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418 Mass. Mr. Palmer was 50 years of ze. A wife and two children sur- vive. The Palmer fleet of vessels is known the length of the Atlantic seaboard, not only because of its ag- gregate size, but because of the in- dividual proportions of a number of. the vessels. Five masters always ayp- pealed to Mr. Palmer as the best car- riers, and this type he made promin- ent. The Elizabeth Palmer of 2,500 tons is the largest five-masted schoon-. er in the world. Alexander McVittie,. president of the Toledo Ship Building Co. died at his summer home at Harbor Beach of heart failure on Sept. 15. He was born in Dumfrieshire, Scotland, in 1842. When a child his parents em- igrated to Western Ontario, where his father .died shortly -thereafter, leaving the mother to carry on the work of the farm with the assistance of her young sons. His first position was that of errand boy in a general store. al mercantile business with his broth- er-in-law, and for a time entered the oil business in Rothwell, Ont. He was still a young man when he went to Detroit and secured a position as time-keeper at Campbell & . Owen's dry dock. He showed a natural apti- tude for the business and his advance was steady. When the Detroit Dry . Dock Co. was organized he was made its manager. Later he held success- ively the positions of secretary, trea- surer, vice president and _ president of the "Detroit = Ship Building Co. Three years ago he associated him- self with interests which purchased the old Craig yard at Toledo, form- ing the Toledo Ship Building Co., of which he was president and assistant treasurer. Mr. McVittie was decided- ly domestic in his taste and lived a most exemplary life, deriving his maj- or pleasure during middle age from his stock farm. He was;a.man of. broad general information and liber- al views, extremely charitable in a quiet way and an out-spoken advocate of temperance. William Watson, chairman of the Cunard Steamship Co., died on Oct: 4 at his residence, Brombrough, Ches- hire, England, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Mr. Watson was born, educated and made his. early business success in Charleston, S. C., and later took up his residence in England. He was for many years prominent in the cotton trade at Liv- erpool, where he amassed a fortune under the firm name of Watson & Co., of which he was the senior mem- ber and from which he retired a He later engaged in a gener- . "THE MARINE REVIEW few years ago. He became a director of the Cunard Steamship Co. about 16 years ago, later vice chairman, and upon the death of the late Lord Inverclyde in 1905 was elected chair- man, which position he filled with credit and distinction to himself and to the great advantage of the com- pany, holding that position to the time of his death. He carried to suc- cessful completion the building of the two famous steamers Mauretania and Lusitania, which had been con- ceived and started by the former chair- © man, the late Lord Inverclyde. <A man of gracious manner, splendid business ability, great energy and of sterling character, Mr. Watson com- manded the respect and confidence of all who had dealings with him. C. SHERMAN HOYT JOINS THE WELIN DAVIT CO. At a directors' meeting at the of- fices of the Welin Davit and Lane & DeGroot Co. Cons; at 1/ Battery place, New York, C. Sherman. Hoyt, naval architect and marine engin- eer, and: for. the last. year or: 'two inspecting engineer for the Panama Rail- road & Steamship Co., was elected secretary and treasurer of the Wrlin Davit and Lane & De Groot Co., Con- solidated. Mr. Hoyt will in future take an active part in the affairs of this company, as a member of the firm, both as to the financing as well as the execution of its general business. Capt. John. C. Silva, who has resigned from the position of secretary and treasurer which he held heretofore, is still one of the board of directors of the company and will in future hold the office of general sales agent. He is about to leave for an extended trip to the Gulf states where he will attend the National Bar Pilots meeting at New Orleans and will thoroughly look into business conditions.in the various ports of that district. A survey of the Cunard steamer Lucania, which was burned at the Liv- erpool docks, London, revealed that the vessel could not be repaired at a cost within her insurance, which was $600,000. A unique settlement was reached, whereby the Cunard company accepted $500,000 and retained the hull of the Lucania. It is now reported that the company has sold the hull to Ward, of Sheffield, for $150,000, for breaking up purposes and thus passes out of existence a steamer 'that for many years held-the trans-Atlantic rec- ord and was, the favorite of all trans- Atlantic passengers. October, 1909 NEW LIDGERWOOD STEERING ENGINES. It was more than 35 years ago that the Lidgerwood Manufacturing Co. first built steering engines. The earliest engines sold for this use aboard ship were of the rotary type. A glance at the early records kept by Gen. Supt. John V. Beekman, show that. between March and July, in 1872, Col. W. H. Mallory bought three of these rotary steering engines of various sizes for use on his vessels. The first Lidgerwood steering engine of the reciprocating type was built for the Long Island Sound steamer Rhode Island, in the spring of 18/7. This: was. made = to replace an engine of the rotary type which had been specially made by the company to please Capt. Jones, of the Rhode Island, and was constructed entirely of composition metal, This metal, however, did not prove satisfactory for the pur- pose. Other vessels which were equipped with Lidgerwood steering engines at about this same time were the City of Alexandria and the City of Washing: ton, of the Alexander line, and a con- siderable number built by the Cramps on the Delaware. Another place of note where a Lidger- wood steering engine was used was in the : Pennsylvania ferryboat Baltimore, which ran from New York city to Jer- sey City. These engines of a genera- tion ago embodied the essential features of the modern steering engines and were used in many cases until the' vessels were broken up. In one instance which has recently come to the knowledge of the com- pany, the steering engine, after having been used until the vessel was con- demned and broken up, was taken out and put into service as a hoisting en- gine, and it is still doing daily service in that capacity. The business of building these en- gines languished, however, because al- though vessel owners 'were desirous of using them the old-time captains and pilots were opposed to their use. The old timer didn't feel safe unless he could "feel'? the rudder directly through the tiller or wheel. The rapid development of the con- tractors' hoists business soon had the facilities of the Lidgerwood works taxed to their utmost, and no effort was made by the company to push the sales of steering engines. The com- pany having recently established a ma- rine department, is now building a line of steering engines of approved design, one type of which is shown in the ac- companying cut. It will be seen that the not _a.radical departure in design from engine is