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TAE MARINE. REVIEW '25 facturers Association and a number of Chicago officials were taken on a tour along both branches of the Chicago river last week by the River Improvement Association. The vari- ous obstructions which make it impossible for large vessels to navigate the river were pointed out. A new turning basin costing $250,000 has been constructed at North avenue where vessels 600 ft. in length may turn around, but no vessel longer than 350 ft. can get up there, owing to the Kinzie street obstructions. In the south branch, the street car tun- nels at Washington, La Salle and Van Buren streets, prevent what. is otherwise a. magnificent channel to be properly devel- oped. Congress will be petitioned for a relief at its next session. OBJECTS TO THE ILLUSTRATION Editor Marine Revicw: Ina late issue of your paper under the heading of "Overloading Vessels" you publish a long letter from your Buffalo correspondent.' I do not write for the purpose of finding fault with ,\the general statements made in that letter but want to call attention to the para- graph wherein your correspondent endeavors to. prove that the overloading of ore carrying vessels is.the cause of the loss of many steel: steamers principally because the cargo is not properly trimmed, and as an illustration he mentions the name of a Canadian steamer which was lost on Lake Superiot some years since. Let me quote the correspond- ent's own words: "The effort to save cost has cut out a great part of the trimming of cargo so that when a vessel sets out with an ore cargo which is so heavy and inert, there is a stack of it at each hatch with a circle of much less load all around it. In the case of the steel fleet this action attacks the rivets and there is a danger of their coming in two or their heads pulling through the sockets and the vessel goes down in a gale, or possibly does not wait for one. There are those who say that the ill-fated Canadian steamer Bannockburn must have gone down as a result of such a condition." Now, sir, I may have omitted a few words from this paragraph but the omittance does, not alter the sense in any way. It does seem very strange to your Canadian readers that your Buffalo correspondent should come over to Canada.and select the loss of. the only Canadian steel steamer to illustrate his remarks, when so many and better illustrations are' to be found close by his own door, «The steamer Bannockburn was built to the highest class of English Lloyds, and Mr. Frank E. Kirby, of Detroit, after examining the specifications of that vessel stated that these were heavy enough for a vessel of 3,000 tons, and I will venture the statement that there is not a vessel of 2,500 tons.register on the inland waters built of so heavy material as the steamer Bannockburn, which only registered 1,700 tons. I find that the steamer Bannockburn carried one or not more than two loads of ore, so that this ship cannot have ~ been very much weakened from this cause. When the Ban- nockburn was lost she had 2,400 tons of wheat on board and the same ship has carried 2,700 tons of coal up the St. Lawrence river without submerging her Plimsoll mark and with more of a side out of water than any modern lake steamer. No one knows, as far as I can learn, the cause of the Bannockburn's disaster. The boilers may have ex- ploded; the engine might have gone through the bottom of the ship; the ship may have torn her bottom out by jumping over Caribou island reef. Any one of these: reasons would have caused the disaster, but these are all surmise and guess work, but we do know that the Western Reserve parted in two, bound up Lake Superior in an ordinary breeze of wind. ,We remember that the Gilcher and Htdson were lost, and coming nearer home we have an example of a lengthened vessel and several others lost in the late storm, any one of which offer a fair subject for criticism and argu- ment. Then why should your Buffalo correspondent come so far from home to find illustrations -for his theories? Your correspondent asks that the crews compel the owners _to adopt a load line and yet he refers to the loss of a Canadian vessel which had a Plimsoll load line below which this ship was never loaded. TxHos, DONNELLY, Kingston, Ont., Oct. 6. SHIP BUILDING IN BRITAIN Birmingham, Oct. 8--Very little now is heard of laid-up ships and orders are being placed with gratifying regularity, Messrs. Constantine, Pickering & Co., one of the most im- poztant Middlesbrough firms, have just placed an order for three steamers with various builders on Tees side, making five vessels during the present year. The persistent rumors of the past week, based upon large Russian orders for battleships alleged to be pending, have no doubt stimulated the market. Russian agents, it is said, are already in this country negotiating large orders. Anyhow, British shipbuilders are optimistic on the subject and claim to be. able to replace the Russian navy more rapidly than any other builders. The following are the eight principal shipyards: Messrs. Vickers, Son & Maxim, Barrow; John Brown & Co., Clydebank; Messrs. Cammell, Laird .& Co., Birkenhead;- Messrs, Armstrong, Whitworth' & Co., Newcastle; Palmer's Ship Building Iron Co., Jarrow; _ Fairfield Ship Building Co., Fairfield; Thames Ship Build-. ing Co., London, and Wm. Beardmore & Co., Dumbarton. In .addition to these many smaller firms could supplement the output by building torpedo and other craft. Expecta- tions of Russian orders are based mainly on the contention that ships can be built here far more cheaply, while as to output, our yards have turned out as much as_ 1,850,000 tons in a year, no less than 400,000 tons being at one time on the stocks. Most of these firms have armor plate mills at Sheffield. In view of possible orders from Japan the out- look for British ship building should be cheerful. There was a pretty little ceremony on Saturday the 30th ult. at the works of Messrs. Vickers, Son & Maxim, Barrow- in-Furness, when the Duchess of Devonshire in the presence of an enormous crowd launched the Natal, a huge vessel with a displacement of 13,550 tons, a speed of. 22% knots, and a gun power surpassing that of any existing war vessel. Col. T. E. Vickers, C. B., presided at a subsequent luncheon, when the principal toast was "Success to the Natal and the health of the Duchess of Devonshire." The Duke of Devon- shire, whose. iron and steel interests are enormous, in re- plying, paid warm compliments to the firm on the large number of battleships and other war vessels turned out. He congratulated Messrs. Vickers on being at the head of one of the most important factors in the promotion of the national security and prosperity. His Grace specially men- tioned the fact that the firm had designed and built the Mikasa, one of the most powerful vessels in the Japanese fleet. : Sir Charles V. Maclaren, M. P., presiding at a meeting of Palmer's Ship Building Co., mentioned that at Jarrow they were getting good orders from abroad, in addition to important admiralty work, including the contract for the battleship Lord Nelson of 16,500: tons displacement and 16,750 H. P. During the dull time they found Germany a convenient dumping ground for steel cars. A dividend of 5 percent was declared. The United Engineering Works, San Francisco, Cal., is building the machinery for quite a number of vessels including one building for Charles Higgins at Lindstrum's yard, Aberdeen, Wash., one for Swett & Loop, building at White's yard, Gray's Harbor, and one for J: O. Davenport, building at Hitchings & Joyce's yard, Hoquiam, Wash. -