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THE MARINE RECORD. CAPT. JOHN BERMINGHAM ( Synopsis of Career.) Capt. John Bermirigham, United States Supervising Inspector of Steam Vessels for the First District, which includes all navigable waters of the United States west of the Rocky Mountains, is a man who has been interested in steam locomotion and in navigation for over half a century. The diversified experiences of his life on sea and on land would make a remarkable tale of adventure. At seventeen years of age he was a locomotive engineer on the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad. When scarcely _ twenty he was second mate of a Bitish ship on the Pacific Ocean. At the age of twenty-six he was chief engineer of one of the Pacific Mail Company’s largest steamships, and at the age of thirty he was captain of a big passenger steamer on the Pacific. Subsequently he became a steam- ship agent and builder and owner, and a prominent citizen of San Francisco, with various and extensive business interests attesting his success, He was born in Deerfield, Oneida County, N. Y., in 1830. Having finished the work of the public schools of Utica, he entered the machine shops of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad. In them he served some time until he was put on the road in regular charge of a locomotive, though then but a big boy. On the Fourth of July, 1847, he sailed from Nantucket before the mast in the ship Planter, bound for the, west coast, and on Christmas. day of that year he landed on the Island of Juan Fernandez, made famous as the home of Robinson Crusoe. Then for about two years the ship sailed in search of whales and out of reach of any com- ‘munication from the civilized world. Occasionally stops were made at different South Sea islands, where cocoanuts were obtained from the islanders in exchange for poor tobacco. Thrilling experiences with savage*islanders and “with fighting whales were not uncommon. Once, while far from the ship in pursuit of whales, young Bermingham and his companions were charged upon by an infuriated leviathan, and they escaped with their lives only by jumping overboard and afterwards supporting themselves on the floating wreckage of their boat until rescued. 6 A murder was committed on the ship. The victim fell dead at young Bermingham’s side, shot down by an irate captain. Later, when the ship put into Sydney, Australia, the captain, fearful of being tried, abandoned her tempo- rarily, and all of the crew, glad of the opportunity and an excuse, quit the vessel. That was in 1849, when the news of the discovery of gold in California had only a reached Australia. Mr. Bermingham immediately shipped peaks the mast in the British ship Una, bound for San Francisco. Dur- ing the voyage young Bermingham was promoted to the position of second officer. Upon his arrival at San Francisco he accepted employ- thent at transferring lumber by lighter from ships in the harbor to the shore, and, according to the -prices at that time, received $1 an hour for his labor. .In August, 1850, he took a minor position in the engine-room of the steam- ship Republic, engaged in the San Francisco and Panama passenger trade, at that time and for twenty years there- ; after a very lucrative steamship business. His earlier experience with an engine and with machinery now be- came of much value to him. Within six months he rose through the different. grades to the rank of first assistant engineer, though he was then but twenty-one years of ‘age. ~ On December 1, 1851, the Republic started from San Francisco for Panama with 500 passengers on board. When’ five days out a leak developed until water flowed in to the full capacity of the pumps, and the steamer had to be beached at Acapulco, where she filled. Her con- dition became alarming. Pearl divers were unable to locate the leak. Mr. Bermingham volunteered to dive and try to find it. He had become a »roficient diver while in the South Seas. After many attempts he finally found a hole six inches long and four inches wide near the keel ‘in fifteen feet of water. Without the use of any diving ‘apparatus, he plugged up the hole, sawed off the plug, calked the seams and nailed on a piece of copper. But it required several hundred dives to accomplish it, for he could remain under water only a half-minute each Bene: The steamer was ready to sail again in thirteen ays. P The passengers, before badly frightened, became demon- strative in their joy, carried the young engineer about the decks on their shoulders and paid him marked. attention during the remainder of the voyage. His unusual services were only acknowledged by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which voted him a. gold watch, while Mr. Aspinwall, the president of the company, wrote him a letter of thanks from the board of directors. At the age of twenty-six Mr. Bermingham was ap- pointed chief engineer of the famous steamship Golden Age. It was while he was in charge of her engines that she made a speed record between San Francisco and Panama that has never been equaled on that route. After having been in the company’s service ten years, the last five as chief engineer of the Golden Age, Mr. Bermingham left the service and gave up marine engineering to become captain of the Republic, which was still in service on the west coast of Mexico. From command of the Republic he was promoted to superintendent of the company, and in 1864 superintended, upon the ,present site of the Union Iron Works at San Francisco, the building of the Del Nort, the first regular steamship ever built on the Pacific. Later and for many years he was manager of the Colo- rado Navigation Company and of the California and Mexican Steamship Line.. For the latter company ir 1881 he superintended the construction of the Mexico, . at that time the largest steamship ever built on the Pacific. Since 1892 he has been Supervising Inspector of Steam Vessels and has filled the office, it is believed, to the satisfaction of all interested in steam navigation. ——— — ao eo A NEW YORK LAMP MANUFACTURER. (Illustrated.) Fifty-four years ago, Wm. Porter, the founder of the present firm of Wm. Porter’s Sons, 271 Pearl street, came to New York from the little town of Catskill and engaged in the manufacture of lamps and lanterns, gradually build- MASTHEAD. ANCHOR. ing up a large and prosperous business in the railroad line, Upon the breaking out of the late war, the firm, which at this time was styled Wm. Porter & Sons, in addition to the making of railroad goods, commenced the manu- facture of marine lamps, and furnished large quantities of the same to the U. S. Navy during the following five years of active service. - At the close of hostilities between the North and South the firm turned its attention to marine lamps for general SIDELIGHT. commercial use, perfecting many improvements in the construction of ship lights, and have since continued to advance, keeping abreast with the requirements of the times, and within the past five years further branching out into electrical fixture equipments for the modern- ‘at Large, and to further provide for the retirement of © built palatial passenger steamers of the present day, of which the S. S. “Creole,” of the Cromwell Line, is the newest. Messrs. Wm. Porter’s Sons supplied this ship with her entire outfit of both the oil and electric signal lights con- nected with safety indicator apparatus, saloon fixtures and lamps, including the insulated pipe system, especially adapted for the fire and engine room with water-tight junction boxes and steam-tight receptacles. Besides the railroad, and oil and electrical equipments for the U. S. Navy and commercial steamship trade, the firm also does a fine class of yacht work, of which might be mentioned the fitting out of three of the America’s Cup defenders, Puritan, Mayflower and Defender. ¥ While a host of other pleasure craft might be enumerat- ed, a few such as Atlanta, Tillie, Lasca, Columbia, Cor- sair, Dauntless, Intrepid, Electra, Embla, Stranger, Soy-. ereign and Giralda, being of the larger class, will suffice to give our readers an idea of the extent and class of trade enjoyed by this enterprising marine lamp house. oir CONGRESSIONAL ACTION. The Senate Naval Committee has favorably reported — the amendment intended to be proposed to the naval appropriation bill by Senator Petigrew, authorizing and ~ directing the establishment of branch hydrographic of- fices at Duluth, Minn.; Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and Buffalo, N. Y. ; The Senate Naval Committee has iforibly reported the amendment proposed to be made by the naval ap- propriation bill authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to contract for 3,000.copies of a new edition of the book of “Flags of Maritime Nations,” of which such number as may be necessary shall be reserved for use by the Navy Department, on board vessels, at naval stations, and for official use by the Departments of State, Treas- ury and War, the remainder to be delivered to the super- intendent of public documents for disposal by him in accordance with the provision of law relating to the sale of public documents; Provided, That no copies of salt book shall*be distributed gratuitously. The House Naval Committee has favorably rename tt the Senate bill to amend Chapter 67, vol. 23, U. S. Stat. enlisted men in the United States Army and Marine Corps and enlisted men and petty officers of the United | States Navy, with an amendment providing that such retirement will take place only when an enlisted .man has served thirty years in the United States Army or Marine Corps, or as an enlisted man or appointed petty officer in the United States Navy, and shall have ate tained the age of fifty-five years.. Senator McMillan has introduced an amendment to the sundry civil providing that a captain in the Revenue Cutter Service who has served as chief of the Division of the Revenue Cutter Service shall be eligible for ap- pointment as post captain and as chief of the Revenue Cutter Service, whose compensation shall be that now provided by law for a captain in said service, and no more. Senator Carter proposes an amendment to the same bill appropriating $20,000 to purchase the former post traders’ building at Fort Assinniboine. Notice has been given in the Senate that the followilig amendments will be proposed to the naval appropriation bill: Increase the pay of the Assistant Librarian at the Naval Academy from $1,400 to $1,800 per year; remit to the Union Iron Works, of San Francisco, Cal., the horse power penalty imposed under the contrac: for the ar- mored coast defense vessel Monterey; authorizing the Secretary of the Navy in his discretion to contract for — such number of submarine torpedo boats of the Holland type, similar to the one now being constructed by the © Crescent Shipyard, Elizabethport, N. J., as the sum fixed in the act of January 10, 1896, for the purchase. of: two such boats will permit; referring to the Secretary of the Navy for audit and report the claims of the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company for — extra work, expenses and losses incurred in the con- struction of the Indiana, Massachusetts, Columbia, New York and Brooklyn; appropriating $5,000 for the Port Royal naval station, $50,000 for a tug boat at Port Royal, $75,000 for machinery to be placed in the machine shop there; also appropriating $25,000 and authorizing the use of a naval vessel or vessels for determining the best route for a telegraph cable between Honolulu and — Japan.