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-thete was some swiftly ignorant work, ESTABLISHED 1878. Published We a Thursday by THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Incorporated. GEO. L. SMITH, President. Cc. E, RUSKIN, - - - Manager. CAPT. JOHN SWAINSON, - - - Editor. THOS. WILLIAMS, Chicago, - - Associate. CLEVELAND, CHICAGO. Western Reserve Building. Royal Insurance Building. ; SUBSCRIPTION. One Copy, one year, postage paid, ue = $2.00 One Copy, one year, to foreign countries, - - $3.00 : Invariably in advance. ADVERTISING. Rates given on application. All communications should be addressed to the Cleveland office, THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Western Reserve Building, Cleveland, O. Entered at Cleveland Postoffice as second-class mail matter. CLEVELAND, O., JUNE 24, 1897. An important and far-reaching new law forbids the car- rying of trade by sea in foreign vessels and under any but the Russiar: flag between all Russian ports of the Baltic and the Black sea, and the Pacific coast. The law will not go into operation until 1900. OO Ol OD That the large new dry docks at the navy yards, Brook- lyn; N. Y., should require extensive repairs, etc., almost before they had been placed in use, reflects great discredit on some persons high in authority. There has been blun- dering all along the line, and the $100,000 appropriated by the House this week for repairs to a comparatively new dock, it having been built within the year, is too cost- ly a mode of experimenting. In the first place, the govern- ment should never have sanctioned the building of a wooden dry dock. A stone dock of sufficient proportions to accommodate the largest vessels likely to be placed in commission for the next quarter of a century, and with a tested ability to stand the docking of a fully equipped ves- sel of from ten to twenty-five thousand tons weight should have been the lowest requirements for such an important piece of government work as a raval dry dock, instead of which, we have now at the best, a decaying, leaky, unre- liable and unworthy structure such as the government ought to be heartily ashamed of owning. a Se Judging from the list of vessels infringing the~ St. Mary’s River rules and regulations, it would appear as if all the tonnage, or at least all of the principal and larger steamers were being somewhat recklessly handled. Unless or. some very keen oné-sided sort of smartness worked upon the dele- gation of masters that went to Washington in an effort to have the rules legalized and made*compulsory the whole fraternity have only themselves to thank for the lumber that they are getting into now. It certainly appears as if underwritérs and owners were about satisfied with the rules as they exist at present and it will take considerable logic or pennies to convince them to the contrary. In the meantime there is a long dreary wail going up from the‘men who put the halter, so to speak, around their own necks. If there are any flaws in the rules, the masters ought to take every possible and available means towards making such discrepancies known and not wait until they run themselves into further trouble. Owners don’t feel like paying fines on. account of a master’s breach of his own rules, especially as times are now. And underwriters will readily emit a howl if called upon too frequent to pay damage. bills. One correspondent registers a good-sized kick against the rules in the current issue of the Marine Record, now let others go and do likewise so that we may get at the root of the evil, if any exists. COST OF A MODERN NAVY. In an address at the opening of the Naval War Col- lege at Newport, assistant secretary of the navy, advocated the continued upbuildirtg of the United States navy by the addition of ships of the first class armed with the best of modern guns. He counseled the cultivation of a state of prepared- ness, and declared that Washington’s maxim, “To be pre- pared for war is the most effectual means to promote peace,” had never sunk deep into the American heart. In support of his opinion as to the value of a great navy, Mr. Roosevelt declared the disasters of the war of 1812 _ were due solely to the fact that we were not ready in- stantly to resent an attack upon our honor, and the glo- rious triumphs on the sea during that war were due to the few preparations which we had actually made for the war. Mr. Roosevelt called attention to the fact that it now takes a much longer time than formerly in order to con- struct and equip a warship; and if there is any valid reason why the United States should spend millions for a navy in times of peace it is because the constructiom of _ such ships would keep our shipyards and gun foundries in operation and in a state of readiness for emergencies. Lewis Nixon, the naval designer, speaks upon this poinit in the current number of The North American Review, under the caption “The Military Value of the Shipyard.” He deprecates the drift of opinion against the further ex- penditure in the direction of naval enlargement, because this policy will militate against the efficiency of our ship- yards and gun manufactories and says that every shipyard that can build modern war vessels becomes a public shield. Mr. Nixon cites the fact that England has since 1885 ap- propriated no less thani $541,250,000 for naval construction purposes, while during the past fifteen years the United States has appropriated only $110,330,656. Warships of the modern type are very expensive, and a vast amount of money. is required to maintain them. Mr. Nixon makes a few comparisons in regard to cost that are very illuminating. He says: Perhaps the clearest way in which these vast changes can be indicated is by stating that the expense of firing a hundred rounds from the thirteen-inch guns of the bat- tleship Massachusetts in ammunition alone would exceed the entire cost of the old Constitution’s battery in 1812, with ammunition enough thrown in to fight all her bat- tles! * * * Each one of the thirteen-inch turrets of the Massachusetts, with its two guns and all its actuating gear, cost more money, so far as construction is con- cerned, than the cost of the old Constitution from the time her keel was laid till she bombarded the Bashaw’s castle at Tripoli! The cost of the whole battery of the Massachusetts, including the armor used as gun-protec- tion, would have built, armed and equipped ready for bat- tle two 120-gun three-deckers like the old Pennisylvania: the cost of the side-armor alone of the Massachusetts would have built and put in commission the Hornet and - Wasp of our little navy in 1812; and the cost of the Massa- chusetts’ machinery would have provided sail-power for our whole naval force at. that time. This shows why it is that naval expenditures are pene tantly provided for, but at the same time it calls attention to the importance of having shipyards that, are capable of building modern warships. — A COMMENDABLE DEPARTURE. A. feature in which the government officials as well as shipowners have been lacking is now about being accom- plished by underwriters, or at least one of their most prominent lake representatives in Chicago. _ It is now some years since the, Record advised the supervising inspector general of the steamboat inspection service as well as the board of supervising inspectors that unless they formulated proper steering and sailing rules and advanced the qualifications for holding a license, or passing an examination to obtain same, then private in- terests would usurp or take over their duties and demand that a revision be made all alonig the line. That we were correct in our views on this subject is being made more apparent each season, as witness the White bill, which, through the sole efforts of the masters was passed through Congress over the heads of and ignoring the board of stipervising inspectors entirely. Next came in the rules for navigating the St. Mary’s River, although it is but just to state that this was more a measure for the Secre- tary of War to deal with, as through the chief of engineers, Rhode Island, Theodore Roosevelt,” ‘called. into question! through gross negligence or Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, ‘he is in charge ofthe: conservancy ‘and improvement of rivers’ ‘and ‘harbors, :and the rules for navigating or piloting the St. Mary’s Rive are essentially of tihs nature, and as compulsory measur ff: were found necessary to prevent blockades through col-.- lision and otherwise as also to regulate the enormous ‘trafic through this narrow and tortuous waterway sue rules were formed. However, the lake shipmasters formulated their own “rules of the road” again in this case The next notable change anid one which the Recor sion of officers’ licenses from one year to a longer period or in fact that they should be made permanent unless a ‘originated and always strongly advocated was the exten- a the” palpable carelessness of the holders thereof. This feature. has also been accomplished through the joint efforts of - engineers and master, not by any means through ‘the - wishes or advice of the board of supervising inspectors ‘or. > Sez: the chief of that staff. wok bath We now learn that a new departure is Be be iciiateabene this time at Chicago and through the marked and estimable efforts of an underwriter, as a Chicago dispatch states, that “Lake masters and mates who show the greatest profi-- — oe goo ciency in the study of navigation as taught by W<J. ‘Wil-- son, of the United States Hydrographic Office inthe Ma- sonic Temple, are to be rewarded by substantial cash prizes» offered by George L. McCurdy, the insurance: man: ‘The - Bey ie ck. idea is that fewer wrecks will occur if the captains are- better schooled in navigation. There are to be two first prizes of $50 for each class and three prizes of $25 for each-: class. was organized by Mr. Wilson in the winter of 1895-96 at the suggestion of C. D. Sigsbee, U.S. N., States hydrographer at Washington. eat “Vessel captains and owners soon encouraged the» The school, which is at No. 20 Michigan avenue, — a then. United - Y pags project, although at first they regarded it as an experi-_ ment. During the last winter of the sixty- -five pupils — twenty-five were captains and mates, some of whom had grown gray in the service. Every hour which the men” who are intrusted with lives and valuable property de- - vote to the systematic study of the science of en me which is absolutely necessary for the lake region, adds just so much to the safety of all who sail the lakes, either’ as passengers or members of crews, as well as to the vessel herself and the cargo she carries. The examinations are to be subject to the supervision of Capt. F. D. Herriman, surveyor general of the great lakes register, and an ocean | : ship-master of long standing and repute.” As we have said, other changes are in evidence and will soon be brought about, with the assistance of the steam- tag boat inspection service if it is thought advisable, but with or without such assistance in any case. Some of these de- ~ partures were spoken of by shipbuilders and owners at © the last annual meeting of the Lake Carriers’ Association and others are in process of formulation. We can but highly commend the excellent and far- ‘ reaching departure made by Mr. George L. McCurdy and 3 so ably seconded by Capt. Herriman, at the same time ie : step clearly shows where the steamboat inspection ‘setvice™ and its licensing department through local inspectors Bt drifting to, yet, they cannot say but what they have been o—==s : tity 0 duly warned through the Record‘s columns of the condi- — .tions existing at the present as well as in the past. Rime & i). Some inquiries were set oni foot about a couple of weeks ‘ago relative to the advisability of establishing recruiting or shipping stations for the United States navy at the sev- — eral principal lake ports. departure has not got past the inquiry or such .steps are being taken by the navy department. It is quite certain that the new navy and the additional ships recently added finds itself short of hands. It is equally certain that a considerable body of the best kind of train- ing element could be secured on the lakes or rather from the principal lake cities and adjacent localities. We there-* for earnestly advocate the placing of an obsolete or con- demned man-of-war as a training ship for all’ grades ‘of seamen, at the several lake ports, or, say, central for Lake © Up to the present the new — preliminary * stage, yet, at the same time it has been duly heralded that * Erie, such a ship as the now corldemned Yantic to be ~ anchored and stationed at Cleveland, and a similar vessel © for Detroit, Chicago and Duluth- Superior. The’ enlist: © ment might not be very large for the first season but’ there’ can be no doubt but that after thé training ship or ships were once established little difficulty would be foutid in keeping up the crew complement ‘evén after drafting’ i good batch from ‘each vessel periodically, as’ ‘required’ to” man any extra vessel going into commission. This might “ also be an excellent means of reclaiming’ a°certain ‘bleitient®’