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266 like it otherwise it must be made otherwise. Reckless Disregard of Cost. The constructor's power is unlimited. He can compel the tearing down of work already done and on the flimsiest pretexts. He need give a reason to no one. An examination of the design of details will disclose either the densest ignorance and lack of judgment or else the most reck- less disregard of cost; in either case the result is the same. For instance; the turrets of a battleship of modern type are carried on con'form rollers running on a track made of cast steel segments supported by two concen- tric rings of steel plate about 2 ft. apart. Between these rings are fitted, at intervals of about 4 ft. spreaders or distance pieces, bolted to both. The entire office of these spreaders is to maintain the rings in a fixed relation to each other. So far as actual strains are concerned good cast iron would probably answer every purpose. But cast iron is not always 'a reliable material, and if a_ better is wanted there cast steel is ideal and not expensive under ordinary inspec- tom, | Butt is too.-chedp. for the navy man. He must 'have nothing but bronze, and navy bronze at that, known throughout the trade as one of the most expensive alloys. Can any one say why, if the rings are good enough in steel and the track is good enough in steel, the navy must throw away tons and tons of bronze, costing approximately six times as much as steel castings and 'having a strength of approximately one 'half? On one of the recent battleships I noticed the deck scuttles in the low- er deck, over the bunkers. In gen- eral arrangement they are. similar to those used in all classes of ships. They consist of three parts; the deck ring, about 3 ft. diameter, with a grating and water tight cover. They are not exposed to the weather or to severe service of any kind and there is no good reason why cast iron is not just as suitable for them in a naval ship as in any other ship. The only reason for a water-tight cover even is the scrubbing down of decks. "But the navy must have bronze, and not only that, but they must be fin- ished all over. I saw a workman ac- curately sizing, with a file and cali- pers, the thickness of the bars of the grating and was told tby the official in charge that the inspector had so ordered because the drawing called for a certain thickness (as of necessity it must) and that the thickness must be exact. THe Marine REVIEW Those scuttles cost 20 times as much as similar fittings on the best the passenger ship, and the navy, ship or ther crew, are not benefited an iota. Waste of Labor and Material. The prodigality in the use of brass and copper where iron or steel would answer every purpose either for safety or durability is nothing less than criminal. And, as for durability, al- most before our best battleships have had time to acquire a growth of bar- nacles we are told they are obsolete. A visit to any navy yard will dis- close vessels laid up and out of ser- vice that we only a few years ago were told were urgently needed, and not even laid up with the care of the ordinary merchantman or any at- tempt to keep "shipshape". Guns pointing at all angles, some without tompions; wood decks shrinking and splintering in the sun and weather for want of a wetting down; chains, lines and hawsers snarled and fouled; tattered tarpaulins adrift and waving in the breeze; mooring lines without a bit of "chafing gear;" even a gang- way gone adrift while a lazy watch- man snored his head off in plain view of every passer-by. I could multiply without end instances of waste of labor and material which cannot fail to strike the trained observer. Pon- derous 'bronze valves and fittings, away below the water line, for ser- vice where the pressures under no possible conditions or circumstances could exceed a few pounds and cast iron or steel would serve every 'pur- pose; mammoth copper exhaust pipes, not even so good as steel but costing many times more and all to be thrown away after a few months of actual service; for it must be remembered that the naval ship does not pass but a small percentage of her actual com- mission under way at sea. (To be continued.) THE CLERMONT LAUNCHED. The Staten Island Ship Building Co., Mariners' Harbor, Staten Island, N. Y., launched the replica of the steamer Clermont, Robert Fulton's pioneer steamboat, on July 10 in the presence of 'about 7,000 persons. The Clermont is being duplicated by the commission in charge of the Hud- son-Fulton celebration which is to take place on the Hudson river beginning Sept. 25 and continuing to Oct. 9, and for which pageant Hendrik Hudson's Half Moon has been reproduced in Holland and brought to this country to take part. The Clermont was christened by ing object lesson - August, 1 Mrs. A. T. Sutcliffe, the great-grand. daughter of Robert Fulton, who broke a bottle over the bow filled with water from a well on the Livingstone estate at Clermont on the Hudson. At the instant that the bottle was broken six carrier pigeons were released, each of which bore a quotation from Robert Fulton's essay on the "Friends of Man- kind." The quotation reads: "Industry will give abundance to a virtuous world and call mankind to one un- bounded feast of harmony and friend- ship." . The bell of the original Clermont has been presented to the commission by E. E. Olcott, president of the Hud- son River Day Line, An exact duplicate of the engine of the original Clermont is also being constructed by the Staten Island Ship Building Co., the only variations being those made necessary by the present- day inspection laws. When the Clermont appears in the celebration she should present a strik- of the progress which has been made in the science of ship building during the past century. NEW HALF MOON HERE. The Holland-America liner Soestdyk arrived in New York July 22 carrying on her deck an exact reproduction of the vessel in which Capt. Hendrik Hudson made his first voyage up the Hudson river 300 years ago. The "Half Maen," as the Dutch have it--has been built in Amsterdam, Holland, 'by public subscription under the patronage of some of the highest personages of that country. She is Holland's con- tribution to the Hudson-Fulton cele- bration commemorating the discovery of the Hudson river in the original Half Moon as well as the epoch-making voyage of Robert Fulton in his steam- boat in those same waters. The Half Moon is built of heavy oak timber, with the high poop and long- nosed prow characteristic of the an- cient Dutch and Spanish galleons. She is of about 80 tons displacement, is 74% ft. long and has a beam of 18 ft. She draws 7% ft. of water and will carry a crew of 20 men. An interesting feature of the pageant will be the presence of the fifth cruiser squadron of the British navy, which has been ordered to attend. This squadron, consisting of four vessels, the Drake, the Argyll, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Black Prince, will be under the command of Rear Ad- miral Frederick T. Hamilton, who is to act in the capacity of official repre- sentative of the British government at the festivities, which will begin Sept. 25 and continue to Oct. 9. All of the