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operate must be known, as each plant. differs in minor detail, and all par- ticulars may be, had by the company. LIFE SAVING AND WRECK LO- CATING DEVICE. An interesting life saving and wreck locating gear, which we illustrate here- with, has been invented 'by Frank P. Brust, Seattle Wash. position of a foundered vessel, to as- "sist in saying the lives of the pas- sengers and crew and to provide a safe receptacle for important papers Wreck Locatinc AND Lire SAVING Buoy. and small articles of value. The de- - vice. will find its "most satisfactory 'application to vessels plying inland waters. ' , The invention consists of a buoy which is held in a cylindrical frame- work bolted securely to the steam- ers deck, In the lower part of the framework is mounted a reel. carry- ing .a light, flexible" metallic' cable one end of which is fastened to the buoy. When a vessel equipped with this gear sinks, the buoy floats on the surface, the cab!e unwind'ng as the ship settles. When the ship finally finds~ a resting place on the bottom, the buoy, being moored to the wreck, locates its position. Twelve life pre- servers as shown in the illustration are fastened around the buoy. They are easily detachable and may 'be Used to rescue passengers or crew. A belt mounted on the buoy attracts attention fess ae. to its position. Inside the erase. é compartment, reached a Se hand-hole, which or stowing important addressing ~ The object of. the device is three fold: to mark the © Tae Merine REVIEW "papers, light articles of value, rations and stimulants. The standard size of the bouy de- signed by Mr. Brust has a diameter of 3 ft. and a displacement of 900 Ib. The reel is so protected that there is.no danger of the line fouling in unwinding. The device has been subjected to satisfactory tests and performs its functions efficiently. Within reasonable limits, any length of line desired may 'be used in con- For vessels this nection. with the (bouy. plying ordinary inland waters length would not tbe excessive. THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER : ROUTE. Capt. Alex. McDougall, of Duluth, Minn., wrote one of the members of the Shipping Federation of Canada re- cently, as follows :-- "T have just arrived home from a trip to Liverpool, and then a trip up' the great lakes and their connecting rivers, and I made a careful study of the trip to Montreal, and a comparative examina- tion of the route through to Duluth, for the latter part of which I have a pilot's license. the St. Lawrence route being so danger- ous or difficult to navigate as compared to the route from New York, which to some extent is so, for the New York route is exceptionally favorable the year round. In the navigation of the gulf for its season, I could not see the reas- ons for so much dread of it, much. of _which I think will disappear as the ship- ping increases and the aids to naviga- tion improve, and more men get better acquainted with the objectionable fea- tures in its navigation. "T had been on the lower St. Law- rence before, and with some experience in dispatching ships in and out of the Gulf, so, while on the steamship Me-. gantic on her first voyage as passenger to Montreal, I heard her officers say that she was the largest ship (565 ft.) that could navigate the St. Lawrence, and that a 600-footer would be too long for the narrow, crooked channels to Montrea'. 1 asked the captain to grant the to the charts, and to allow me in a promi- nent place in the ship to best see the channel. me privilege examine "T looked into the matter very care- fully, and when I got to Montreal I was of the opinion that there was a channel that. a-cship. 1,000 . it. could navigate much better than our numerous 600-footers of the upper lakes can navigate the Detroit and St. Mary's rivers, which in their whole length re- 1,200 buoys, beacons and long quire about I had often read and heard of Grodembee 1909 gids to navigation, to show or tell how to enter and pass the intricate channe:s and bends of the route. From Buffalo to Duluth, 1,000 miles, where steamships -- of more than 600 ft. are more numerous than are the different kinds of craft on the St. Lawrence, they run and pass each other night and day in the pres- ent channels of our tivers: and. bays, sometimes drawing 19 or 20 ft, and only~.2-to -3.. in, to spare over. the rocky .bottom of the channel. "Many of those 600-footers make from 20 to 25 round trips from May 1 to Dec, 10, and the captains and mates are the only pilots and also attend to all the other duties belonging to the ship's officers, and I think they could navigate ships 1,000 ft. long in our chan- nels of the rivers that connect our lakes: and bays, and which are not nearly so good as the channel from Montreal to the sea, and our fog, snow and thick weather is as bad or worse than on the St. Lawrence outlet. 1 think that if a committee of your har- bor commission and pi.ots would make a trip of investigation and look over the route from Buffalo to Port Arthur or to Duluth, and see our channels night and day in the latter part of the season, when the traffic is greatest, and nights the longest and darkest, they would learn some points of interest to them- selves, and of great value to Montreal. "I think the Canadian government has been doing splendid work improv- ing the lower St. Lawrence, 'which work will be. moderately permanent, for the St. Lawrence has but little or no sediment. If I were a citizen of Montreal I would endeavor to stop the general shipping gossip that the channel is not good enough for larger ships, and I would urge the govern- ment to still improve the good work it had been doing. "About a month ago I was on the bridge with the pilot going up and down the river Scheldt to Antwerp, where not long ago a great deal of talk in ship- ping circles against that channel was hurtful to the port. But of late, I am told, as they improve the channel the shipping is increasing, and there is a much better sentiment the port, as I "hope" you will soon have: for Montreal, for I think you will be the outlet for an enormous tonnage in the future." for Archibald Payton, for many years assistant superintendent of the T.o- Tain» Plant of. the' American Ship Building Co., has been appo-nted act- ing superintendent until further Superintendent F. C. LaMarche been ill for some time and _ has been unable to attend to his duties. ; no- tice. has