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18 | MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. GREAT BRITAIN LOOKING FOR ORES. The fact is most significant that the British Iron Trade As- sociation has asked the government to instruct its consular offi- cials throughout the world to collect information and report on the iron ore resources of many countries with a view to assist British iron makers in their search for the raw materials needed to carry on the industry. In its letter to the prime minister the association has suggested the appointment of a royal. commission to inquire into the question of raw materials and to collect through the consuls all facts relating to the iron ore supplies which it concerns the buyer and the user of such ores to know. This application illustrates the changed position of Great Britain as an iron manufacturer. It was not many years ago that the British boasted of the great advantage they enjoyed in the fact that their iron ore, coal and the limestone needed for flux- ing were near together so that they could turn pig iron out of their blast furnaces more cheaply than any other country. In the great iron ore districts of Cleveland, south Scotland, Staffordshire and Lincolnshire the ore and coal were side by side, while in no dis- trict of the kingdom were they separated by more than too miles and in hardly any district by more than fifty or sixty miles. On the other hand in the United States the ores and the coal were generally about 1,000 miles apart, except in Alabama; and in Germany the bulk of the ore had to be carried by rail to the coal over distances varying from 100 to 150 miles. Today, how- ever, Great Britain. is bringing millions of tons of iron ore thou- sands of miles to her coal and the reason is interesting. Great Britain still possesses enormous resources in iron ore.. But a great change has occurred in all the iron markets. The use of iron is decreasing, while the demand for steel is growing every year. A very large variety of articles once made of iron are now made of steel, and the fact is deeply regretted by all British man- ufacturers that the larger part of their native iron ores contains too much phosphorous for the production of iron suitable for the manufacture of Bessemer and Siemens steel. The most important iron ore district of the kingdom is the Cleveland district, near the east coast, south of Newcastle. Until about twenty years ago the iron ore from which its millions of tons of pig iron were annually produced came almost wholly from the hills of the Cleveland region. Today, however, the vast de- mand for the highest quality of steel-making iron compels the importation of large quantities of foreign hematite ore, which is now used in Cleveland to the extent of nearly 3,000,000 tons a year. The same change has also overtaken Scotland, where until about fifteen years ago the iron produced was almost wholly from local ores, whereas now nearly one-half of it is made from ores imported in order to provide a quality of pig iron suited to the demands of the local steel works. Scotland produces a consider- able quantity of hematite ore, but nothing is more certain than that in the near future Scotland must rely increasingly upon im- ported ores. : The most important iron-making district after Cleveland is the west coast, that is to say west Cumberland and northwest Lancashire. The total product of pig iron in this district exceeds 1,500,000 tons yearly; and that of steel is from 700,000 to 750,000 tons. The pig is chiefly produced from local hematite ores, this being the only important center of such ores in the British Isles, but the local supplies have in the past three or four years been largely supplemented by imports of hematite ores from foreign countries. Sos The fact that Germany today is producing more steel, though not more pig iron, than Great Britain is due to the poverty in steel-making ores of the British Isles. The result, therefore, of the substitution of steel for iron in many manufactures is that Great Britain can no longer say that the supplies for its blast furnaces are near together. Nearly the whole of the ore for the most important form of iron that is used in the manufacture of Bessemer steel or mild steel is brought 1,000 miles over the sea | from Spain. Some of it comes from other countries, but Spain is the largest source of supply. It has been evident for some time that the mines of north Spain will not for many years longer be equal to the demands which Great Britain and, to a less extent, Germany, are making upon them. Evidences of approaching ex- haustion are already apparent in some of the best Spanish dis- tricts. It is an imperative necessity that Great Britain should secure other sources of supply of hematite ores. Another fact that has helped to wrest the supremacy in iron and steel from Great Britain is that richer ores are found and worked in some foreign lands. Even the best Cumberland and Lancashire hema- tite ores have but 57 per cent. of iron, while the Cleveland iron ore is very much leaner. Our Lake Superior ores, on the other hand, contain from 59 to 65 per cent. of iron, while the Gellevara mines of northern Sweden give a 68 per cent. iron. - Thus it happens that Great Britain, which had always held the premier position among iron producing countries, has lost its supremacy. Thirteen years ago the United States wrested the lead from Great Britain, and except for two years has held it ever since. Fifteen years ago the British production of ore was double that of the United States. But the British have now been left far behind; and there is every indication that within a very few years the blast furnaces. of this country will produce far more than twice as much iron as those of Great Britain. The Proteus is being fitted out as a cable ship in the Philip- pines to replace the Burnside, which is now engaged in lavi Alaskan cables. gag aying Ula - HELIGOLAND FAST-FLASHING LIGHT. The state department at Washington has received a copy of the German periodical Ueber Land und Meer containing an jn. teresting account of a new electric fast-flashing light. The article a anreonbers of the shipping, industrial and commercial world will find much to interest them in the new flash light erected by the German empire on the island of Heligoland in the North sea, Germany is particularly proud of the results. The system or principle employed is said to be entirely new. Not only that, but it was said to present absolutely insurmountable difficulties. The era that opened with 1900 1s one that delights in' nothing so much as in solving 'unsolvable' problems and doing 'impossible' things, The revolving light on Heligoland is not only the largest in the world, it is the most unique, for Germans claim that it never had a model.. Special praise is given, and it is claimed that special credit is due, to the empire's technicians who persisted in their purpose until they perfected their plans, for they had to do it in the face of warnings from experts in all parts of the world. They built upon the superiority of the German reflector, with its ex- actly parabolic ground-glass mirror or speculum, and the maryel- ous success of the Heligoland fast-flashing light has justified German effort, skill and courage. In these lines, for a long time, France was in the lead. It looks as if she would have to guard her laurels. The reflector, invented by Schuckert, with its para- bolic mirror, is easily earning a place by the side of the world's very best work. It took a long time to get a hearing for the glass parabolic mirror in the lighthouse world. 'The bright fires--'feux éclairs'---of the system, based upon a combination of Fresnel lenses and totally reflecting ring prisms, which were built by the French with marvelous skill and accuracy, blocked the way to the new lights. "About the middle of the nineties German experts were sent -- to France by the German imperial government for the express purpose of studying flash lights. The experts stayed long enough to find out all that was best in the French system, aided thereto by the kindness of the scientific men of the republic. Before their return they were convinced that by means of two or more reflec- tors, erected upon a reflector with Schuckert's glass parabolic mirror, results equal'to those of France could be produced. Ex- periments were made in Nuremberg. They went far beyond what the most sanguine had believed possible. The revolving reflector of the German apparatus was fully equal to the Frenchman's re- volving light. As soon as the experts had demonstrated their point, work was begun on a light reflector or projector equal to the largest ever used. It was to represent 30,000,000 candle power and to last no longer than one-tenth of a second. The flashes must follow each other every five seconds. = "The flash light illumines the entire horizon. In normal weather it may be seen 23 sea miles (23 leagues). When the weather is favorable, the beams go far beyond the central fires or light rays: On the first night that the new light was used, its peculiar flashing beams were seen by people standing on the Mole at Busum, a distance of 65 kilometers, or a trifle over 40 miles. The watchers in the lighthouse at Amrum, about the same dis- tance, were able in unfavorable weather to see the same beams as they rapidly appeared and disappeared. It was noted that the otherwise bluish-white light of the electric arc appeared red." NEW TRAINING SHIP CUMBERLAND. _ Preparations are now being made to begin work on the train- ing ship Cumberland, which is soon to be built at the Charlestown navy yard. Assistant Naval Constructor Guy A. Bisset, who is in charge of the building of the hull, has received orders from the navy department authorizing him to go ahead with the construc tion. In compliance with this order he has begun to clear the site for the laying of the keel, and is making ready for the issuance of orders to all of the heads of the sub-departments under his care directing them to go ahead with their share of the work. Supt. Robertson of the boatshop has cleared the upper floor of his: build- ing, and is now getting ready to lay down the lines of the training ship. A fine completed model showing the hull, masts and all of the fittings of the ship will be constructed also. The modelmaker will have charge of this job. As soon as the lines of the ship are laid down and taken off on paper requests for the necessary steel frames and plates will be sent to the rolling mills, and the actual construction will be begun immediately on their arrival. The Cumberland will be built on the ways from which the tug Pen- tucket was launched a few days ago. "American shipping in foreign waters is laboring against tre- mendous odds and I venture to say that not another ship will be built here to sail in foreign waters to compete for foreign trade under the American flag if the United States government does not do something to relieve shipping." Thus spoke Capt. William F. Humphrey, ship owner, associated with the Boston Towboat & Steamship Co. Capt. Humphrey's contention is that American ships pay better wages, feed the crews better and that the cost of operation is consequently higher. He believes that there is splendid prospect of trade with the orient if the government only stimulates shipping. ; The coal fueling scow Perry, designed and built by the €..0. Bartlett & Snow Co. of Cleveland for the Pittsburg Coal Cos recently put 215 tons of run-of-mine coal on a steamer in Cleve land harbor in 44 minutes. This is equal to 300 tons an hour and is an especially creditable performance. De