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12 THE MARINE RECORD. DECEMBER 14, 1899. 2, Chicago Pautical School 1513 Masonic Temple, CHICAGO. W. J. WILSON, (Late Lieutenant U. S. Navy), Principal. A full and complete course of instruction in lake and ocean navigation. Also special branches taught those desiring to qualify themselves for better positions in the marine service. $200 in prizes (Great Lakes Regis- ter) awarded annually to students. Students taught by correspondence. Students may begin at any time. Send for circular. 1S OF MARINE REPAIRING AT MANITOWOC, WIS. The Goodrich Transportation Co, are prepared to do all kinds of Repair Work to Machinery. Also Joiner Work. Goodrich Transportation Company’s Repair Shops include complete Carpenter and Joiner Shop. New Modern Machine Shop. Blacksmith Shop, including Steam Hammer, Punch and Shears, etc., Brass Foundry. Repair Shops are adjacent to Dry Dock and are equipped with best Modern Machinery. Porta- ble Electric Drills, etc., complete Electric Power Plant for supplying motors on board ships, and lighting. Night work a specialty. All work in charge of experienced and skilled mechanics. Charges moderate. Twenty-one feet of water alongside of shops. Capt. Samuel W. Gould, 265 MARCY AVE., CLEVELAND. Pd Gives instructions in Ocean Navigation and prepares” candidates for the examina- tions for Master and Pilots’ Licenses, before the Local Steamboat Inspectors. #2 — TAKE Wade Park or Payne Ave. Car. SHIPMENTS TO THE COAST. Special to The Marine Record. CHICAGO, ILL., Dec. 13. William J. Conners, of Buffalo, dock contractor, newspaper “owner and politician, was in Chicago yes- terday looking after a project in which he has in- terested Chicago, Duluth, Cleveland, Buffalo and Montreal capital for an all water route for grain to the seaboard. Montreal is to be the seaboard terminal of the route, and Mr. Conners recently obtained concessions from the Harbor Commission of Montreal, with the approval of the Minister of Public Works, for the erection of three elevators with an aggregate capacity of 9,000,000 bushels, and large double- decked warehouses. : With these elevators and warehouses there is to be a fleet of modern steamers, contracts for the building of twenty-one of which are to be let within a short time, providing the present plans of organization are completed successfully, as Mr. Conners is confident they will be. The vessels will be 240 feet in length, 43 feet beam, and will draw fourteen feet of water through the canals.. They will have a carrying capacity of 100,000 bushels of corn. Through the open water months they will be engaged for the greater part in _ carrying grain from the various lake ports to Montreal, but in winter they will be employed both in coast trade, and in carrying grain to Liverpool, for which they will be adapted. A Chicago architect is now working on the plans of the buildings, and it is expected the preparatory work of con- struction will be begun within thirty days. Mr. Conners expressed the opinion the project would be in operation by July 1, 1900. He was in consultation with some of the largest grain ship- pers of Chicago yesterday, and before his departure in the evening he said he had received assurances of their support in the project. When seen at the Great Northern Hotel he said : ‘This is a matter in which I have been interested for a year anda half, and naturally feel much gratified at the successtul con- clusion of my labors, for Ihave no doubt of the project going through. I expect to return to Chicago within a short time, and complete the plans of organization and other necessary details. I can say I have the support of all the large grain interests of Chicago and Duluth. The represen- tative men have expressed confidence in the practicability of the scheme, The obtaining of the concessions at Montreal was a most important matter, and with that the syndicate with which Iam associated’has begun preparations for es- tablishing a carrying trade all over the water route between the Great Lakes and Montreal. The Montreal route will afford an all-water way to the sea, which can compete with the railroads because of its cheapness. Montreal is 300 miles nearer Liverpool than is New York, a decided advan- _ tage. : ~ “Besides the three elevators at Montreal, we expect to build an elevator of 1,500,000 bushels capacity at Port Col- borne, Ont., sixteen miles from Buffalo, and through grain going to Montreal in large cargoes will be broken thére, “During the season just ended, only a little more than 21,000,000 bushels of the vast amount of grain which came to Buffalo from the west by lake and rail was shipped east by the Erie canal. The great bulk of it went by rail. “Tt will be the seaports that will suffer from the new route. _ New, York, Newport News, Boston, Baltimore, Portland, Galveston, and every port through which grain passes for export. It will simply be a contest between rail and water, and I am confident water will win.”’ i Oe SEASON LAKE FREIGHTS. Freight rates during the season just closed showed a re- markable advance over those prevailing last year. The averages were as follows, compared with 1898 : 1899 1898 Iron ore, Escanaba to Ohio ports............ 94.8 50.8 Iron ore, head of Lake Superior to Ohio..... 1.29.5 61 Corn, Chicago to Buffalo.................... 2.7 1.5 Wheat, Duluth to Buffalo................... 2.6 1.6 Hard coal, Buffalo to Chicago............... 72.7 28 Soft coal, Ohio ports to Duluth............. 45.4 23.4 The high lake rate turned vast quantities of grain to the railroads. While in previous seasons the percentage of the gtain trade from Chicago to the seaboard and export was about 65 by lake and 35 by rail, the present season has seen this ratio reversed. Well-informed vesselmen predict that during the coming year not over 25 per cent. of Chicago’s grain trade will be shipped by lake. It is believed, however, that when lake rates come back to their old level, the rail- roads. will find the lake route as sharp a competitor as ever. It is admitted by Chicago shippers, however, that there must be a reduction in the transfer charges at New York city, and an improvement in the Erie canal, if the lake route is to maintain its supremacy. ee LAUNCH OF THE REIS. A large number of people attended to witness the launch of the steel steamer W. EH. Reis at the old Globe yards on Saturday last. The launch was in every way successful. The christening ceremony was performed by Miss Mabel Mitchell, daughter of Capt. John Mitchell, manager of the Cleveland Steamship Co., which owns the Reis. On the launching stand with Miss Mitchell were Misses Mary EH. Spencer, Raymond, Frances Bingham, Emma Parnell, Lois Allen, Ella White, Helen Bartow, Maud Lawrence, Marion North, Isabella Mitchell, Elizabeth Morris, Elizabeth Wedaw, Sarah Mitchell, Gertrude Mitchell, Ethel Forbes and Grace True, Mrs. Capt. John Mitchell, Mrs. R. L. Newman, Mrs. John Wedow, Dr. and Mrs. E. D. Page, Mrs. Sanford, Mrs, Capt. Alfred Mitchell, and Mrs. Clista Mitchell. Among others who witnessed the launch were Mr. W. L,, Brown of Chicago, president of the American Ship Building Co.; F. W. Wheeler of Bay City, Capt. Fred. LaSalle of Duluth, James C. Wallace, Robert Wallace, R. L. Ireland, Capt. M. P, Parsons, Capt. Alfred Mitchell, Philip Morris, Capt. John Mitchell, Martin Mullen, Capt. C. B. Galton, Capt. W. Mc- Gregor and Fred Lane. The new boat is a sister ship to the H. C. Frick of the same line. She is 436 feet over all, 416 feet keel, 50 feet beam and 28 feet deep. She will be equipped with latest improved machinery and will have everything modern for the rapid handling of cargoes. The Reis will carry about 6,000 tons. She has been chartered for next season, to carry ore from the head of Lake Superior, at $1.25. The Cleve- land Steamship Co. now has three first-class steamers, They are the M. A. Hanna, H.C. Frick, and W. E. Reis. Capt. C. B. Galton, who brought the steamer H. S. Holden out will command the Reis, and William Fetting will have charge of her machinery. NOTES. With the continual development of the oil-in-bulk trade, the likelihood of liquid fuel being more generally adopted no doubtincreases, and thus it will be interesting to note that a new system of burning liquid fuel isintroduced. The invention of Mr. J.J. Kermode, of Liverpool, differs from most other systems in that the oil is first vaporised by being mixed with hot air supplied under pressure. Where vaporis- ing has been effected by the direct use of steam successful results have been obtained, but the steam used to spray the oil is practically lost, whereas, in Kermode’s system, all the steam used for driving the blowing machinery goes to the condenser and is available for use again. A series of trials have been successfully carried out with Kermode’s system applied to a marine boiler at the works of the Wallsend Slip- way and Engineering Company, Ltd., Wallsend-on-Tyne, and also at Messrs. Bayliff’s Wirral Foundery, Birkenhead. With Borneo crude oil nearly 13 lbs. of water, from and at 212 degs. Fahr. were evaporated with 1 Ib. of fuel. As To the origin of the practice of fitting triple screws, the Chief Constructor of the Russian Navy has recently pointed out the work of the late Dr. A. C. Kirkin the matter. Dr. Kirk made a model and had it carefully tried on Loch Lo- mond, at the instigation of Capt. Artsayooloof, to determine the efficiency of twin propellers, with and without the center propeller in position, and with all three propellers in use. He found that up to 15 knots the resnlt, so far as propulsive efficiency was concerned, was the same whether the total power was divided between two or three screws, but that for higher speeds it was possible that the division of the power among three screws would be advantageous, although the data were not conclusive. The dragging of the center screw due to working only the two side screws, increased the power required for 13 knots speed by 11 per cent. In the Lividia the actual percentage of increase in such a case was ~ 14 per cent. Hetherefore advised the Russian government that the dividing of the power between three screws was at any rate perfectly safe; that the steering would be improved by the third screw; and at very low cruising speeds, the third engine would be an admirable thing. REAR ADML. GEO. W. MELVILLE, U. S. N., Engineer in | Chief, delivered an address on Dec. 5 at the opening session of the twentieth annual convention of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York City, on ‘‘Engineering in the United States Navy; Its Personnel and Material.” Among other things, Admiral Melville said the innovation of triple screws, such as propel the U. S. S. Columbia, had proved a success, and justified itself in the obtaining of — greater propulsive efficiency with economy, and that itis probable that triple screws will be provided for the larger ships of the new programme, He referred to the develop- ment and utillization of two engineering schemes in the late war, viz., the repair ship Vulcan and the distilling ship Iris. The Vulcan, the Admiral said, was fully equal to any-_ thing needed for the rehabilitation of a fleet short of a ship- yard. He declared that not only does the creation but the 4 operation and the maintenance of the modern ship of war depend upon the mechanical engineer. The brilliancy of the victory off Santiago, he said, was due to the care and — foresight of Chief Engr. Milligan, of the Oregon. Admiral — Melville said that it is generally admitted that the machin- — ery of our Navy has been in all respects fully abreast of the latest developments, and sometimes we have taken the lead. —