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as the cadet from that territory. He graduated from Annapolis in 1863 and served in the federal navy during the remainder of the war. He was wounded in the engagements around Fort Fisher. sent to prevent seal poaching in Bering Sea, which he stopped very effectualiy. It was at Valparaiso that he acquired the title "Fighting Bob". When the Spanish war _ occurred, Evans was assigned to the command of the battleship. Iowa. His last ser- vice was in taking the Atlantic fleet around the world. William Wallace Bates, former Unit- ed States commissioner of navigation and a prolific writer on the upbuilding of the American merchant marine, died at his home in Denver, on Sun- day, Nov. 27, at the advanced age of 85 years, following a stroke of par- alysis. He was the son of a Nova Scotia shipwright, was educated at Calais, Me.,. and always considered himself to be a citizen of the United States. In 1851, he moved to Mani- towoc, Wis., and engaged in ship building, building the schooner Chal- lenge and other vessels. In 1854 he acquired an interest in the Nautical Magazine and Naval Journal, pub- lished in New York.. It was while working for this publication that he ' made a study of the American mer- chant marine and became ever after a prolific and indefatigable writer on the subject. He favored preferen- 'tial duties. At the outbreak of the Civil War Mr. Bates joined the Union army. He engaged in ship building and dry dock work in Chicago from 1866 to 1881, preparing meanwhile a book of rules for building lake vessels." He built a dry dock at Port- land, Ore., for the Northern Pacific railway in 1881-3. He then became manager of Inland Lloyds, at Buffalo. President Harrison appointed him commissioner of navigation in 1889 and he served until 1892, resigning on account of ill health. He wrote two books, "The American Marine," in 1892, and "American Navigation" in _1902. In 1897 Mr. Bates organized the American. Shipping Society, and was president of the organization at the time of his death. He is sur- vived by two children--Lindon Wal- lace Bates, the well-known engineer, and Dr. Mary G. Bates, of Denver. David Kahnweiler's Sons, 260 Front St. New York, have put out a cal- endar, the pictorial part of which is a panel picture of a young girl. The calendar will be mailed to anyone interested, upon request. In 1881 he was TAE Maruve KeEviEw A New Propeller Material 'Monel metal, which is a "natural alloy" that is regarded as a successful substitute for steel and bronze, has recently been cast in pieces weighing as much as 25,000 lbs. Most of these large castings have been for propel- lers that are furnished to the United States government in accordance with standard specifications for this metal. The demand for wheels for this metal is increasing, which is indicative that it possesses unusual qualities that make it extremely suitable for this purpose. One of the most prominent of the naval vessels that has been equipped with propellers of this metal is the Argentine Republic's huge battleship "Rivadavia", recently launched at the Fore River Shipyard. It has three propellers like those of the other Ar- gentine Republic's battleship Moreno, now in course of construction at .Cam- den, No. J. AW ate made ot Monel metal and three-bladed, each casting weighing 16,000 Ibs. Two spare wheels of 18,000 Ibs. each have also been made for the United States battleship North Dakota, while , four propellers each weighing 8,000 Ibs. have been cast for the Florida. These last are of the three-blade de- sign which is preferred for high- speed vessels, though when the diam- eter is unduly restricted four or more are used. Many torpedo boat destroyers are now fitted with Monel metal propel- lers. The more important of those propelled by a three-bladed design weighing 2,000 Ibs. each are the Terry, Roe,- Sterrell, Perkins, Walke and Fanning. Heretofore propellers have been made largely of various kinds of bronze, particularly manganese bronze. The qualities that have made manga- nese bronze suitable for this use are its ability to resist shock and its re- sistance to salt water corrosion, but with the rapid development of the marine turbine the demand for a pro- peller material that would stand even better the severe shocks of. high speed service has become manifest. With the idea in view of using Monel metal as a substitute for bronze vari- ous tests were made on propellers cast of this materia]. The results were surprising and at first were thought to be due to increased tensile strength, yield point, and the reten- tion of its high polish without cor- rosion or pitting, for Monel metal takes a finish like pure nickel: 'The most probable of these appeared to be the last as the increased _ tensile "jeu, The strength over that of manganese bronze would only indicate an increase of the factor of safety and resistance to shock rather than resistance to stresses within the elastic limit. Care- ful experiments with a testing machine on a large number of samples dem- onstrated that the remarkable results were due to the modulus of elasticity. Manganese bronze has a modulus of elasticity of 13,000,000; Monel metal 22,000,000 to 23,000,000; and steel 28,- 000,000 to 32,000,000. All metals of course distort inside the elastic lim- it and recover again when the stresses are removed, but it will be noted that the distortion with Monel metal is less than with manganese bronze. With distortions come changes of pitch and consequent losses of ef- ficiency. From a practical standpoint the fol- lowing tests made in duplicate from test pieces cut from one of the blades for one of the 16,000-lb. propellers for the Rivadavia are interesting as showing both the strength and uni- formity of this new metal. -Tests on Monel Metal Propellers. Laboratory of William Sellers, Inc., Phil- adelphia, Pa.: Yield Elongation point Ibs. Tensile in 2 in. per sq.in. strength.per cent. mipst-» Bide...) 64. 38,806 82,580 45 Second Blade .... 35,820 81,570 45 Third «Bladeo.4.. 2.55. 37,500 86,500 45 Laboratory of the Orford Copper Co., Bay- onne, N. J.: First Blade ...... 37,500 82,500 45 Second Blade .:.. 37,500 82.250 44 Whird = Blade s.ieet3 37,250 83,500 33 The navy department opened bids for the construction of the _ battle- ships Nevada and Oklahoma on Jan. 4. The bidders were the Fore River Ship Building Co., Quincy, Mass., the New York Ship Building Co., Cam- den, N. J., and the Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., New- port News, Va. The bids ranged from $5,935,000 to $6,450,000, accord- ing to department and builders' de- sings. Contract has not yet 'been awarded. The annual meeting of the' Lake Carriers' Association will be held at the Hotel Ponchartrain, on Thursday, question of increasing the capital stock of the association from $20,000 to $25,000 will be taken up. The annual dinner of the associa- tion will be given at the Ponchartrain on Thursday evening and will be ad- 'dressed 'by quite a number of prom- the Great Lakes Pro- tective Association will meet on Jan. 17. inent speakers. January, 1912 - = sila cea ma Ra ut MS re as ea