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PACIFIC COAST NOTES. Office of the Marine ReEvIEw, 302 Pioneer Bldg., Seattle, Wash., Nov. 6. Joseph Supple, boat builder, Port- land, Ore., has secured a contract for a new steamer to be built by the Kitsap County Navigation Co. of Se- attle for use on Puget Sound. The new steamer will be named Hyak, a Chinook Indian word, meaning "go fast,' and will be one of the finest and fastest small passenger craft on Puget Sound. She will cost $75,000 and is to be ready for service May 1, 1909. In general she will follow the lines of the steamer Kitsap, built by Joseph Supple for the same company in 1906. The new steamer will be radically different, however, from the Kitsap in the shape of her stern, which will be more flat and will fol- low torpedo boat lines in general. The Hyak will be 145 ft. long, 23 ft. beam, with a passenger capacity of 400. She will be built of wood and will 'burn crude oil. Her machinery will be almost a duplicate of that in the Kitsap and will be furnished by Charles L. Seabury & Co., of Morris Heights, N. Y. <A speed of over 20 miles an hour is expected. The United States coast and geo- detic survey steamer Patterson and the two-masted sealing schooner Pes- cawha collided in the Straits of Juan "de Fuca in a dense fog at 2.30 A. M., Oct. 29. The schooner was consid- erably damaged above her deck but the Patterson escaped with only a few scratches. Permanent repairs will be made on the Alaska. Steamship Co.'s steamer Seward by the Heffernan Engine Works at its dry dock at Quarter- aster Harbor. The Heffernan Engine Works was awarded the contract for $10,644, the Moran Co. having bid $11,780. While anchored near Cape Hinchinbrook, Alaska, last Septem- ber, the Seward dragged her anchors and bumped on 'the beach. The con- tract calls for the repair or renewal of the plates which were damaged. Congressman W. FE. Humphrey stated recently: "I have the word of high naval officials that four of the eight submarines authorized at the last congress will be built on the Pacific coast and that these four will be stationed on the waters of Puget Sound. I have also received a letter from the secretary of the navy, stat- ing that the bond for the construc- tion of the new dry dock at the navy THe aRINE REVIEW yard, Puget Sound, has been re- ceived. I fully expect that the next 30 days will see the beginning of the construction there of not only the largest dry dock in the United States but in the world." Heffernan Engine Works, Seattle, has also secured the contract for con- verting the Boston Steamship Co.'s steamer Hyades from a coal to an oil burner. The contract price is about $4,800. The work will be com- pleted in about two weeks and the Hyades will have her trial trip with oil burners Nov. 24. The Hyades is under charter to the Matson Naviga- tion Co. and is operated between Se- attle, Honolulu and San Francisco. Sunday night, Nov. 1, witnessed an- other severe gale on Puget Sound. The wind came up very suddenly and at 10:08 P. M. attained a velocity of 50 miles an hour which, is the highest recorded velocity since Dec. 13, 1907. Considerable damage to small craft was the result but there were no seri- ous mishaps. The launch Clark broke loose and was considerably damaged, as was the little government steamer Lieut. Elliott at Fort Ward, Wash. The steamer M. F. Plant, which was damaged by heavy seas while cross- ing the bar at 'Coos bay recently, has been towed into San Francisco for repairs. Her stern post and rudder is damaged. E / Owing to lack of ability to com- pete with foreign subsidized ships under present Pacific coast shipping conditions, the following fleet of American steamers is lying idle at San Francisco: City of Peking, 3,669 tons, Pacific Mail line, laid up since Jan. 12, 1907; for- merly in trans-Pacific trade. Aztec, 2,298 tons, Pacific Mail line, laid up since early 1908; formerly in trans-Pacific and Central American trade. Costa Rica, 1,167 tons, Pacific Mail line, laid up. since April, 1908; for- merly in Panama trade. City of Panama, 1,046 tons, Pacific Mail line, laid up since early 1908; formerly in Panama trade. San Mateo, 1,926 tons, Pacific Improve- ment Co., laid up since early 1908; formerly in California coast trade. Ventura, 3,936 tons, Oceanic Steam- ship Co., laid up since Aug. 16, 1907; formerly in Australian trade. Sonoma, 3,936 tons, Oceanic Steam- ship Co., laid up since Aug. 31, 1907; formerly in Australian trade. Sierra, 3,796 tons, Oceanic Steamship Co., laid up since Oct. 4, 1907; for- merly in Australian trade. R. P. Schwerin, vice president and of 1908 general manager of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co., stated that the com- pany would try to keep running its remaining fleet, but that if no freight can be obtained these seven vessels may soon be at anchor, disengaged and dismantled. : The Pacific Coast Steamship Co.'s fast steamer President has been with- drawn from the Seattle-San Francisco run and laid up at the California port. The City of Puebla will take her place. The City of Puebla is con- siderably smaller than the President but is "well Atted for «the lighter travel during the winter months. DECLINE OF TRANS-ATLANTIC TRADE. 7ihe trade O11 the trans-Atlantic steamer lines for the first 10 months when fully compiled has shown that at the close of the year 1908 the figures for the entire year will prove it to have been a very lean one as regards both freight and pas- senger traffic. The latter was of ne- cessity the more reduced owing to the industrial depression which great- ly affected immigration--a very large source of revenue. It has been estimated that the vari- ous steamship lines will have a deficit at the end of the year to be divided among them of at least $25,000,000 as compared with the revenues for 1907, which, however, was an extraordinari- ly prosperous period. Nearly $20,- 000,000 of this amount can readily be accounted for in the regular passen- ger business, the chief item being of course the reverse in the steerage traffic. The steamship lines, it is true, gained 232,711 passengers on their eastbound trips, due to labor leaving the country; but the stoppage of la- bor coming this way was so. great that the inwardbound records show 856,329 fewer passengers than during the same period of last year. The de- tailed figures for the 10 months fol- low: FIRST CABIN. 1908. 1907. Decrease. Westbound. 2.04 3.. 83,568 92,152 8,583 Fastbound) 2.2%... 85,122 90,762 5,640 Lotal eee. . 168,690 182,914 14,223 : SECOND CABIN. Westbound ....... 142,890 196,434 53,544 Bastbound: = 5... 94,819 O2407-5 3 e302 MOvAlee wens 237,709 288,901 51,192 STEERAGE. Westbound: 9. oc... 330,455 1,186,784 856,329 Eastbound. ..-..:. 582,106 349,395 *232,711 Mota ee vc eas 912.561 ..1,536;179 -623,618 *Increase. On the basis of $100, which, it is