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THE MARINE RECORD. CORRESPONDENCE. TO PREVENT STRANDING. The principal causes of stranding are: 1, Running too close to the shore or some obstacle; 2, Not using the lead in time; 3, Failing to make sure of the ship’s position before making land, or narrow passages; 4, Using an er- roneous log; 5, Neglecting to ascertain compass errors; 6, The lack of buoys in deep water for verifying position. All these neglects, failures and mistakes arise principally from a lack of knowledge of the principles governing safe navigation. Almost all dangers to navigation, as spits, shoals, reefs, etc., are strewn along the shore on the submerged ex- tensions of the land. These extensions are indicated by curves of equal depths furnished by the soundings on the charts. Any obstacle to navigation may thus be shown to be enclosed in a certain continuous curve along the coast, which may be the 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. fathom curve, or any other curve. From which follows: All dangers within the 5-fathom curve are avoided by keeping the vessel in more than 5 fathoms of water; all dangers within the 10-fathom curve are avoided by keeping the vessel in more than 10 fathoms of water; and so on. The contin- uous curve enclosing all dangers along a certain part of the coast, may be called the safety curve, which is to be at such a distance from the obstacle at the deepest part of the submerged extension, as to leave ample room (gener- ally one to three miles) for swinging the vessel around if chancing to strike the safety curve at its nearest point to such obstacle. Thus by means of the safety curve is found the depth up to which vessels may safely approach the shore, which depth acts as a bar by the lead, keeping vessels at a safe distance from all dangers; preventing stranding by the timely use of the lead. _ Only in such locations where the bottom of the sea is nearly a level plane and safety curves cannot be con- structed, the lead is of no use. Being guarded by safety curves vessels enjoy great li- cense in running courses, because errors in position are of little consequence. This license, however, ceases as soon as they are making land, or narrow passages, especially in thick weather. Out of the deep water marked by the safety curve vessels cannot approach in safety narrows, straits, channels, harbors, etc., unless their correct posi- tion is known. All landmarks being obscured, they are unable to verify position, as fog signals not approachable close to, at the safety curve, cannot be depended upon. Therefore, being compelled to stay at the safety curve to keep out of danger, failure to make sure of the ship’s position is directly attributable to lack or buoys at the safety curve indicating the point of departure; which lack is the cause of stranding, if the vessel attempts making land. With the exact point of departure known, the safety ofa vessel as she proceeds depends entirely on her abiiity of making courses and distances exactly agreeing with the chart. Such close agreement is attainable by the use of the ground-log only. Without fail the ground-log indicates the direction in which a vessed is moving over the ground. The direction of the\ ground-log line re- ferred to the compass by means of the angle which the line makes with the ship’s keel, gives the course over the ground; and the knots running out during a certain time, give, after a little reduction, the distance made good. But this is not all. By the ground-log, errors in the course over the ground are easily detected and rectified, an ad- vantage not attainable by the use of any other log. By the floating or patent log, being influenced by cur- rents, neither courses nor distances over the ground are found, a fact generaly ignored, and therefore most fre- _ quently the cause of stranding. As the directions indicated by the ground-log have to be referred to a correct compass or a compass the errors of which are known, these errors play a prominent part in stranding. Compass errors are produced by the iron in the build of a ship or by her cargo. They are different for different courses and sometimes very large if not corrected. Therefore, if these errors have not been ascertained, stranding is almost certain in thick weather. From all of which follows, that to prevent stranding, it is necessary: 1, To constrtict safety curves in the chart; 2, To keep the vessel never in less water than the safety curve indicates; 3. To have bell buoys placed at the safety ~ curves for verifying position, (with two bells of different pitch); 4, To use the ground-log when making land or narrow passages; 5, To ascertain compass errors by swing- ing the vessel to all points, and comparing courses with well known magnetic bearings. The neglect of any of these precautions may catse dis- aster. From which it appears, that the authorities, failing to supply the means for verifying position at the safety curve, are as much to blame for strandings as the sailor. Chicago, Feb. 23, 1897. JOHN MAURICE. LLOYDS. Duluth, Minn., Feb. 23. Editor Marine Record: There is a slight argument between another shipping man and me as to the correct or general way of stating whether a risk is insured in Lloyd’s or at Lloyd’s. We have left the decision to you and would like a reply through the columns of The Record. Yours truly, JAMES C. If the question applies to London Lloyd’s, as we as- sume it does, the usual custom is to say, “At Lloyd’s,” as, for instance, ‘‘The cargo was insured mostly at Lloyd’s’; or, “The ship was insured with foreign companies and at Lloyd’s.” The same applies to the classification society and would read, highest class at Lloyd’s, etc. This we think answers the inquiry. ED. WANT SWING BRIDGES. Springfield, Ill., Feb. 23. To the Editor, Marine Record: There was a meeting of the House committee on Wa- terways and drainage, in the Senate chamber last week. The people of the Desplaines and Illinois River valleys want a law enacted by which swing bridges will be placed across the drainage canal, instead of permanent ones, now contemplated. The placing of swing bridges will make it a navigable body of water, which will greatly benefit the people of the valley. Lyman J. Cooley, Frank Wenter and other noted men, interested and connected with drainage and sanitary mat- ters, addressed the meeting. CLARENCE G. ROOT. ll DP OOo EASTERN FREIGHT REPORT. According to the last freight report furnished The Record by Messrs. Funch, Edye & Co., New York, this week’s business embraces a list of fixtures for grain in ex- cess of that presented in our last report. We have no hes- itation in saying, however, that these engagements repre- sent a general evening up of contracts for both near and later months, as regards full cargo shipments, and, that since no new business worth mentioning is being carried through, there will be a marked decline in the demand for suitable tonnage in the near future. There is still some in- quiry for large boats, suitable for prompt business, from the neighboring ports, but the pressing demand for this class of tonnage has equally toned down. For March some recharters have been effected, and we find charter- er’s refusing present offers of tonnage. Our advices from the South, especially the Gulf ports, represent the season’s business as practically terminated, and we infer from the increasing offer of tonnage for timber from the Gulf ports that owners are falling in with this conviction. a CAPT. DODGE PASSES AWAY. Capt. Alvan Dodge, local inspector of hulls for the Grand Haven district since 1883, died last week at the age of 66 years. Capt. Dodge was born in Massachusetts, and early in the fifties came to the lakes and began sailing, He was mate of the steamer Fintry when a boiler explo- sion destroyed her off Port Stanley, Ont. Subsequently he occupied similar positions on the sidewheel passenger steamers Atlantic, Ocean, Buckeye State and Western World. His first command was the steamer Mary Stew- art, which plied between Detroit and Buffalo. In 1866 he fitted out and took command of the large tug New Era, which towed a fleet of barges between Grand Haven and Chicago. On retiring from the New Era he became mas- ter of the steamer Java of the Holt & Ensign fleet. Later he became part owner of and commanded the small steam- er A. C. Van Raalte on Lake Michigan. He leaves a widow and three grown-up children. The remains of Capt. Dodge were taken to Detroit for burial. EXCLUSIVELY PASSENGER STEAMERS. The exclusively passenger steamer for the Atlantic t presents much the same features as the unsinkable topic, a nice thing to talk and write about, yet all the impracticable. There are now on the lakes two 4,000- and miles each day, or about two thousand miles on— round trip. No cargo is handled in these boats, they on schedule time and they represent more nearly, perha than anything else afloat in the world the seaworthy ex- clusively passenger boats spoken of by our contemporaries as follows: fee Whether the limit in the size and of the speed of t ocean steamer has been very nearly reached is not certa Steamers may yet be built that will greatly exceed these qualities any that are now afloat. We think, ho ever, that this is not so very probable and that in case of the transatlantic passenger steamer the size m somewhat reduced in the future, and that their re ments will not be the same.as at the present time. _ We have several times suggested that a smaller steamer devoted exclusively to passengers might prove a profitable venture in the transatlantic service. This has been echo recently by the London Shipping Gazette, which signifi- cantly remarks, ““How long the prognostication to which we have referred will have to wait for fulfillment it is difficult to say, but, judging from the fact that practica inquiries are already in progress on the lines alluded to, it would certainly appear as if the Atlantic passenger trad: was within an appreciable distance of being revolution- ized.” is. There is a great deal to be said in favor of the passenger steamer pure and simple, not the least of which is the matter of the first cost. As a boat adapted to this service need not be nearly so large as the present combined cargo and passenger steamer, a considerable saving would be effected in this direction, even were its appointments more luxurious, if possible, than now witnessed in the best steamers in this service. As regards speed, it w_uld be possible to build these vessels on finer lines and thu secure better results in this direction than is now possib with the smaller steamer. Besides the room that is now taken up by builders for the handling of cargo could be utilized for the convenience of the passenger, making altogether a very roomy and comfortable boat. A steamer of this kind not having to consume any time in‘unloading and taking in cargo would be able to make trips frequently and could be kept going more continu- ously than those now in use. This last means of course a material increase in the earnings over those of the present ocean steamer. Furthermore, as it would require less power to drive the smaller boat, a considerable saving would result in this respect. Taken altogether, the argu- ment in favor of an exclusively passenger boat for t transatlantic service, we believe to be excellent and worthy of earnest consideration. One of the conditions, how- ever, of this new departure should be that the steamer is practically unsinkable. This could be attained with but little difficulty in a boat of this kind. With this accomp- lished, the ocean passenger steamer would reach as ne perfection as it is possible to make it and it is very prob- able that it would prove very profitable for the steamer line making this venture——N. Y. Maritime Register. In these days of close competition when it is necessary to figure each item of cost to the lowest possible notch, there would be one result which would follow the intro- duction of purely passenger steamers which would be ob- jected to by the shippers, that is, an increase in insurance rates on merchandise. As cargo shippers by regular lin- ers receive the benefit of the improved facilities and trained crews provided because of the passenger service, insur- ance rates by such steamers are very low, but with the introduction of purely passenger steamers, all cargo traf- fic would be by what are known as tramp steamers, on which insurance rates are somewhat higher. It is not likely that any reduction in freight rates would be made to offset this additional expense—The Pacific Coast Mari Record, San Francisco. eee Our San Francisco contemporary views the snub chiefly from an underwriter’s standpoint, but the rem relative to close competition and the necessity of figu each item of cost is good, clean-cut common sense, as for the Maritime Register and its unsinkable shi idea, as well might we advocate the economy of utilizi the water from the hot springs of Colorado to mix s grog with or the lava from Vesuvius to fry pancakes talk about unsinkable ships. 3 .