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t4: MARINE REVIEW. [October 20, MARINE REVIEW Devoted to the Merchant Marine, the Navy, Ship Building, and Kindred Interests. Published every Thursday at No. 418-19 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohio, by John M. Mulrooney. i SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per year in advance. Single copies 10 cents each. Con- venient binders sent, post paid, $1.00. Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. There is much of gratification for the American ship builder in the tnanner in which even the most conservative representatives of the in- dustry in Great Britain are coming to recognize the rapid progress 'of their American rivals, to say nothing of a hali-confessed suspicion of the ultimate result if the operations of the builders in the United States con- tinue to lbe characterized by the energy and ability manifested during the past few years. The latest surprise for the ship builders on the other side of the Atlantic are the bids submitted recently for torpedo boats and destroyers. When in 1888, only ten years ago, the United States govern- ment called for proposals for constructing its pioneer torpedo boat, the Cushing, only one firm felt competent to bid for a 22-knot crait, and even this bid asked for permission to substitute an English boiler, the Thorny- croft. When the Ericsson was contracted for in 1892 there were only two bidders, whereas the present award of contracts found fifteen bidders. The same is true of the construction of vessels for the merchant marine. In 1891 all the yards in the United States had on the stocks only 82,300 tons of shipping, whereas at present the Wm. Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building 'Co. alone has on the stocks 36,168 tons for American account and 23,600 tons for foreign account, and in addition four war vessels. Seven American yards have under construction at this time 72,000 tons for American owners, without counting naval vessels. It is not strange, therefore, that it is now admitted, even among foreign builders, that the year 1898 will see an addition of fully 120,000 tons of native built shipping to the American merchant marine, a prospect which is by no means con- soling for the ship builders of Great Britain. Friends of the late Capt. Charles V. Gridley, who was inspector of the tenth light-house district with headquarters at Buffalo, and later com- mander of Admiral Dewey's flagship, the Olympia, will be interested in a touching letter written to the mother of Capt. Gridley by Admiral Dewey, to appraise her of the exact nature of the malady which carried off the gallant officer. He says: "His loss is mourned by all who knew him, and especially by me, whose friend and trusted and gallant assistant he was. His illness began in Hong Kong, but he bravely clung to his post, and not until after the battle and victory, in which he assisted so much, would he consent to leave his ship and return to the United States. His death was caused by a complication of diseases, including diarrhoea and dropsy, all due to a disordered condition of liver and aggravated by a rupture sustained on the day of the battle. The immediate cause of his death was severe hemorrhage of the stomach, which occurred at Kobe. This was entirely unexpected; indeed, our surgeon had no idea that it would occur or that Capt. Gridley was dangerously ill, although, of course, - it was known that he could not remain on duty. It is matter of some gratification to me that I was instrumental in obtaining for him an ad- vancement in his grade 'for highly distinguished conduct in battle,' which he richly deserved, although he did not live to enjoy it." Lloyd's Register ship building returns for the quarter ending Sept. 30, which have just been issued, show that there are under construction in Great Britain and Ireland 572 vessels of 1,361,557 gross tonnage, and twenty-six sail vessels of 2,693 gross tons, a total of 598 vessels of 1,364,250 gross tons. Warships are excluded. There are under construction in the British governmental dock yards fourteen war vessels with an agere- gate tonnage of 110,140 tons, and in private yards seventy-eight war ves- sels of 266,295 tons, of which forty-four vessels of 155,660 tons are build- ing for the British government and thirty-four vessels' of 110,635 tons for foreign powers. It will thus 'be seen that of the ninety-two war vessels, aggregating 376,485 tons, now building in the yards of the United King- dom, fifty-eight, aggregating 265,800 tons, are for the British government. Reports regarding ship building in the United States are not collected regularly, but the Review hopes to present some reliable information on this score shortly. On Sept. 17 there was building at Philadelphia, Ches- ter and Wilmington twenty-six steam vessels (warships excluded) of an aggregate of 40,965 tons. This is only one district, the Delaware river. Reports from Newport News, from New England, from the Pacific coast and from the lakes will make a very large grand total when orders now under consideration are placed within the next few weeks. It is understood that a petition is to be presented to the nayy depart- ment requesting that the Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. be assigned the battleship Ohio instead of the Missouri, and that the latter be given to the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, instead of the Ohio, at present allotted to that concern. The reason assigned for the requested change is that Ohio would in all probability send a large crowd to the launching were it at Newport News, whereas it is unlikely that the state would 'be so largely represented at San Francisco, The Italian government has finally adopted Belleville boilers. It is announced that the French generators will gradually replace other types of boilers in all old vessels of the Italian fleet. The cruiser Puglia, re- cently launched at Tarentum, which is fitted with horizontal triple expan- sion engines, will have furnaces under her boilers so arranged that oil fuel may be used. Evidence that the lessons of the battle of Santiago are being widely appreciated is found in the order sent out by Admiral Palumbo, the Italian minister of marine, to the effect that as little wood as possible be used in fitting up ships, and recommending the use of aluminum wherever possi- ble in the interior of battleships, in order to secure both lightness and incombustibility. Reports just issued by the 'bureau of construction, navy department, showing progress made on the United States battleships now under con- struction, give the Illinois as '55 per cent. completed; Kearsarge, 68 per cent.; Kentucky, 66 per cent.; Alabama, 63 per cent.; Wisconsin, 48 per cent. The torpedo boats Rowan, Davis and Mackenzie are all 99 per cent. completed. Greater difficulty than at first reported was experienced in floating the sunken Spanish cruiser Infanta Maria Teresa. The ship's bottom could not be made tight, and when she was hauled off she had probably 500 tons of water in her forward compartments, and with all pumps going was drawing 27 feet forward, or 6 feet more than her normal draught. The old revenue cutter Andy Johnson, which thas been used as a prac- tice ship by the Cleveland Naval Reserves, has been sold to J. Harrington Walker of Detroit, who is understoiod to represent a Canadian company that will rebuild the vessel and use her for passenger and freight purposes, A Spanish cruiser, the Rio de la Plata, for which Spaniards in the Argentine Republic and Uruguay subscribed the funds, has been launched at Havre. The vessel is of 7,100 indicated 'horse power and her speed is estimated at 1614 knots. 'A considerable increase in the Russian navy will be made this month by the launch of the battleship Osliaha, the cruisers Diana, Pallas and Aurora, and the destroyer Amur, all of which are under construction at St. Petersburg. The revenue cutter Algonquin, built 'by the Globe Iron Works Co., Cleveland, and taken through the canals and down the St. Lawrence, has arrived at Philadelphia, where she will replace the revenue cutter Ham- ilton. The battleship Indiana, which 'has been at the New York navy yard, has been supplied with bilge keels, and her smokestacks have been length- ened 10 feet. Handbook of Engineering Laboratory Practice. Students in the engineering branches have been offered no more valu- able text book than "A Hiandbook of Engineering Laboratory Practice," by Richard Addison Smart, M. E., associate professor of experimental engineering at Purdue university, the first edition of which has just come from press. The volume is intended primarily as a manual for the use of students in the routine of experimental work in. steam engineering, strength of materials, and hydraulics. It may also serve in a limited way as a guide for those engineers in active service whose familiarity with the ordinary methods of testing is limited. The chief object in view has been to provide in convenient form such directions for the conduct of the vari- 'ous tests and experiments comprising the course as the student will need to enable him to take charge of and conduct the particular work assigned ihim in an intelligent manner and with little delay. 'With a large class of students beginning a variety of experiments at the same time it is essential that the directions be such as to make each student or group of students as nearly self-directive as possible. No attempt has been made, therefore, to preface the consideration of the subject from an experimental stand- point with an exposition of the theoretical considerations involved; it is assumed that the class-room work, which should be carried on in connec- tion with that of the laboratory, will supply the theoretical instruction. The methods of testing described under the various general heads are not intended to cover the subject in an exhaustive way. Only such tests have been described as may be carried on in connection with the complement of apparatus to be found in the 'better equipped laboratories of experi- mental engineering, and the methods explained are those which the author has found to be most easily employed in every-day practice. Both the manner of arranging apparatus and the method of conducting the tests are capable of great variation to suit the needs of special investigations. Since the equipment of the majority of engineering laboratories does not permit all the students in a class to take up the course of experiments and tests in the same order, it becomes necessary to make the directions for the various tests complete in themselves and avoid, so far as possible, ref- erence to tests described in preceding sections. This necessitates the occasional repetition and duplication of directions which occur in the volume. It is fully illustrated. Published by John Wiley & Sons, New York. Price $2.50. New Type of Ocean Freight Steamer. The Hamburg-American line has placed an order with Blohm & Voss of Hamburg for a twin-screw steamer, which, it is claimed, will be the largest cargo carrier in the world. The vessel will be 600 feet on the water line, 66 feet beam, and 42 feet depth, and the total capacity for cargo, ex~ clusive 'of coal, etc., will 'be 14,000 tons of 2,240 pounds, or about 20,000 tons of 40 cubic feet. The steamer will have accommodations for 300 pas- sengers in the first and 200 passengers in the second cabin, as well asi berths for. 600 steerage passengers. The vessel will have a bilge keel and will be driven by two sets of quadruple expansion engines of a power sui- ficient to maintain a speed of 14 knots. In the announcement regarding the vessel sent out by Mr. Emil L. Boa's, general manager of thie Hamburg- American line, stress is laid upon the advantage which will accrue from the introduction of an innovation in the form of double sides. Information as to the space between the outer and inner shells of the vessel and weights of the same has not, however, been given out, and until this and other points are determined ship builders may be pardoned skepticism as to whether the strength or safety of the vessel will be materially enhanced. Receipts of coal at Milwaukee this season show a heavy increase. Up to Oct. 1, the receipts of anthracite were 516,617 tons, as against 330,658 tons for the corresponding period last year, and 508,036 tons of bitumi- nous, as against 304,217 tons in the same period in 1897.