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1903-] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. 29 answering knock. Help--so long delayed and all but despaired of--had arrived at last. But although only a thin plate of metal separated the poor prisoner from his rescuers, communication with him proved a difficult matter, All efforts to detach a plate failed, but finally a nut was loosened. Through the hole it cov- ered the parties were enabled to converse. Engellandt learnt that his rescuers were the mate and two seamen of the Nor- wegian steamer Aurora, Capt. Soerensen. The wreck had been sighted some 16 miles off Rixhoft, and the boat had been sent to examine it. All the time the men were conversing the com- pressed air inside was escaping through the nuthole at a ter- rific rate. Capt. Engellandt, fearing that if the air was ex- hausted the ship would founder, asked the mate to replace the nut and tow him to the nearest port. The officer accordingly bade him good-bye, shut down the nut, and returned to the ship. A few minutes later towing commenced. On the way, curiously enough, the mainmast--which hitherto had been attached to the ship, with the mainsail set--was carried away. This mast, act- ing like a kind of. center-board, no doubt assisted the ship to remain upright in her capsized condition. The Aurora towed her strange prize into Neufahrwasser, the port of Dantzig. The astonishing news that the wreck con- tained a living man, who had been immured for nearly a fort- night, quickly spread, and large crowds gathered to witness his rescue. The capsized vessel was towed under a big derrick, a cable was passed around 'her, and she was raised just sufficiently to prevent her from sinking. Then engineers and shipsmiths got. - to work to cut out a plate from her bottom. A hole was first bored through, and immediately Capt. Engellandt's finger was seen protruding. He cried out a warning, fearing that the ves-, ~ sel would sink with the loss of air, but was assured that there was no danger now that the ship was suspended from the crane. The artificers worked with an energy born of sympathy for the man below, but in spite of all their efforts the task of cutting out the plate occupied nearly five hours. Then, at 9:45 p. m., the sheet of metal was removed, and Capt. Engellandt was hauled carefully out, after eleven days and eighteen hours' im- prisonment in the ship's bottom. He was immediately seen by a doctor, but, to everyone's intense astonishment, was found to be little the worse for his appalling experience, save that he was nearly dying of thirst, having at last succumbed to the tempta- tion and drunk a little salt water. His hands, too, were cov- ered with blisters from his continual work with the hammer, and he was pale from his long confinement. But he was quite rational and able to walk ashore without assistance. AN INQUIRY INTO THE SHIPPING COMBINE. The editor of Fairplay, that very interesting, amusing, sa- tirical, pro-British shipping paper published in London, has late- ly been in New York but is now safely arrived home again. As a rule, of course, impressions are expected when one has spent a week or so in a neighbor's land; and they are not lacking in Fairplay, though from what is said the sole object of the visit appears to have been an inquiry into the Morgan shipping com- bine. If there are any weak spots in this combination Fairplay is sure to find them out; and the following is published because it is interesting and not because it is so. "Having recently spent some time in New York" says Fair- play, "naturally I did my best to ascertain the opinion of New York as to the genesis of the unlucky shipping combine. I availed myself of such introductions as I possessed and the fol- lowing represents about the sum total of the information I ob- tained: "Some three years ago, as will be remembered, negotiations took place for the sale of the Atlantic Transport Line to the Ley- land Line. Those negotiations had been practically completed when, much to the surprise of the shipping community, it was announced that the deal had fallen through. It was never cor- rectly understood how this sudden change had come about, but the hand of Mr. J. P. Morgan soon became evident, and I think it may be taken for granted that he was responsible for the ab- rupt termination of the negotiations. The reason will be under- stood when it is remembered that at that time shipping subsidy legislation was pending in congress, and the insiders, who were moving heaven and earth to put it through with the aid of the late-lamented Mr. McKinley, felt absolutely certain that a bill would pass that would enable foreign-built steamers, owned for the most part by American citizens, to be placed under the Amer- ican flag. In full confidence that 'such a bill would become law, Mr. J. P. Morgan authorized the purchase of the Leyland Line, and it is said that Mr. Bernard N. Baker the president of the Atlantic Transport Line, who was very close to Mr. Morgan at the time on account of his financial relations with the Atlantic Transport Co., was the gentleman who acted for Mr. Morgan. It may be asked why Mr. Morgan, the banker, should purchase the Leyland Line, even with the prospect of putting the steamers under the American flag. The answer to that is that he was act- ing for the steel combine, the intention of which was to use the steamers, when under the American flag, for flooding Europe with their surplus products. I have it on very good authority that Mr. Andrew Carnegie's cheque paid for the Leyland Line. But these confident hopes were disappointed, and the expected Subsidy failed to come off. Mr. Morgan therefore found himself with the Leyland Line on his hands, and practically the Atlan- tic Transport also, for undoubtedly he was providing the funds for their large building program. In this dilemma Mr. Baker, the president of the Atlantic Transport Line, came to the rescue with his pet theory of the combination of all the Atlantic lines, and he was doubtless commissioned by Mr. Morgan to start the ball in that direction. "There was a very respectable beginning in the control of the Atlantic Transport Line and the Leyland Line. Apparently the American Line was first asked to cast in its lot with the in- tended combine, and the Standard Oil interests, which largely held its stock--but it never paid a dividend--were naturally not averse to getting rid of their load. It was an easy task, there- fore, to bring this company into line. The parents of the combi- nation realized as they went along that in order to float a big company successfully it would have to obtain an element of re- spectability to give weight to the scheme, and with that idea in view Mr. Pirrie was undoubtedly consulted as to the feasibility of bringing in fhe famous White Star Line. It was an open secret that since the death of Mr. T. H. Ismay the relations be- tween Messrs, Harland & Wolff and the White Star company were not as cordial as they had been, and rumor had it that Mr. oe and Mr. Bruce Ismay were not on the most affectionate erms. "Mr. Pirrie being a power in the White Star Line, the way | was thus easier for the absorption of that line, particularly on the favorable terms that were offered. It will be seen from what has been said so far that whatever*the terms, the White Star Line had to be acquired to give tone to the scheme. How wthe Dominion Line was brought into the fold will be readily appreciated when it is remembered that Messrs, Harland & Wolff had built its fleet, and I think I venture a shrewd guess when I, say that they held more of its paper than they cared for. What more natural, therefore, than that Mr. Pirrie should stipu- late that the Dominion Line should be taken care of at the same time? The necessities of all these lines, with the exception of the tone-giving White Star Line, were therefore the real foun- dation of the big shipping combine, which in its initial stages so startled the shipping world. Naturally it suited the combine to have itself so well advertised as a terror-inspiring giant, which was to sweep all competitors out of its path, and prove the death- knell of British shipping. Even the staid British government was not unaffected, as we have seen in the remarkable agree- ments made with the Cunard Line and the combine. Our stolid German friends also trembled in their boots, and hastened to come to terms with the new power--and what a weakling that new power has proved to be! "Mr. Morgan must laugh in his sleeve when he thinks of all the consternation he created, and the credit that was accorded to him for his alleged patriotic efforts to build up a great American mercantile marine, when he was engaged in nothing else than floating another trust for the benefit of himself and partners. He has a habit of not forgetting Mr. Morgan, and in this case it will be remembered that the Leyland Line, which Mr. Morgan and his associates had on their hands, received payment in cash instead, of in paper--no common or preference stock for them. And what of the reputed railroad backing? -It is, 1 am assured, an absolute fact that the combine is not sup- ported even preferentially by a single railroad line in the United States, and consequently is on no better footing than any other Atlantic fleet. Another thing that militates against the trust is its fear of being brought under'the operation of the Sherman anti-trust law, and it has its work cut out to avoid being brand- ed as a monopoly, contrary to law. The extraordinary thing is that our government should have fallen into such a very pal- pable trap." TRIALS OF BELLEVILLE BOILER SHIPS. From Delaunay, Belleville & Co., French manufacturers of the well-known Belleville water-tube boiler, come reports of very satisfactory trials of vessels of war fitted with these boilers. The cruiser Babenberg, of 11,900 designed horse power, a vessel of the Austrian navy, underwent at Pola recently a full power test. The cruiser was expected to realize 18.5 knots at 136 revolutions per minute. She realized a speed of 20.6 knots at 149 revolutions and developed a maximum horse power of 17,011, as against her designed 11,9000 H. P. The average horse power was 16,230 and average speed 19.67 knots. The excellent results shown in this performance of the Babenberg are proof of the thorough work- manship put into her engines by the Stabilimento Tecnico Tries- tino of Trieste and of the efficiency of her Belleville boilers, which are of the economizer kind. Another vessel similarly equipped as to boilers is the armored cruiser Admiral Aube of the French navy, which is of 20,500 H. P., and the preliminary trial of which took place at Cherbourg. This trial was to be one of six hours at 10,000 H. P. The power displayed in the course of this trial was 11,260 and the consumption of fuel per horse-power-hour was 506 grammes, with a combustion of 50 kilos per square meter of grate per hour. Later on, also at Cherbourg, the Admiral Aube was subjected to a four-hours' en- durance trial at 14,000 H. P., which was highly satisfactory. The power displayed was 14,728 H. P., with fuel consumption of 670 grammes per horse-power-hour and a combustion of 87 kilos per square meter of grate per hour. Still later on this vessel at an increase to 19,305 H. P. the maximum combustion of fuel was 160 kilos per square meter of grate per hour. One of the Gilchrist wooden schooners, the Yukon, has al- ready gone into winter quarters at Ashtabula.