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IMPORTANCE OF CAREFUL NAVIGATION. Editor MARINE Review :--The extraor- dinary rush which the demand for lake tonnage has recently inaugurated and the consequent demand for efficient officers and men to operate valuable steamers through the great _ lakes, where fogs and other hindrances pre- vail, as well as through the intricate channels and rivers connecting the lake system, is of course attracting the attention of the managers of steam- boat lines, to an extent proportionate with the importance and magnitude that the industry has assumed. They are realizing as never before in the history of lake commerce that in grounding or by collision, or by any other form of accident, greater expen- diture of money is necessary in wreck- ing and repairing, and greater loss by delay than in former years. I have been gratified by the receipt during the last month of letters from two of the leading steamboat mana- gers expressing their determination to contribute as far as is in their power to reduce accidents to a minimum, and . my experience has taught me that the managers can do much along that line. I believe that the most fruitful cause of accidents is by far_ attributable to not sounding the passing signal early enough to receive a response that each vessel may know what course to pursue before they approach within dangerous proximity. A _ strict ob- sétvance of the rule will practically insure safety in meeting and passing. I have been informed in a general way that the whistle rule is being violated very frequently and have taken oc- casion to say that 'if a specific charge of such violation is reported to any lo- cal office within the Ninth district it will certainly receive the attention that it deserves resulting in the suspension of the officer in charge when such vio- lation occurs. _ The fact the managers are moving along the line toward. the highest de- gree of efficiency, not only in officers and men, but in equipment as well, is having its effect as shown in the writ- ten examinations of candidates who -apply for marine licenses, as in almost every case the applicant has studied his lesson thoroughly with a full knowledge that the manager as well as the inspector is making diligent in- *quiry into the practical and theoretical knowledge of licensed officers. Whatever tends toward safety in transportation in any form reduces the cost of the commodity transported, therefore less expensive at its destina- tion, reflecting its benefits back upon the producer by way of increased de- "THE. MARINE. REVIEW mand from the same source, thus stim- ulating the vast opportunities of this country into active business enterprises and relations with other countries. The now spending subsidy © bill, if passed, would surely tend to perpetu- ate indefinitely the condition. Our steamboat managers, officers and seamen have come to be recog- nized as grand and important factors in shaping and fostering the future prosperity and history of our country as compared with other nations of the earth. It therefore behooves us who are in any way engaged in moving our products by the great lakes route to 'contribute individually so far as pos- sible, our skill, our intelligence and our fidelity to any trust imposed or duty to which we may be assigned in carrying forward this work and in the spirit of true citizenship. JAMES STONE, Supervising Inspector. Cleveland, July. 26. : CAR FERRY ASHTABULA. Marine men in Ashtabula harbor are taking a great interest just at present in the new Pennsylvania and Ontario car ferry Ashtabula because it is ex- pected she will be given her trial tzip very soon. Her contract speed is 15 miles an hour with thirty 50-ton cars aboard. She has made about fourteen without crowding, however, so she is expected to knock off the odd mile without any trouble. The big boat is worthy of notice for two important reasons. Her excellent fit out is one,,and the fact that she is manned entirely by young men, is an- other. From the captain down, the crew is composed entirely of young men, = lhe- captain; B... 1, Haagerson, and the chief engineer, S. M. Sylvester, are excellent types of the younger gen- eration of sailors. _ Captain Haagenson is an_ experi- enced navigator who believes that a man cannot know too much. His lux- uriously appointed quarters emphasize this because he has a well stocked library. of pattical © books, trom 'Wrinkles' to the Azimuth tables. He also has all necessary instruments. The quarters: for all the crew, in- cluding the seamen and porter, are on ~ what might.be called the promenade deck. The captain has two rooms, fin- ished in quartered oak, and the for- ward 'crew have three othe: rooms. All the rooms are commodious and airy. The three guests' rooms or own- ers' rooms are in white enamel with mahogany ard brass furnishings. The captain has Mr. T. C. Smith as' "his first mate, and Mr. A. J. Buchanan Chief Sylvester has as his second. -tercommunicating "phones, 27 Mr. Thos. Elliott-and Mr. Wm. Wenk as his first and .second assistants. They 'are all fine 'types of young 'men and made out' of the stuff that impels them to love their profession. Mr...C. H. Smith presides over the' galley. There is absolutely nothing lacking in the boat's equipment. She 'has in- a Nicholson log that registers her speed as well as the number of miles covered, a con- denser which can be connected with the pumps when slush ice is met on the lake, two watertight shaft alleys, and automatic fuel bunkers. Her steering engine is in the engine room. The Ashtabula will carry thirty hop- per cars. She makes theyrun to Port Burwell in three and three-quarter hours and is figured* to make. two round trips in twenty hours. She has a water bottom which can be filled or emptied in short orde>. It is divided up by bulkheads so that there is abso- lutely no danger of sinking by tearing a hole in her bottom. . WILLIAM M. MILLS. | One of the young men who has made rapid strides in lake commerce of recent years is Mr. Wm. M. Mills, of the Tonawanda Iron & Steel Co., North .Tonawanda, N. ¥.. He is. the manager of .the Tonawanda Transit Co., the Niagara Transit Co. and the Weston Transit Co., as well as of the fleet of vessels controlled by the Tona- wanda Iron & Steel Co. Last year the steamer Wm. A. Rogers owned by the Niagara Transit Co. broke the grain carrying record on the lakes and dis- tinguished herself this year by. opening - navigation through the straits of Mack- inaw, breaking her way through the ice in the rivers. The steamer Charles. 'Weston, owned by the Tonawanda Transit Co.,. went ,into commission this spring. The three vessels which are now building for the Weston Transit Co. will be named Wm. M. Mills, Legrand S. De Graff and Wm. D; Kerr. These three vessels are to be the largest on the lakes, 605 ft. over all. Two of them will be built. at Lorain and one at South Chicago. They will be ready by the opening of navigation next year. For the first time since she became a prize of the Japanese blockading squadron the steamer Montana has ar- rived at San Francisco. The Montana was seized and condemned as a prize of war by the Japanese government but was subsequently sold to Robert Dollar, of the Dollar Steamship Co. Later the Montana was turned over to the Pacific Coast Steamship Co., the former owners of the vessel.