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38 LIFE BOAT LOWERING AND HOISTING MACHINES. The accompanying photographs of a life boat lowering and hoisting ap- paratus, the invention- of John Boag, of Kearny avenue, Kearney, N. J., will be of interest to those especially interested in such apparatus. In the views will be seen all the apparatus pertaining to the invention, the ob- 4 ¥ i The MARINE REVIEW Placed inwardly: of 'the davit shaft is the mechanism' which operates the power shaft and. the ropes supporting the boat when raising or lowering. In brief, this mechanism consists of a winch controlling the worm gear and having a drum divided into two parts, said drum being so arranged as to wind or unwind the ropes and falls connected with the. life boats. INBOARD VIEW OF ject being to provide an improved means of handling life boats, simple in construction and opération, a fur- ther object being to provide an ap- paratus which may be operated by hand or mechanical means. "The fol- lowing is a description of this de- vice: To the deck of the vessel is se- cured, on any suitable foundation, transversely-arranged brackets ' in which is mounted a longitudinally-ar- ranged davit shaft provided with a worm gear. Arranged transversely BOAT SWUNG OUT READY TO LOWER. of the shaft is a power shaft provided with a worm fitting said worm gear. Rigidly connected with the longi-' tudinal shaft, at the ends, are the' boat davits, the overhang of the davits being controlled by links fixed to the deck of the vessel. These links assist, also, in supporting the weight of the boat when swung out. BOAT ON DAVITS. A clutch gear frees this drum when the weight of the boat is off the cradle and davits swung out all ready for lowering, the lowering of the boat being controlled by a brake band operated by a hand wheel. When the boat rests on the cradle the davits .have a slight overhang inboard, the arrangement being that the outward movement of the davits raises the boat from the cradle. The outboard part of the cradle is weight- ed to fall over when the boat rises, leaving the boat free to swing out. It is the claim of the inventor that one man can raise the boat from the cradle and control the lowering ap- paratus, two men being required to hoist the boat from floating posi- tion to the deck. There is nothing in this gear to get out of order, and, with proper attention, no_ repairs should be necessary. NOTES FROM NEPTUNE. More than 50 fine vessels: are al- ways 'at work looking after the vari- ous submarine cablés of the world. Last year a new record sounding was taken in the northern Pacific. It was 5,269 fathoms, or only 66° ft, less than six statute miles. This abyss is called the Nero Deep. Dr. De Forest, of the De Forest Wireless Co., it is said, believes that the>day is not far distant when ships equipped with wireless telephony will outnumber those equipped with wire- less telegraphy, Twenty-one thousand bottles of beer, 6,000 bottles of wine; and 2,809 bottles of spirits, formed the very considerable refreshment consumed on the new White Star liner Adriatic on her maiden voyage. oe A royal. commission has been ap- pointed, with Prince Henry, of the Netherlands, as president, to inquire | into the prevention of loss of life by shipwreck, and generally to study methods of saving life at sea. The Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association and the United Harbor- masters and Pilots have been success- ful in their application to have the working hours of crews on tug boats limited to 13 per day. Ten coal-passers on the Hamburg- American liner Amerika will be charged with insubordination on ar- rival at the home port. The ship's officers complained to the recorder at New York that the men were af- flicted with "general cussedness." Nineteen turtles, part of. the cargo of the steamer Bradford, Port An- tonio to New York, fought amongst themselves during a "hose-down" at sea. An officer was bitten while as- sisting the crew to straighten out the combatants. One turtle perished in the melee, and, to prevent its being wasted, was served up as soup to the crew; much against their will, no doubt. The master of the British steamer Cowrie, from Balek Pappan, Borneo, must have breathed a sigh of relief when he unloaded the last of his car- go at Philadelphia. Forbidden the passage of the Suez canal, therefore compelled to round the Cape of Good Hope, and hurried from .each port of call, he finished the long voyage without anything in the way of a calamity. The cargo was a little matter of 6,000 tons of ,naphtha. HARBOR HAPPENINGS. That tobacco is a necessity is the ruling of the Comptroller of the Treasury. Laborers held in quaran- tine at Colon demanded a supply of the weed, the Comptroller ruling that the expenditure of money for that gurpose . was a proper and_ lawful proceeding. Four firemen and one sailor work- ing overtime on a steamer at Glas- gow were placed under arrest. They 'were discovered, by the officer and engineer on night watch, hoisting a barrel of whiskey aboard with 4 winch. They. had intended broaching the barrel, part of the cargo, for theif own private needs. The crew of the Italian warship Etruria rendered such valuable assist-