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“THE MARINE RECORD. - (LEBANON CHAIN WORKS, LEBANON, PA. This flourishing company was organized in 1891, at Leb- anon, Pa., and has been in successful, continuous operation since that time. The officers are men of more than ordinary business qualifications, and are well known throughout the East in iron circles. They areas follows: Thos. Evans, president, “who is a recognized leader in the rolling mill business, ~ having devoted 45 years of unremitting toil to the cause; “Herbert Hecht, with 15 years’ experience in mill work, and generally regarded by iron men as one of the “coming “men” in this particular branch, is secretary; H. T. Atkins, treasurer, is well known throughout the Keystone State, and enjoys the confidence of a host of friends; Eli Att- wood is superintendent;. to his well-directed efforts, with 80 years’ experience, can be ascribed much of the success ~ of the concern. _ These men, by their combined ventteal have placed upon the market a high class of work unparalled in the history of chain manufacturing. This is a statement that is even admitted by their competitors. During the past four years they have been supplying the U. S. government with “‘light-vessel” chain, and to those familiar with the exacting requirements of “Uncle Sam,” the fact will at once commend itself of the recog- nized superiority of the goods. On their 2-inch light-vessel chain they have taken the world’s record. The breaking test on the above size, made ‘ast May, by U. S. Inspector Morgan, was 274,000 and 271,000 pounds, respectively, whereas the government only requires 250,000 pounds. These and other similar results have given the government such unlimited confidence in their work that in giving out specifications for the building of their iba they specify the Lebanon Chain Works chain. - The management als one of Riehle Bros. testing ma- chines, herewith illustrated*, and it is one of the best that ‘this noted firm is capable of turning out. It has a capacity of 300,000 pounds, and is the second machine ever licensed by the Lloyd’s Association, of London, Eng., for testing chains in this country. “#Or it wduld have been had not the cut melted to molten inahal when running this article off on the press. FIRST OF THE SEASON’S CALENDARS. David Kahnweiler, 487 Pearl St., New York, sends us the first 1897 calendar of the season. It is well known that Kahnweiler furnishes metallic life rafts, boats and cork goods of every description, also that his life-saving appli- ances have been approved by the board of supervising in- spectors of steamboats. Taking the above as his cue Mr. Kahnweiler has issued an elegant engraved card 14x11 inches, in clear, large type, with the upper half showing a lifeboat rescuing passengers from the leebow of an ap- parently stranded vessel and bearing the title, “Women and Children First.” We can’t just call to mind the or- iginal of this plate, but we recognize how appropriate ‘such a subject is for the business of Mr. Kahnweiler, and in con- ‘gratulating him on selecting so fitting a subject, we take the opportunity of thanking him for the courtesy of miail- ing us several copies of same. As The Record offices require but two of these handsome calendars the remainder are at the disposal of our friends and patrons in the vessel business. CONDEMNS THE COMPASS. A ‘lake captain speaks his mind in regard to the devia- tion of the compass and says it is about worthless as a guide. He tells a Detroit paper that he cannot rely on it at all. “When I get up in the Pictured Rocks region,” he says, “I find that I can rely on my binnacle only with the aid of approximation of distances and guesswork. Many a time have I set my course for Duluth harbor as nearly ‘as I could with the compass and chart, and holding her true to it have found that the compass has carried me several miles to one side of the destination. After a few of these trials I have found that my own calculation, as- “sisted by the means I have mentioned, has done better for ‘me than all the compasses that were ever invented. “The ore carriers and the carriers of pig iron or manu- factured. iron. always find their compasses afected to a -more or less extent by the ‘local attraction.’ The com- pass adjusters claim they can so fix the compasses as to guard against this, but I claim that they cannot with the “ present knowledge and means. at. their command, and I have to support my view the fact that they never have done it: Do you remember when the big iron steamer “H. J. Jéwett, fifteen years ago, the crack steamer in the Union steamboat line, and also the fastest and most mod- ern steamer on the lakes, went on the rocks off White Rock, Lake Huron, and was compelled to jettison all of her cargo before she could be released? It was a fine cargo, too, of dry goods, the best of groceries and bar- reled sugar, all bound for Chicago shiiacenined The total loss was something like $75,000. “The late Capt. A. W. Reid was her master then, and he was one of the best men that ever sailed a lake craft. It had to be a man with a good record to be given command of the then best boat on the lakes. Well, he went ashore in a dense fog; and it came out afterward that his compass had been so affected by a lot of iron he carried that in the short run up from Port Huron he found himself ashore, when he supposed he was two miles further out into the lake. He was degraded to the command of the B. W. Blanchard, the smallest and oldest boat in the line, and he would have been discharged entirely, perhaps, had it not been for the good’ work he had rendered on other boats in the line. He had too much self-respect to stay in that boat, and when Morley of Marine City offered him the command of the Italia, he accepted, and from.that time to his death he sailed the best tramp steamers, and without an accident. “That was what a false compass did for one man, and I could name a dozen such instances were it necéssary. I hope the time will come when some inventive genius will come forward with an idea that will forever guard against local attraction or any other kind of attraction.” This fellow wants to sail by guess and as we all do, by God. It is hard to believe that such ignorance is still rampant on the lakes.—Ed. 4 j] Comemaraamarn cman to Many of our readers, especially in shipbuilding and en- gineering establishments on the lakes, will remember of the recent visit of Messrs. Cornish & Thearle, representing Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping, London. Mr. Thearle, as is generally known, is in charge of that association’s interest at Glasgow, Scotland, and in a recent letter to The Record expresses in part as follows: “IT see from a copy ef The Record, just to hand, that my friend, Mr. J. R. Oldham, has been addressing your Civil Engineers’ Society at Cleveland, and giving them some interesting statistics. He mentions the Michigan U. S. revenue cutter, built in Erie fifty-two years ago, and OLD TIME IRON STEAMERS. ~ seprongresire et now afloat on Lake Erie, and says she is the oldest steamer | in active service. I don’t know in what month of the year 1844 the Michigan was launched, but the iron paddle steamer Glengarry, which was launched at Glasgow in © 1844 under the name of Edinburgh Castle, is a close com- — petitor for the honor claimed on behalf of the Michigan. The Glengarry is owned by the well-known David Mc-- Brayne, and is actively employed in the West Highland service under a passenger certificate from the board of. I may also remark that the iron paddle steamer trade. Glencoe, owned by Mr. David’ McBrayne, and still em- ployed on the route between West Loch Tarbert and Port Allen in Islay, was built at Glasgow in 1846. Mr. Oldham is further reported to have said that Sun- derland is the greatest shipbuilding port in the world. Now in this he is mistaken. Taking, for instance, the year ending 8lst December, 1895, the tonnage built on the four principal shipbuilding rivers of the United King- dom are as follows: Clyde, 360,152 tons; ‘Tyne, 166,053; Wear, 187,703; Tees, 101,862. Even on the supposition that Mr. Oldham does not credit all the Clyde work to the port of Glasgow. we shall find the Clyde tonnage apportioned thus: port of Glasgow, 253,959 tons; port of Greenock and smaller ports on the Clyde, 106,198, which still leaves the port of Glasgow with nearly double the tonnage built at the port of Sunderland last year. “The work turned out on our several rivers varies, of course, from year to year, but when there is a shipbuilding “boom” on, al! the rivers get their share of it, and the rela- tive tonnages do not vary much.” American Shipbuilder, New York, rises to remark as follows: ‘Will the plans of the Consolidated Canal and Lake Co. materialize? The long talked of Montauk Point and Milford Haven steamship route didn’t.” It must not be forgotten, however, that a. lake ship-builder has been asked for figures on a fleet of 30 wooden canal boats. 7 A WHALE STORY: © e, The New York Sun has lately been printing a series of letters from various people on the subject of “Jonah and the Whale.” How this became a topic for discussion in the Sun does not appear. Some.of the writers discuss the question seriously, affirmatively and negatively—the former taking the ground that to doubt the story is to impeach the Bible, to deny that miracles have been worked, that it is not stated that a whale swallowed Jonah, but a large animal which might have been a shark, or some other sea monster, and that the miraculous element does come into the transaction at all. Most of these letters, we paderatand, are weary reading. : Among a lot of these argumentative doknenente: one appeared this week not argumentative, but quite startling. The writer favors the shark idea as against that of the whale, and he does this because of an incident which he relates and which is, briefly as follows. Some years since a ship on the Mediterranean had among her passengers a father and son. The father died at sea; the body wasenclosedin canvas as usual though with a grind-stone and an ax for sinkers, As the body was low- ered into the sea, the son, in an écstacy of grief, jumped overboard and all efforts to rescue him were fruitless. The next day a huge man-eating shark, which had been following the ship, was captured dnd hauled on board. Notwithstanding that the monster was dead as a hammer a strange noise seemingly coming from “his little inside”, was heard. The fish was cut open and the father and son were found, the father sharpening the ax while the son turned the grindstone preparatory to cutting their way out. The old gentleman had been cast overboard in a trance, and the shark had swallowed him and his son. This seems a rather tough story, and if it had appeared ‘in any other paper we should doubt it, but then, you know, “If. you see it in the Sun, it’s so.”. At the same time we also know it be an old sailor’s yarn and a very ancient one at that. LIQUID FUEL. In his annual report to the Secretary of War the eget of the bureau of steam engineering, U.S. N., states’ that the experiments conducted at the New York Navy Yard in using liquid fuel in the third-class torpedo boat of the Maine have been completed. The evaporative results were - good, even at the highest rate of combustion, and it only _remains to ascertain whether the stowage and carrying of f this fuel can be so effected as to eliminate danger from the gas that may be given off, which is one objection to the use of any fuel oil other than petroleum refuse. It is to be regretted that conditions, other than those pertaining to the system of burning the fuel in these boats, operated to prevent a trial of the boat in free route for any length of time. ' The department having authorized the fitting of this sys- tem in one of our tugs, in order to demonstrate its prac- ticability under ordinary conditions of service, prepara- tions are being made to use “fuel oil’? only in this boat, and it is hoped that the results will be such as to warrant its general use for tugs and torpedo boats. ORE MINING OUTPUT. The 1896 output of the iron mines will not be accurately known until after January 1. However, the following fig- ures, compiled by the Duluth: papers, will be es nearly correct: Lake Superior, 448,000; Champion, 115,000; Chapin, 421,- 000; Pewabic, 185,000; Norrie and Babst, 375,000; Aurora, 185,000; Tilden, 242,000; Newport, 181,000; Mahoning, .57,- 000; Oliver, 808,000; Adams, 235,000; Pen. t. M. Co., 180,- 000; Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, 520,000; Lake Ange- line, 339,000; Minnesota, 448,000; Chandler, 472,000; Queen . I. M. Co., 825,000; Mountain Iron, 143,000; Montreal, 130,- 000; Pioneer, 148,000; Republic, 127,000; Franklin, 231,000; Sellers, 153,000; Biwabik, 243,000; Fayal, 249,000; Auburn, 131,000. NEWLY REGISTERED. From the'statement of official numbers assigned to mer- chant vessels by the bureau of navigation, treasury depart- ment, Washington, D. C., during the week ending Dee; 5, we find eleven vessels newly registered. The steamer Pere Marquette, built by F. W. Wheeler & Co., W. Bay City, Mich., has a gross tonnage of 5,580, and this is more’ by nearly ‘one! hundred tons than the aggregate tonnage of all. thé other vessels registered for the week. The lakes are still ahead in building, commerce and transportation.