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ESTABLISHED (878. Y g Z VOL. XXII, No. 32. CLEVELAND---AUGUST 10, 1899---CHICAGO. $2.00 Per Year. 5c. Single Copy. Lake CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION. To consider and take action upon all genera questions relating to the navigation and carrying business of the Great Lakes, maintain necessary shipping offices and in general to protect the common interests of Lake Car- tiers, and improve the character of the service rendered to the public. PRESIDENT. FRANK J. FIRTH, Philadelphia. 1ST VICE-PRESIDENT. Capt. THOS. WILSON, Cleveland. SECRETARY. CHARLES H. KEEP, Buffalo. . TREASURER. GEORGE P. McKay, Cleveland. COUNSEL. Harvey D. GOULDER, Cleveland. EXECUTIVE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE, JAMES CORRIGAN, Chairman, Cleveland. COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION. Gizson L. Dovceras, Chairman, Buffalo. COMMITTEE ON AIDS TO NAVIGATION Cleveland. _ GrorGE P. McKay, Chairman, A COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING NECESSARY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CAN- ADA, SAYS GEO. Y. WISNER, C. E., DE- TROIT—DANGEROUS PRECEDENTS SHOULD BE AVOIDED—GOV- ‘ERNMENT AUTHORI- ZATION. DETROIT, MicH., Aug. 9, 1899. THE MARINE RECORD: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of August 4th inclosing a copy of Mr. F. J. Firth’s article relative to lake levels. There can be no'question as to the soundness of Mr. Firth’s statement that there should be a complete un- derstanding between the United States and Canada in regard to the use of water, either by the respective governments or by private enterprises along the waterways between the two countries. While itis true that the effect of the Chicago drainage canal will be small compared with that due to na- tural causes, it is also true that to change the volume of flow through lake waterways without the mutual consent of both governments may be a dangerous precedent to establish. If the respective governments havea right to authorize the construction of works which will affect the lake levels a few inches, may not such action lead to much greater changes of level being made in the future? With an inter- national commission to consider these matters there need be no difficulty in maintaining the lake levels with regulat- ing works, and at the same time allowing the use of all the water needed for sanitary canals and manufacturing enter- _ prises. The prosperity of our lake cities is largely due to the easy and economical transportation through the lake waterways, and while any deterioration of these routes is of the greatest importance to the transportation interests, the commercial welfare of the lake cities is equally so. The commercial growth of the lake cities means increased business for transportation lines, and any policy which may be adopted relative to the lake waterways which is not in har- mony with the interests of the cities and manufacturing enterprises, as well as those of transportation, is bound to beinjurious. Yours truly, Gro. Y. WISNER. i oO oe ONE of the oldest bridges in Europe issoon to disappear, under the demand for better navigation of the river it spans. “This is the stone bridge, with 15 arches, and a total length of 994 feet, built across the Danube at Regensburg (Ratis- bon), in Bavaria, by Duke Henry the Superb, in 1135-46. THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION—SUGGES- TION TO MAINTAIN LAKE LEVELS EN- DORSED BY MAJOR SYMONS, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, U.S. ARMY—OTHER IMPORTANT POINTS BROUGHT FORWARD. UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE. Buffalo, N. Y., Aug. 3, 1899. THE MARINE RECORD: Your letter enclosing copy of Mr. Firth’s article, has been received, and in reply to your request for my opinion in re- gard to the scheme for protecting the lakes as outlined by Mr. Firth, I beg to state that it meets with my most hearty approval. ; Some little time ago I was a member of a Board of En- gineers which had under consideration am important matter at the Sault Ste. Marie. This board recommended that the matter be referred to an internatioual board, as the United States and Canada were and are bothinterested in it. It oc- cured to me at’the time that this international board, if established, could, and probably would be perpetuated, and its duties enlarged, to cover all the ground and consider the questions mentioned by Mr. Firth, and any others which might come up in the future. 4 The Great Lakes and their connecting waters can not properly be divided up into several districts and questions in each district be considered separately and independently. Every question, except such as are unequivocally and en- tirely of alocal character, should be considered in its rela- tion to the whole lakesystem. This would naturally require a central board having a comprehensive grasp of, and fami- larity with, the entire system of waters. And as all such matters would interest Canada as well as the United States, such a board should properly be international. It is quite strange when one thinks of it, that, considering the magnitude of the navigation and allied interests on the lakes, the grave questions connected with the Chicago drain- age canal, with the deflection of water for power purposes at the ‘‘Soo,”’ the changes in interlake channels, the problems involved in the regulation of lake levels, the proposed canal from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie, and the lighting and buoying of international channels, as well as other matters, there never has been organized a central international board to whom such subjects could be referred. JI am convinced that such a board, if properly organized and given a fair degree of permanence with sufficient funds to enable it to carry on any necessary investigations, collect data, etc., would be of great value to all interests. centering about the lakes. There are some questions connected with sucha board that might be open to discussion. What should be the relative weight of representation of the two countries on such a board, and how should the expenses be divided? Very truly yours, THomas W. SYMONS, Major, Corps of Engineers. OO Oe oe INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS. The following papers were read at the July meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects (British). ‘“The Rise and Progress of Rifled Naval Artillery,’’ by Sir Andrew Noble, K. C. B.; ‘“The Distribution of Pressure over the Bottom of a Ship in Dry Dock and over the Dock Blocks,” by Dr. Francis Elgar; ‘‘A new System of Forced Draught,’’ by Mr. Nelson Foley; ‘‘Elswick Cruisers,’ by Mr. Philip Watts; ‘The Boiler Arrangements of certain Recent Cruisers,’’ by Mr. F, T. Marshall; ‘‘Ice-Breakers,’’? by Col. H. F. Swan; “Some Experiments having Reference to the Durability of Water-Tube Boilers,’’ by Mr. A. F. Yarrow; and ‘‘Large At- lantic Cargo Steamers,’’ by Mr. G. B. Hunter. Interesting discussions followed the reading of the various papers. QUARTERLY RETURNS—VESSELS LOST. Lloyd’s returns of vessels totally lost, condemned, etc., during the quarter ending December 31, 1898, shows 103 steamers of 141,596 tons gross, and 311 sailing vessels of 121,342 tons gross, to have been totally lost, condemned, etc., in the period named. Taking the statistics for each country and combining-steam and sailing tonnage, we find 71 British ships, equal to 69 per cent. of the tonnage owned, are. accounted for in the returns. In regard to tonnage owned, the Germans were most fortunate, their 16 ships lost equaling only .31 percent. of the total tonnage. At the other end of the scale, the United States seemed to be the heaviest loser with ror vessels of 53,279 tons, making 3.21 per cent. of the vessels owned and 2.18 of our tonnage, and, in these figures vessels under Ioo tons are not included in the returns. Sweden, however, was proportionately the heaviest loser, her 40 ships lost, condemned, etc., repre- senting 2.69 per cent. of her total tonnage. The Norwegian losses were also heavy, including as they did 71 ships, and 1.94 per cent of their tonnage. The Danish losses were 7 ships and 1.43 per cent. of the Danish owned tonnage. The French losses figure at 14 ships and .55 per cent. of the tonnage owned, from which we see that the Scandinavian sailors manage to lose a larger proportion of their tonnage than do the British, French and German seamen. ———$— — a or TONNAGE OF SEAGOING VEESELS. The latest table showing the tonnage of seagoing vessels now in course of construction in the principal countries, brings the figures down to June 30, 1899. The showingisas | follows: Steamers, Sailing ves., reg. tons. reg. tons. Great Britain, <j, S40. kiss is eae wieas = 1,386, 300 I,700 Gertiany es Ci a utins des seein ee « 198,780 I,520 Utaly Biise ne Garon ie ata eHrcreeee 68, 100 4,400 Wnited: States Mes shee Pics eiescieare 59,700 4,900 AT ATICS Si tei ctor ch hatninlen crate cuel stat oa tanetaioes 43,900 5,900 Holland oy so. cei oe tee. ee Moats 27,200 8,700 1DYeyoh satchel Snieye we RON Gala catia reN Cnc 17,500 I,300 While Great Britain overtops them all by over 1,000,000 tons as regards steamers, the tonnage of Germany, with her comparatively new shipbuilding industry, is larger than that of Italy, the United States, France and Denmark put to- gether. Compared with the figures of June 30, 1898, Ger- many has an increase in steamers of 111,080 and a decrease in sailing vessels of 1,410 register tons. Of the 1,386,300 tons now building in Great Britain, there are 51,700 tons for German account, 22,200 for Norway, 22,100 for Holland and 8,700 for Denmark. or oO ee A DOMINION STEAMER LAUNCHED. On the 12th July, Messrs. Gourlay Bros. & Co., Dundee, Scotland, launched a screw steamer of about 1,100 tons, 225 by 32.6 by 20.6 ft., for the winter mail and passenger service between Prince Edward Island and the mainland of Canada. . She has beenespecially designed to suit the ideas of Captain M. P. M’Elhinney, the Canadian Government’s nautical ad- viser, and has been built to Lloyd’s highest class. She is especially adapted both at bow and stern for cutting her way through the ice fields on her proposed route, the hull being flush-plated and especially strengthened above and below the water-line, she has cellular double-bottom for water bal- last, besides large trimming tanks for depressing the stern and elevating the bow. She will have triple-expansion en- gines of 2,900 effective horse-power, and an armament of four 6-pounder quick-firing Hotchkiss guns to enable her to serve as an auxiliary/cruiser in time of war. Mrs. Robertson, the wife of Professor Robertson, the Dairy Commissioner of Canada, christened her the Minto, in honor of the present Governor-General of Canada.