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would have danced about so much less that she would no doubt have -- weathered the storm. There will of course be no light thrown on the loss of the Gilcher and the Bannockburn. On the whole the new steel steam- er has made a much better history as a sea boat than was feared when the Western Reserve and Gilcher were lost. There is not much uneasiness in ship yards or anywhere else from that direction and if the owner will insist on having his steamer draw a foot or two more water than is safe at all times and the insurance is will- ing to pay for the new bottoms, the ship yards will very cheerfully do the work at so much per day. JoHN W. CHAMBERLIN. LAUNCH OF THE NAVAHOE. On Fhursday, Oct. 10, Messrs. Har- land & Wolff successfully launched the ocean-going barge Navahoe, built to the order of the Anglo-American Oil Co. This vessel is 450 ft. long by 58 ft. beam, and about 8,000 tons register, and has been specially de- signed and constructed for the trans- port of over 10,000 tons of oil in bulk. The vessel will have an excep-. tionally complete oil pumping system for loading and_ discharging, also steam steering gear, deck machinery, etc., all the arrangements being of the latest type. There will also be a single ended boiler (arranged for burning oil fuel) to generate' the power for .driving the pumps, etc. A very complete installation of electric light is fitted. The vessel is fitted with six masts, with fore and aft sails and gear com- plete, also a special towing machine and large patent towing chock for connecting her with one of the com- pany's steamers, by which the barge will be towed across the ocean, the Navahoe being the counterpart of the Iroquois now finishing for the same company, the combination of the two vessels enabling one steamer to bring from port to port 20,000 tons of oil at one time. The owners were represented by Mr. Maclean, general manager, Mr. Ford, of New York, naval architect, and Mr. Hallenbach, assistant mana- ger of the shipping department, New York. The battleship Alabama has been berthed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for repairs. The port engine was dis- abled at sea through a fracture in one of the cylinders, and it is ex- pected that the repairs will keep the Alabama at the yard for about three weeks. TAE MaRINE. REVIEW . MARINE INTERESTS ASSOCIA- TION. The Marine Interests Association, Marquette building, Chicago, Ill, has been formed for the purpose of en- deavoring to establish such relations with the secretary of commerce and labor and the board of supervising inspectors as will bring about the en- actment of reasonable rules and regu- lations governing steamboats and the repeal of any that have become im- practicable. 'rhe "assotiation "has mapped out wide work for itself, em- bracing not only the work undertaken by the National Board of Steam Nav- igation but also that undertaken by motor boat manufacturers. There is a settled conviction that the rules and regulations governing steam and. mo- tor driven craft should have greater flexibility. The association will prob- ably have a delegation at the next annual meeting of the board of super- vising inspectors at Washington. SUBMARINE SIGNALS. The Submarine Signal Co., Boston, Mass., announces that the . United States has arranged for 50 subma- rine signal stations, Canada nine, Eng- land seven, Germany six, Holland five, and Denmark one. These equipments include the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts of the United States and great lakes, the river St. Lawrence, and the coasts of the United States, the Eng- lish channel and connecting waters-- in short, the regions where' fog is the most serious menace to navigation. Fifty-seven steamship lines and five navies have installed on their vessels the apparatus to receive submarine signals. A REMARKABLE MAN. The centennial anniversary on Aug. 17 of Fulton's steamboat recalls the genius of this remarkable man in other ways. He planned and built a submarine for use in war and con- structed and demonstrated a subma- rine torpedo in England on October 15, 1805. With 180 lb. of powder. and some clockwork which was timed to explode in 18 minutes he blew to fragments the Dorothea, a 200-ton brig which had confidently been lent by Pitt for the experiment. The tor- pedo had to be towed under water by men in two small boats and drawn under the vessel by ropes, a maneuver contemplated only in the dark dur- ing hostilities. It is difficult to place bounds to what Fulton might have done could he have had the benefit of the scientific and mechanical facili- ties of today. 19 LAUNCHING A BATTLESHIP. It costs about $15,000 simply to launch an English battleship, some of the items being: Grandstand for in- vited guests, $1,000; hire of eight tugs to hold the ship after launching, $1,000; four huge wood and steel cradles, $10,000; tallow, oil and soap to grease the ways, $500; souvenir invitations, $500; present for the lady who launches the vessel, $500, and the banquet which follows uses up the balance. The launching is accom- plished by cutting a cord which re- leases four iron weights, and these, falling quite a distance, knock out the "dog shores" which hold the cra- dles. The critical instant is when the vessel is almost water-borne with the fore end still on land. The friction from the weight is so great that the false keel is. sometimes fused, even under water. Eight chains, weighing about 600 tons, hang from the sides of the ship and drag alongthe ground to retard the ship. TIME ON SHIP BOARD. Time on shipboard is calculated by what appears, at first, to be a com- plicated method. The twenty-four hours are divided into "watches" of four hours "each. One watch begins, for instance, at. 12 o'clock. At half past 12 the ship's bell is struck once; at 1 o'clock, twice--two bells it is called--and so on, an_ additional "bell" being struck every half-hour until 4 o'clock is marked by "eight bells." The watch is then changed, and at half-past 4 "bell" time begins all over again, the bell being struck once again. The period from 4 in the afternoon until 8 is divided into the first and second "dog-watches," each lasting two instead of four hours. The two dog-watches makes seven watches in all, and this enables the crew to keep them alternately, as the watch which comes on duty at noon one day has the afternoon next day, and the men who have only four hours' rest one night have eight hours the next night. This is the reason for having the dog-watches, which are made by dividing the hours from 4 p. m. to 8 p.:m. into two watches. "Eight bells" is either 12 o'clock noon or midnight, and 4 o'clock a. m. or p. m. One bell is half-past 12, half-past 4 or half-past 8 o'clock. Two bells may be either 1 a. m. or lp. ot: Sa. mor 5 pm: and' 9 a. m. or 9 p. m, ete. Here on the lakes the watches are of 6 hours' duration, 6 on and 6 off. Bell time is kept just the same as in the above case, however.