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

1903-] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. 21 practice to fit with triple engines, this figure of 2 lbs. usually remains rather an ideal than an accomplished fact. “I have not yet made sufficiently clear the purport of the’ above remarks. It is to endeavor to show that the application of steam turbines may still have a wide range of advantage, even after they have fallen below their natural maximum efficiency, before they sink to the level of ordinary steam-eating yacht engines. Unfortunately, however, this mythical fetish of 2 Ibs. per indicated horse power has become so revered among yacht owners and engineers that it is rather difficult for them to be- lieve that a turbine installation consuming, say 214 lbs. woula really be more economical than nine-tenths of the yachts afloat. It is important, however, that it should not be considered that there is any inferiority in the steam economy of turbines within their natural range of application. The point emphasized above is simply that cutside this natural range of applicability they may still compete in a field in which such poor results are usually ob- tained, namely, yacht propulsion, while still presenting all those qualities of freedom from vibrations, wear and tear, expensive overhauls and arduous supervision. to say nothing of the fact that the saving in the oil bill alone will, in ordinary cases, amcunt to something like 10 per cent. of the cost of the fuel. “The natural limits of speed referred to above depend on the permissible speed of the turbine blades at the circumference, and this again depends on a train of circumstances which I will endeavor to make clear. First of all, the steam flowing through the turbine has a natural speed of its own, and the speed of the blades cannot fall below a certain percentage of this without a serious drop in efficiency. At the other end of the shaft an ap- posite set of conditions obtains, as there are very definite limits to the speed at which it is possible to run the propellers. For every vessel, at any given speed, there is a certain limit below which the surface of the blades of the propeller cannot be re- duced in area without tearing holes in the water. When this cavitation occurs efficiency falls off suddenly and rapidly. Given a certain minimum blade area and speed of ship, the revolutions permissible are determined thereby, because the angle of the blades to the stream of water they act on is practically a fixed quantity for the best results. Going back, then, to the turbine end of the shaft with the revolutions decided on, we have only to bring the turbine up to such a diameter as shall afford a proper circumferential speed for the blades. Should this diameter have to be made so great that the turbines become either too large for the ship to contain them, or too heavy for her to carry them, then the lower limit of the range of applicability of steam turbine pro- pulsion has in that particular instance been reached. “This. however, is only the case where the very best steaia economy is a sine qua non. It is possible to very largely de- crease circumferential speed and consequent diameter of the tur- bine without falling below the steam consumptions reached in nine-tenths of existing yachts. . Speaking somewhat generally, it may be said that in all cases where a vessel will steam 15 knots and upward, steam turbines wiil be the most suitable type of engines to employ for her propulsion, and will offer advant- ages proportionately more and more important as the speed rises above that figure. Below 15 knots there are certain cases which may require to be examined into on their merits before a decision can be arrived at. but, generally speaking, the advantages of tur- bines would be somewhat outweighed by their large size and cost relatively to the power. “The yachts constructed during the year now closing, thougli of an interesting character. do not afford any very striking points to illustrate the above remarks; indeed, only one of them, the lete Col. McCalmont’s Tarantula, was completed in time to be placed in commission. Of the other two, the larger, Mr. Bar- ber’s Lorena, is not yet in commission, though her machinery his been completed for several months. Sir Christopher Furness’s Emerald has made a preliminary run, and at the time of writing is back at her builder’s yard for completion. Tarantula is par- ticularly remarkable as a yacht, for although her lines are almost identical with those of a first-class torpedo boat, her machinery is entirely different from anything which has been previously fitted into such vessels. At the same time the cabin fittings, electric installations, and other elaborate details were especially designed, and have been as carefully carried out as usual in high-class yachts. In spite, however, of the heaviness of fittings, etc., in Tarantula as compared with the service load of a torpedo boat, she has succeeded in breaking the record for speed as compared with torpedo boats approximating her in dimensions and dis- placement, which may be reckoned as a unique performance for a yacht, and undoubtedly Tarantula is to be a considerable extent indebted for this to her turbine machinery.” BIG IDEAS REGARDING THE NAVY. . The general board of the navy, of which Admiral Dewey is president, has proposed the construction of a fleet which will make the United States second to Great Britain as a naval _power. It is urged the adoption of a ship building program under which the United States, within six years, will have a fleet made up of forty-eight effective battleships, twenty-four effective armored cruisers, forty-eight cruisers and forty-eight torpedo boat destroyers and submarines, colliers, engineering repair ships and supply ships. The program advocated by the general board is the result of careful thought on the part of the members of that organization. ‘Their conclusions were that the first essential of a modern fleet is an adequate number of bat- tleships; that supporting the battleships should be swift armored cruisers; that for use as scouts there should be a number of cruisers of about 3,000 tons, speedy and with great coal endur- ance; that there should be one torpedo boat destroyer for each battleship, and that finally there should be such other auxiliaries, including colliers, repair ships, supply ships, as experience shows such a fleet will need. ‘The board desires that four battleships, two armored cruisers, four cruisers and four destroyers be laid down annually. In displacement the United States is today the third ranking naval power but in number of ships it is behind Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany and Italy. The presi- dent and wecretary Moody have announced their intention of supporting the general board. THE GASOLINE BOAT. Ever since Adam’s indiscretion mankind has been compelled to make a living, and that numerous Americans have of late been very successful in doing this is shown by the unprecedented number of pleasure craft building all along the Atlantic coast. And the enthusiasm of those prospective yacht owners, when discussing the merits of the property they are in hopes of soon to see cast upon the waters, indicates them as sharing the belief of R. L. Stevenson, that more pleasure can be derived from fooling among boats than from adding up columns of figures. Every Sunday, omitting the proviso of the weather’s permis- sioh, scores of business men, whose personal appearance is not suggestive of nautical inclinations, travel ship yardward to ob- serve another week’s growth of their maritime wonders. The genuine enjoyment it gives some, and the conservatism of others are responsible for the many orders builders have re- ceived for sailboats, from the schooner for deep-water cruising, the knockabout to be sailed strictly between meal times, the skimming-dish with a reputation of having crossed a grassplat after a heavy dew, to the flat-bottomed dory with a nominal draught. As in the fight for supremacy in the affections of their de- votees between the carriage with the horse and the vehicle with the odor, the beat with the gasoline motor is puffing itself to the front, and is predicted as going to take the wind out of many sails this coming season. The gasoline smell is no longer so vigorously denounced, it being now regarded as sugges- tive of bank accounts and brown stone palaces with mansard roofs. The noise made by former types of motors was not conducive . to their finding favor in the eyes, or rather the ears, of yachts- men, while the weight of some of the engines I examined was enough to stagger any boat, if not the whole of nautical human- ity. An advertisement that said “not a ton of pig iron, but four-cylinder, twentieth century, high-speed gasoline motors for sale—all sizes,” inserted by the Boston agent of a western con- cern, brought me to his place of business, where I very. soon was convinced of the fallacy of the assertion that “there is nothing new under the sun.” A 14-H. P. four-cylinder gaso- line engine, placed upon the packing case in which it originally arrived from its western place of birth, was running at a speed of 600. revolutions per minute, while said running might be likened to that proverbially associated with a watch. One of the features was a shifting spark, a device to change the time of the explosion, preventing the chance to be hurt by the so-called “back-kick” when starting, dreaded by amateur and professional alike. A float-feed, insuring an equal flow of gasoline to the cylinders, and the importance of which can be fully appreciated by any one having run a launch in a heavy head sea, occasion- ing a continuous reversion of the relative positions of tank and motor, was something I then saw for the first time. Yes—the gasoline boats are going to be numerous, and nothing could convince me more of the favor they have found in the eyes of the people along the coast than the fact that a num- ber of Portuguese lobstermen, the most conservative class of men that ever retained a liking for an ash breeze, are now the proud owners of power dories. These thrifty men, too conser- vative to set their pots in trawls, as done by their native col- leagues, but still buoying each trap separate, have noticed the advantage of pursuing their calling in a boat propelled bv a gasoline motor. And incidentally I may add that in their case the gasoline smell is a decided advantage, it being the only per- fume sufficiently strong to offset the odor of their bait. New York, Mar. 2, 1903. FranK HANSON. Dr. R. J. Gatling, inventor of the Gatling gun, died in New York last week at the home of his son-in-law, Hugh O. Pente- cost. His death was very sudden. Being eighty-four years old and accustomed to resting after any physical effort, he told his daughter he would lie down. Shortly afterwards he began breathing heavily and a physician was summoned. He admin- istered strvchnine but to no avail, Dr. Gatling dying in a very few minutes. While Dr. Gatling’s greatest fame was as the inventor of the Gatling gun, he had also devised a number of implements of peace. Latterly he turned his attention to smoke- less powder.