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26 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. PILOT JAMES WARD'S LICENSE RESTORED. When the steamer Chemung sank the tug Cheney outside of Buffalo harbor the local inspectors of steamboats at that port sus- pended the license for six months of James Ward, the mate of the Chemung. Ward appealed his case to the supervising 1n- spector of the district, Capt. James Stone, who heard the appeal in Buffalo on Monday last. Capt. Stone modified the sentence to one month's suspension, and as the month had just expired, Ward's license was accordingly restored to him. . Capt. Stone found that the pilots of both the Chemung and Cheney had failed to give the whistle signals, and though the failure to do so had no bearing upon the collision whatever, he held it to be important that these signals should be given in all cases. 'The fact that. it was not given was a violation of a rule and it was upon this point alone that Capt. Stone found him guilty. For the accident itself he was in no way responsible. Capt. Stone's review and decision is as follows: "On June 23 at about 3 a. m. a collision occurred between the steamer Chemung and tug boat O. W. Cheney on Lake Erie about 6 or 7 miles west of Buffalo, resulting in the sinking of the tug and drowning of the captain, fireman and cook. The ac- cident was duly reported to the local board of steamboat in- spectors at Buffalo the same day. On the 24th and 26th an in- vestigation was held regarding the conduct of the licensed offi- cers in charge of the respective steamers, resulting in the sus- pension of the pilot's license of James Ward, the pilot in charge of the steamer Chemung, for a period of six months. Capt. Whalen of the tug having lost his life his case, of course, could not be considered. James Ward, pilot of the Chemung, appealed from the decision of the local inspectors to the supervising in- spector of the district for a new hearing. The case was tried on appeal at Buffalo on Aug. 3, developing the following facts: The Chemung, a large freight steamer with a cargo of wheat on board, was proceeding down Lake Erie bound for Buffalo, head- ing east when at a point below Point Abino and about 6 miles west of Buffalo breakwater. The pilot saw slightly on each bow about 3 or 4 miles distant the signal lights of two steamers head- ing up the lake, the Chemung heading between the two steamers and going her usual gait of about 12 miles per hour, and it ap- pears from the testimony of the approaching steamers, which sub- sequently proved to be the tug boat O. W. Cheney and tug boat Frank S. Butler, that they both saw the Chemung about the same time. The Cheney, being somewhat ahead of the Butler and on the port bow of the Chemung, steamed along under check, pointing a little to the starboard of the approaching steamer, evi- dently with the intention of securing the tow on entering Buffalo harbor. No whistle signal was given by either of the steamers, which was clearly a violation of the law, and inexcusable as shown by the evidence. The sounding of whistle signals when steamers are meeting end on or nearly so, so as to involve risk of a collision, is for the double purpose of announcing the pres- ence of an approaching steamer and also to designate the side on which the steamer first signaling wishes to pass. (Rule 1 and 5, pilot rules for great lakes.) This rule applies to all steamers of whatever character regardless of the kind of business in which they are engaged, 'or if propelled by machinery driven by other than steam power or whether they subsequently pass each other or not. Under this condition of things the two steamers con- tinued to approach each other while the pilots'in charge were at their respective posts of duty. The performance of each ves- sel was clearly and distinctly seen and understood by both pilots. Although the weather was somewhat rainy lights and their char- acter could be seen and determined a long way off. The pilot and lookout on the Chemung were subsequently aware that the approaching steamer was a tug and fully expected, as is the usual custom, that the tug would be brought around under a star- board helm on the Chemung's port side on a course substantially parallel with that of the steamer and at a safe distance. It is fair to assume that the tug captain was aware that such steamers as the Chemung could not be suddenly stopped, or even her course peal changed, after danger of a collision presented itself. ecording to an unwritten law, growing out of custom, when a tug seeks a tow in the open lake it is her duty to keep out of the course of the approaching vessel. In this case the avoiding of ' danger devolved entirely upon the tug. She has immense power proportionate with the size of her hull and her movements could. be controlled very quickly when in the hands of a skillful stich as Capt. Whalen was known to have been. It apport ik when the steamers were about 300 ft. apart, each presenting their port bow to the other and heading entirely clear of each other the tug suddenly swung to port as if under the influence of a starboard helm, and so continued to swing until both the Cheney's colored lights were seen from the tug Butler, which was still heading up the lake towards the Chemung ; but either the distance allowed to make the turn was insufficient or the steering gear in some way became fouled, for before the tug could swing into a parallel course with the steamer she came directly across the stem of the Chemung, resulting in a collision which sunk the tug and [Aug. 6, i hat had happened. The tug soon located the sur. de Cheieys life raft and took them on board. _ "From. the evidence in the case I do not find that the accident was the direct or indirect result of the violation of rule I in not sounding and exchanging whistle signals, as the evidence shows the steamers to have been perfectly aware of the presence and in- tention of each other while running over a distance of 3 or 4 miles and that signaling could not have added anything to the knowledge that each already possessed. I therefore exonerate Pilot James Ward of the steamship Chemung from all blame for the sinking of the tug Cheney but find him guilty of a violation of -- rule I of the pilot rules for the great lakes in not sounding his whistle signal as prescribed in said rule, which finding would have been the same even though no accident had occurred, I, therefore, instruct the local inspectors to restore to Pilot James Ward his pilot license, believing the suspension of which from June 30 until this date is sufficient punishment for the offense committed in simply neglecting to observe the iaws governing whistle signals. JAMES STONE," AGREEMENT WITH THE CUNARD COMPANY. The long-expected agreement between the British admiralty, the Board of Trade, the postmaster general and the Cunard Steamship Co. has been made public. It bears the date July 30, so that the exact terms of the agreement have probably just been arrived at. Accompanying the agreement is the draft of a trust deed, securing the debenture stock on which the government's advance of $13,000,000 for building the two new steamships is made. Instead of being paid by actual weight for carrying the mails a fixed payment of $340,000 per year will be made during the life of the contract, which is for twenty years, dating from the first sailing of the second of the two new steamships. It pro- vides that the mails shall be carried with greater speed than at present. All the company's Atlantic and Mediterranean steam- ships, including the two new flyers, which are to have a speed of from 24 to 25 knots, are to be at the disposal of the admiralty for hire or purchase in case of war. The company is to continue British in ownership and in management and the same condition applies to at least three-fourths of the crew. On the Campania, Umbria and Lucania, until the new vessels have been completed and thereafter on the new vessels, all the certificated officers, other than the engineers, and not less than half the crews, must be- long to the royal naval reserve. The company is not allowed to sell any vessel whose speed is 17 knots and upward without the consent of the government. For these concessions the govern- ment agrees to subsidize the vessels at $375,000 a year each, thus making a total annual payment to the Cunard Company of $1,090,000. The loan of $13,000,000, which will bear interest at 234 per cent. is to be repaid in twenty annual installments and . will rank as a first charge on the whole Cunard fleet. That the very stringent conditions regarding speed has been modified is shown by the fact that the agreement contains a stipulation that the subsidy is to be reduced if the steamships fail to make a mini- mum speed of 23% knots.» The original tender to the ship build- ers was to the effect that if the steamers failed to average 25 knots during a period of twelve months they were to be rejected; but no ship builder could be found who would accept so onerous a condition. the trustees for the debenture holders are Sit Francis Hopwood for the government, Lord Inverclyde for the Cunard company and Lord Revelstoke, who has been elected by his colleagues. The company must issue to the government's nominee such voting power as will prevent the passing of any oecal resolution by the shareholders in violation of the con- ract. 4 . WORK AT NEWPORT NEWS. ; _ Newport News, Va., Aug. 5.--The Newport News. Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. is now completing a large brick ad- dition to its iron, brass and manganese bronze foundry that will be used for the manufacture of steel castings. The builders' trial of the battleship Missouri would probably have taken place by this time but for the order of the navy department to alter the big 12-in. turrets in order to avoid the defects discovered by fir- ing the guns of the Maine. Both of the Missouri's turrets have been removed and it will be several weeks before the battleship is ready for trial. The armored cruiser Maryland will be launched about Oct. 1. The battleship Minnesota will be built on the ways recently vacated bv the armored cruiser West Virginia. French naval officers have recently given out highly satis- factory reports of trials of more vessels of war fitted with Belle- ville water-tube boilers. The Sully, a cruiser of 20,500 H. P, was given a trial with mixed fuel, pretroleum and coal, and the results as to working of engines and boilers were very gratifying. On a six-hours' low-power trial the cruiser Dupleix of 17,100 H. P. made 13.5 knots at 3,900 H. P. The Goliath, an auxiliary naval vessel, designed for 1,400-H. P., developed on trial a max- imum of 2,000 H. P., with a consumption of 70 kilos of coal pet square meter of grate per hour. The boilers worked well in every instance, _ The work of fitting the steamships of the Red Star Line with wireless telegraph instruments has been completed. The Kroon- land, which sailed for Antwerp on Saturday, had her instruments Placed on her dtiring the week she was in port. The Finland, Zeeland and Vaderland have also been equipped.