The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

1898.] Contracts in Lake Ship Yards, E .Henderson, general agent of the People's Steamship Co. of De- : oe given as authority for the statement that the company is consid- pore the establishment of a passenger line from Detroit to Sault Ste. e Maric. F® Dalzell, 70 South street, New York, well known as an owner gs, is at St. Paul and has announced his intention of making a tour of Beer building yards, which fact has given rise to the rumor that he ey ipites awarding a contract here for a couple of boats for New York reat James Davidson, who was in Cleveland recently, says he has not made ns 'his mind as yet regarding building operations during the coming inter. He has talked of building two or three wooden tow barges but his plans are not at all definite as yet. He is figuring with harbor towing coimpanies at Buffalo and other places for the construction of a couple 2 aie C. F. Bielman, treasurer and traffic manager of the Star-Cole, Red and White Star Steamship lines of Detroit, operating passenger steam- ers on the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, informs the Review that his com- any expects to let a contract shortly for the construction of a new river Bee mer Plans are being prepared but details have not been perfected. The present intention is to have the new boat modeled after the steel steamer New York, now in service on the Hudson river, and the dimen- sions will likely be about 375 feet length by 75 feet beam, the vessel having a i assengers. Pa ee cae nen idne Co. has two steel steamers to build dur- ing the coming winter. Both are to be big cargo carriers of the 6,000- gross-ton type. One is for Capt. Thomas Wilson of Cleveland, and the other, according to persistent rumor, is for Mr. A. B. Wolvin and others of Duluth. 'Mr. James Wallace, general manager of the 'Cleveland com- pany, still insists, however, that the so-called Wolvin boat is as yet a stock job undertaken by the ship building company. 'The new Wilson steamer will be almost equal in dimensions to the Rockefeller steamer Morse, which is the largest vessel on the lakes. The improved -- con- dition of lake freights and the transfer of a very large amount of old ton- nage to the Atlantic coast (some 7\),060 tons capacity) 'will probably: result in the lake ship yards hawing about as much as they can do in new work and repairs during the winter. | PAS PS Look to the Life Boats, peion Editor Marine Review:--It can 'hardly be expected that the coming tempestuous season at sea and on the lakes will pass without accidents from many causes where vessels, in order to save life, will be compelled to resort to their small boats. How many of the vessels that navigate the lakes and sea have their small boats so equipped as to be able to lower and detach them in case of necessity? This is a matter that concerns those most who have to unhook and hook on the boats. They have no voice in the matter of whether the boats are equipped with reliable devices or not, but when the time comes to make a rescue they unhesitatingly take their places in the boat and are lowered away, be it either night or day, rough or smooth. It is unfortunate that those who have to perform a duty of this kind are not in position to demand the proper appliances to do such perilous work, in order that they may more successfully accomplish this duty with less danger and peril to themselves. But poor Jack never stops to think about himself, or the uncertainties that attend such sacrifice to duty. He jumps into the boat and is lowered away, little heeding the un- certainty of being able to detach his boat and get off from the side of the ship quickly. With boats properly constructed and equipped the chances are greater for the accomplishment of the object with safety and certainty for which they are launched. sepa Many instances are 'on record where vessels are passed by in distress. and the unfortunate victims are left to their fate, because the roughness of the sea made the safe launching of a boat an impossiblity; whereas, had the boats been suitably equipped so they could have been detached when lowered, a rescue might have been made fraught with less peril and danger to those making it. In the equipment of all ships, either passenger or freight, steam or sail, particular attention should be given to the boats and the appliances for handling them. 'There are laws specific and forcible that govern these matters, but from causes best and only known to those whose duty it is to enforce them they are treated as a dead letter, and the matter left to the owners and builders of vessels, who very often, through ignor- ance of the necessity of such appliances or a desire to economize cost, to- ay era this essential feature of a shipis equipment, which humanity. i not the law, ought to compel them to adopt. Chicago, Beat 28, 1808. AN EX-CAPTAIN. Steel Barges on the Mississippi. Capt. Alex. McDougall of the American Steel Barge Co., West Su- Perior, Wis., some time ago suggested the idea of operating steel barges On the Mississippi river. His plan was to build propellers and tow barges, and operate them in tows, similar to the system that prevails on the lakes. everal prominent citizens of St. Louis have now taken up the suggestion and are trying to form a company that will build a line of the proposed hew type of river boat. It is planned to have Capt. McDougall superin- tend construction of the vessels. The new vessels, if built, will be a radical 'novation for Mississippi river trade where all the barges utilized here- tofore have been of wood. The new line, should it be established, will ' aso.entirely revolutionize the. method! of handling barges now in- vogue on the river,' The old, style paddle wheels will, of course, be replaced by 'stew propellers, and instead. of a number of barges being lashed together Hs etsdt As claimed, permit, a fleet to make the passage of a much maKO vet channel, at a lower stage, of water than by the plan now in tse, and ill also permit of the rounding of the most abrupt bends without 'duction of speed. _Great carrying capacity on light draft is, of course, Promised in the néw vessels. Capt. Alexander Ruelle, Detroit tug owner, died a few days ago. and pushed by a' towboat, they will be towed in single file.. This arrange-" MARINE REVIEW. 17 In General, Announcement is made by the International Navigation Co. of the resumption of their fast express service between New York and South- ampton, beginning with the sailing of the St. Louis Oct. 12, to be followed by the St. Paul Oct. 19 and the Paris Oct. 26, The new steel steamer Bay State, built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast, for George Warren '& Co., Liverpool, and intended to run between Boston and Liverpool, has had a successful trial. The steamer, which is of about 7,000 gross registered tons, is 490 feet over all, 52 feet beam and 36 1-3 feet deep. During the past year the ship yards of Seattle, Wash., have turned out seventy-three vessels, fitty of which were steamships, twelve barges, seven schooners and three scows. Of this number, fifty-seven were built for the Alaska trade. Their total tonnage, however, did not amount to over 25,000. . The largest bulk oil carrier in the world, the Tuscarora, has just been completed at Sunderland, England, for the Anglo-American Oil Co. She has a length of 420 feet, 53 feet beam, 29 feet depth of hold and a carrying capacity of 2,000,000 gallons. The Tuscarora will trade from Philadelphia and New York to British ports. Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan is to have one of the finest steam yachts in the country. J. Beavor-Webb is the designer and he has specified Howden hot draft. The draft will be applied under direction of the Dry Dock En- gine Works of Detroit, as that concern holds Howden draft rights for practically the entire country. Horse power of the Morgan yacht will aggregate 4,950. : United States naval officers will make every effort to have this country retain possession of the large floating dry dock purchased by the Spanish government and towed to Havana just before the outbreak oi the war. It is of sufficient size to accommodate any of our battleships, and the offi- cers argue that as it is not automobile it can rightfully be retained. A comparison has been made on Howard Gould's new yacht Niagara of inward and outward turning propellers. With- the' inward 'turning screws at 128 revolutions per minute the speed was 12.58 knots, while with the outward turning screws at 120 revolutions the speed was 14% knots. Full particulars of the trial are not given. if : : Francis T. Bowles, secretary of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, has issued to members the formal notice of the annual meeting, to be held in the auditorium at 12 West Thirty-first street, New York on Thursday and Friday, 'Nov. 9 and 10. The program showing the list of papers to be read will be ready about Oct eee One of the largest checks ever made out for sight payment was that drawn recently by the treasurer of the United States to the order of the International Navigation 'Co. for $1,475,000. This sum is the rental for the steamships St. Paul, St. Louis, Harvard and Yale, chartered by the government at the beginning of the war. The sum is approximately $12,000 per day, or $3,000 for each vessel. esa It is understood that the Union Iron Works of San Francisco will use Ward water tube boilers in the 18-knot battleship, for which they will receive a contract from the government in a few days. 'This is the boiler that was used in connection with cylindrical boilers in the coast defense vessel Monterey, built in San Francisco in 1890. The bureau of steam engineering, navy department, seems to regard the Ward boiler with considerable favor. ---------- Trade Notes. 'The Shelby Steel Tube Co.'s weldless tube mill at Greenville, has been put in operation after an idleness of two months. Thirty-one new draw benches for the larger tubing are being put in to be run by hydraulic power. Steel work for the Memorial thall, being erected at Westerly, R. I., will be furnished by the Berlin Iron Bridge Co. of East Berlin, Conn., which company also has the contract for considerable steel roof work for the new plant of Holmes, Booth "& Hagdens, Waterbury, Conn. A most favorable record has been made by the small traveling cable- way supplied by the Lidgerwood Mfg. Co., New York, a few months ago, for use in the construction of fortifications at Fort Pickens, Fla. It has been possible with this cableway to handle an average for fourteen days of 830 tons per day, the maximum day's work being 1,000 tons. Mr. C. E. Bigelow retires from the presidency of the Geo. F. Blake Mfg. Co., New York, to-accept the presidency of the Gansevoort bank of New York, an institution that he helped to organize some years ago. Recently, employees of the Blake company presented him with a tes- timonial of their respect and appreciation in the shape of a handsome gold-headed ebony cane. The presentation was made by Mr. F. M. Wheeler with a few appropriate remarks. Mr. Bigelow has served faith- fully in the employ of the Knowles Steam Pump Works and the Blake company for a period of nearly thirty-two years, and during the last four years as president of the Blake company. The directors adopted a set of resolutions expressing their sincere regret at his being obliged to sever his connections with the company, and wishing him the greatest success in his new field of usefulness. Lieut. Geo. L. Carden of the United States revenue cutter service, who examined for the government, some time ago, all the ship and engine building plants on the lakes, and who thas had considerable to do with the building of the three first-class revenue cutters recently turned. out by the Globe Iron Works Co. of 'Cleyeland, is greatly impressed with. thie-facilities of the Lake Erie Engineering Works of Buffalo. Hevsays. that-Irving M. Scott told him that when he founded the present extensive: | plant of the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, 'he looked:over a great'. . many big engineering plants throughout the country, and finally itook the': . boiler shop of the Lake Erie works as.a-basis. it yr Biol. Joos - tracts for the new coast defense monitors as follows: "Lewis Secretary Long of the navy department has formally. awarded con- Nixon, Eliz- _ abeth, N. J., one monitor, $825,000; Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va., one at $860,000; Bath Iron Works Bath, Me., one at $862,000; and Union Iron Works, San Francisco, one at $875,000.