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16 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. edied. The method employed to do this, as may be seen by the sketch, is to suspend three clappers, outside of the bell, from a ring at the top of the framework. A Z-bar worked as a ring, lower down on-the frame work, takes up the back stroke, while chains and eyes prevent the clappers from breaking away. By this arrangement the buoy cannot be heeled over, without one of the clappers at least being free to strike, no matter what the degree of heel may be. When the clappers are not striking the bell they will strike the framework and have been heard to do this for an eighth of a mile. The objections raised to the growth of barnacles, oysters, etc., are entirely eliminated by this arrange- ment, as no growth whatever can prevent the ringing of the bell by the clappers. © : : : hee ire various localities in the country in which this buoy can be used to great advantage; harbors in which the natural features render this type very efficient. Principal among these places is the great lakes, with vast expanse of water, an immense amount of shipping and numerous harbors and connecting chan- nels. Among other places where this buoy would aid the mari- time service are the large bays and rivers of the country, such as the Chesapeake, Delaware and New York bays, the Mississippi, 'Missouri, Delaware, Columbia and Hudson rivers, and such inland seas as Long Island and Puget sounds. The cheapness and simplicity of the buoy will also recom- mend it. There is nothing used in the construction except plates, bars and angles, worked in the simplest manner. The castings and forgings are very simple and everything is built in a way to 'stand the severe wear and tear necessary to this service. Such -- parts as are liable to damage from the natural usage they will receive are easily replaced at little cost. SHIP BUILDING AT PHILADELPHIA. Philadelphia, Aug. 12--The keel for the second of the 620-ft. liners to be built for the Atlantic Transportation Co. at the works of the New York Ship Building Co., will be laid early in October, as soon as the No. 7 ways are vacated by the launching of the vessel now nearing completion there. The first of these two large steamers is rapidly assuming shape. Her keel was laid about two months ago and all preliminary work is being pushed forward with the greatest possible speed. They are expec- ted to slide off the ways in close succession, late in 1903. The cruiser Medjidia, building at the Cramp works for the Turkish government, is beginning to show shape and the Sultan's officials, who are supervising her construction, are greatly pleased. The sale of the old Roach ship yard at Chester, Pa., to the Delaware River Ship & Engine Building Co., was formally com- pleted last week when the Commercial Trust Co. completed the examination of all deeds and titles. The torpedo boat destroyers Bainbridge and Barry, built for the government by the Neafie & Levy Ship & Engine Building Co., are at Baltimore. They will go into dry dock in close suc- cession and will just as closely follow their sister vessel, the Chauncey, which is scheduled for her trial this week. The keel of the St. Louis, sister to the cruiser Denver, is being put down at the Neafie & Levy yard. The launching of the cruiser Pennsylvania, which was to have taken place this month, has been postponed to a date not yet definitely decided. Her sister ship, the Colorado, is nearing com- pletion on the ways beside her. An innovation in naval practice which will replace the routine of a dozen years in the manner of parceling out warship con- tracts among the builders will mark the opening of bids for the big battleship Louisiana on Oct. 1. This is due to the provision of law which has made it necessary to build that vessel's sister ship, the battleship Connecticut, at the New York navy yard, and to the determination of Secretary Moody that the two vessels shall be identical in every particular, in order that a comparison may be instituted between the relative merits and economies of government-built and private-contract ships. 'Therefore no bids will be received for alternative or modified plans, as has been customary, but contractors will be held sharply to the depart- ment's designs and specifications. It is expected that the ordi- nary list of bidders will be increased by bids from the Wm. R. Trigg Co., Richmond, Va., and the New York Ship Building Co., Camden, N. J. The new gunboats authoriz d in the last naval act will follow very closely the Marietta type. The displacement will be slightly in excess of that of the Marietta, being 1,050 tons, as against 1,000 in the case of the Marietta. The speed will be 12% knots. The batteries will be identical with those of the Marietta and Wheeling--six 4-in. guns, four 6-pounders and two I-pounders. There will be some minor changes in the internal arrangement of boilers, but the principal change will be an additional foot of freeboard and an overhanging stem which, it -is believed, will keep the ships somewhat dryer. - The United tates monitor Arkansas underwent a successful trial trip last week. During the trial the Arkansas maintained a speed for two hours of 12.2 knots an hour, which exceeded requirements. [Aug. 14, PROGRESS OF WORK AT FORE RIVER, @*3 The keel has been laid for the first of the two car floats that are to be built by the Fore River Ship & Engine Co., Quincy Mass., for the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad. The blocks are laid on the beach between the cruiser Des Moines anq the stocks from which the seven-masted schooner has just been launched. All of the materials for both floats are on hand now and the construction work will be pushed as fast as possible. The Oregon pine topmasts of the seven-masted schooner, Thomas W. Lawson have been stepped at the yard, and Capt. Crowley expects to begin bending her sails a week from Monday. The steering gear is all installed, the cabin is nearly finished and the other work is going forward so fast that the big fore-and-after seems likely to be ready for sea even sooner than was anticipated, The first section of concrete of the new fitting-out dock is com- pleted and the piling for the whole structure is practically finished, The gantry crane is as nearly assembled as it can be before the track on which it will travel up and down the dock is laid. The basin will be ready to receive the cruiser Des Moines immediately 'after her launching, Sept. 20. The company is particularly busy at present with outside work, more of which comes to it every month, partly on account of its forge facilities. Frequent ship- pings of gun forgings for the United States government are being made and this week a lot of big engine forgings for the New York Ship Building Co. have been sent out. The canvas' equipment of the seven-master Thomas W. 'Lawson is awaiting shipment at the sail loft of E. L. Rowe & "Son at. Gloucester. . It is' certainly much the largest suit ever made for a schooner, 83,000 sq. ft. of 2/o duck being required for it. Of this 43,000 sq. ft. are the vessel's twenty-five sails, besides which the equipment includes awnings for the forecastle and poop decks, two sails for small boats, sail covers, boat covers, 'etc. The duck is of the same weight as is generally used for large vessels, but is of extra quality, having been especially made by the 'mills from raw material selected with the greatest care. The sail ropes are the size of. an ordinary schooner's cables. Three tons of manilla, bought especially for this contract, were used in 'making them. It was impossible to splice them by hand on account of their size and a "horse" such as is used for splicing ship's cables was employed. The leéch ropes are covered with duck and wire cringles are used to keep the thimbles in, while the clew rings are the heaviest ever put into sails. There are eight thicknesses of duck in the clew patches or reinforcements. The whole canvas equipment weighs 18 tons and fills 3,700 cu. ft. of space. As much material and labor were required for it as would be needed for the suits of nine ordinary Gloucester fisher- men. It will be taken to Fore River on a lighter. PENALTIES WILL NOT BE RESCINDED. The navy department through Acting Secretary Darling, has made a ruling that contractors for ships' armor and supplies are to be held to strict accountability in the enforcement of penalties for non-performance of work, according to contract. The case on which the ruling was made is not made public, but the ruling itself, which has a general application, is as follows: "This is a request for the waiver of penalties on default of contract. The applicants claim that they were unable to fulfill the provisions of the contract, and argue that the government was not injured and the exaction of the penalties would be a hardship. The default is not denied and there is no evidence that the government exacted more than the contract called for. If the penalty worked a hardship the answer is that it was intro- duced into the contract for that purpose. If the contractors' would escape the penalty, they must avoid the default. In this depart- ment it is generally difficult to determine the extent of injury occasioned by a delay in the performance of contracts. If an emergency arose and we found our ships tied up in the navy yard, . in the hands of defaulting contractors, the damage might be ines- timable. Nor are such damages to be measured in dollars and cents alone. The moral effect is not to be overlooked. The indif- ference with which contractors make and break contracts, and then apply to the department for relief, has become dangerous. If the policy of enforcing these penalties were strictly adhered to it might at first work hardships to a few individual contractors, but the navy department is not a charitable institution, and in the end I believe it would be found salutary to the contractors and to the advantage of the service. I recommend that the penalties be enforced." Secretary Moody's indorsement of Mr. Darling's ruling approves it and makes it the rule of the navy department. According to the experts of the Hamburg-American and North German Lloyd lines the Deutschland, of the Hamburg- American line, still holds the record for the fastest transatlantic trip. The experts of both companies signed a memorandum to this effect last week, stating that the calculation of Capt. Richter, of the Kronprinz Wilhelm, from which it appeared that the latter had beaten the Deutschland's time, was erroneous. The piles on which the foundation for the cradle of the new $4,212,000 battleship Connecticut is to be built at the Brooklyn navy yard, are now being driven.