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BOSTON MARINE NOTES. Boston, July 22.--The Cuba Steamship Co., with offices in the board of trade building, will send its first steamship out of this port on daly "oa. ity willbe the Talisman, a namesake of Sir Walter Scott's fam- ous novel. The Talisman is a ship of Norwegian register, which has of late a been engaged in making trips between Bolivar and New York. Already a large number of important shippers _ have signified their intention of patron- izing the new line and although at present sailings will be made but once a month they will occur more fre- quently as soon as the business of the line warrants the addition of extra steamers. The Boston & Cuban Steamship Co. is operating under a charter from the state of :-Massachu- setts. Patterson, Wylde & Co., are the freight agents for the line in Boston, while at Havana the new line is repre- sented by A. J. Martinez who will give every assistance possible to shippers and exporters. Hon. Lloyd E. Chamberlin, Richard L. Gay and Walstein R. Chester, rep- resenting the Massachusetts board of trade have gone abroad and will visit various places in Great Britain and on the continent to obtain data and get suggestions to be used in the con- struction of the Cape Cod ship canal. Exports for the port of Boston for the week ending July 10 showed a de- cided decrease. In value they amounted to $844,806 for the week, as compared with $2,036,012 for the same week of last year. Somewhat of an increase was shown in imports as they amount- ey to $1,988,152 for the week ending July 10 of this year as against $1,710,- 102 for the corresponding week of 1907. The $1,250,000 turbine steamship Creole of the Morgan line, operated by the Southern Pacific Steamship Co., will return to the works of her build- . ers, the Fore River Ship Building Co., where a new forced draft system will be installed, the pitch of her propell- ers changed, and equipped for burning oil for fuel instead of coal. The Cre- | _Ole is equipped with two Curtis (Fore River) reversible marine steam turbines such as are in use on the record-break- ing scout cruiser Salem built by the same company, and although the Cre- ole's speed is in excess of contract re- quirements it is thought that with the changes contemplated the speed will be considerably increased. 'Boston and the vessel. THE Marine REVIEW RACE ON IN BATTLESHIP CON-. STRUCTION. 'The naval constructors at the New York navy yard who are to have the supervision of the construction or the 20,000-ton battleship Florida have the preliminary work well under way and within a few weeks the navy department will ask for bids for material needed for There is every indication that there will be keen rivalry between the navy yard and the private ship building company which is to build the sister ship Utah. Both vessels are expected to be complete in two and a half years. Naval Constructor William J. Baxter, who built the Connecticut, will be at the head of the government force and will be assisted by Naval Constructor W. G. Groesbeck, U.S. N. The Florida and Utah are to be "all big gun" battleships, that is, the guns are to be 12-in. They will be mounted two to a turret, and so arranged as to have an arc of fire unapproached in modern naval construction. They will be fitted also with the new type of skeleton mili- tary masts: In addition to this great battery the ships will carry a secondary battery of about 20 five-inch rifles. AVONMOUTH'S NEW DOCK. The Royal Edward Dock at Avon- mouth, England, was formally opened by King Edward on July 9, the opening being accompanied by appropriate cere- monies. : The new dock, which has been con- structed entirely by the enterprise of the Bristol Corporation is connected by a passage with the older Avonmouth Dock, which was opened in 1877, but it is situ- ated nearer to King road, on the River Severn, from which it is approached without entering the River Avon. As in the case of the older dock, that which has now been constructed consists of a large basin 1,000 ft. wide by 1,120 ft. long. At the south-eastern angle is a branch 500 ft. long and 250 ft. wide, at the énd of which is a passage 85 ft, wide, connecting the new dock with the older one. The water area of the large basin and the south-eastern branch is about 30 acres, and the quay walls are 4,200 ft. in length. In addition to this accommodation, the dock has been de- signed and the walls have been built to admit of extending the water area by nearly 25 acres, and the length of quay- age by 7,800 ft., at a comparatively small cest, by the construction of two more branches at the northern end of the dock, each 1,800 ft. long and 300 ft. wide. Opening out of the Royal Edward Dock, on the northern side, there is a dry dock 850 ft. in length and 100 ft. wide at the entrance. The dock is closed by three pairs of gates, and the water level the. lock. The whole of the machinery is controlled by sluices. The whi ate protected from collision with vesséls } fender chains, which can be hauled across for the gates, the sluices, and the fender chains is worked by~hydraulic pressure, -- When a vessel has to be dry-docked the water is pumped out of the dock by steam-driven, centrifugal pumps, capable of completely emptying the dock in 2% hours. As no water flows into the Royal Edward Dock, except from the tide, and as the neap tides do not rise to the nor- mal dock level, the dry dock pumps are so arranged that they can be used dur--- ing neap tides to pump water from the Channel into the dock to replace that eS which is let outt and lost in the operation of passing vessels in and out through the entrance lock. The equipment of the dock includes transit sheds and cranes,a _ granary and machinery for transporting grain from the ship and lifting it into_ the granary from the railroad sidings. On each quay there is a large railway yard for the interchange of traffic with the railway companies. to be built near the South Pier, so that passengers may be taken by train direct to and from the steamers. Water and eas pipes are laid, and numerous hy- drants are provided for extinguishing fire and for supplying fresh water to ship- ping. The sheds and quays are lighted by electricity, and electricity is employed to drive the cranes and the grain ma- chinery. The electric current is gener- ated in Bristol, and is conveyed about eight miles to Avonmouth. There are at present completed two double story sheds on' the east side of the dock, each 50) {t: long, designed for import cargoes, and there is also one single-floor shed on the south side, designed for export cargo. On the roof of each of the double story sheds there will be six electric cranes, and on the wharf in front of the single- floor shed there will be five electric cranes. Adjoining the dock there is a large. area of land, which, after reserving suffi- cient for extensions of the dock, 1s available for the erection of factories, thus affording the great advantage to manufacturers of easy access both to ~ shipping and to the railways for the re- ception of raw materials and for the dis- tribution of their products. Capt. Herbert Winslow, U. S; "Ns of Boston, has been selected by the navy department to be the new exect- - tive officer at the Charlestown navy yard, succeeding Commodore George H. Peters, retired. Capt. Winslow who has been in charge of the naval recruiting station at Boston, is a son of Rear Admiral John A. Winslow, of Kearsarge-Alabama fame. A railway station is