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38 M A R Loe E. MR. W. W. SMITH Mr. W. W.. Smith, marine representative of the marine department of the Standard Oil Co. of New York on the great lakes, was located at Duluth in 1903 and at the Sault in 1904. His many friends may this season meet Mr. Smith at any port from Duluth to Buffalo, and if there is any one that does not already know that Vacuum 600 W. Cylinder Oil, Vacuum MR. W. W. SMITH. No. 1 Marine Engine Oil and Vacuum Anti-friction Grease are not the best lubricants known for marine purposes, he will be only too pleased to take a day off and convince them. ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST The protected cruiser St. Louis will be launched from the ship yard of the Neafie & Levy Ship & Engine Building Co., Philadelphia, May 6. Rear. Admiral A. S. Barker, commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic fleet, retired last week on account of age. He will be succeeded by Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans. The Hamburg-American Line announces that a regular fortnightly freight and passenger service has been established between New York and Colon. The first steamer to sail was the. Valdivia. | The Bridgeport Motor Co., Bridgeport, Conn., has shipped to the Adirondack League club, McKeevers, New York, a motor boat 24 ft. long, 7 ft. beam and 28 in. draught with a 8-H. P. gasoline motor. The torpedo boat | flotilla was sent out on Narragansett bay to test the new 21-in. Whitehead torpedoes recently introduced inthe navy. The torpedoes attained a speed of 32 knots over a range of 2,500 yards. Wilson Bros., Astoria, Ore., have been awarded a contract to build a launch for the Fishermen's Co-operative Packing Co. The dimensions of the craft will be as follows: Length, 50 ft., beam 17 {1.25 in., depth 3 ft..5 in. The tug boat Edwin Brandow built by Brown & Sons, Staten Island, N. Y., for Capt. Edwin Brandow was launched last week. The tug is intended for harbor work, principally BR 6 vo Ew for attending the Ward, Mallory & Maine Steamship Co.'s steamships and barges. The Noecker, Rickesbach & Ake Ship Building Co., Camden, N. J., announces that they intend to build a large dry dock and also machine shop. The company already has four small floating dry docks from 130 to 185 ft. in length and was recently incorporated with a capital of $145,000. The port engine of the torpedo boat O'Brien was put out of commission by the breaking of the high pressure piston rod on her preliminary trial trip off Fire Island last Tuesday. W. E. Van Sickle, the chief machinist, though submitted to great personal danger succeeded in cutting off the steam before the broken piston had knocked a hole in the torpedo's sides. Except on rare occasions when a war vessel visits Egyptian waters, the United States flag is never seen among the 1,500 steam and 2,000 sailing vessels that clear from Alexandria, Egypt, annually. The balance of trade always has been and always will be against the United States under these circum- stances. American manufactures intended for Egyptian con- sumption have to be transhipped at Liverpool. James Stewart & Co. of Pittsburg, Pa., have received con- tracts for rebuilding the extensive Stuyvesant docks at New Orleans which were recently destroyed by fire. The new Stuyvesant docks will consist of 4,500 ft. of concrete and steel walls built upon creosoted piling and covered with one-story fire-proof buildings with concrete roofs. There will also be two freight warehouses of 'steel 1,200 ft. long and one-story high. One cotton warehouse 1,800 ft. long will also be erected. The contract for the steel has been awarded to the American Bridge Co. Several tests have recently been made with solid petroleum for torpedo boats and in a number of instances. has been at- tended with success. On March 23 at the torpedo boat station at Newport, R. I., a test was made on the torpedo boat Mc- Kee. Her boilers were filled with cold water and steam was made in nine minutes. The test was made by the boat's crew, the inventors being merely spectators. The fuel is prepared in small bars and is compact for carriage and withstands the extremes of heat and cold. It is understood that it has been adopted by the Swedish navy. Work has been begun on the new dry dock that is to be constructed at the Brooklyn navy yard, New York, the con- tract for which was awarded to G. B. Spearin, representing Spearin & Preston. The company has established an office at the navy yard and all the buying and other business con- nected with the building of the dock will be transacted there. The contractors have purchased two Lidgerwood cableways from the Lidgerwood Mfg. Co., New York, and three 125- H. P. locomotive boilers from James Beggs & Co., New York. The contractors are also in the market for a centrifugal pump and probably for steam hammers as well. Those in charge of the work are Samuel L. Waller, superintendent; James Gar- nett Vassinger, engineer-in-chief; Caleb Hyatt, assistant en- gineer, and August Siegle, Jr., mechanical engineer. The Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Co., with main office and works at Cleveland, announces that Mr. Geo. B. Damon, who has been manager of their New York office, has been trans- ferred to an important position. in connection with the en- gineering and sales department at Cleveland, and that Mr. W. A. Stadelman, for the past ten years manager of the east- ern office of The Brown Hoisting Machinery Co. has become the manager of the general eastern office of the Wellman- Seaver-Morgan Co., with offices at No. 42 Broadway, New York city. Mr. Stadelman is well and widely known from his connection with The Sprague Electric & Railway Motor Co. as chief engineer of The Equitable Electric Railway Construc- tion Co.; general manager of The Bristol Pelt Line Railway Co., and latterly in his connection with the Brown company. All inquiries and matters requiring attention, convenient to the New York office of the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Co. will have Mr. Stadelman's personal attention.