not require you to do what I have complained of your not doing. You say that upon the passage of the law of 1895 your board made its rules "and incidentally, and not as a duty under the law, added to such regulations certain extracts from the law." If it was adv'sable to add "extracts from the law," and you had the authority to publish "extracts," you do not explain why the same authority would not permit you to give the navigator the benefit of the whole law on the subject. ' If your duties are bounded by the strict mandates of the law, your publication of extracts was in excess of such duty, but since you have rec- ognized a duty beyond the letter of the law and have published them, I hardly think that you should resent my suggestion that "incidentally, and not as a duty under the law," you circulate a simple copy of the ** White law' and your rules explanatory thereof, and discontinue the circulation of a lot of rules not applicable to the lakes. These inapplicable rules, while more liable to introduce confusion, are otherwise of no more importance to lake navigators than would be your including a copy of the ancient laws of Oleron. While "incidentally" publishing and distributing so much that the law did not require of you, I cannot appreciate your omission of statutory rule 27, which I understand qualifies not only the statutory, but also the inspectors' rules, and which provides that, "in obeying and con- struing these rules due regard shall be had to all dangers of navigation and collision and to any special circumstances which may render a de- parture from the above rules necessary in order to avoid immediate danger." : As a representative of underwriters heavily interested, I mainta'n my right to complain of your arbitrarily omitting statutory rules and so pub- lishing less than the whole. Further, aside from any disputed facts, I feel it my duty to complain of the patch-work circular which you concede hav- ing sent out with "extracts" of "all the laws," applicable and non-applic- able, in force and superseded, in a sort of holus-bolus mass from which' the navigator must choose at his peril and which he must supplement with such statutory rules as you did not "incidentally" include. To this criti- cism you seem to content yourself with the answer that "'this office has no apologies to offer." I appealed to you for protection and not "apologies," and still believe that it is your official duty to see that this circular is super- seded by a simple unincumbered notice to mariners of the law of 1895 wi:h your rules thereunder. Speaking of this circular of yours, you say that the board does not believe that any intelligent lake master was deceived thereby. In the first place, I cannot appreciate your right to speak of an "intelligent lake mas- ter' as though there were unintelligent ones when your department, through its local inspectors, has certified that each master of a lake steamer is a "skilful master" and "can be entrusted." Secondly, I do no! think that we should be asked to rest content with your "belief" that mas- ters are able to not only construe the rules, but also to sever the wheat from the chaff which you have given them. Your department has vouched for the skill and competence of the master and pilots of each lake steamer upon which we hold a risk, and therefore we appeal to you, from the fol- lowing condition of affairs: ; ay 1. The masters of lake steamers who are required to navigate with respect to other vessels as well as to other dangers were in most instances licensed prior to 1895, and have ever since been sailing under renewals. 2. Since the law was changed in 1895 your local inspectors haye each year been certifying that each of these masters " has given Sa te oe dence that he is a skilful master of luke steam vessels and can be entruste to perform such duties," and yet from your own printed iS ee out with your circular of miscellaneous extracts in the spring of ee ee since, you have given notice that it is not even necessary to appear ee, the board of local inspectors for renewals, and no examinations have nes required where licenses have been renewed since the law was changed. You concede never having seen or required that the masters ont have a complete copy of the present law, and you yourself are ee e for their having notice of extracts of law which is not law for t a a It is possible that the custom offices would be able to ipeuis® Copies of the "White law" upon application, but your department is the one BP se which navigators depend for their licenses, with which they a a ee touch and to which they have always looked and now natura in. e their instructions. Your "belief" that they are not confused by the circ : lar you sent does not answer, because it is well known that tee ae courts have repeatedly differed as to the construction of me ru i a the courts have differed and are still at variance as to what ve ee ute the lakes between the time of the passage of the internationa ae o* Cage of approval of the act of 1895. No less an authority than Je Bes Hae de New York state has treated the act of 1864 as a nullity on the as ne 1865, and when you point masters to this act of 1864 by an ete i ae circular, and at the same time omit to include or call se ceeeban Pealing clause in the act of 1895, I consider that you eT eae nee 'nwarranted confusion, which might mislead the most intellig Master, as Since our property is at stake in charge of ee eee iad €partment as trustworthy and skilful, and to have be ; i ed 8iven evidence which they have not given to Ce le 'o me that the least that you could do, in view Shale law and nothing but 'o comply with my request that a copy of : the present law of the lakes be brought to the attention of lake anasters in a clear and simple form. . os - Ae gel et? Copies of the law might be furnished and distributed at great expense as a private enterprise, but aside from any consideration of expense, such matter might better come from you, and even if the law does not abso- lutely require your doing so, yet your acts in distributing the circular sent out would indicate that you had recognized an official duty along the very lines of the request I have made. : I am surprised that you should decline to comply with the request made and the more so since you base your declination upon a half truth to the effect that you have furnished vessels with "the laws governing all steam vessels" (from which the masters may choose), when you have con- ceded and your circular and posting cards show that the laws so furnished were incomplete. In view of the foregoing, I trust that your decision in this matter will be reconsidered. GEO. L. McCURDY. Chicago, Noy. 3, 1897. : Again Only One Vessel Through the Suez. _ In another report of Suez canal traffic, this time covering a period of six months, only one American vessel appears, a craft of 683 tons. The statement that follows is from the United States consular agent at- Port Said, and relates to Suez canal traffic during the first six months of 1897: Nationality N wre of Net tonnage ets British... . acne ee ae ee 908 2,765,657.62 $5,024,957 Brenchy. «cage eon eee ae 101 254,915.46 485,367 IDuteh tees es sae- pes eee 106 194,506.10 364,797 German eee eR Sete ere 161 495,456.41 771,060 Italian Rie"oje Gis State etre ee eee 39 66,114.23 132,110 Norwegian. Srcuseiecee MEN nen oni nena ie 28 - 46,700.94 84,159 VMS Sizing [5 eiantee ete sree peta ee ee 19 61,854.52 141,480 AUS EDIT y yico2 Seats tes a 89,764.92 160,557 Spanish, acy coe quench wate eee: 27 80,129.46 158,875 Japaneses eet ee ese Bera 18 46,101.88 84,597 Chinese. 3ee.e een ca eee 2 2,597.11 4,692 Ottoman (orc ae ee One seer 4 4,479.95 11,909 Bey ptiane siren ocean: 3 3,401.27 7,057 Siamese: (. > Unc eee ia 1 1,279.99 2,382 United" Statec ss vec 1 eee 1 683.56 1,230 Danish" ecient ea oe eee sans 2 1,043.97 1,880 Mescicanitis genera eit eran 1 591.28 956 Ota Ee Aerated terpenes © cA 5S 4,045 ,238.67 $7,437,975 Water Tube Boilers for Large Naval Vessels. It would seem from a short discussion of the water tube boiler ques- tion in the annual report of Commodore Melville of the bureau of steam navigation, that the next order for big ships from the navy department will provide for water tube boilers. After referring to the action of the department in installing coil boilers in the Monterey as far back as 1892, and their adoption quite generally in torpedo boats, Commodore Melville says that with experience now gained, the bureau feels that the efficiency of the fleet will be best served by using water tube boilers on future ships. "It would have been easy for this bureau to gain a cheap reputation for progressiveness," he adds, "by adopting, after successful trials with the Monterey, this type of boiler at once for all ships, but there had not been sufficient experience in extended cruising at sea to make such a step judi- cious, and with only three battleships in commission, we could not experi- ment on the few additional ones authorized. . It is plain, however, that the engineer-in-chief is still opposed to the Belleville boiler, so extensively adopted in France and England, as he says that the saving in weight due to its use has not been so great as seems desirable if the cylindrical boiler is to be definitely abandoned. It would seem also that he looks for a combination of the best fea'ures of several water tube boilers. On this score he says in concluding his summary of the subject: "As yet it can certainly not be said that any one of the numerous varieties of water tube boilers is absolutely the best. Some of the ablest engineers in the world who, to cultivated talent add vast practical expe- rience, have identified their names with particular forms of this type of boiler, and it is probable that, as experience accumulates, a form of boiler will be evolved embracing the best features of all of them. With respect to the form used on our recent ships--the Babcock & Wilcox--it may be said that it is a marine form of their well-known land boiler, which is used extensively all over the world, and which has all essential features in common with a number of other well-known land boilers, so that the fire room force of our ships is more likely to have some acquaintance with this boiler than others of the type. The straight tubes can be readily removed and replaced, and can be purchased wherever engineering materials are kept in stock. However, the bureau does not advocate any one form of boiler to the exclusion of the rest, but believes the best results will come from giving the contractors freedom of choice of a form of water tube boiler, subject to certain conditions of scantlings, general design and workmanship, which the bureau is prepared to lay down." New Station. The new Twenty-third street station of the Pennsylvania Lines in New York is fast becoming popular with Cleveland people. The new cab service inaugurated by this line, with only a nominal charge, is what the people long have wanted. The 1:40 p. m. train from Cleveland has through sleepers to New York without change, and diner serving supper. This express train also makes quick time to Pittsburg, Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia. For rates and full information call at City Ticket Office, 149 Superior street, Cleveland. If the wind comes before the rain, soon you can make sail again. If the rain comes before the wind, furl your topsails snugly in. el