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| i j i MARINE REVIEW. e , 15 CO-OPERATION WITH THE WEATHER BUREAU. (Willis L. Moore, in Ship Masters' Directory.) It is important that ship masters should bear in mind that the storm warning service of the United States weather bureau is conducted by the government for their sole and special benefit, and that all information possessed by observers at the various stations is cheerfully furnished, absolutely without charge. The observers of the weather bureau in charge of lake stations are men of long experience, and it is a most important part of their duty, and a pleasure, to serve, to the extent of their resources, ship masters, ship owners, and all who are interested in lake transporta- tion. But the weather bureau cannot serve those ship masters who can- not, or will not serve themselves, In my experience as an observer in charge of lake stations, I have encountered a class of men, now rapidly becoming extinct, who boasted of a weather knowledge superior to that furnished by the weather bureau and its reports. A series of disasters to vessels commanded by some of these men has naturally made owners reluctant to trust property to their keeping. They prefer to employ men who possess more caution, if not more intelligence; and, as a business proposition, underwriters will not knowingly take ordinary risks on vessels officered by careless or reckless men. In weather bureau, as in other lines of work, success cannot be achieved without the co-operation of those for whose benefit the work is conducted. The ship master must co-operate to the extent of giving the warnings careful and intelligent consideration. He must realize that the warnings are not idly issued, but are based upon actual existing weather conditions which forecasters of proved capacity and long experience have, after careful study, deemed threatening for the districts for which warnings are issued. They must realize that the ship master who con- sults the reports and heeds the warnings of the weather bureau is reducing the chance of disaster by storm to a minimum, It is obvious that the value of storm warnings depends both upon their accuracy and the means which are employed to give them prompt and effective distribution. On the great lakes the system of storm warn- ing display and distribution has been materially improved during the past year. Steel towers of a standard pattern have been substituted for flagstaffs at a number of points, and stronger lights for night warnings have been installed at several stations. The advantage of displays made with the improved apparatus referred to lies in the fact that they are given a greater elevation than is afforded by stations, and that their sites have been carefully selected on buildings and grounds with special refer- ence to an increase in the ranges of visibility of the flags and lights. During the coming year the work-of installing towers and high power lights will be continued to an extent which the fund appropriated for that purpose will permit. At the present time there are ninety-seven storm warning display stations on the great lakes manned by observers or agents of the weather bureau. At a large proportion of these stations warnings and advices are repeated to sub-stations and distributed by wire or bulletins to the ship- ping interests of the communities in which they are located. The system is as complete as funds and facilities for disseminating the advices will permit, and one of its provisions places, in a degree, the responsibility for securing the warnings upon the ship master; that is, any ship master can telegraph at government expense from any port at which a weather bureau station is not located to the observer at Chicago or Buffalo for the latest advices regarding the weather. At ports which possess a station of the weather bureau advices of this character can be secured either by tele- phone, by bulletins which are locally posted for the information of ship masters, or by a visit to the office of the observer. We, of the weather bureau, are your servants. We wish to serve you faithfully, and to do all that science can accomplish in making your sailing less perilous. Command us. REACHING THE NORTH POLE IN AN AUTOMOBILE. Andree tried to reach the north pole in a balloon and succeeded only in adding one more to the world's mysteries; Nansen tried to walk to the pole; and now news comes from Ottawa that Capt. Bernier, the Canadian explorer, is to endeavor to reach the pole in an automobile. The auto- mobiles in which he proposes to make the last stages of his trip to the north pole are adapted from a Russian invention. Instead of wheels they have rollers. Such invention has been used, it is said, with success on extensive ice packs similar to those of the polar regions. The nearer to the pole the closer is the ice packed presenting after snowfalls a compara- tively smooth surface for many miles at a stretch. Rough masses of ice and large spaces of open water are less common. The captain's plan is to place his vessel in the ice pack off the coast of Siberia, at a point which he calculates will drift him to the nearest point attainable to the pole. When that point is reached he will disembark working parties, who will carry wireless telegraph outfits, with which his ship is also to be furnished. The parties will drill holes in the ice and plant poles as landmarks as they proceed and establish their first station and storehouse about 50 miles from the ship. The road having been made as practicable as possible, the automobile sleigh will be put into commission to stock the station with supplies. In the meantime other parties will be working on toward the second 50-mile station, and so on. There will be a second automobile in reserve or for use where two can be usefully employed, as well as dog sleighs with teams of thirty dogs. : The sleighs on which the motors are to be placed will be so con- structed as to be capable of being used for navigating open stretches of water, where such cannot be avoided. In case rough ice is met with that Presents an insurmountable obstacle to the automobiles the machines will e disconnected and taken to pieces and portaged, a work in which 'Cana- dians, such as will form a large proportion of the exploring company, have been familiar with since infancy. Power for the electric dynamos will be furnished when the conditions allow, by windmills, and there will be elec- tric lighting and heating. There will be regular wireless communication with the civilized world through Dawson 'City. Capt. Bernier's plan for drifting with the currents that carry the packed ice to the coast of Green- land is based on actual observation by men experienced in the polar seas, among whom are several members of his own family. Capt. Bernier's exploring ship is to be 133 ft. long, 3 ft. beam, 18 ft. depth of hold and a little over 300 tons register, to run under both steam and sail. She will have a perpendicular stern post with the rudder outside, making it possible to unship at any time either the rudder or propeller. This will be a great advantage and prevent the rudder and screw gettin frozen up by being jammed in the ice, as was the case with other Arct vessels, while their build rendered their stern weak. Capt: Bernier's ship will also have a flush deck, which will prevent her being overweighted with an unnecessary load by the frequent flooding of the forward deck by water and slushy snow, as was the case with other vessels visiting the Arctic regions. The engines will be more powerful and better protected than in any other Arctic vessels hitherto constructed. She will have three masts, and her total sail area will be 1,000 ft. more than that of the Fram, or 7,000 sq. ft. She will be provisioned for a six years' voyage and will have a com- pany of fourteen. These will consist of six scientific men, including .a surveyor, an astronomer, a geologist, a biographist, an artist, photogra- pher and doctor. There will be three navigators, all qualified as captains; three sailors, one engineer and one assistant engineer, who will be a mechanic and electrician. JAMES J. HILL ON THE NICARAGUAN CANAL. _James J. Hill, president of the Northern Securities Co., is exceedingly plain spoken on Nicaraguan canal question. He says: "Every one who has made any scientific investigation of the subject knows that Nicaragua is one of the most volcanic regions of the earth and that earthquake disturbances await any great public works that can be erected there. But what does your average congressman care about that? What does he care about a volcano, if it is not in his own district? You may lay before him the history of all the forty or more volcanoes of Cen- tral America, with a century record of earthquakes brought down to the last sixty days, and your congressman who is talking Isthmian canal in glowing rhetoric will ignore the scientific facts completely and vote to spend $100,000,000 or $200,000,000 of the people's money right in the midst of the eruptions. You may stand him before a belching volcano and he would never see it, unless, as I say, it were right under him in his own dis- trict, and then he would feel it, if he couldn't see it. Nicaragua is a dangerous and unfit place for any great works of a public character and, most of all, for a vast canal system built of concrete and masonry to which any earthquake or volcanic disturbance would be fatal. It is a nasty, crooked route, anyway, curving and dodging about among the volcanic peaks. It is not a safe place to put any big vessel." x BRITISH OUTPUT OF STEEL RAILS. The British Iron Trade Association reports the output of steel rails in Great Britain to have been as follows: Years. Tons. Years. Tons. ESS ee TSU | Tool 8s ee 662,676 V681 eee Oss ee? ee x: ¥:028;740 |-- POOP OES OR II Ae 535,836 NS8O i Sehr sean eae 1 O35, (Bbc IOS: om Sink ed ce 579,386 1883.3 306 ee i) ye ieee ee LOTOM TA. LSOd ec 598,530 WSQ4 ee ee ee (84,968 |. 1895 0058 604,338 TSS5 fo Soe See (06,900 | 1006 2.27. .7.6 817,476 IS86 ere ae Ae (30:343 189 es ee es 921,181 HOSE este ea L021 840 BB9C) oie) a Be) eee 751,591 LSSSs cos s6 eee Addo eGigees 979/083); 1809: 6 i ek. ee hace Gl. 838,148 LSCO) os oe a as ae 943,048.) 1000 oe 759,844 IS90 va 1,019,606 BRITISH WAR EXPENDITURES. The London Statist figures out the following as the British war ex- penditure, exclusive of interest on the war debt: T902-08 -Cestimaten) ci. foc: cde cce die deca £59,050,000 LOOL-02 (actual). 25 is os cad sales ee cca 69,830,000 1900-Ok | s .5 ee -eteinelne ney ouster cases nee 67,237,000 TBO9- 190 ©. ot cche sscpinc ce fo or ene eete eee ee 23,000,000 'Lotal war expenditure «2.422. add. ipsa 5 we aetie os £219,117,000 It puts the total cost of the war, direct and indirect, at something over £250,000,000. The following list of army and navy annual expenditures is appended: Army. Navy. Totals. 1902-03... h a, Fie £29,665,000 £31,255,000 £60,920,000 EDOL-02 05 S00. Cevies 29,685,000 30,876,000 60,561,000 T9001 seth 8 24,473,000 29,520,000 53,993,000 1890-1900. .2.2.....4. 20,600,000 26,000,000 46,600,000 - 1898-90). Sos cee wae oe 20,000,000 24,068,000 44,068,000 DRO AB aos eee, 19,330,000 20,850,000 40,180,000: 1 BOGUT oy 18,270,000 22,170,000 40,440,000 1890-00. 6525... 18,460,000 19,724,000 38,184,000 1894208 225. Je4, eee 17,900,000 17,545,000 35,445,000 1803-04 cui: das ae 17,840,000 14,048,000 31,988,000 LBBB OD» perils 98 os box 17,542,000 14,302,000 31,844,000 Increase in ten years.£12,123,000 £16,953,000 £29,076,000 Percentage increase.. 69 118 91 Two large steel car-floats have been ordered from the Fore River Ship & Engine Co., Quincy, Mass., by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad. Their construction will be in accordance with the rules of the United States Standard Register of Shipping and they will be prac- tically unsinkable. Each of the floats is to have three tracks, on which twenty-three fifty-ton cars may be set at one time. Their length over all will be 317 ft., their extreme breadth 40 ft. 1 in., and their depth of hold 10 ft. 4 in. They are to be "joggle-plated" and the hulls will be braced with four lines of trusses running their whole length. Each float will have sixteen water-tight compartments, which the specifications require shall be built with special care, and will be cement lined. Yellow pine fender strakes and white oak staving are called for by the plans. The lines of the barges have already been laid down on the scrive board and the ma- terials for their construction have been ordered.