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SEPTEMBER 14, 1899. THE ST. LAWRENCE ROUTE. _. A conference between members of the Canadian and _ Marine Insurance sections of the London Chamber of Com- merce, the Timber Trade Federation, shipowners, and others was held recently at the office of the London Cham- ber of Commerce. Mr, Charles T. F. Churchill (Churchill and Sim) was voted to the chair, and explained that the object of the meeting was to hear a statement by the Hon. R. R. Dobell, member of the Canadian Ministry, as to the steps which the Canadian government were taking to render the navigation -_ of the St: Lawrence channel safer, and to consider whether the time had not arrived when a reduction in the present . high rates of insurance for vessels to and from British North _ America should be allowed. After expressing himself at some length, Mr. Dobell stated that the necessity for a reduction in the rate of insurance was far greater than appeared on the surface. of September the Welland canal system, with 14 feet of water, would be ready for traffic from the extremity of Lake Superior to the St. Lawrence, and whilst to-day the St. Law- rence was only drawing about 7 per cent. of the western trade, there was every reason to expect a great increase in this. Mr. Dobell then read the following extract froma letter written by Mr. Alexander McDougall, of Duluth: ree “Tam of the opinion that the Canadian people do not fully Si realize what a great commercial highway the St. Lawrence _ canals are going to be, and that very shortly after the open- ing. It is as natural for the western products to go through that way as it is for the waters of the Great Lakes to flow out through the St. Lawrence river, and I think that the canals will be taxed to the utmost capacity in the very near future. There will bea very vast amount of wheat from the Canadian northwest and Ontario ; wheat and corn from the -_— western States ; corn from the middle western States seek- ing a cool route during the germinating season; iron ore, both from the Canadian and American sides of Lake Supe- _vior, and manufactured iron from the lake region for ! export ; forest products from the lake region, as well as : from the Pacific provinces and western States ; also cattle and all kinds of farm products seeking a European market ; and with this large demand for movement, the capacity of the St. Lawrence canals will soon be reached, which at first would be about 3,000,000 tons a year in one direction, but by degrees and experience, as ships are built more to the -_ requirements of the trade, and men and managements be- ‘come more apt, the capacity by hand operations may be doubled, and later on when the power of the falls and rapids alongside are taken full advantage of for lighting purposes by night, and the operations of the system, such as closing the gates and the hauling of the vessels through _ the canals, under the control of the government, this canal system could be made to handle 12,000,000. tons in each direction, and products from the western States could be carried through its system cheaper than it can ever be done through the United States to Atlantic ports, and under such favorable advantages, business will be forced upon this route to the sea in great volumes.”’ Commenting upon this statement, Mr. Dobell said he did not consider the picture at all overdrawn; in the near future the St. Lawrence would be the great transhipping route for North America. Whilst Canada is making every effort to increase the volume of trade between herself and the mother country, it would be seen at once that this discrimination in the insurance rate for British North America as compared with the other Atlantic ports would seriously militate against shipments from the St. Lawrence. Considering the large number of steamers which now go to the St. Lawrence ‘every year, it is quite evident that the risk is not anything like so great as it used to be, and as the coast is better lighted, the currents better understood, the pilots more carefully chosen, and the buoys more exactly placed in posi- tion, and a closer supervision taken of these services (which had been arranged for by placing them in the hands of the Canadian Minister of Marine) such a discriminating rate as £3 3s per cent. for loading on the St. Lawrence was not warranted, and should be removed. —<$—$_ a ooo nr ____———_ THE steel cargo steamer, building by the Wolff & Zwicker Iron Works, Portland, Ore., for the Alaska Packers’ Asso- ciation, San Francisco, is to have a steam windlass, a Shaw & Spiegel patent automatic steam towing machine and a steam cargo winch from the American Ship Windlass Co., Providence, R. I. The Ohrvikens Aktiebolag, of Skelleftea, Sweden, recently ordered by cable one of the Shaw & Spiegel patent automatic steam towing machines for one of their steamers. Thereputation which this towing machine has attained as the only machine which absolutely limits and controls the strain on a towing hawser and prevents the hawser from parting, has induced them to adopt the appli- ance for theirfvessel. After the rst - -Hanlon, John, Cambria THE MARINE RECORD \} WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY FOR NAVAL USE. A most remarkable demonstration of the practicability of the use of wireless telegraphy in connection with naval operations has just been made under the personal supervi- sion of Marconi, the inventor, during the cruise of the Brit ish squadron. With the detached squadron was the Europa, which had been fitted in a hasty manner with the Marconi system. In the other portion of the fleet were the flagship Alexandria and the cruiser Juno. On the latter vessel Mar- coni had himself install: d the wireless system. When com- munication was first established the Juno was more than 4o miles away from the Europa. Having received a message from the Europa relative to her consort, the Juno turned and steamed toward the flagship, and was enabled when imore than 30 miles distant from that vessel to communicate to Sir Compton Domvile, the commander, the KEuropa’s message. A second test was made and proved equally suc- cessful, and the whole trial is regarded in British naval cir- cles as a veritable triumph for Marconi. eee THE PACIFIC CABLE. The British Pacific cable, which is now soon to be begun, will be 7,986 miles long, extending from Vancouver by way of Fanning Island and Fiji to Norfolk Island, and thence by branches to New Zealand and Australia. The cost is ‘placed at $7,500,000 and is to be borne by Canada, Australia and the British government, but chiefly by Australia. The object is to unite the scattered fragments of the Empire more closely, and also to reduce cable rates. At present the rate is $1.18 between Great Britain and Australia by the Eastern route. This will be materially reduced at once, and as the enterprise is to be a government undertaking, rates will be continuously reduced as fast as increase of business justifies it. Existing private cable companies are, of course, fighting the project all they can. oo or LETTERS AT DETROIT MARINE POST OFFICE. SEPTEMBER 13, 1899. To get any of these letters, addressees or their authorized agents will apply at the general delivery window or write to the postmaster at Detroit, calling for ‘‘advertised’’ matter, giving the date of this list and paying one cent. Advertised matter is previously held one week awaiting delivery. It is held two weeks before it goes to the Dead Letter Office at Washington, D. C. Bollyea, Lewis Miller, B. Burk, George Marks, Chas. H., Wallula Boomer, George Montroy, Archie, Wallula Carr, Chas. Minor, Arthur Coomk, Ida Marks, Charley, Wallula Cox, Arthur McCarty Wm.,2, N.C. Holland Dwyer, W. J. McIntyre, Sandy Dunlap, John, J. Mitchell McArthur, J. Ellery, W. H. McDougall, C. M. Edwards, Thos. E. McKonney, I. Gilbert, Arthur Gilleland, S. Nelson, John, Guma Perry, Mrs. Wim. ; Raymond, Frank, Cort Rice, James Sawyer, Will, Yakima Stockwell, John Hay, James Hall, Maxwell Henderson, R. Hauer, Chas. Scott, John N. Kline, Louis A., 2 Warner, F. H. Kurtz, Geo. O. Warren, Tom Kuss, Julius, 2, Chili Wagner, Joseph, Rees Larsen, Capt. H. Williams, A. M. Mooare, Hon. J. S. OO OS MARINE PATENTS. Patents on marine inventions issued Sept. 12, 1899. Re- ported specially for the MARINE RECORD, which will furnish complete copies of patents at the rate of ten cents each. 632,738. Covering for bodies impelled through water, James O’ Hara, Toronto, Canada. 632,741. Combined wagon and boat. Victoria, Ill. 632,826. Wave-motor. M. B. Rice, Tustin, Cal. 632,833. Wave-motor. W. A. Cheney, Los Angeles, Cal. 632,919. Apparatus for destroying teredos and other ma- rine growth. J. W. Farley, Crawfordville, Fla., assignor of one-half to L. L. Yent, Carrabelle, Fla. 632,985. Bridge. W. IL. Brayton, Harrisburg, Pa. 633,065. Boat adapted to ea on land or in water. J. P. Boulesque, New York, N. Y ono oo A MOVEMENT is to be started by Pittsburg rivermen to have a change made in the law under which steamboats are inspected. The inspectors of that district must pass 150 vessels a year as being sound and seaworthy in order to get full salaries. If they certify to 149 and refuse a certificate to the 150th vessel, $300 is deducted from their pay. What rivermen want is a law that will tempt no man to pass a vessel that is not in first-class condition. A, C. Peterson, TRIAL TRIP U.S. S.ALABAMA. Capt. W. H. Brownson, U. S. N., in an official report referring to the recent preliminary trial of the U. S. S. Alabama, constructed by the Messrs. Cramp, of Philadelphia, after giving the time between the different points in the first run, which was made at speed of 15.45 knots per hour, and of the second run, which was made ata speed of 17.19 per hour, giving an average for the two runs of 16.32 knots, says: ‘“‘The speed was based on the distance between the two lightships, 11.25 knots. The weather was squally, with fresh wind and sea from the northward and eastward, and doubtless interfered seriously with the speed of the ship on runs, things considered, the trial may be considered as highly satisfactory.’? The Alabama was designed as a 16-knot vessel, and the fact that she has, through modifications in her plans by her builders, exceeded the speed originally - laid down, reflects great credit on the enterprise and ability of Messrs, Cramp. --—_ or UTILIZING ELECTRICITY. ‘“‘We are near toa realization of Franklin’s plan for har- nessing the electricity of the air, and the twentieth century is likely to develop a practical method of utilizing atmos- pheric energy for industrial purposes.’ Such is the startling prediction make by Prof. Alexander G. McAdie, of the United States Weather Bureau. ‘Of late he and other Gov- ernment experts have been duplicating the famous Franklin experiment, with modern improvements, sending up new- fangled box-kites on ‘‘strings’’ of piano wire, and drawing down lightning in quantities that would have astonished the sage of Philadelphia. But perhaps the most remarkable dis- covery made incidentally to these new researches, is that the electricity of the atmosphere may be obtained in big sparks © from a clear sky, not a cloud being in sight. So much elec- tricy comes down the wire that it has been utilized for run- ning a little machine with pasteboard wheels, and in this ap- paratus is found the beginning of the mechanism of the future, that is expected to utilize the energy hitherto held useless in the atmosphere. or oe oo TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. G. Hellmann points out in Terrestrial Magnetism that after Columbus discovered the variation of the magnetic declination in 1492, the belief gained ground among mar- iners that the longitude could be immediately determined from the variation; but Mr. Hellmann points out that the variation remained unknown, outside nautical circles, until it was independently discovered in connection with the use of the compass for portable sun dials. It was George Hartmann, a mathematical instrument maker at Nuremburg, who discovered the magnetic variation on land and found it to be only six degrees east at Rome in 1510. For nearly one hundred years after this discovery most of the writers on magnetism and dials omitted all mention of the declination and assumed that the needle pointed true to the polar star. star, the variation was measured. LIFE-SAVING APPLIANCES. In its endeavors to improve the national marine life-saving system, the United States Board for that purpose has’ re- cently examined a considerable number of appliances brought toits attention by inventors. model of a serpentine ship, constructed by James Graham, the peculiar feature of whichis that the body of the ship will revolve in the water and the occupants will bein an in- terior cylinder. Perhaps a more practicable idea is that presented in the make-up of life preservers as developed by C. Moller, of Norway, who has made a padded vest and used reindeer hair for padding, the claim being that such hair, whether dry or wet, is as buoyant as cork and more durable. ——$—$— oe RECORDS show that the Norwich, a side-wheel towboat belonging. to the Cornell fleet at Rondont, and plying on the Hudson river, is the oldest steam vessel in existence, we believe ; certainly she is the oldest in this country. She ~ was built in 1836, and first ran on Long Island Sound. She is of 255 gross tons, and was built by Lawrence & Sneden. She has her original engine in her, which is of the square or ‘‘cross head ’’ variety, the last of its kind in existence. ro ior or OWING to the difficulty in procuring steel, itis expected all _ the shipbuilders engaged in constructing torpedo boats will ask for an extension of time to complete their contracts. One firm has already asked for an extension of one year. No defects of a serious nature developed, and, all Among these is a — ‘ By sighting along the needle to the polar —