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THE MARINE RECORD. A TRUSCOTT BOAT SIMPLE, SAFE, lighting. RELIABLE, SPEEDY. It may be possible to build better and safer boats. but it tral been done yet. - We send a completely illustrated cata‘ogue’ and price list f ee, which tells you all about boats and WHY TRUSCOTT BOATS EXCEL. Truscott Boat Mfg. Co., ST. JOSEPH, MICH. SEPTEMBER 26, I90I. Pintsch Gas Lighted Buoys. Adopted by the English, German, French, Russian, Italian and United States Light-House Departments for channel and harbor Over 1,000 gas buoys and gas beacons in service. Burn Continuously from 80 to 365 days and nights without attention, and can be seen a distance of six miles: ...... Controlled by THE SAFETY CAR HEATING AND LIGHTING co. 160 Broadway, New York City. TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC IN A BALLOON. In the October Century is a discussion of ways and means for crossing the ocean. The author believes that the drag- rope is the key to the problem. He argues thus: Ifa bal- _ loon’ capable of retaining its buoyant gas ina marked de- gree were to ascend from any point on the American coast- line, and be kept poised at a given height by means of a rope or ropes trailing loosely over the waves, it would be more or less speedily wafted across the Atlantic Ocean. West winds could not, of. course, be expected always to prevail, but, as itis known that the general drift is eastward, it surely follows that the passage would eventually be made. Practice with the drag rope has shown me the possibility of keeping a balloon afloat, ata convenient altitude, without great loss of gas and ballast. Prairies, forests, mountains and large bodies of water have all been traversed by me with suceess. The free running of the rope as it glides along over the surface of the water is the special advantage that accrues to a voyage over the ocean. : Andree thought to utilize this device over the frozen sea, but with what success may never be known. His attempt at polar exploration by balloon was, undoubtedly, prema- ture, and should have been preceded by efforts more closely allied to previous experience. Nevertheless, his was a bold recognition of a principle which only needs greater develop- ment to prove its correctness. The full import of the first successful ocean voyage can- not be foretold. We can compare it only with the first Atlantic cable or the first steamship, or the first voyage of Columbus. That it lies next in order to these cannot be doubted, and there is only one known way to success, namely, by the aid of the drag-rope. Such an undertaking should havea clearly defied mo- tive, namely, nothing less than that complete demonstration of the latent possibilities of navigation by balloons instead of the impossible flying-machine for which the world has been waiting so long. Some years ago it was proposed to make a trans-Atlantic voyage by ascending to the height of three and a half miles, and remaining there long enough to accomplish the passage. It was believed that an upper cur- rent is constantly blowing toward the east. Three days only were thought to be necessary to perform this feat, as the easterly current was supposed to be running at the rate of from fifty to sixty miles per hour. However, it was found to be impossible to keep the balloon afloat at such a height by any known means for even one-tenth of the necessary time, and all hopes of a successful voyage were at length abandoned. The invention and use of the drag-rope has in- troduced a new era for the balloon. This simple appendage makes the long ocean voyage a possibility. OO ae THE London correspondent of the Liverpool Post says: ‘‘I hear that the boom which has been devised for the purpose of arresting submarine boats, has been completed. The last series of experiments has intensified the belief that it. would be impossible for any boat to pass it. It is so flexible that it can be made with the greatest ease to surround any ship, and itis so light that every vessel could carry it. What is more, the machinery for bringing it into operation is compact. The.French have been so busy manufacturing that they have never thought of the possibility of check- mating. We have secured a checkmating device and are building. Ours is the wiser policy.”’ THE LUMBER TARIFF. “The mills are practically all closed.’’ This was the language used by ‘Gen. R. A. Alger, one of the most extensive lumbermen and manufacturers of lumber in the United States, in conversation recently with the editor of the American Land and Title Register. The General, whose knowledge of this great industry makes him an expert and competent to speak of the terrible blow dealt American interests by the act of Congress that transferred hundreds of sawmills from the United States to Canada, charges the damage to the Dingley tariff which placed a duty of $2 per 1,000 feet on lumber imported from Canada; and of Senator Burrows who of his own volition or acting at the behest of others, the General says: He did a greater injury to Michi- gan than he can repair if he lives a thousand years.’’ From an examination of the law, it appears that the United States Senate had passed the tariff bill fixing a duty of $1 per 1,000 feet on imported lumber; the House, however, when the bill:came before it, raised the duty to $2. Senator Bur- rows was one of the conference committee appointed by the Senate to adjust differences, and as such receded from the position taken by the Senate and voted for the f$2duty. <A clause was inserted in the law, giving the Secretary of the Treasury power to add tothe duty of $20n manufactured lumber, any sum that Canada might impose asa duty on the exportation of logs to be sawed in the United States. But Canada was too sharp to be caught attempting to levy an export duty on logs, which, being added to the $2 duty on lumber would operate to shut its manufactured lumber out of American markets. It therefore absolutely pro- hibited the exportation of logs. This fact seems to be wholly unknown in the United States, except among leading lum- bermen, and even the leading daily press of Detroit, which extensively discussed the situation at the time made no par- ticular mention of it. - Not feeling fully contented with the foregoing rendition of the facts, the RECORD addressed an inquiry to Messrs. Eddy Bros. & Co., Bay City, one of the most prominent lumber dealing firms in Michigan, to which we received the following reply: - “The matter of tariff as imposed by the Canadian govern- ment does not affect the bringing of forest products to this country; it is the duty imposed by our government, which on lumber is $2.00 per M feet, saw logs free. Not the Do- minion government, but the Ontario government prohibits the exportation of most of the products of the forest, such as pulp wood, posts, telegraph poles, railroad ties, tanbark and all such things as that, including saw logs. Any timber cut from deeded lands, lands owned by the: Dominion gov- ernment, or Indian lands controlled by the Dominion govy- ernment can be exported; but the quantity controlled that way is very limited, the Ontario government being the principal owner of all timber contributed to this locality. The result is that very few logs can or will hereafter be ex- ported to this country. You speak in your letter of a large amount of timber being rafted across from Canada. Thisis not a fact as it isvery limited indeed; probably not one-tenth of what it was three years ago.’’ Se ee A WRECK chart showing the number of wrecks that. have taken place in and around Cape Race has been prepared by the Department of Marine and Fisheries, of Newfoundland. It is estimated that hundreds of lives have been lost, and that $20,000,000 of property has been destroyed along the coast during the 4o years under review. FLOATING DOCK FOR ALGIERS. As soon as the West India hurricane season is over, which is to say about Oct. 1, there will be towed to Algiers, La., says the New York Evening Journal, the great steel floating dock now being completed by the Maryland. Steel Co., at Sparrows Point, Md., the most remarkable piece of machinery ever constructed. This immense piece of marine mechanism for lifting great vessels out of the water in order to clean or repair them is certainly without a superior in its line. It-can lift an 18,000 ton battleship clear of the water, something that cannot. be duplicated by any other piece of machinery. The floating dock is 525 feet in length and 125 feet wide. Its greatest draft is 49 feet. The dock proper is buoyed with immense pontoons composed each of so many water tight compartments, so that sinking is practically impossible. The cost of the dock complete is $810,000. The use of many compartments in the qnpporiint pon- toons of the big dock is readily understood. When it is necessary to dock a vessel, water is admitted to the compartments through 16 valves, and it requires about an hour to sink the dock so that craft can enter it. After the dock is sufficiently deep in the water the vessel enters and, having been accurately adjusted, the water is pumped out of the compartments. The pumping apparatus is so arranged that either engine can steam from either boiler, and in case there isa break- down on one side of the dock the pair of pumps on the other could do all the pumping. It takes about three and a half hours to raise the dock. The pumps also operate a line of hose which is employed to wash the slime from the hulls of vessels that are docked. Thisis quite a task, for the amount of fouling which is washed from the sides of a large ship is considerable, and after it has been cleaned the stuff has also to be washed from the floor of the dock, otherwise the men could not work about the craft. The designs of the dock were originally made by Messrs. Clark & Standfield, of London, who in a publication upon drydocks acknowledge that the American system of docking vessels is the best. The designs were afterward modified at Sparrows Point to conform to American practice. The dock is furnished with electric lights, water supply, etc., and has comfortable accommodations for eight men. When it reaches its destination at Algiers, La., it will be moored to the shore by heavy cables, and from the openings in. the: walls large booms will form connection with the shore. The pointed ends of the forward and rear pontoons will cause the dock to be little affected by the current. ————o DO SO THE competition for the Anthony Pollock prize opened at Havre last week, when three hundred and twenty-eight models of apparatus were on view. It will be remembered that Mr. Pollock was drowned in the sinking of the steamer La Bourgogne, and his relatives, M. Osthemer, Dr. Riche- mot and M. Paraf, founded in his memory a prize of 100,000f. for the best means devised for saving life after collisions, etc., at sea. They received the members of the International Committee, consisting of E. Wilson Barker, Mr. M. J. Marcel, agent at Havre for the Royal Mail Co.; Mr. J. O. Cox, a retired United States sea captain; and Mr. Pitero Brown. The committee at once began its deliberations, and will give its decision relative to the inventions brought be- fore it in the course of a few days,