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DEVOTED TO NAVIGATION, COMMERCE, ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE. ESTABLISHED 1878. PuBLIsHED Every THURSDAY BY THE MARINE RECORD ~PUBLISHING CO. Incorporated. 1 ERUSKING 02.0 e se vee coos oaloteie s vis ies Berea Manager Capt. JoHN SWAINSON.........-eeeeeeeee besas es ve uditor CHICAGO. Royal Insurance Building. CLEVELAND, ‘Vestern Reserve Building. SUBSCRIPTION. One copy, one vear, postage paid.......... Soe C wees $2.00 One copy, one year, to foreign countries............. $3.00 Invariably in advance. ADVERTISING. Rates given on application. All communications should a addressed to the Cleveland office, THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO. Western Reserve Building, Cleveland, O. Entered at Cleveland Postoffice as second-class nm:ail matter. No attention is paid to anonymous communications, but the wishes of contributors as to the use of their names will be scrupulously regarded. CLEVELAND, O., APRIL 10, 1902. MACHINIST APPRENTICE SYSTEM FOR THE NAVY. BY LIEUY. T. W. KINKAID, U.S. N. In the naval service technical difficulties are not the only ones that confront the chief engineers of our ships. No matter how high his professional and executive ability, the officer is hopelessly handicapped if he have not the proper men to do his bidding. Firemen, oilers and water tenders can be trained from raw material in a reasonably short period; but machinists, of whom our larger ships require as many as twelve or more, are not to be had in sufficient number. A fine ship without a proper complement must be considered a “lame duck.” It is not surprising that young men with good shop train- ing are not desirous of going to sea as enlisted men. The inducements in the matter of pay are not great, as the first compensation is only $40 per month. Even after a consid- erable lapse of time, the machinist, second class, cannot be rated higher pay unless a vacancy should occur on the ship to which he is attached. Finally, when, partly by virtue of merit and partly by lucky chance, he steps into a vacancy in the chief machinist rating, his pay is only $70 per month, which is little enough for a skilled man who gives up home comforts and associations, and has to per- on much of his duty at night and on seven days of the week. The establishment of the rank of warrant machinist has done something toward inducing good machinists to enter and remain in the service; but the number of such prizes is limited,:and the efficiency of warrant rank as a drawing card is limited correspondingly. T have always thought that one of the most potent causes ef discontent among the enlisted men, especially the in- telligent men in the higher ratings, has been the utter lack in naval regulations of any provision for their shore duty. Going to sea, with occasional liberty in domestic and for- eign ports, may constitute a satisfactory career in the eyes of the younger men of the service, but there comes a time in the life of every man before the mast when continuous sea duty becomes monotonous. At this juncture many good men fail to re-enlist, and, having once obtained a footing on shore, they remain permanently out of the navy. Matrimony plays a prominent part in taking men from the service. It is natural, of course, that men should -wish to marry, but without shore duty married life is prac- tically impossible. -- The question: “What shore duty would you give, these men?” is easily answered. Most of the machinists on _ shore duty could be profitably employed at our navy yards, in the shops and on ships under repairs; others would be _ extremely useful as assistants to inspecting officers at ship- zy ieee steel works, ordnance factories, and so_ forth. ‘hose employed at navy yards should have quarters in bar- racks; those on detached duty should receive commutation for quarters and rations. oe ba Even if the allurement of shore duty were offered, I be- e that there would still be a dearth of machinists; and THE MARINE RECORD. APRIL 10, 1902. I am satisfied that the most practical method of supplying the deficiency would be through the agency of a properly organized and administered apprentice system. I believe that we should take in our men as we do our officers— while they are young. It is a well known fact that under the old apprentice system trades were but slowly learned, because frequently the master had a selfish interest in re- tarding the advancement of his pupil. But it is safe to say, I think, that a system could ‘be organized within the naval service that would give us well-qualified and well- disciplined young mechanics, fit for any machinist duty, afloat or ashore, at the end of three years of training. Assuming such a system in existence, and the period of enlistment on probation as fcur years, the age limits at enlistment we may take at seventeen and nineteen years. he machinist apprentice should spend his first year at a navy yard, on the Atlantic or Pacific coast. The appren- tice should be quartered in barracks. . They should be divided into sections of about twenty boys each. The in- struction at each yard selected for apprentice training should be under the supervision cf a commissioned officer, assisted by two warrant machinists especially selected for the duty. A scheme of instruction and discipline, pre- pared under the supervision of the Bureau of Steam Engin- eering, should be incorporated in the navy regulations. An approved glossary of technical terms as used in the navy should be prepared for the instruction of the boys. The rating for the first year of service would be machinist ap- prentice, third class, and the pay might be put at $16 per month. In order to give the young apprentices healthful recrea- tion within the limits of the navy yards, the barracks in each instance should adjoin a gymnasium equipped with the usual apparatus, and. including baths, swimming tank and bowling alley. There should also be provided a reading room supplied with trade papers and other reading matter. The expense of the reading room equipment should be borne by the apprentices. Should the machinist apprentice be retained in the ser- vice for a second year of instruction he should be given the next higher rating and the pay of $30 per month. The second year should be spent at sea in the performance of the duties of oiler and machinist’s helper. | Machinist ap- prentices at sea should be in excess of complement. The third and final year of instruction should be at a navy yard, with the rate of machinist apprentice, first class, and pay of $40 per month. The rate of machinist, second class, should be abolished, and machinist apprentices, first class, should, after a year in their rating, be eligible for promotion to the rate of machinist, with.pay of $70 per month. Chief machinists should receive $80 per month. Quarterly reports as to aptitude, industry and general conduct should be made to the department, and apprentices falling below the standard, should be summarily dropped. I have not outlined a course of instruction for the ap- prentices at navy yards. There are many officers in the service who are well qualified to devise a course in the machine shop, foundry, pattern shop, and so forth, and such a program would doubtless be forthcoming at short notice if required. Some instruction in the coppersmith’s art would increase the all-round usefulness of the young machinist. Finally, I think it is axiomatic that the more good men we get and retain in the service the more attractive will it become to the good men outside. oo WATER LEVELS. The stage of Lake Superior in March, 1902, by the U. S. gauge at Houghton, Mich., was 0.30 foot above low water datum. The lake has been falling during the past winter, as it usually does, but is now nearly stationary, being only 0.04 foot lower in March than for the preced- ing month, and probably at the lowest point for the sea- son of 1902. The average time of lowest water for the entire year is about March 23. The March stage of the lake was 0.22 foot lower than in March a year ago, but is 0.38 foot higher than the average March stage for a period of 26 years. Every- thing considered the present water level is favorable for navigation. The melting of snow, the reappearance of rainfalls, and the opening up of ice bound streams and swamps, should soon start the lake on its annual rise, which usually com- mences during the month of April. J. H. Dartine, Assistant Engineer. or or cr CABLE TO HONOLULU. George G. Ward, of New York, vice president of the Commercial Cable Co., arrived in San Francisco a few days ago to select a landing place for the projection cable between the Pacific Coast and the Philippines. Mr. Ward is accompanied by Charles Curtiss, the company’s chief electrician. While there Mr. Ward will consult with Mr. John Mackay, president of the company. Mr. Ward says: “We are going to build the cable irrespective of con- gressional action. The first link between San Francisco and Honolulu will be completed by the end of next Octo- ber. ‘The cable will be shipped from England next July. It has not yet been decided where we will land on this coast. It will either be at Monterey or this city, probably the latter.” LIQUID FUEL IN THE MERCHANT AND NAVAL = SERVICES. : Whilst the advantages’ of liquid fuel, and the possi- bility of its successful mechanical use, have been generally admitted, little or no progress in its application has been made outside the Russian inland Caspian Sea until re- cently. says London Engineering, and the reason for this stagnation has been mainly of a commercial character. The supply of fuel outside of Russia has been but nominal, and no general application was possible. Such a condi- tion of things never became possible until the recent dis- covery of the large supplies of oil suitable for fuel, first in Borneo and Burmah, and quite recently in Texas and California. The whole aspect of the question, whether regarded by the Admiralty, the ship owner, or the naval architect, has been changed by the assurance of continucus supplies of liquid fuel; and it becomes necessary to treat the ques- tion, not only as of practical importance, but of urgency to those responsible for the highest efficiency of fighting and carrying ships. The British Admiralty has determined to exhaustively test the use of this newly resuscitated means of evaporation, not only in destroyers, but also in three cruisers and one battleship. ‘The Italian Admiralty have been pursuing the question for some years, even be- fore large supplies were assured. The German Admiralty have used liquid fuel on the China station for many months, in lieu of coal, for auxiliary purposes on board ship. The Hamburg-American Steamship Co. have fitted four steamers for liquid fuel, and the North German Lloyd two vessels. The Dutch navy have fitted liquid fuel appa- ratus in conjunction with coal to two destroyers, and ~ Dutch mail and cargo steamers in the Far East have the new liquid fuel in regular use. Danish ship owners have ordered the building in Germany of two steamers to burn liquid fuel; and some twenty vessels under the British flag are now running regularly under liquid fuel; whilst. at least’a dozen are building with suitable fuel apparatus | included in their design. It may be expected that the supply to many existing stations will be drawn as regards the ports east of the Suez canal from Borneo and Ran- goon, and as regards those west of the canal and in South ‘America from the ‘Texas fields; South African stations being neutral as regards the heavy charges of the Suez canal, and therefore likely to draw their supply from Borneo or Texas with equal economy. The South Amer- ican stations will nc doubt be supplied from the Texas and California fields. ‘The practical figures of comparison between coal and oil fuel realized in recent practice are that two tons weight of oil are equivalent to three tons weight of coal, and 36 cubic feet of oil are equivalent to 67 cubic feet of coal as usually stored ina ship’s bunkers— that is to say, if the change of fuel be effected, the range of action is increased by 50 per cent. upon. the bunker weight allotted, and nearly go per cent. upon the bunker space allotted. The ship’s complement would be reduced by the almost complete abolition of the stoker element. Rebunkering at sea—so anxious a problem with ccal— would be made easy, there being no difficulty in pumping from a store ship to a warship in mid-ocean in ordinary weather; 300 tons an hour is quite a common rate of de- livery in the discharge of a tank steamer’s cargo under ordinary conditions of pumping. The cost of fuel in the east is less than that of Welsh coal, when the cost of transport and Suez canal dues are added to the original price of coal as delivered in a Welsh port. The greatest commercial gain with merchant steamers is the increase of weight and space available for freight. Adopting the proportion cf three tons coal as equal to two tons oil fuel, we find a gain weight of, say, 1,000 tons in the freight of a first class Atlantic steamer, and a gain of nearly the whole of the bunker space; there would be a gain ap- proaching 100,000 cubic feet of measurement made availa- ble for freight in such a vessel. For most ships, 25 per cent. of the space now occupied by coal bunker storage could be utilized for cargo, by the transfer of the fuel in a liquid form to the double bottom and other parts not now of any direct use. : EASTERN FREIGHT REPORT. Messrs. Funch, Edye & Co., New York, report the con- dition of the eastern freight market as follows: The anticipated improvement in the demand for grain tonnage has not yet materialized, and it appears doubt- ful whether much business in this direction will be prac- ticable until the opening of the lake navigation. Since our last report there has been only one grain fixture, and the rate accepted is if anything slightly in charterer’s favor. Whilst there are a fair number of steamers offer- ing for deals from Bay of Fundy ports, shippers are _ex- periencing difficulty in providing prompt cargoes. Two or three fixtures have been effected for coals to Medit- erranean ports, and although the rate obtained in two in- stances is slightly in advance of previous quotations, there is no great activity manifest. Charterers from the Gulf are inclined to operate on the basis of 8s. 9d to 9s. on net form of charter, but owners are holding out for a slight advance on these figures. ‘Timber charterers from the Gulf continue to show indifference about making further commitments unless owners are disposed to make some concessions in the rates. Business in sail tonnage continues of a slow order, but with very little tonnage forcing on the market, former rates are well sustained.