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May, 1914 New Hill Steamers Herewith is published the first pho tograph of the Hill steamship Great Northern, now: building at Cramps', Philadelphia, for service between As- toria, Ore., and San Francisco, Cal. A sister ship, the Northern Pacific, is also under construction. The Great Northern will make the trip from Philadelphia .to the Pacific coast by way of the Panama canal and will be one of the first of the Pacific mer- THE MARINE REVIEW canal is colored dark blue and the ccean waters a light blue; while the region of the canal zone is colored a light pink tint and the territory of Panama is given a pale buff tint. The soundings are given in feet. The tidal data is for mean low water springs in the gulf and bay of Pan- ama and mean low water in the Car- ribean sea and Limon bay. The mean higher high tide at Colon is only 12 feet above the tidal plane and the low- est tide 2 feet below that plane. At CONSTRUCTION VIEW OF THE HILL STEAMER GREAT NORTHERN NOW BUILDING AT CRAMP'S chant marine to make the voyage thréugh the canal. Both boats will be in service in 1915 to share in the trav- el between the Oregon and California coasts in connection with the expo- sition. The boats will be 526 ft. long, Os ft.. beam and 2114 ft. draught, They will have accommodations for more than 800 passengers besides 1,500 tons of freight. Charts of Panama Canal The fact that the Panama canal is approaching completion and that a large number of vessels will undoubt- edly avail themselves of this short route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, has been anticipated by the depart- ment of commerce in the publication by the United States Coast and Geo- detic Survey office of a series of charts of the canal and its approaches. The general chart of the Panama canal and approaches, No. 94, which has recently been issued, is on a scale of 1/146,000 or one-half inch to the nautical mile, and is in colors. The Balboa the range of tide is much greater, the mean higher high water being 145 feet above the plane of reference and the lowest 4 feet be- low it. The surveys on which this chart ate based were made by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1905 and 1912, but surveys made by the Isthmian Canal Commission and in- formation obtained from other sources have also been utilized. The light- houses and buoys for the aid of navi- gators in the approaches to the canal are shown and their characteristics indicated. The elevations on land are given in feet above high water. There are two compass roses and a border scale on the chart. The mag- netic declination in this region is given as 4 degrees 25 minutes east in 1915, with an annual decrease or 71 minute. This chart, besides its usefulness for purposes of navigators, will also be of interest to the large numbers of tourists who visit or pass through the canal. confined to the Gold. Hill slide. 193 Through With Excavation The dry excavation for Culebra Cut was terminated on March 31, when the three 95-ton steam shovels now engaged in lessening the pressure on the east Culebra slide, north of Gold Hill, will be withdrawn from. their pits and made ready for dismantling. The crews of the shovels and of the dump trains which have handled their spoil will be discharged, effective April 1, on account of reduction of force. Dry excavation at the bottom of the cut was discontinued on Sept. 10, 1913, on which date 13 steam shovels were engaged on high levels at vari- ous points. The number has since been gradually reduced as the work was completed. In the latter part of November, six shovels remained; two of these, on the west bank at Culebra, were withdrawn in December. Since that time, the dry excavation has been Four shovels were working until the latter part of February, when one was with- drawn. The completion of the dump near New Culebra station, on which the spoil was wasted, and the general condition of the Gold Hill slide, have led to the decision to abandon the use . of all the shovels. Fireproof Ships In the house of representatives, Mr. Edmons has introduced a bill (H. R. 15431), providing for the construction of passenger vessels of fireproof ma- terial, - The bill recites that on and after Jan. 1, 1915, the building of all ships or steamboats or other craft used for the transportation of passen- gers for fare, whether propelled by the use of coal, oil, gasoline, or any other fuel, shall be subject to the fol- lowing regulations: (1) The hull and all the superstructure, including decks, cabins, doors, windows, partitions, roofs, floors, and berths, shall be con- structed of a material which is fire- proof. (2) It shall be the duty of the bureau of navigation (or proper licens- ing officer) to refuse a license for any boat to carry passengers the keel of which boat shall have been laid on or after Jan. 1; 1915, unless this act is complied with. (3) This act shall ap- ply to excursion boats, ferries and passenger boats, whether navigating lakes, rivers or in coastwise traffic. (4) Boats carrying fishing parties which are not over 20 tons burden are excepted. George L. Armes, engineer-in-chief of the Union Iron Works, San Fran- cisco, is visiting eastern yards.