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28 | MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. ticable--commercially speaking--to take such ocean vessels to the lakes. It is practicable to bring the large vessels to the seaboard ; and here is where they all would come during the winter season when the lakes are closed to navigation, were a channel once pro- vided. : - "We cannot take space at this time to draw the contrast in detail between the barge canal and the deep waterway proposi- tion--the 12-ft. channel and the 21-ft. channel. We cannot re- frain, however, from showing the contrast in speed of transit. The official estimates for the sailing time from Buffalo to the Hud- son river are, by the barge canal, 4 days, 13 hours; by the deep waterway, 2 days and 4 hours. The commercial value of this in- creased rate of speed in enabling the waterway to compete effect- ively with rail lines can hardly be overestimated. Such a water- _ way could compete with the railway in moving the highest class of goods, and even in passenger traffic. The barge canal, on the other hand, is designed chiefly for the lowest class of bulk freights. "Finally, we may say, that we do not at all expect that our suggestions will meet with approval from the chief promoters of the barge canal proposition. While many men among its adher- ents are working in entire good faith, for-the public welfare, the most active promoters of the barge canal are those interested .in the transfer at New York and Buffalo. They want the cost of transportation reduced so that a larger margin will be left for transfer tolls at each end of the canal route. Buffalo has been induced to give its support to the barge canal project only be- cause it believed with Maj. Symons that the canal barges could not navigate the lake, and would have to take on their load at Buffalo. New York would oppose a ship canal for fear some vessel might sail past without stopping in its harbor. Yet both these cities, and especially the latter, are great enough and pros- perous enough to look at the question from a broader standpoint. Nothing is better established than that it is a slow process to change established channels of trade. With Buffalo's railway connections, magnificent terminal facilities and vast extent of manufactures her future is sufficiently ensured. As for New York--for every ton of freight that would pass her doors with- out stopping, a dozen additional would be delivered at her wharves, were she made the terminus of a deep waterway from the lakes: .. "We need hardly say to our readers that Engineering News has been extremely conservative in its treatment of waterway projects. We have presented many times evidence to show that the day of the artificial canal as a competitor of the railway is past. We favor the project for joining the lakes to the Hudson because it is not a canal, in the usual meaning of that term. which is proposed, but a link to corinect two great systems of water transportation which now carry a vast commerce. Its traffic, therefore, is assured, and its benefits would not be con- fined to any special locality or interest. Its construction by state or national funds would be fully justified, therefore, because of the wide range of territory and great population which would receive its benefits." IMPROVING THE PORT OF LONDON. _ There seems to be some prospect of remedying the deficien- cies of the port of London. Urged thereto by a requisition signed by the Rothschilds, J. P. Morgan & Co., the Atlantic Transport Co. and the Barings, the lord mayor of London has summoned a conference to take place at the Mansion House on Oct. 27, with the object of laying before the government some practicable meas- ure for the improvement of the port. Among the proposals which are attracting attention is the abandonment of the present dock and wharf system, on which the recent dock commission pro- posed to spend $140,000,000, and convert 6 or 7 miles of the river ante a vast tidal dock, furnishing ample room for all kinds of ctahi. Up to the year 1881, the Peninsular & Oriental Co. made - Southampton its home port, and that, owing to the inadequacy of the accommodation, the venue was changed to London. In: the intervening period of twenty years the Hampshire port has, however, made such remarkable progress that it is now considered to offer advantages wholly superior to those avail- able in the river Thames, and hence it is proposed that the company shall return to Southampton. In November, 1900, it was publicly intimated by Sir Thomas Sutherland that vessels were under construction for the P. & O. Co. which could noi enter the Albert, and that tue alternative was to send them either to Tilbury or to Southampton. » Simultaneously the chair- man of 'the P. & O. Co. complained taat, owing to the limited depth of water in the river, a vessel prevented from entering the Albert dock, through any untoward event, might be compelled 'to steam all the wa~ back to Gravesend for a safe anchorage. A guiaing consideration in the construction of the ships of the P. & O. Co. is the draught of water in the Suez canal. 'The deepening of that waterway is steadily proceeding, and repre- oe improvement in the last few years of at least 3 ft. The advantages of such a simple change as proposed are many. The journey up and down river is shortened bv 2 miles, a matter of no little consequence at a point where the traffic is so crowded. The tide will run better and scour the channel more effectively, thus saving much expense in dredging. _ At present. while the tide meanders slowly around the great horseshoe bend at Greenwich it deposits so much silt that ves- sels are frequently delayed in the channel at low water. On the [Oct. 16, other hand, the change would not only improve and shorten the navigable channel, it would provide the whole space of the 3 miles of river now forming the bend for dock and wharf accommodation. Somethine like 5 miles of wharfage suitable for vessels of any size would be created, so that the difficulty of the Peninsular & Oriental Co. would at once be removed, This deficiency of wharfase is one of the chief grievances of ship owners against the port. At present a vessel must go to one point to discharge hides, to another with tobacco, and so on, because there is not. wharf space to unload the whole of a general cargo and sort it out on the banks. So the ship must be warped about from point to point with an infinity of labor and a ridiculous amount of delay, while with ample wharf space she could unload at ence and get a quick discharge. To ship owners time in these matters is golden. A further point would be the ease with which vessels would be brought alongside the wharves. Warping ships around corners and in and out of narrow passages by hauling at them with ropes is a tedious pro- cess, but the proposed scheme would enable a ship to be towed into the new tidal basin at high tide and taken by a tug alongside her berth without difficulty. One great feature of the scheme would be that it would give this enormous addition of wharf accommodation right in the heart of London. 'Tilbury and the Royal Albert docks are so far away that tue haulage and the discharge of cargo cost as much as conveyance from Calcutta. Theportof London which by this simple change become at once one of the finest in the world. And full advantage of the existing railway communications would be taken, which could not be the case if vessels dis- charged at Gravesend or Tilbury. Mechanical objections there are practically none. Parliament would have, of course, to prevent the overloading of the scheme by bogus claims, and to enable the public authority to take over the shore at a price fairly representing its value to the present owners. The whole work could be completed in two years, and the matter is so urgent that it is well worth the while of the special committee of the corporation and of the London county council to consider whether the board of trade should be pressed to bring in a bill authorizing the immediate commencement of the work, during the long and complex process of the handing over of the docks to a public authority. WORK ON MARE ISLAND DRY LOCK. San Francisco, Oct. 12--The new government dry dock in course of construction at Mare Island, when completed, will be the largest on the coast with capacity for docking the largest battléship, or several smaller vessels at once. The excavation, piling and caisson are completed. Pumping out is to be begun shortly. At the navy yard, dismantled and being repaired, are the small gun boats, Concord and Petrel, which did such effec- tive work as a part of Dewey's fleet at Manila. -The Marblehead, (lake built), also the Bennington, are being extensively over- hauled. 'The Solace, formerly the Creole, belonging to the navy department, is used for carrying stores and passengers to Manila and Guam, making an occasional trip to Samoa. She is a speedy and popular steamer. A new electric plant is being installed and extensive renewals are being made in the Solace. Exten- sive repairs have been made in the equipment of the Mare island plant which amount to a rebuild in many instances. Capt. Lew. Vance, formerly of Milwaukee, has charge of a department at the yard, handling all the coal anchors, chains and shipchandler supplies. He has caused a Brown hoist to be installed to handle the coal, and two lighters to be constructed. An interesting, and somewhat important point, has just been settled by the United States circuit court. It is to the effect that the crew of a vessel under articles for wages can become general salvors only after the vessel has become a shipwreck without hope of recovery and the crew discharged. 'he court decided that the libel on this score against the steamer C. F. Bielman should be dismissed. 'The libelants in the case were James Galbraith, John Weimar and William Bachelor. 'The Bielman, bound from Buf- falo to Milwaukee with a cargo of coal, lodged on a shoal 2% miles from shore and 15 miles from Milwaukee. 'The crew, six- teen in number, were under articles to make the round trip at fixed wages. 'The steamer struck late in the evening of. Sept. 17, 1900, and the crew under the direction of the captain began to shovel the coal overboard the next day. After two days work the steamer floated off the shoal and was taken to Milwaukee. . Three members of the crew afterward presented their claim for pay as special salvors. Judge Grosscup in delivering the opinion 'said: "What appelants did was plainly within their duty as sea- men and was therefore paid for by the wages stipulated in the articles of employment." . Gage records of the United States lake survey show the fol- lowing mean stages of water for September, above mean sea level: Lake Superior, 602.37 ft.; Lakes Huron and Michigan, 580.06 ft.; and Lake Erie, 572.47 ft. These stages show Lake Superior to have been 0.11 ft. lower than during same month last year and 0.16 ft. lower than in September, 1895; Lakes Huron and Michigan 0.38 ft. lower than during same month last year and 0.67 ft. higher than in September, 1895; Lake Erie 0.67 ft. higher than during same month last year and 1.1 ft. higher in September, 18095.