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OCEAN CEASSIFICATION. The construction of vessels building upon the Great Lakes for ocean navigation must be in conformity with Bureau Veritas rules and tables, and the machinery must conform to the following rules, over and above the requirements for vessels navigating the Great Lakes. 1. The construction and arrangement of shafting and the fitting of the propeller on the propeller shaft must be such that the propeller shaft can be readily removed from the stern tube to admit of examination along the entire length. 2. The engine must be provided with a surface condenser of approved construction. The air pump and circulating pump, if of the reciprocating type, must be fitted with brass-lined chambers, brass buckets and valve seats, and the rods and glands must be of brass or brass-lined. 4. It is desirable that the condenser be so fitted that it can be used as a jet condenser in case of emergency. 5. When the air and circulating pumps are independent of the main engine and are combined and worked by one steam cylinder, the ballast pump must be so placed, and a connection made, so that it can be employed as an air pump. 6. In vessels where no ballast pump is fitted, the air pump must be fitted and capable of being worked independently of the circulating pump. 7. The suction pipe of the circulating pump must have a branch connection to the engine-room bilge, fitted with a non-return valve, having a screw stem not attached to the valve, but which will set the valve down on its seat when necessary. 8. The plungers of all feed pumps must be of brass or fitted with brass sleeves, and the glands must be of brass or brass-lined. g. It is recommended that the bilge pumps also be fitted in the same manner, but they must in all cases have brass buckets or plungers. to. The suction and discharge pipes of the circulating pump and all feed and blow-off pipes must be of copper. 11. Ifthe connections from the sea-cock to the circulating pump and from the pump to the condenser are quite rigid, these may be made with cast-iron pipes. 12. Pipe connections from the pumps or condenser to the side of the vessel must be so made that they may not be unduly strained by expansion or the working of the vessel. 13. All bilge and sea suction pipes and all other pipes below the engine- room and fire-room floors shall be of approved non-corrosive material, and the bilge suction pipes must have mud traps so located as to be easily accessible from the engine-room floor and fitted with covers especially arranged to be easily and quickly opened to admit of cleaning. 14. Valves and sea connections may be made as described in the rules for lake service, but the strainers must be of brass or similar composition, bolted to 144 the valves or sea chests, and having spigots projecting through the opening in the shell plating to protect the edges of the plates. 15. Blow-off cocks or valves and ash discharge valves on the plating of the vessel must be fitted with spigots passing through the plating with a brass or gun metal ring on the outside, the spigots to be of a depth not less than the thickness of the shell plating and the ring. 16. Blow-off cocks to have a key, not attached to the plug or stem, but which can only be removed when the cock is closed. 17. All sea cocks, discharge valves, manifolds, stop and check valves, also all feed and bilge pump valve chests, may be of cast iron, but they must be fitted with brass stems, glands, valves and seats. 18. The stems of all valves on the boilers and all steam valves elsewhere of 3' diameter and upwards must have the screw outside, above the cover of the valve and a yoke on the cover containing the nut for same. 19. Vessels intended for coasting trade or short voyages, having boilers working at pressures over 120 pounds, must be provided with an evaporator to supply fresh water to the boilers to compensate for waste, or a tank may be pro- vided exclusively for this purpose, of sufficient capacity to contain 200 pounds of water per square foot of grate surface for each day of intended duration of the longest runs, and proper connections made by which the feed pumps and pony pump can draw water from the tank and supply the boilers. Where boilers are fitted with forced draft the above will be 330 pounds and 500 pounds respectively. 20. Wessels intended for transatlantic and long voyages must have an evaporator of a capacity of 300 pounds of distilled water per square foot of grate surface per day. 21. Internally fired cylindrical boilers should be provided with an efficient apparatus for starting and maintaining the circulation of the water when raising steam, to prevent the boilers being strained by unequal expansion. 22. A cock must be fitted on the shell of each boiler near the level of the grate bars from which to draw water for the purpose of testing the density. 23. Approved apparatus for separating the oil from the feed water must be provided. 24. It is strongly recommended that, in vessels which are intended for long voyages, or voyages to foreign countries, where the facilities for repairs are lim- ited, the crank shaft be made in two or more separate sections, connected together by couplings forged solid with the crank shaft, these sections to be interchangeable; and that the thrust shaft be a section distinct from the crank shaft.