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16 MARINE REVIEW. [December 27, . FRANCIS T. BOWLES. There is no doubt that Francis T. Bowles, who is to succeed Rear Admiral Philip Hichborn as chief constructor of the navy next March, will bring signal abilities to the office. He is full of vim and vigor, a : hater of shams, a born fighter and an uncompromising enemy of the politician. He has never permitted political influence to weigh a feather in the navy yards over which he has had jurisdic- tion. Bowles was heard of in life at an extremely early age and it is not surprising to find him a rear admiral at forty-two years. His mind is an original one, and withal courageous. It was he who suggested the advisability of sending graduates of the naval academy abroad for an advanced course of study in naval architec- ture. The suggestion was adopted and he was the first to profit by it, passing through the course of naval architecture at the royal naval college of the British gov- ernment. This privilege, as far as the royal naval college is con- cerned, has since been abolished by the British government, which makes Bowles' distinction (with 'a few other officers) all the more unique. To briefly sketch his life it should be noted that he was appointed cadet engineer Sept. 15, 1875. Later he resigned and was commissioned assistant naval constructor on Noy. 1, 1881. His resignation was due to the fact that the law requires that an officer in this corps must be appointed from -civil life. He was commissioned naval constructor on Oct. 10, 1888. Bowles was in charge of the construction work at the Norfolk navy yard just before and at the time of the building of the Raleigh and Texas. William C. Whitney, who was secretary of the navy at the time, had purchased the designs of the Texas from an Englishman. The designs were bitterly attacked after the purchase was made, but Bowles staked his professional reputation upon their success and after two boards had passed upon them construction proceeded. The Texas isa success. He was a member of the naval ad- visory board that designed the steel cruisers Chicago, Boston, Atlanta and Dolphin, and it is generally believed that the principal credit for their really excellent design and arrangement of battery belongs to him. The Chicago is generally considered the most seaworthy and comfortable cruiser in the service. Bowles has been in charge of both the Norfolk and New York navy yards, the two most important in the country. FRANCIS T. BOWLES. DREDGING STEAMERS MILLS AND THOMAS. Sparrow's Point, Md., Dec. 26---The hydraulic dredging steamer Mills, sister to the Thomas, lately described in the Review, was successfully launched from the works of the Maryland Steel Co. (marine department) here on Thursday last. These dredges are each 300 ft. long, 52% ft. beam and 25 ft. deep. The carrying capacity is 81,000 cu. ft. The vessels are for the Metropolitan Dredging Co: of New York. The usual ceremony in the launching of the Mills was 'performed by Mrs, Andrew Onderdonk of New York. Among the invited guests, for whom a luncheon was served DREDGING STEAMER MILLS. directly following the launch, were Gen. Samuel Thomas, D. O. Mills, Mr. Andrew Onderdonk, Mrs. Onderdonk, and Mr. James Symington, all of New York. The Mills slipped from the ways at 12:30 and was promptly towed under the shear legs to receive her machinery, In 2 hours and 30 minutes her two main boilers and both engines (twin screw) were in place --a pretty piece of quick work. A picture of the Thomas, first of the two dredges for the Metropoli- tan company, is presented herewith. This vessel sailed at 5:00 p. m. the same day, arriving off Old Point Comfort early the next morning. On Saturday her dredging machinery was tested and proved entirely satisfac- tory. The 48-in. Morris centrifugal pump is driven by a Corliss shait- 'governor, double-tandem, compound, horizontal engine, built by Clark Bros. of Belmont, N. Y. The cylinders are 17 and 30 in. diameter by 36 in. stroke, designed for 125 revolutions per minute and 1,600 I.H.P. The ee directly commence work upon the new channel for New York arbor, EXPORT TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. WE WILL AGAIN LEAD THE WORLD IN 1900--ENGLAND OUR ONLY REAL COMPET- ITOR--WONDERFUL GAINS IN THE LAST QUARTER OF THE CENTURY. The United States seems likely to stand at the head of the world's list of exporting nations in the year 1900. One by one the great nations have fallen behind in the race for this distinction until during the past five years only the United Kingdom and the United States could be con- sidered as competitors for the distinction of being the world's greatest exporter of articles of home production. In 1894 the United Kingdom led the United States by nearly $250,000,000, and in 1897 the United States had so rapidly gained that she was but $60,000,000 behind. In 1898 the United States took first place, our exports in that year exceeding those of the United Kingdom by nearly $100,000,000. In 1899 the United King- dom again stood at the head of the list, her exports exceeding those of the United States by nearly $35,000,000. In the eleven months of 1900 whose figures have been received by the treasury bureau of statistics the domestic exports of the United States exceed those of the United King- dom by $5,473,670, and should this rate of gain be maintained in Decem- ber the United States will in the year 1900 show a larger exportation of domestic products than any other nation in the world. Even this dis- tinction, however, of heading the world's list of exporting nations but partially tells the story of the wonderful growth of our export trade as measured by that of other nations. Comparing the growth of our ex- ports during the last quarter of the century with those of the other great nations of the world, we are able to better measure the wonderful progress shown. France shows no increase in her exports of domestic merchan- dise in the closing quarter of the century; Germany shows during the same period an increase of about 50 per cent., and the United Kingdom shows from 1875 to 1900 an increase of nearly 40 per cent., while the United States shows in the quarter century an increase of practically 200 per -cent. : The following table, compiled from official reports, shows the exports of domestic merchandise from the United States and the United King- dom, respectively, in each calendar year from 1875 to 1899, and eleven months of the year 1900. Calendar year. United States. United Kingdom. WO ee ee SANT 20 oslo $1,087,497,000 NSO ee eee ee 575,735,804 976,410,000 ol es a ae ea eae 607,566,495. 967,913,000 BU Grce ce er ee 723,286,821 938,500,000 TOO ea ee 5 754,656,755 932,090,000: TSSO e 875,564,075 1,085,521,000 NSSIe ee eee 814,162,951 1,188,873,000 NSO DE ee ete rise eg! 749,911,309 1,175,099,000 ISSO ee ee te ee 777,523,718 1,166,982,000 NSO4 ee ee eee 733,768,764 1,134,016,000 TS80 ia ee eee et 673,593,506 : 1,037,124,000 ISSO. ee oe 699,519,430 ~ 1,035,226,000 SST eo ee ee 703,319,692 1,079,944,000 NOSCe Ae ee 679,597,477 1,141,365,000 VOCOR 814,154,864 1,211,442,000 1B905 ei 845,999,603 1,282,474,000 NB9le ee eee 957,333,551 1,203,169,000 1892 Oe ee ee ee 923,237,315 1,105,747,000 1BOB 854,729,454 1,062,162,000 BOA ee 807,312,116 1,051,193,000 1805 ee ee 807,742,415 1,100,452,000 WO9G 3 a 986,830,080 1,168,671,000 POO ee Ce eee 1,079,834,296 1,139,882,000 ee ee 1,233,564,828 1,135,642,000 TROD eae cosas See 1,253,486,000 1,287,971,039 AEOOQ ee ee ae ee a 1,308,913,789 1,303,440,000 *Eleven months. NOTES FROM COAST SHIP YARDS. The four-masted wooden schooner Joseph P. Thomas was launched irom the yards of Washburn Bros., Thomaston, Me., last week. Her net tonnage is 1382. _ The ocean-going tug Prudence, built at the works of John H. Dialogue & Sons, Camden, N. J., for the Tice Towing Co., was given her trial trip last week. The tug made an average speed of 13.5 knots. The Bath Iron Works will bid for a new steel steamer to be built for the Sebago Lake, Songo River & Bay of Naples Steamboat Co. The steamer is to be named Longfellow and is to be 80 ft. long and to cost $10,000. A San Francisco correspondent sends a note to the effect that eight wooden vessels represent the output of Hay & Wright, ship builders, for the past eighteen months, all of them built at their new yard in the San Antonio estuary, Alameda county. Of the eight vessels, six were sailing ships and two steamships. The six sailers were the Philippine of 450 tons net register, the Expansion, the Luzon, the Commerce, the Forester and the William. Olsen, four-masted schooners, each of between 500 and 600 tons net register. The steamship Kailulani of 550 tons was built for the Wilder Steamship Co., and the Hanalei of 600 tons for the Inter eee pean Co. The firm's city offices are at 36 Steuart street, San 'An excellently printed catalogue has been issued by the Westinghouse Air Brake Co., Pittsburg, devoted to the Westinghouse motor-driven air compressors. The rapid increase in the number of electric cars. both for elevated and surface roads, and the more extensive use of electricity as a source of power generally have created a growing demand for small elec- trically-operated air compressors to supply compressed air for car brakes and train signals as well as for various other industrial uses. To supply this demand the Westinghouse Co. has designed, and perfected by care- ful tests and experiments, a line of motor-driven air compressors, simple in construction and of the highest efficiency. Se