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1899. ] MARINE: REVIEW. II SUPERVISING INSPECTORS. REPORT OF THEIR ANNUAL MEETING AT WASHINGTON--A FEW OF THE IMPORT- ANT JHANGES MADE IN THE RULES. Washington, D. C., Jan. 31.--The supervising inspectors of steam ves- sels from all parts of the United States, who have been in session here for several days past, are about to adjourn, but a full report ot proceedings of the board will not be available until the official circular dealing with all changes in rules and regulations of the service is sent out from the othce of the supervising inspector general. Manufacturers of boilers will be interested in a change in the second paragraph of section 2, rule 2, page 19 of the general rules and regulations. This paragraph as adopted a year ago was as follows: "All boilers built for marine purposes atter July 1, 1898, shall be required to have all rivet holes in the shell fairly drilled, instead of punched, and the longitudinal laps of their cylindrical parts double-riveted, to be entitled to 20 percent additional pressure." It is now said that this rule was misunderstood, and the following amend- ment, which goes into effect at once, was adopted: 'All boilers built for marine purposes shall be required to have the rivet holes in the shell, heads, steam and mud drums, and all other ports of the boiler (except for longitudinal and circumferential seams in flues for same, 20 inches out- side diameter and under), fairly drilled instead of punched. Boilers to be entitled to the 20 percent additional pressure allowed by law must have the longitudinal laps of their cylindrical parts double riveted." For a long time past there has been a difference of opinion on the great lakes as to whether a second-class pilot could stand a watch. On small slow-going steam vessels only one first-class pilot, with the captain, who :s always a first-class pilot, has been required, as the captain of ves- sels of this kind is not so crowded for time that he can not stand watch all the time with the second mate. But on the large iron ore and grain carriers some of the local inspectors have insisted upon the employment of two first-class pilots in addition to the captain, so that the deck would never be without a first-class pilot. There has been little, if any, objec- tion to this from owners, as they realize, in most cases, the importance of showing that they had a first-class pilot in charge of the deck in event of accident. It is understood, however, that at Buffalo and one or two other points large steam vessels have been allowed to sail with only one first-class pilot in addition to the captain, and now it is said that this prac- tice has been sanctioned by the board. To the owners of the large ves- sels this seems strange, as some of them--the Bessemer.Steamship Co., for instance--have gone so far as to employ as first mates in all cases men who have masters' papers. After July 1 of this year masters and mates of sailing vessels of 700 tons and over will be required to have licenses and certain supervision otherwise will be extended to these vessels. A discussion was had re- garding qualifications of these officers. Regulations regarding sailing vessels under the new law will be issued later. It was decided that here- after lifeboat drills on passenger steamers, which are required Once a week, must be noted in the log book. Among members of the board present were the following: Capt. Burningham of San Francisco; W. R. Tibballs of Wisconsin; C. H. Wes- cott of Detroit; Capt. James Stone of Cleveland; George H. Starbuck of New York; R. J. Whitledge of St. Louis; E. L. Dorsey of Jeffersonville, Ind.; G. R. Crumbaugh of Hopkinsville, Ky.; John A. Carter of New Or- leans; J. W. Oast of Virginia. i LOWERING OF LAKES HURON AND MICHIGAN. Detroit, Mich., Jan. 31--A very interesting part of the annual report of the board of managers of the Lake Carriers' Association, prepared by Secretary C. H. Keep of Buffalo, is the section dealing with lake levels. Mr. Geo. Y. Wisner of this city, a member of the United States board of engineers on deep waterways, has given a great deal of study to this subject. His attention was directed to that part of Mr. Keep's report which says that the lake levels for 1898 were, for Lake Superior, above the average for the past 12 years; Lakes Huron and Michigan, one foot be- low the level for the past twenty-eight years, and Lake Erie about hold- ing her own, from which Mr. Keep concludes that the deepening of the channels has had nothing to do with existing conditions. ; "It may be of interest to know," Mr. Wisner said, "that Lake Huron has been below its normal level for several years, and that the relative low water of that lake is due to a deepening which has taken place in the bed of the river at the rapids just below the foot of the lake. The gov- ernment survey of 1867 shows the river at the narrowest point of the rapids to be 800 feet wide and 48 feet deep. At the same place the river is now 800 feet wide and 66 feet deep, making the area of cross-section of the gorge about twenty per cent larger than at the time of former survey. The effect of this deepening is, of course, to diminish the fall between Lake Huron and Lake Erie. An examination of the slope curves on plate 19 of Mr. Cooley's deep waterway report will show that the slope from Lake Huron to Lake Erie commenced to decrease in 1886, and it is probable that the excessive slope immediately preceding this date was the cause which started the scouring action resulting in the permanent lowering of the level of Lakes Huron and Michigan. It is possible that the improvement of the channels of the St. Clair and Detroit rivers may have played an important part in strengthening the current for any given slope, thereby producing scour in the bed of the river at the rapids. At any rate, whatever the cause, the deepening of the outlet has lowered the lake level for any given stage of the lake system far in excess of any possible effect that can be produced by the Chicago drainage canal when opened. This is one of the results of the investigations of the deep water- way engineer board relative to submitting a report on lake regulation." The United States civil service commission announces that as the result of the examination scheduled to be held Feb. 7-8, 1899 for the position of assistant inspector of hull material, certification will be made to fill a position of the kind mentioned at the Homestead steel works, Pennsylvania, as well as at the works of Allen Wood Co., Conshohocken, pear OUTLOOK FOR THt PACKAGE FREIGHTERS. Buffalo, Jan. 31.--It might be 'difficult just now to say whether the owners of wild steamers or the managers of the package-freight liners were most hopeful of a satisfactory season. Last season the continuation of railroad wars kept the lines from recovering their lost ground in the way that the wild boats did. So the handling of flour by the lines fell off more than an eighth, while grain receipts increased about a twelfth. The lake lines as such had but a single enemy on the water. That was the Canada Atlantic, which, in spite of a route that is not to be thought of in contrast with the Buffalo route, cut a most disagreeable figure in the traffic, especially west bound. It came out of New York by steamer up the Hudson, rail thence to Parry Sound via the St. Lawrence river, and again by lake. In order to make a record this line cut down the old rates, -- lake-and-rail, below the lake-and-canal rates, and fairly drove the old lines out of the west bound trade at times. At the best it made it impossible to carry anything at a profit. What its own losses were can merely be guessed at, The Ogdensburg line was not an element of disturbance, as it under- took to maintain the general rates. Just how it will come into the new condition of things is not known, but its change of rail connection east from Ogdensburg is no expected to make any difference, as the same points are reached. It is likely that some effort will be made to obtain an under- standing with the Canada Atlantic, but as yet the lines are engaged in Sene up last season's business, which is said to be a matter of detail merely. The only noteworthy change in the situation here last season was the retirement of the West Shore road from the lake trade on the claim that it did not pay. This cut off one of the connections of the Anchor line and confined it mainly to the Erie railroad. The New York Central line appears to gain something every season. It handled through its elevators here about one-fourth of the 217,000,000 bushels of grain brought in by lake, and with another steamer larger than any other on the lakes, it will certainly not do any less next season. Though a great disturber of grain rates of late years this line and road has not been called a bad cutter of package freight rates. So it appears that about the same lines will be foltowed next season as last. 'Till the 'Wisconsin Central line owns its own boats there will always be some uncertainty before the season opens as to the make-up of the fleet. Flour ought to move in much more quantity than it did this season, for the lakes closed with scarcely any flour in store here, in place of the hundreds of thousand barrels that would have been laid down here if they could have been obtained at the close of navigation. There is now nothing to do but ship all-rail, a business that was always doubtful, and which is this winter a matter of the utmost guesswork. A shipment of flour on cars in Minneapolis may be here in eight days and it may take as many weeks. With the congested possibilites of modern railroading, not to mention the shortage of cars, now a common thing, it is a fact that water routes are faster than rail routes. If it turns out that no ore carriers can live at 60-cent freights unless they can take 3,500 tons at a cargo, it may quite easily turn out that the package-freight trade will come out ahead the coming season. OPERATIONS AT THE HERRESHOFF WORKS. The Herreshoff Mfg. Co. of Bristol, R. I., has shipped to a prom- inent bronze manufacturing firm the pattern for the keel plate of the new yacht being built to defend the America's cup in the race with the yacht which Sir Thomas Lipton of-Irelanu will send to this country. In design, though not in length, the keel plate patterns are almost identical with those used for the Defender, which the Herreshoffs built for the last international race. The width of the plate will be 20 inches, the same as the old boat, and 28 or 30 feet in length--about 6 or 7 feet shorter than the Defender. The patterns, of course, demonstrate that the new vessel | will not be of the "'fin-keel"' type. : The general countour of the Defender swelled out to a width of not less than 36 inches in the lead bulb, and the lead bulb of the new vessel will be even wider than the racer of 1895, and will consequently offer a much greater resistance to passage through the water. The length of the new keel plate shows also that the lead ballast is to be placed in one spot, rather than distributed as in. the case of the Defender. Those who have seen the mould, figure from eye measure that it will shape out a lead bulb nearly 4 feet wide. The loss, however, is designed to be more than counterbalanced by the gain made in quickness of movement, both in stays and otherwise, while the yacht is expected to also gain by the cutting away forward. The Herreshoff Co. has been making additions to its plant for some time past and has just completed a two story building, located directly opposite the machine shops and office. The building is 47 x 96 feet and very substantially built. The first floor will be used as a store room and the second floor as a sail loft. NAVIES OF THE WORLD. During a debate in congress, a few days since, a representative from one of the southern states presented an interesting table showing the relative naval strength (exclusive of vessels building) of the principal nations and which he said had been prepared from official sources. The table is as follows: | : pene France. Germany. | Russia. yaiee Battleships.. 74 36 16 23 | 5 Coast defens 21 19 19 17 20 Cruisers....... 7 138 30 7 25 22 Gunboats ........... +3 102... 67 32 70 18 Destroyerdicce.ccctscstsetss-o eee ise 96 18 11 Dl raat. see Tonped oposite tose 190 250 142 215 12 Motel seei.stocaetleet ie wie 621 420 227 | 871 77 The Review is in need of issues of August 11 and Oct. 6, 1898, to com- plete files, and will pay a liberal price to anyone who may have these numbers to spare.