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1901. MARINE REVIEW. . | 17 manner, so that in two operations the whole of the pontoons can be most completely and simply inspected or repaired in all parts. Lastly there are the under-water portions of the wall to be got at. This is simply effected without removing any bolts by merely heeling the dock (see Fig. 4). As the bottom of the walls is normally somewhat higher than the bottom of the pontoons, it follows that the angle of the heel required is very small indeed, and is easily provided by allowing water to run into the compartments opposite to those that are to be examined. The caissons themselves being separate structures can of course be got at at any time and in any way, being preferably lifted by the dock itself by being placed on the deck of the pontoons. It will be seen therefore from the above description that each and every portion of the parts of the dock that are normally below water can at any time be easily got at for the purpose of inspection or repair, and that entirely without the aid of divers or any appliances whatsoever foreign to the dock itself. MORE WORK FOR LAKE SHIP YARDS. Two orders of the present week from Messrs. Hawgood of Cleveland increase to twenty the number of steel steamers under contract with the American Ship Building Co. for delivery next spring. Probably one of the vessels, building for W. H. Mack and others, will be delivered so as to make a few trips before the close of navigation this season. Of these twenty steamers seventeen are freighters and their combined capacity on 18 ft. draught is 91,900 gross tons. The aggregate value of the ships, including three passenger steamers, is $5,585,000. In a despatch from Detroit a few days ago, Lyman C. Smith of Syracuse, N. Y., who has made a fortune out of the Smith-Premier typewriter, was quoted as say- ing that he intended to place an order for the construction of ten steel freighters for lake service. Mr. Smith was probably not fully quoted on the subject. Several weeks ago, W. H. Prime, who is well known in marine insurance circles, undertook with Charles Counselman, Chicago grain merchant, and with Capt. W. W. Brown of Cleveland, the formation of a company to build ten steamers. Capt. Brown has been associated with Mr. Smith of Syracuse in several large enterprises, and was to represent him in the negotiations with Messrs. Counselman and Prime. This was the ten-ship order to which Mr. Smith referred. The negotia- tions are still under way but have been delayed on account of the illness of Mr. Prime, who is confined in a hospital at Chicago. The order may yet be placed but probably for not more than half the number of ships first planned. In lists of new vessels for next year thus far published the names of parties for whom two of them are to be built have not been given out. The names are A. G. Tomlinson, well known vessel agent of Duluth, and Frank Seither of Cleveland, who is a large owner in the steamer V. H. Ketchum.. These steamers are each of about 4,800 gross tons capacity and about $220,000 cost. The two Hawgood steamers, for which contracts have just been closed, will probably be built at the Chi- cago works of the consolidation and will be larger than any of the vessels as yet ordered for next year--6,500 gross tons capacity each. They will be a little larger but in all other respects similar to the steamer Clarence A. Black, which has quite a reputation as an economical freighter. One is for Henry A. Hawgood and the other for Wm. A. Hawgood. A Pittsburg company that controls oil property in Texas has pur- chased from Mr. A. B. Wolvin and others the steel steamer Paraguay and has made arrangements with the American Ship Building Co. to fit the vessel at once for carrying oil in bulk between Texas and New Eng- land points. The work will be done at the Lorain ship yard, under the supervision of Mr. Edward Gaskin of Buffalo, who has been interested in negotiations for the purchase of the vessel. The alterations will be finished early in October, so that the vessel may be taken to the seaboard without difficulty before the close of lake navigation. The Paraguay and a sister ship, Asuncion, were built by Mr. Wolvin and others about a year ago for seaboard trade. The Asuncion is now on the Pacific coast, but the Paraguay has been on the lakes this season in preference to the seaboard on account of more favorable freights in the lake trade. When alterations to be made in the Paraguay are completed at Lorain she will have twelve oil compartments of 800,000 gallons capacity; these in addi- tion to a pump compartment forward and the regular engine and boiler compartment aft. An expansion trunk, extending the whole length of the vessel, will be fitted in addition to eight 'thwartship bulkheads and a cofferdam. The cofferdam, constructed just forward of the engine com- partment, will be in reality two bulkheads, with space enough between them to admit of a quantity of water, so as to prevent leakage of oil to the boiler and machinery part of thé ship. The steamer Colonel, one of the two freighters on which the Detroit Ship Building Co. has been at work since early spring, left Detroit on her maiden trip Saturday. The other steamer will go into commission early next month. These two steamers, to be managed by Mr. A. Mc- Vittie, are distinctively Detroit ships, built-upon the ideas of Messrs. Mc- Vittie, Kirby and Calder, from their knowledge of the operation as well as the construction of lake freighters. They expect great results from the Colonel and her sister vessel--from the standpoint of economy, of course. The Colonel as regards hull is a duplicate of the Gilchrist steam- ers Lake Shore and Gilchrist (5,400 gross tons capacity), but her engines are of only 1,000 H.P., yet it is expected she will make 11 miles loade and 12 light. The council of Collingwood, Ont., has fixed assessment of the Colling- wood Ship Building Co. at $25,000 for school purposes only and has granted it a lease of a dry dock for twenty-one years at a nominal rental. Notwithstanding the fact that every ship yard on the Pacific coast is turning out lumber carriers as fast as they can be put together, there is still a shortage of tonnage, and freight rates are consequently stiff. Rear Admiral Howison has been selected by Secretary Long to take the place of Rear Admiral Kimberly on the committee appointed to in- vestigate the conduct of Rear Admiral Schley. Low Rate Excursion to New York via B. & O.--Tickets on sale daily until Oct. 20 with privilege of returning via Buffalo. Call at city ticket office, 241 Superior street. Oct. 20. TRIP OF RIVER AND HARBOR COMMITTEE. _ Congressman Theodore E. Burton, chairman of the committee on rivers and harbors, has just returned with several members of the com- mittee from a tour of the harbors of the United States outside of those of the great lakes and the northern Atlantic coast. The trip has been comprehensive and the fruit of the observations will be incorporated in the new river and harbor bill. Mr. Burton is not as yet ready to make a seen regarding the results of the trip but will make one later. He said: "We left Washington June 3 and commenced our tour of inspection at Mobile. From there we went to New Orleans, Houston, Buffalo bayou and Galveston, Tex. From there we went straight to the Pacific coast, stopping at San Diego, Los Angeles, San Pedro, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Port Harford, Redmond Creek and then to San Francisco. We spent several days at San Francisco examining the harbor closely and other harbors and channels near at hand, notably at Oakland and the channel at Mare island, where the navy yards are located. We then vis- ited the Sacramento river, Stockton and Marysville and went up the Yuba and Feather rivers. From Marysville we went to Portland, Ore., visiting the Willamette valley and the Columbia river to and including its mouth. We then spent some time in Washington, making our rendezvous at Seattle. From Washington a side trip was made to Alaska over the White Pass & Yukon railway to the headwaters of the Yukon, directly on the route to the Klondike. On the return trip we inspected the Snake river and that portion of the 'Columbia river between the mouth of the Snake and the mouth of the Willamette. "The trip was an extremely laborious one, but wonderfully instruc- tive, and made much easier by the remarkable cordiality shown us on the Pacific coast. We were supplied with every facility for inspection, and were magnificently received in the leading cities, such as San Francisco, Portland and Seattle." AROUND THE GREAT LAKES. | It is announced from Detroit that water signals on the Smith dock and the Pittsburg Coal Co.'s dock in the Detroit river will hereafter show depth of water at the Lime-Kilns up to 18 ft. 6 in. As far as can be learned last year's record of 7,446 gross tons of ore moved in a single cargo has not been exceeded thus far this season. The steamer James J. Hill delivered 7,248 tons at Conneaut a few days ago. Alexander Staley, chief engineer of the steamer Pueblo, died on Fri- day at Elgin, IIl., after an illness of several weeks, aged about forty-four years. His home was at South Milwaukee. He was a member of the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association. Barry Bros. of Chicago have purchased in New York for lake service the army transport Terry. She is 220 ft. long, 40 ft. beam and 18 ft. depth of hold. Her tonnage is 1,338. The Terry was formerly known as the Hartford and ran in a line on the Atlantic coast until she was purchased by the government for an army transport at the beginning of the Spanish war. The price paid by the government was $170,000. The Hartford will run between Chicago and Muskegon, taking the place of the State of Michigan. The old schooner, Smith & Post, acting as a light-ship on the south- east shoal of Point au Pelee passage, was burned to the water's edge and sank out of sight on Wednesday morning. The fire is supposed to have Started in the vicinity of the boilers. The crew, consisting of Thomas Wilson, keeper, his son Norval Wilson, and William Roach, were res- cued by the Anchor line steamer Codorus and taken to Cleveland. The Smith & Post was chartered by the Lake Carriers' Association early in the summer and converted, by the addition of a boiler, whistles and lamps, into a light-ship. She was towed to her station about six weeks ago, replacing a gas buoy which formerly marked the shoal. The schooner was built at Oakville, Ont., in 1866 and was 117 ft. long, 25 ft. beam and 11 ft. deep. She was owned by H. C. Doville and others. TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYER VIPER A TOTAL WRECK. The torpedo boat destroyer Viper, the first of her class to be fitted with Parsons turbine engines, has been totally wrecked on the rocks off Alderney island in the English channel. The boat struck during a fog, which set in while she was chasing destroyers of the opposing maneuver fleet. The Viper fired signals after she struck but the other vessels did not heed them, believing that the firing was part of the maneuvers. The crew 'did their utmost to save the vessel, but a racing tide caused the anchor cables to part and compelled the crew to abandon her in small boats. A French fishing smack, acting as a pilot, helped the crew to reach the shore. The Viper was running at 20 knots when the fog set in. She was then eased down to 5 knots and was running at that speed when she struck. Later when her cables parted her stern smashed on the rocks. Subsequently she parted amidships. The Viper, was the fastest vessel afloat, having on repeated tests under severe conditions made more than 40 statute miles within an hour. On her builder's trials she exceeded 35 knots and later in rough weather she maintained an average of 34.25 knots. She fully realized the expecta- tions that were based upon the performance of her diminutive predecessor, the Turbina. Although only 210 ft. long, 21 ft. beam and 12.6 ft. draught, the Viper's engines developed more than 10,000 H.P., which equals the driving power of some great ocean liners. Absence of vibration and economy of coal consumption were chief among the little torpedo boat destroyer's good qualities. A very large number of competent judges of fast vessels on the great lakes are of the opinion that the Arnold line steamer Iroquois, built by the Craig Ship Building Co. of Toledo, can show speed equal to if not greater than the crack side-wheelers City of Erie and Tashmoo, which raced on Lake Erie several weeks ago. The Iroquois, alike to her sister- ship, the Chippewa, is certainly a very fast vessel, as was demonstrated in the brush she had with the Tashmoo up the Detroit river and Lake St. Clair on her maiden voyage. It is to be hoped that opportunity to bring the vessels together will soon occur, under conditions that will not admit of contradictory statements. Speed developed by the Arnold vessels has done a great deal towards directing attention to the Roberts type of water tube boiler, with which they are both fitted and which has been highly successful in them.