The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

30 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST. Mr. C. P. Nicholson of the Nicholson Ship Log Co., Cleve- land, is at the Norfolk navy yard equipping the torpedo boat de- stroyer Truxton with one of the Nicholson logs. Rear Admiral krank Wildes, second in command at the Asiatic station, has been "condemned" by a medical board and ordered home. He commanded the Boston in the battle of Manila. : It is expected that the armored cruiser Pennsylvania will be launched at Cramps during the next two or three weeks. She will be christened by a daughter of Senator Quay. The Penn- sylvania's displacement will be 13,680 tons. It took a total of 382,040 tons of coal to keep up steam in the vessels of the United States navy during the year ended June 30, 1902, at an average cost of $5.81 per gross ton on board the vessel. This compares with $7.01 for the previous year. The submarine torpedo boat Adder has been accepted by the government, subject to a penalty of $960 for failure to comply with certain requirements_as to speed. If the other submarines exceed the speed requirements this penalty will be refunded. Rear Admiral George Wallace Melville has reached the re- tiring age and has been put upon the retired list. He will, how- ever, be retained on active duty as chief of the bureau of steam engineering until his term expires, which will be in August next, : The Canadian Lake & Ocean Navigation Co., Ltd. of To- ronto, sent out last week a pretty little Christmas greeting. The cover was decorated with a life preserver in white and gold (truly a good idea) printed against the faintest blush of blue. On the rear page was a picture of the first turret steamer on the great lakes. - The Newport News ship yard has recently tried. an experi- ment that is expected to prove successful. A dozen young women are employed in the drafting department as tracers and it is understood that if they can meet all requirements the force wili be increased to 100 girls. 'These are the first young women to be engaged in the actual construction of a ship. At the annual meeting of the Japan Mail Steamship Co., held at Tokio recently, the report showed that the American division of the company's operations had not been satisfactory. Cargoes from Japan to America were offered in fair quantity but at low rates, while the cargoes furnished by the Great Northern Railway for transpacific shipment were comparatively small. The Morse Iron Works & Dry Dock Co., which has a large plant in South Brooklyn, has found it necessary to ask for an extension of time on $450,000 worth of paper. It is said that there is no question as to the financial standing cf the firm but owing to delayed payments, especially on government work, it is pressed for ready money. The firm employs about 2,000 men. Congressman Hill has introduced a bill in the house of rep- resentatives to appropriate $1,000,000 for the purchase of sub- marine boats of a type which shall make the best showing ina competitive test before the officials of the United States navy at Washington next June. 'This has special reference to the lake type of submarine boat, the invention of Simon Lake of Bridge- port, Conn. _- Members of the underwriting syndicate of the International Mercantile Marine Co. have been called upon to pay within the next week a 10 per cent. installment on their subscriptions. The installment is $5,000,000. Three calls have previously been made, two for 25 per cent. each and a third for 30 per cent., making a total so far called of $45,000,000. The latest call is for the pur- pose of paying for vessels now under way, both in this country and in Britain, for the combine. Senator Elkins has developed inte one of the most earnest advocates of a larger navy. He has become a most strenuous 'disciple of President Roosevelt in this regard. "We should [Jan. 15, build," said he, "fifty more battleships before paring down our naval appropriations. We should make liberal provision for four more battleships at the present session, and if I understand the sentiment among the members of the senate we are going to get a substantial increase. It is idle for us to close our eyes to the possibility. that we may sooner or later become involved in a war with one of the great powers of Europe as the result of our new policy of territorial. expansion. The time has come to keep our army and navy up to the highest standard of effi- ciency." The present coal famine has apparently set to work the wits of Mr. A. G. Whitnev of Chicago. He has evolved a plan for drawing unlimited heat trom the firmament and has progressed so far as to incorporate his company under the laws of South Dakota with a capital stock of $56,000,000. As everyone knows the atmosphere in which we live extends to a height of 17 miles above the earth's surface. At that point gravitation is from and not towards the earth. About 250 miles above the line of atmosphere Mr. Whitney has discovered an unlimited supply of crude electricity which has been running to waste for millions of years. He proposes to project a wire into this strata and conduct the electricity to the earth. As gravitation is away from the earth at a distance of 17 miles this force will serve, of course, to keep the wire taut forever. As to how the wire is to be projected the first 17 miles Mr. Whitney's explanation is not clear to the ordinary mind but he concludes that it is very simple and involves the building of a tower 60 ft. high and the construction of a storage tank. In addition to the incorporation of the company Mr. Whitney has secured figures on 125 miles of: wire. "KEARSARGE" ASBESTO:-METALLIC PACKINGS Made from pure Asbestos yarn and fine brass wire, firmly woven together PISTON ROD PACKING For high speed, high tem- against am pressure perature, high pressure aaa cd Giehock te niper: with or without «wire inter- ature. woven. FLANGE JOINT GASKETS GASKETS will not blow out, will hold Used exclusively on the hand holes of Babcock & Wil- More reliable than rubber cox and other water-tube or metallic and cost much boilers. less. Will not blow out. Unaffected by high tem- perature. Without expan- sion or contraction. Works perfectly whether condi- tions are favorable or un- favorable. SHEET PACKING The most reliable flat pack- ing on the market for all conditions of steam service Write for samples, prices and full information. H. W. JOHNS-MANVILLE CoO. 100 William Street New York. BOSTON PHILADELPHIA CLEVELAND MILWAUKEE CHICAGO St. LOUIS PITTSBURG NEW ORLEANS LONDON ELIAS GUNNELL, PRESIDENT. THOS. J. PRINDIVILLE, DRY DOCKS AND MAIN OFFICE: MANITOWOC, WIS. GEO. B. BURGER, SUPT. VICE-PRESIDENT. MANITOWOC DRY DOCK COMPANY, SHIP BUILDERS. FACILITIES FOR REPAIRS OF STEEL AND WOODEN VESSELS. L. £&.:GEER, SEC'Y AND TREAS, CHARLES C. WEST, MANAGER. BRANCH YARD: 34 ROBERTS STREET, CHICAGO. THEODOR. KNUDSON, Super, MANUFACTURERS OF AND DEALERS IN ALBERT C. JAHL, General Manager, 100 William St., New York, U. S. A. United Marine Mfg. & Supply Co., ELECTRICAL MATERIAL FOR SHIPS AND FORTIFICATIONS.