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THE MARINE RECORD. JULY 3, 1902. A TRUSCOTT BOAT SIMPLE, SAFE, lighting. , RELIABLE, SPEEDY. It may be possible to build better and safer boats, but it hasn’t been done yet. We send a completely illustrated catalogue and price list free, which tells you all about boats and WHY TRUSCOTT BOATS EXCEL. Truscott Boat Mfg. Co., ST. JOSEPH, MICH. 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. pn SE Uae Eada EES! TREASURY DECISIONS. Amendment to regulations, U. 5. Marine-Hospital Service. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Orrice of SupgrvistInc SurcroN-GENERAL M. H. §., Wasuineron, D. C., June 21, 1902. To commissioned officers and others concerned: ; Department Circular No. 104, December 3, 1901, fixing the rate of commutation for officers on duty in charge of bureau divisions, is hereby revoked. The following amendment to the regulations, U. S. Marine-Hospital Service, approved November 20, 1897, is hereby promulgated and shall take effect on and after this date: Paragraph 7oa. Commissioned medical officers sery- ing in charge of the administrative divisions of the Ma- rine-Hospital Bureau (the miscellaneous division excepted) shall receive compensation of $2,900 per annum and _al- lowances and commutation of their respective grades. officer in charge of the miscellaneous division shall receive compensation of $2,000 per annum and allowances and commutation of his grade. WALtER WYMAN. Supervising Surgeon-General U. S. M. H. §. Approved: H. A. Taytor, Acting Secretary. Waurtre Houses, June, 21, 1902. Approved: T. RcosrvE. Amendment to regulations, U. S. Marine-Hospital Ser- vice, relating to relief furnished officers of the Revenue- Cutter Service. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Orrice oF SUPERVISING SURGEON-GENERAL M. H. S. Wasuincton, D. C., June 21, 1902. To commissioned officers, acting assistant surgeons, and others concerned: The following addition to the revised regulations for the government of the United States Marine-Hospital Ser- vice, approved November 29, 1897, is hereby promulgated, and will be in force on and after this date: Paragraph 478b. Commissioned medical officers and acting assistant surgeons of the Marine-Hespital Service will render professional aid to officers of the Revenue-Cut- ter Service residing at the port, at their residences, when said officers of the Revenue-Cutter Service for ‘any reason can not avail themselves of the accommodations offered by the marine hespital, and when they are physically unable to present themselves at the marine-hospital office. The medicines or appliances prescribed shall be furnished from the dispensary of the Marine-Hospital Service when prac- ticable. ; 3 WaALtER WyMAn, ; Supervising Surgeon-General M. H. S. - Approved: H. A. Tayior, Acting Secretary. Waurte Hous, June 21, 1902. Approved: ‘I’. RoosgveE.‘. —$— — — oan a _ Violation of Rules. of Navigation—Liability.—Act. Cong. Aug. 19, (S. 6 St: 320-327) art. 20, requires that, where a steamboat and sailing vessel are in’ danger of collision, the steamboat shall keep out of the way.’ Arti- cle 21 prescribes that, where one of two vessels ‘is re- quired to keep out of the way the other shall hold its course and speed. Article 22 provides that the vessel required to keep out of the way shall if possible avoid crossing ahead of the other. Article 23 declares that the vessel reaguired to keep out of the way shall if necessary, slacken the speed, stop, or reverse. A steam ferryboat came practically to a standstill in Norfolk harbor to permit a steamboat to pass, and then rang up, and passed full speed under its stern, At that moment a sloop was ob- served passing down the harbor immediately across the steamers bow, and the ferryboat, instead of complying with the rules, whistled for the right of way, without slackening speed or reversing; and a collision resulted, in which libelant’s intestate, a passenger on the. sloop, was killed. Held, that the ferryboat was at fault and liable. The Elizabeth, 114 Fed. Rep. (U, S.) 757. ‘The’ CANALS—LAKE ERIE TO NEW YORK. (Virws or Mag. I. W. Symons). There are three possible routes for such a canal from Lake Erie to New York. One follows in general the line of the Erie Canal from Buffalo to Albany and down the Hudson to New York. ‘This route, while possible, is not practicable, if only for two reasons: (1) the cost, and (2) the length of time required for the passage by vessels. Along the line of the Erie Canal and very largely due to the canal there has been built up a chain of cities, which has not its equal in importance in America; Albany, Troy, Watervliet, Amsterdam, Herkimer, Schenectady, Little Falls, Utica, Rome, Syracuse, Lyons, Rochester, I,ockport, Tonawanda and Buffalo being the principal ones. The construction of a ship canal through or around these cities, with their neighboring railways and highways, would be exceedingly expensive. Along this route the distance from Buffalo to Albany would be 350 miles of which at least 250 miles would be represented by a narrow, artifi- cial waterway, in which loaded ships could not make more than four miles an hour; so that the time consumed in passage, irrespective of other considerations, would render the route impracticable. Jf this route is impracticable for a canal suited to lake vessels, it is doubly and trebly im- practicable for the much larger and deeper canal suited to ocean vessels. In both cf the other possible ship canal routes the pas- sage is made from I,ake Erie to Lake Ontario, and the latter becomes part of the route. In one case Lake On- tario is left at Oswego, and the ship canal route follows un the Oswego river to the Oneida river, thence up the Oneida river to Oneida Lake, through the lake and on and over the divide to the Mohawk river down through the valley of the Mohawk to the Hudson and down the Hud- son to’ New York. ‘Though this route, also, would be entirely within the territory of the United States, there are several serious objections to it. The first important objection is the great amount of lockage required. ‘To lock down from Lake Erie to Take Ontario there would be 326 feet of descent; to lock up from Lake Ontario to the summit level above Oneida lake, there would be 172 feet of ascent; and to lock down from this summit level to the Hudson at or near Troy or Albany, there would be 418 feet of descent—o16 feet in all, making the passage one way. As every foot of lockage costs a large sum and consumes time in passage, the objection to an excessive amount of lockage is obvious. Second the supply of water to the summit level above Oneida lake, for a large ship canal is somewhat problematical and certainly is ex- pensive. Again, the building of a large ship canal through the thickly populated valley of the Mohawk would be at- tended with many difficulties and be very costly. The third ship canal route follows down Lake Ontario to the St. Lawrence river; thence down the river, using the main river channel, to the vicinity of Ogdensburg; thence still on down by canals, around the rapids, using the river itself where possible, to some point to the north- west ofthe lower or the northern end of Lake Champlain. Here the St. Lawrence would be left and the canal would be built from the river to Lake Champlain which would be followed to its head. From the head of Lake Cham- plain the route would be by canal across the Upper Hud- cae then down this river, past Troy and Albany, to New ork, This route has some advantages and some disadvantages. It has less lockage than the Oswego-Oneida route and a very large portion of it is in the wide, free waters of Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence river, Lake Champlain and the Hudson river; the water supply for lockage is unlimited, and the canal by this route is probably much cheaper than by any other. On the other hand,:it is the longest route and it has the marked objection that it is not entirely within our own dominion; a portion’of it on the St. Law- rence river and the canal from this river to Lake Cham- plain being in Canada. And this leads up to the fact that the natural outlet of the Great Lakes region, the line of least resistence and the shortest and cheapest route for a ship canal to tidewater, is by the St. Lawrence to. the seaport of Montreal, which has the distinction of being farther away from the sea, farther inland, than any other seaport in the world habitually visited by ocean ships. It is a remarkable fact that it is about ten times as far from the sea as any other seaport. The question then arises: If a ship canal be built from Lake Erie to New York by the Ontario, St. Lawrence, Lake Champlain route, would it not be more apt to re- dound to the disadvantage of American commerce than to its advantage? In my opinion it certainly would. Such a ship canal route would follow down the St. Lawrence until within 30 to 50 miles of the seaport of Montreal. It would then branch off to New York, which would be reached only after traversing some 350 miles of canal, lake and river; and when at New York commodities destined for most foreign markets would be farther away from these markets than when they left the St. Lawrence. Such a canal would be of some benefit to our local and strictly domestic business, but it would just as certainly be a detriment to our inbound and outbound foreign com- merce, tending strongly to take it away from New York and to build up the commerce of the port of Montreal. Of course, to reach Montreal, Canada would have to add a short section to our ship canal. But this she would cer- tainly do; and then it would be inconceivable that grain, lumber, iron ore, manufactured steel or other articles destined for foreign markets, reaching within 50 miles of Montreal, would retrace their steps through 350 miles of a contracted waterway back to the port of New York. For New York to build such a canal or permit it to be built would, in my opinion, be to commit commercial sui- cide. There would, of course, be some interests along the route which would be benefited by it; but the state as a whole would be tremendously injured. ‘The same is true, although to a less extent, in regard to a ship canal built by the Ontario, Oswego, Oneida, Mohawk route. If the Great Lakes freighters, carrying 7,000, 8,000 or 9,000 tons of produce, should go into Lake Ontario, they would con- tinue on down the St. Lawrence as far as Prescott. or Ogdensburg, only about 120 miles from Montreal and then transfer into 2,000 or 3,000-ton barges to be taken through the Canadian canals to Montreal. All foreign bound com- merce would undoubtedly take this course rather than the route from Oswego to New York, through 320 miles mostly of contracted and dangerous waterway, with its 590 feet of lockage. It is altogether probable, too, that in this event Canada would soon enlarge her St. Law- rence canals so as to permit the Great Lakes vessels to run directly to Montreal, and the resultant benefits would in any event be far greater to Montreal than they would be to New York. . : WHISTLE SIGNALS—RULES OF THE ROAD. Speaking of the Kirby-Egan collision Capt. John Steven- son, Detroit, said: “There are too many of these colli- sions and the matter should be taken up by the lines run- ning passenger boats out of this city. ‘They should instruct their captains to give all freight boats a wide berth. It is not -a question of law or rules of right of way, but of safety. If an accident did happen to one of the big passen- ger boats loaded with one or two thousand people, it would be a horrible thing. There is no use waiting to exchange whistles, the passenger steamer should keep away from them in the first place. Usually she can because the pas- senger boats are lighter draft, and their captains know the water better than the men on the freighters, who are ply- ing the whole chain of lakes. ‘The freighters are usually loaded to the limit of the channel, and are afraid to give way. “They whistle for pert or starboard, but keep right on the range. The passenger boats ought not to stand on any question of right or law, with so many lives involved.” These sentiments: are indorsed by other yesselmen and captains: ° It is added that Capt. Fox, of the Kirby, is as skillful as amy man in keeping his boat at a safe distance from danger, and pecple are wondering how the Egan ever got into such close quarters with him.