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1900. } MARINE REVIEW. -- ay CRUISE OF THE BUFFALO. The auxiliary cruiser Buffalo, originally the Morgan liner El Cid and later the Brazilian dynamite cruiser Nictheroy, arrived in New York on Saturday last from Gibraltar after a cruise, chiefly in the Pacific, covering all told 30,174 knots in exactly six months. She sailed from Norfolk on April 20 with 4388 ambitious young Americans, mostly from the west, and she left every mother's son of them with our fleet in Chinese and Philippine waters. Sixty of the young tars were recruited in New York and ninety in Philadelphia. All the rest were from the district bordering the great lakes. They were a vigorous lot and only a few of them had been aboard a ship of any sort. They were derisively referred to by their shipmates who formed the working company of the Buffalo as "farmers." There was only one of the lot who was seriously sick on the voyage to the Orient. He is still under the weather, and came home on the Buffalo. The first stop of the Buffalo after leaving Norfolk was Fayal, in the Azores. She was there six days, and her men had practically all the shore liberty they. wanted. This is in pursuance of the idea that the only way you can touch the heart of the Yankee sailorman to make him like his job is to treat him with liberality. The next stop of the training ship was Gibraltar. Thence she sailed to Gravesend and to Southampton. All hands had expected to have a merry cruise of six months and come out of it rated at least as ordinary seamen. But Commander C. T. Hutchins got word at Southampton to proceed with all haste to China and put his young landsmen aboard ships of the Asiatic squadron that needed them. That was the first news that the Commander got of the scrap in China. Thereafter there was no shore liberty for anybody. The young fellows thought that they were going to have a chance to take part in real war, and there was not a soul of them who did not rejoice in the prospect. Before leaving. Gibraltar the Buffalo put aboard the English-built cruiser Albany, which had-been ordered to the east, eighty. of the..re-::. cruits. After leaving Gibraltar the cruiser averaged 12 knots,,andiat times, " with a daily expenditure of only. sixty tons of coal, she made:her: limit ofs 15 knots, despite the foulness.of her bottom. When she left Norfolkishe had a fine.band, made up mostly of Americans. tt Inasmuch as the Buffalo had concerts every day, the officers andimen felt: rather lonesome without hearing: the "Star Spangled Banner" occasional», ly. At Hong Kong 110 landsmen were put aboard the Monterey, The» rest of the youngsters were, as Lt. Com. Hosley expressed it, "peddled?': = out among the various ships of the fleet,.including the Brooklyn, Nash- ville, Helena, Marietta, Yorktown, Yosemite and Celtic. About a quarter of them had acquired the rating of ordinary seamen. Forty ex-_ pressed preference for the grimy job of coal passer. There' were some who. had had experience as carpenters, painters and coppersmiths, and when they were turned over to the ships of the Asiatic squadron they were rated accordingly. Not one of the officers was "'shanghaied" for service in China. Most of them were rather glad that they were able to come back. A: few would have liked to have more active duty than cruising with landsmen. When, the Brooklyn and Newark took the band of the Buffalo they left the bandmaster behind. He asked permission to recruit a band on the way home. With the help of the American consul at Malta he got a lot of Maltese, partly of English and partly of Italian descent, and they made music every day for the rest of the cruise. They had a hard time with the national airs at first, but they play them now as if they had been brought up on them. The Buffalo has a large number of monkeys, parrots and queer birds picked up by her crew in the many ports at-which she touched, This is the list of her officers: Commander, €. T. Hutchins; Lt. Com., H. H. Hosley; Lt. Com., H. O. Dunn; Lieuts.,; Eaton, Dieffenbach, Long, . Stone and Butler; Surgeon, C. F. Stokes; Paymaster, John Irwin, Jr.,. and Chaplain, W. T. Helms. ALL THE NAVIES STUDYING WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. Many experiments are being carried out abroad in the use of wire- less telegraphy. France has fitted some of the Mediterranean squadron with outfits and trials have been carried out between the different ships and between the ships and forts ashore. The results are reported as being very satisfactory. Russia has also obtained very satisfactory results in her navy with the Popoff system. Wireless telegraphy has been used by the British in South Africa, where by the use of kites for the vertical wires, it was found possible to transmit messages over a distance of 85 miles. Some of the vessels of the Channel (British) fleet have had ap- paratus installed on board, and it is the intention to give the system a severe test during the summer maneuvers. Germany has been experfi- menting with the Marconi system. On. May 15 a maritime telegraph station was established, by way of experiment, on board the light-ship Borkum Riff, with limited day service from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The new station is connected with that of the Borkum light-house, the object being | to transmit messages from and to ships at sea. The North German Lloyds Co. are equipping their ships for its use. WILL NOT EXTEND CONTRACT TIME. Several of the contractors building torpedo boats for the government are behifid in their work and will be required to pay heavy penalties unless. congtess comes to their relief. Several days ago Mr. Lewis Nixon, one | of the contractors, wrote to the navy department, saying that he had been unable to complete the torpedo boats Nicholson: and O'Brien by the time specified in the contract, namely, Oct. 1, and asking for an extension of time. The board of, naval construction' recommended the 'granting of his request, on the ground that the government has no, need of, the vessels at present and it would be an expense to maintain them at a navy yard. Secretary Long denied the application. He based his action on the fact that the company had already been favored with one year's extension of time, and held that there is no good reason why it should be further exempted from the penalties named in the contract. Similar action was taken in the case of other torpedo boat buiders who received contracts at the same time as Mr. Nixon and who have also failed to complete the vessels within the contract time. No less than fourteen of the Hamburg-American line boats and fif- teen belonging to the North German Lloyd are now in the service of the German government in connection with the Chinese war. When she gotytovChind « the: Brooklyn and the Newark demanded the musicians and, goti:them.:< LIPTON TALKS OF THE NEW SHAMROCK. In an interview in London with the correspondent of the New York Sun regarding his challenge for the America's cup, (after its acceptance by the New York Yacht Club), Sir Thomas Lipton said that he had challenged for the best three out of five races. There was no need for further negotiations. The conditions were exactly the same as those of last year's races with the exception of the ones mentioned. Regarding the New York Yacht Club's mention of accidents, Sir Thomas said he would consider that later. He thought it would be satisfactory. He be- lieved it meant if there was an accident to either boat the other must sail over the course in the specified time before it was declared a winner. With reference to the request of the New York Yacht 'Club that the time of starting the races be extended to 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Sir Thomas said it was wholly a question of the state of the wind at the time of the start. If the wind was light the race could not be finished in the time limit, though at Sandy Hook a breeze sometimes arose quickly, al- lowing a race to be finished: Sir Thomas said he would like to know if there would be plenty of light to finish the race if the time was extended. Altogether he considered the suggestion a reasonable one, and he thought he would accept it. Sir Thomas added that G. L. Watson would design his new yacht. The building contract has not yet been allotted. Con- tinuing, he said: "We will build this time up to the limit of 90 ft., though Shamrock I. was a few inches less. I believe this will-increase the speed very slightly, but we mean to, take every opportunity we can. Shamrock I. never was properly trimmed and never got into proper tune, as it were. After her arrival she was ballasted, but her designer was lying sick. Anyhow, Shamrock I. never was as good as Columbia, however you take her. I _ have stuck to the name Shamrock.. Win or lose I] want no better. The ' challenger will be the best boat ever built in this country. She will cost » _ probably proportionally more than Shamrock I. One of my chief diffi- _ culties will be time, as.crossing the Atlantic necessitates changing the rig 'twice. We have got to build a boat strong enough to stand a heavy sea, which: would be all right if we had plenty of time, but as the races will i take;place next August you see we have not much time to lose." _ Referring to the statement that he said he was willing to become a 'poor man again if he could.."'lift" the cup, Sir Thomas said he could not ; see why such a statement was attributed to him. He was willing to sacri- 'fice a lot for the cup, but there were other sacrifices than mere money. It entailed much care, time and thought. It was a serious business, be- cause the Herreshoffs were people who made it no light task to compete with them, He was stire no"one was better than they as designers. They were the brainiest and cleverest people. It would only be a waste of money to build against them unless the best possible assistance was re- ceived. Sir Thomas believes that the Herreshoffs will build a boat that will be better than the Columbia, but says they are not so foolish as to tell how much better she will be. He added: "Fowever, I expect to build a boat that will beat the Herreshoffs' best effort. There is one thing of which I can assure the public. I am de- lighted to think of the pleasure I will have in again meeting the members of the New York Yacht Club. I know everything will be done to assist me and to put mein a position which will make it impossible for me to complain, and I also feel that if ever they do err in anything it will be in my favor." Q e oe OES ETE: THE WORLD'S GREATEST STEAMSHIP LINES. Se BRITISH LINES. re Gross No. of Name of Company. tonnage. vessels. »Penincstlar 8 Oriental, |. 325. 5..0) 279,597 56 British india' a a77 (11 195 Elder,: Denipster: & .€0:.7 25 ass ee ee ee oy 183,621 72 'Thomas: Wilson, Sons & Co... 2. =e. 170,709 87 SOW ihite Stak bite 3. 0. ee 126,940 2? PUIG Tine Sa. ot oh ee ge et ee ey 124,785 34 Océan Steamship Ck Mole 325.02 ae 122,091 49 "Pacihessteam Nav Cos. s 108.6358 ee ee 117,969 38 Glare leila es ee es ee es ee ey (,008 39 Cunard: ine 3. Dra, by eee ee ee *,. 110,309 28 Anchor line 3026. eae Se ek Sa i eer 108,402 31 NR Ve lars Ol. 5 oe os nae ae see en eee 102,549 28 Maclay & Macintyre (Glasgow).............-.-+-+++--- 95,200 45 Union Line. 43. 2 67 ke Sn cern ae 91,580 18 Prince ine: 6.3 a erat eran 88,432 40 Johnson' Eine 23. 6. a es 84,781 25 | Tamport & Flolt. 2. gi ee 83,967 82 BE eyland =... eee. i oe ae 82,584 24 R, Ropiier & Cole. are ae a nO he 384 Castlet bine: 255 ee i ss 74,029 1% West India-.& Pacific:...... tegen: ee Cee 70,587 17 OTHER LINES. Hamburg-American Line ......+..- EO ae eee ae 286,945 ; North American.,Lloyd......-++2 sesso cecesenenees oe peDOdLO oy Hamburg South Ameét. Stm. Nav.'Co........... eae 100,646 'Hansa Steamship® Cov, 2 .. 28 I ie, ts 84,867 Messageries IMaritimes if). .icecl eee leben ees iss 229,837 Cie. Generale. Transatlantique.......+6.0++e eee eeeenes .166,701 Navigazione Generale Italiana..........-..+.seseeeeees 171,041 Austrian Eloy io: ore oo ee oo gan eee 146,560 Compania 'Trarsatlahtiea 01.2200... 60. 00.00. boo ae ae '121,161 Nippon Yusen ..evcets cece tees cece cence teen tee eees 161,698 ee es 'Aaericate ive. sc ok es i ee 116,950 19 The foregoing list does not in any case include vessels under con- struction. _A dispatch from Montreal announces that the Elder-Dempster Steam- ship Co. has closed a contract for the building of three very large vessels for the St. Lawrence trade. An effort is to be made to provide light draught so that the vessels may be loaded to the limit at Montreal. One vessel is to be built by Sir William Armstrong & Co., Newcastle, and two by Swan & Hunter, Wallsend-on-Tyne,