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6 FLOTSAM, JETSAM AND LAGAN. DIPPING THE ENSIGN-SALUTING. Under the caption of ‘‘A Question of Etiquette,’’ one of our foreign exchanges has the following : S1r.—The question I wish to ask is how and when to dip one’s ensign? Most sailors think they know all about it; I confess I don’t, and I also venture to say there are a great many captains and officers in the mer- chant service like myself. I have been nearly twenty years at sea, and I have known, since I cameinto steam, many different captains, all of whom seem to have dif- ferent ideas on the subject. For instance, one wants the flag hauled down smart and hoisted up slow; another just the reverse. One wants to dip before he gets to the ship (supposing she is passing or at anchor); the other says, ‘‘ No, dip when she is abeam.’’ One wants to dip to every man-of-war, supposing there are ten ora dozen at anchor; the other says, ‘‘ No, dip once and pass them all with your ensign down, and the same when they are under way.’’ I am sure there must be some fixed rule which I have never seen. If you know of any fixed rules that treat of this very simple matter, I think you would be confer- ring a great favor on hundreds of people connected with the sea if you would statethem. Yourstruly, Hamburg, Sept. 9. SECOND OFFICER. As far as we are aware there is no fixed and universal- ly recognized rule. It is like many of the points of eti- quette in ordinary life; the most natural way of doing it is the best. The more smartly the salute is made the better, and care should be taken to keep a tight luff. The following quotation from Captain Wilson Barker’s forthcoming work on ‘“‘Elementary Seamanship,’’ with which the author has favored us, may be useful to our correspondent and his friends. “Dipping the ensign, as the operation is called where- by one ship salutes another, is carried out by the ensign being slowly hauled down the staff, or from the peak, about half way, and then, after a slight pause, hoisting it again slowly, taking care at the same time that the halliards are kept tight. “Tt is difficult to lay down any hard and fast rules for _ the guidance of officers, but it may be generally con- sidered that— (1) A junior dips first to a senior. “ (2) That a merchant ship dips to a man-of-war. (In the case of a squadron to the flagship.) ‘¢ (3) That the flag should be dipped when the ships are abreast, the vessel taking the initiative making a slightly longer pause, to give the other vessel a chance of answering. “Tt is customary now to make only one dip.’’—We think that there are but few men who will not coincide with Capt. Barker’s views of nautical etiquette as ex- . pressed in the foregoing method of exchanging salutes, and it isa useful code to cut out and as Capt. Cuttle would say: ‘‘ Make a note of.” eS eee DUTY ON DAMAGED GRAIN. An interesting point has been raised this week relative to paying duty on damaged grain. The question arises in this instance in connection with the Canadian steamer Shickluna and consort St. Louis stranded grain laden near Kast Tawas. The grain is all badly damaged, but it is Canadian grain and would have to pay full duty if landed at a United States port, while if landed in Can- ada it could hardly be given away. The cargoes are insured so it is ‘‘little gilt off the gingerbread ”’ for the underwriters’ and they dont -half like it either. According toa ruling of the Treasury Department there is no rebate of duty on damaged grain and the Dominion law is the same. Thereisacase'still pending for Welland canal tolls on 25,000 bushels of wet wheat that was brought back through the canal from Kingston as part cargo of the Monteagle, so that the inequitable ruling cuts both ways. When a wet cargo of bonded wheat had to be thrown overboard because it would not sell for the amount the duty came to, proves that some revision of the law is required to obviate such a sacrifice, of damaged grain. The Lake Carriers’ Association un- derwriters and Canadian shipowners if they got together might change this strange ruling. a ASAIL OF HOLES. Those who have been brought up in.the knowledge that the more like a board any sail was set the better it would draw, will find it hard to believe that the speed of a sailing vessel can be increased by boring holes in her sails; but an Italian sea-captain claims to have conduct- ed experiments which go a long way towards praving it His theory is that the force of the wind cannot fairly take effect on an inflated sail, because of the cushion of immovable air which fills up the hollow. To prevent THE MARInE RECORD. the formation of this cushion, the captain bored a num- ber of holes in thesail. Holes let through the air which would otherwise have been retained in the hollow of the sail, and allowed the wind to exercise its whole power by striking fairly against the sail itself. Several trials of this device have been made, and it has been found that in a light wind a boat with ordinary sails made four knots, while with the perforated sails she covered five and a quarter knots. In a fresh breeze she made seven knots with the ordinary, and eight and three-quarter knots with the perforated sails; and in a strong wind, she made eight knots with the old and ten knots with the new sails. ———————— rene — EE LAKE SUPERIOR ANTHRACITE. H. W. Pearson, of Duluth, Minn., who has made a study of geology and has some decidedly new theories in that field, is out on a prospecting tour, presumably in the interest of President James J. Hill, of the Great Northern Road, and isin search of coal. The Buffalo correspondent of the Black Diamond says that he is working in Montana, near the Canadian boundary, in what is known as the Crows’ Nestpass county. Thereis a rumor that he has discovered the existence of a coal- bed there, believed to be the southern end of a vein ex- -tending down from British Columbia. The report has it that he has found a fine bed of anthracite, but there is little confirmation for any of the reports. Mr. Pear- son is to be away several months. ED De TO DESTROY OCEAN DERELICTS. Much interest is still felt in the proposed international association of hydrographers to’ prepare and dissemi- nate data regarding dangerous dérélicts at sea, and take steps looking to their pursuit and removal. A member of the British House of Commons, proposes to introduce a bill at the next session of that body to authorize the Admiralty and the British Board of ‘Trade to construct or charter vessels equipped with appliances to search for and destroy derelicts which are a menace to navigation. There are some obsolete cruisers in the British navy which might well be utilized in this very important. work and it is hoped that the bill will receive the support it deserves. Atthe present time Lloyds is doing great service in publishing full and early reports which they receive of all floating wreckage, and the Hydrographic Office, U.S. N., at Washington is engaged in similar work of a most thorough and exhaustive character. rr 8 ee 0 rr UNITED STATES MERCANTILE MARINE. The merchant marine of the United States on June 30, 1896, according to the completed tabulation of the bureau of navigation, comprised 22,908 vessels of. 4,703, 880 gross tons, a decrease of 330 vessels, but an increase of 68,000 tons over the previous year. Wooden sailing vessels numbered 16,244 of 2,310,819 gross tons., Iron and steel steamers numbered 880, of 1,004,113 gross tons. Vessels documented at the Atlantic and gulf ports num- bered 16,786 of 2,667,313 gross tons; at Pacific coast ports, 1,560 of 437,972 tons;,on the great lakes 2,333 of 1,324,068 tons, and on the western rivers, 1,229 vessels. of 274,527 tons. Vessels registered for the foreign trade num- bered.1,257 of 844,954 tons, of which 244 are steamers. Vessels built and documented during the year number 723 of 227,096 gross tons, or more than double the con- struction of the previous year. On the great lakes 117 vessels of 107,782 tons were built. : ‘ LAUNCH OF AN ELECTRIC YACHT. The electric yacht built to the order of Mr. John Jacob Astor, was successfully launched at Upper Nyack, N. Y. Thecraft was christened Utopian, by Miss Elizabeth M. Jewett. The Utopian is said to be the largest electric yacht in the world. She is 72 feet long over all, 12 feet beam, and has a draft of 3 feet 6inches. Electric power from 480 cells of storage battery will propel the boat at a calculated speed of 16 miles an hour. ‘The twin-screws will be driven by 25 horse-power electric motors. Among other electric features will be a powerful search- light, .The batteries will be charged at. Mr. Astor’s electric light plant at Rhinecliff, and will be capable of maintaining a continuous run of twelve hours. The yacht is fitted throughout with electric lights, electric bells, etc., and electricity is utilized in every way possible to promote comfort, efficiency and convenience. cargo. _week. ‘The advance will stiffen rates from Lake Huron, “washed ashore.—World. We can see the Cleveland ‘then be a case of giving it to her, boots and all, as she — Chicago lake shipments for last week were 91,712 tons; by rail east 63.994 tons. oa The Canadian steamer Shickluna, which went ashore at Fish Point was floated on Monday, after jettisoning The small steamer Pilot has cleared from Holland, Mich., for New Orleans, via Chicago, Illinois canal, and the Mississippi. . The Canadians have conquered their scruples and for © the remainder of the season will keep the Welland canal open on Sundays. The Iroquios broke a steam-pipe off Keweenaw Point on Sunday last and was towed to Two Harbors, by the Maritana, and from there by tug to Duluth. Like other tonnage the whalebacks have also to tie up these times. ‘The consorts of the Bartlett, Colgate and Thomson have gone into winter quarters at Duluth. The steamer Curry, bound’ down, parted her wheel-— chains and went aground at Grosse Isle, just inside Bal- lard’s Reef light-ship, on Tuesday. She was. released shortly after grounding by the Saginaw. Lumber rates are expected to reach $2 from the head of Lake Superior this week, $1.87 having been paid last Georgian Bay and points east of Keewenaw Point on Lake Superior. Sir Edward Reed, formerly chief constructor of the British navy, is now inspecting American shipyards, and speaks very highly of our productions and facilties. Guess he could not do less with any regard for the truth. The officials of the Pittsburg & Lake Angeline mine did not accept the proposal of their employes to work ninety days on the due bill system, consequently the mine was shut down Saturday last and the pumps will be stopped as soon as the tools are removed. The Supreme Court has granted an order in the motion for the appointment of a receiver for the Ogdens- burg & Lake Champlain railroad, as an insolvent cor- poration. This action will not affect. the business of the fine line of steamers running to Ogdensburg. — The gas buoy showing a red flash which was adrift on Lake Erie, has been picked up at Rondeau, and placed on the end of the southeast shoal, off Point Pelee light. ‘The black buoy is on the northeast point of the — middle ground in Pelee passage. Both are flash lights, but the intervals between the flashes are not regular. An Indiana man tried to revenge himself for being turned down by his best girl, by eating three bars of soap, and trying to drown himself. He was quickly World once and go it some better. From carefully com- piled government statistics including Salvation Army records, itis com puted, that upwards of seventy-five million people were washed ashore in the United States in 1895. 5; A‘correspondent asking about the now famous Bazin roller-steamer bnilt in France, to roll across the English channel, says: ‘‘I am curious to know, what would hap- pen supposing one of her tyres got punctured. Would . it not be rather unpleasant, to put it mildly, for those on board?”’—Putting it mildly would do no good, it would © would haveto reach porton a circular course, just as they make century runs, thus lessening the distance as the right peddle peddled, keeping all hands prying with cap- stan bars on the lee scuppers to prevent further eflux of inflation. t Commander C. D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., Hydrographer, Washington, D. C., has compiled and published ‘on the back of the North Pacific Pilot Chart for October, a valuable epitome of navigation. After a most interest- ing yet concise introduction, the commander furnishes an easy and simple rule for finding the name of an ob- served star; also a graphical solution of the problem, for those whose early education has been neglected in this respect. Rules and solutions are also given for finding the time a celestial body crosses the prime vertical, and its corresponding altitude, to find the true bearing or azimuth of a celestial body, as well as general re- marks and graphical solutions of direct and composite great circle sailing. We now wonder why in the name of heavens we can’t write ‘heavenly bodies’? in the commander’s terms. ‘The word celestial, crops up, al- though the chart, with so much heavenly on it is before — us, but somehow we don’t seem able to take it aboard. — Suppose it’s neglect of early training.