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MARINE REVIEW. pee _ 619 General Re-survey of the Lakes. Until naval officers connected with the hydrographic service under- took the publication of lake charts, a few years ago, all charts of the lakes published by the government were made under the direction of the army engineer corps. Records of the general survey of the lakes, made a num- ber of years ago, are in charge of the army engineers, and congress pro- vides each year a small appropriation for the correction of charts made from this survey. This appropriation is turned over to the engineers, and a small forcé is engaged constantly at Detroit in the correction of the so- called army charts. Since they have established branch offices on the lakes, the naval officers of the hydrographic service have prepared new charts, going over practically the entire chain of lakes. These charts have been based on British surveys of the Canadian shore, as well as the gen- eral survey made by the United States government, and the corrections have also included the results of special surveys in different localities made by the U.S. S. Michigan. In consequence of this duplication of the work of making charts, considerable rivalry has existed between the army and navy officers. Nearly all of the naval officers connected with the light- house service on the lakes of late have recommended a new general sur- vey, most of them claiming that the old survey is of little account and that the hydrographic bureau of the navy is the only branch of the govern- ment properly equipped for such work. But the army engineers who have had to do with the publication of charts do not agree with their friends of the navy in this regard, as shown by the following letter to the Review from one of them: "I notice in your issue of the 2d inst. that the naval people are doing exactly what was predicted, and, now that they have succeeded in estab-_ lishing a large number of hydrographic offices, they propose to justify their existence by a grand stand play for a general re-survey of the lakes. There is no doubt that re-examinations are needed at many localities, and that these re-examinations should be made. This matter has been advo- cated by the army engineers for many years, prominent among these advo- cates being the late Gen. '(O. M. Poe. 'A general re-survey of the lake region, however, would be silly, as it would involve the unnecessary dupli- cation of much work. "\What would be the best for the lake interests would be re-examina- tions of such localities as the modern draft of vessels requires and what is wanted is the best work for the least money. Surveying is a branch of engineering and has nothing to do with seamanship. 'A civil engineer can make a better and more economical survey than a sai.or. If our navy friends do this work they will employ the sailors of their various vessels, and while these sailors are believed to be the best in the world, their knowledge of engineering cannot be sufficiently extensive to warrant their competition in enginering matters with our civil engineers, who are be- lieved to be the 'best civil engineers in the world. i "As 'has already 'been pointed out, the proper organization to do this work is the one which has upon its files the records of the first and only general survey of the lakes, and in addition, the records of all of the river and harbor improvements ever made upon the lakes: This organization would employ neither soldiers nor sailors for the making of surveys and charts, but skilled civil engineers and draftsmen, who know more ahbout the subject than anyone else, and who can accomplish the greatest result - with the least expenditure of money, for the simple reason that every man can attend to his own business better than he can to some other fellow's. "It is easily understood why the line officers of the navy are so keen and why they work and lobby so earnestly to secure congressional action in their favor. They do this first and foremost because they want shore duty rather than remain cooped up in a man-oi-war to look after our interests abroad. A second reason is that with the extensive use of ma- chinery on modern men-of-war the old-school line officer 1s continually finding himself closer and closer to the edge of the quarter-deck, and he is therefore anxious to provide a reason for his continued existence when he finally becomes crowded off the quarter-deck altogether. In this last matter he is entitled to sympathy, but it is difficult to see why he should seek to abandon his profession altogether and try to become a civil engi- neer. The government has plenty of vessels that form no part of the naval establishment, and the younger officers of the navy would make excellent commanders for them and would in these vessels acquire a much better training in the responsible duties of their profession than they can possibly get as subordinate officers of a man-of-war. Take the fleet of the light-house establishment, for example, which is a very extensive one. Why should not these vessels be officered by lieutenants and ensigns of the navy, who in this way would acquire a greater familiarity with our coasts and harbors than in any other? They would cease traveling on these boats as passengers, and lbeing responsible for the safety and effi- ciency of the vessels, would always be wide awake to note everything in their surroundings that had any bearing on their profession. The large fleet of the government on its inland waterways would also be ava lable in the same way. This would greatly cheapen the cost of government work, and by leaving navigation matters to navigators and engineering matters to engineers would 'render unto Cesar the things which be Ce- ee 2 99) Sars. Appealing to the Secretary of the Treasury. _ Readers of the Review are familiar with a lengthy correspondence that took place recently between George L. McCurdy of Chicago and James A. Dumont of the steamboat inspection service. iMr. McCurdy, septs senting extensive insurance interests, directed attention to a jeisan a Standing that existed among lake vessel masters regarding ws use. Passing signals in fog, and claimed that circulars tending to mg eat i vessel men in this regard were issued from the offices of loca ipsnecto on the lakes, It was evident that a misunderstanding did exist ener cine the plain provisions of the 'White law," and the correspondence rifte intoa general discussion of methods of the steamboat eee sel eee the Chicago representatives of the underwriters claiming that paguirs and other printed matter dealing with rules for lake cae a ae Plete in many instances and are usually encumbered) with a lot 2 deel Pertaining to laws for the coast and rivers. The insurance agents. Seas No satisfaction from the chief of the steamboat inspection service, they accordingly decided to take the matter up 'wi , treasury, which they did last week. : a Oe ae Before going to|Washington, Mr. W. H. Prime of the Prime-McCurdy syndicate, undertook, with Attorney John C. Shaw of Detroit, to secure the endorsement of vessel owners in all parts of the lakes to a series of resolutions bearing wpon the correspondence referred to above. Signa- tures of practically all of the vessel owners of Cleveland, Detroit and Buffalo 'were attached to the following resolutions: SAG ea 'To the Honorable 'Lyman J. 'Gage, 'Secretary of the United States Treasury :--The undersigned vessel owners, believing that there exists a necessity for immediate action for the prevention of collisions on the great lakes, and their connecting and tributary waters, most respectfully request that your department will take such action as shall insure: 'First--That any and all rules which may be inapplicable or in any way in conflict with the statutory rules and regulations for prevention of collisions on such waters may be withdrawn from circulation thereon. . _ "Second--That the supervising and local inspectors of the steamship inspection department in the various districts for the great lakes shall be familiar with all of the laws governing on such waters. "Third--That the rules and regulations for the prevention of col- lisions be brought to the attention of, and be fully understood by all offi- cers of steam vessels licensed by the government." Our 'Washington correspondent tells of a meeting with the secretary of the treasury. He says: "Messrs. Prime and Shaw were joined here by Mr. Charles Counselman, well-known grain shipper of Chicago, and these gentlemen were given a personal hearing by the secretary of the treasury on Friday morning, the 10th. Gen. Dumont_was called in later and the subjects heretofore covered by Mr. McCurdy's correspondence were fully discussed. Numerous cases of the distribution of conflicting rules on the lakes were given particular attention. The advisability of having the supervising and local inspectors examined as to their knowl- edge of all the rules and regulations for the prevention of collisions was also discussed. The secretary requested the gentlemen to prepare rec- ommendations of just what they would like to have the board of super- vising inspectors adopt, and forward the same to him with a brief thereon, and Gen. Dumont requested that they appear before the next meeting -of the board and present their requests, and assured them that he would co-operate with them and do all in his power to remedy any existing fault that might be pointed out. "Mr. Prime, when seen in regard to this matter, gave out the above information, and stated that he did so because he felt that the subject was of so great importance that he did not feel that they should proceed fur- ther or that the board of supervisors should take definite action until there had been an opportunity for the vessel owners generally and others inter- ested to be heard. He says that their attorney will take the matter up for them before the board at its meeting on the third Monday in January, and he asks that any one having suggestions to offer will kindly communicate with them so that the same may be considered before definite requests are presented to the secretary of the treasury, preliminary to the hearing be- fore the board of supervising inspectors." Working in a Diving Dress at 189 Feet. An improved deep-sea diving apparatus, known as the Buchanan- Gordon diving dress, is being introduced in England by Messrs. Siebe, Gorman & Co., well-known submarine engineers of London. The dress has been used quite extensively in Australia, and it is said that all that was claimed for it has been proven in experiments conducted on the Clyde recently by W. R. Walker, chief diver for the London firm. These ex- periments are deseribed by the (London correspondent of the Scientific American. 'After accustoming himself to the new dress and familiarizing himself with the currents, etc., the English diver bottomed 31 fathoms, or 189 feet. He was.under the water for fifty minutes, during which he was subjected to a pressure of over 80 pounds to the square inch, but on com- ing up he was quite fresh. On regaining the boat and divesting himself of the dress he showed not the slightest signs of exhaustion, and on all hands the experiment was voted a great success. This depth has never before been attained in Great Britain. The English diver had never been deeper down than 133 feet or 22 fathoms. [While on the ground he said he moved about with as much ease and comfort as he had found at a depth - of 15 fathoms in the old dress. (During the experiments the pumps, air hose, and a telephone were used. The diver was delighted with the tele- phone, through which, while he was below, he spoke to his attendant on the deck of the vessel. The dress has been designed to meet the requirements of all descrip- tions of deep sea diving up to 30 fathoms, or at even greater depths. It is a dress which in itself withstands the tremendous pressure of great depths, enabling the diver to breathe a normal air pressure. In effect it is a suit of armor which defies all assaults, yet enables the wearer to move about with the utmost ease. The most important part 'is the helmet, which descends to the waist in one piece of solid copper, and weighs no less than 250 pounds, while the dress weighs 500 pounds. The arms and the lower half of the dress consist of a series of spiral springs covered with waterproof material, which at the same time gives strength and mobility. These springs are made of Delta metal--a phosphor bronze of immense strength. By a series of ingenious arrangements the suit can be adjusted to the height of the 'diver, and there is a jointed brass support running _along the outside of the legs, which is intended to prevent the horrible accidents which might be caused by the upward pressure of the water. But perhaps the most interesting portion of the 'Gordon dress is the escape valve. Presuming a diver to be at a depth of 26 fathoms, he would have to stand a pressure of 69 pounds to the square inch; and, therefore, an air pressure of more than this amount would have to be pumped into the diver's dress in order that the escaping air might overcome the external resistance. 'But in the Gordon process this difficulty is overcome in a very simple manner. The escape valve, which is perfectly under the diver's control, is attached to a floating hose, the upper end of which can be sub- merged at any required depth below the surface. This reduces the head against which the air escapes and thereby permits the pressure of air sup- plied to the diver to be proportionately diminished. But perhaps the most valuable feature of the invention is the capacity of the dress for retaining air.