The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

April, 1914 rot or deteriorate. Sixty-one men climbed into this boat as it hung on the davits. In fifty-five seconds this boat was swung out to the full reach of the davit, the gripes all released and the lower boat tilted ready to be lowered, and it only required one man operating the crank at each end to do this. The actual time of lowering from the time the last man was in until the boat was afloat released from her davit falls was about one minute and fifty seconds. This could not be ac- - tually timed, as when the boat was swung out it was kept so while the inspectors carefully examined all the gear before the boat was lowered. The last test was of a 24-ft. Lundin open life boat with Balsa wood fen- ders, an improvement over the ordi- nary lifeboat in that she was a fuller bodied boat, carrying her load of 40 men with considerable more freeboard and she was easier to row and steer than the older type of boat. On Saturday the power lifeboat with a crew of 17 fishermen besides her en- gineer, wireless operator, two sailors and myself left the yacht basin in Gravesend bay at 8:45 a. m., passed Norton's Point at 9 and stood out to sea for Sandy Hook lightship. Com- munications by wireless were kept up 'between the Sea Gate Marconi station, the Sandy Hook steam pilot boat out at sea and the tug boat M. Moran, then lying at Pier "A", North river, where Capt. Lundin, Gen.. Uhler, the inspectors and several lake captains who had come on to see these tests were getting aboard. Straight as a Die The outer channel buoys' were passed in just two hours from Nor- ton's Point. The tug was then com- ing full speed down Ambrose chan- nel with a 28-ft. Lundin decked life- boat and a 24-ft. Lundin open boat in tow. The tug under full steam -was logging 12 to 13 knots, but the boats trailed behind and towed straight as a die. Near the lightship the tug stopped, all three boats came alongside, the fishermen were divided into crews and all the boats manned and put through all the maneuvers the inspectors could think of, from riding to sea anchors, to all being taken in tow by the power lifeboat and towed around the tug while cameras and moving picture ma- chines recorded their every move- ment. While these tests were in prog- ress the steamship Berlin, outward bound with Mrs. Lundin aboard, was signalled by the lifeboat's wireless and the first wireless ever sent a steamship THE MARINE REVIEW by a power lifeboat was a message of -bon-voyage from Capt. Lundin to his wife. The Lundin life boats were given a practical test in Cleveland at Upson- Walton Co.'s dock for the benefit of the Pittsburgh Steamship Co.'s masters and engineers. The attendance was quite liberal and the tests, which were practically a repetition of those per- formed in the east, were very satis- factory. Naval Extravagance THe Marine Review has on various occasions called attention to the ex- cessive and unjustifiable cost of work in naval establishments. In spite of the showing, however, congress con- tinues to provide funds with a lavish hand for the spending by a set of amateurs and incompetents. Herewith we give some comparative figures of cost of navy-built and contract-built fleet colliers. The Jupiter, built at the Mare Isl- and navy yard, was originally auth-_ orized in 1908 and there was appro- priated for her construction $1,800,- 000. The disclosures by various journals, led by Tue Marine Review, of the miserable inefficiency and extravagance of the department in connection with the Vestal and Prometheus and the vastly better and less costly contract- built colliers, Hector, Vulcan and Mars, led to a reduction of this appro- priation to $900,000, which, on the ad- mission of the department of its ina- bility to compete with contract costs, was increased to $1,000,000 in 1910, 155 ume of commercial work is satisfac- tory, so that the above bid does not necessarily mean the lowest possible. But here are five ships of the same class, built to a standard -classifica- tion used for commercial work, not to the usual naval specification and de- sign as exemplified in. the colossal failures Vestal and Prometheus, and yet the navy yard ship costs 30 per cent more than the average of the four privately-built ships. Nor is this all. As we have repeatedly pointed out, .navy yard construction carries no overhead charges such as interest on investment, insurance, taxes, -main- tenance and upkeep, depréciation ad- ministration or profits. These charges vary with different lines of business, but if the proportion of sales usually applied in ship building establishments is added the cost will be found to ex- ceed $1,500,000. Besides all this the delivery of privately-built ships was as much as a year ahead of time. The navy is on the job all the time when it comes to pulling the wool over the eyes of congress. New Dredger for Russia Messrs; Wm: Simons & Co,,; "Ltd, Renfrew, launched March 16, com- plete and ready for work the powerful twin-screw Simons cutter suction re- clamation drédger No. 5, constructed to the order of the Russian govern- ment. The dredger is fitted with two sets of compound surface condensing engines each driving its own propeller. Steam is supplied by two steel multi- tubular boilers constructed: to Bureau Veritas requirements for 160 lbs. work- Jupiter. ' Protetis and Orion and ' Nereus. ° 65 ft. 2% in. Navy Yard - Newport News S. Jason, Builder. Mare Island. B. & D. D. Co. Maryland Steel Length or L. W. L.....-. seen es ee es O20 tte 502 ft. 2 in, Co. Te Gata ea i 65 ft. 3in. 62 ft. 2% in. 514 ft. : Designed draught ......seseeee seers ees D7 Ate 6 IN, 27 ft: 6.in. 27 ft. 4% in. Displacement, designed dratight< es 19,230 19,080 ee Cargo capacity, tons (1)........+-+..-: 12,500 12,500 is Designed speed knots......++.-+++++++05 Classification 14 U. S. Steamboat Inspection and Am. Bureau 14 U.S. Steamboat Inspection and Am. Bureau 14 U.S. Steamboat Inspection and Am. Bureau of Shipping oes ae Shipping ; tee ee 14.7* 14, oe avant Per eine ee $1,271,986 $990,000 $951,000 (1)Includes bunker coal. *Unofficial. From W. L. R. Emmet and again to $1,200,000 in 1911, and construction was finally begun in that year. The same act which increased the appropriation for the Jupiter to $1,- 000,000 provided for two contract-built colliers at the same limit of cost and Proteus and Nereus were ordered of the Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., at $990,000 each, just in- side the appropriation. It is, of course, an open secret that private yards will not, and do not, make low figures on naval work, especially when thé vol- paper read at Soc. N. A. & M. E. ing pressure. The dredging pump is driven by an independent set of triple- expansion surface condensing engines. The cutter is driven from a set of vertical compound engines through cast steel gearing of very massive construction. The suction frame is designed for dredging the vessel's own flotation and to a depth of 65 ft. be- low water level. The dredging and discharging capacity is 1,000 tons per hour. A complete electric light in- stallation is provided throughout the vessel, and all cabins are heated by steam.