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sail; neither her crew nor necessary provi- sions were on board. She changed her berth o.| by the requirement of the harbor master, par hort, with the done jide ng go much of her voy- short distance nearer of the dock master, actually ready for ance, r c'ose to the dock-gate, ok on board balance of 3. Onthe 15th she went and sailed on the 20th. g; not having complied of her charter, therefore, not Jiable for damages in re- pt her. ‘The libellant sues to recover 2d breach of charter party ng the Danish bark Atalanta ad at New York to be loaded: describes her as ‘now at Bre- r Philadelphia, guaranteed ‘or before December 10th, 1886.’’ idents refused to accept her be- .as they allege, she did not sail from n until after December 10th. ipulation as to time of sailing was a yn precedent, which, if not fullfilled, e respondent to reject the vessel. ta question of fault or reasonable ‘ot sailing within the time pro- vessel under such a stipulation Von Luigen v. Davidson 118 land, 3 Sant. 818. The proof shows that in December the vessel was loading within the dock at Bre- men. On the 4th of December, ber general cargo being all or nearly all on board, she was ordered by the harbor master to remove from that part of the dock where she was lying to some other berth. She was there- upon moved as near to the dock gate as she could get and then took on board the bal- ance of her crew and provisions for the voy- age. The respondents claim that on the 6th of December she was entirely ready for sea. She did not leave her last berth within the dock, however, nor go out of the dock?gate, until the 15th, when she went into the road- stead outside, where she was detained by contrary winds until the 20th of December, when she went to sea. ldo not think the whole evidence fairly sustains the claim that she was prepared to sail by the 6th of December. ‘The Fried- laneer sailed from the same dock on the 11th, The mate of the Atalanta testifies that the Friedlaneer sailed on “one of the days I was getting ready with her cargo; when we were taking in the last of her cargo.” Aud if the Atalanta was in fuct ready to sail on the 6th, no reason appears why she did not sail. The mate’s testimony indicates the contrary. It has been held that similar warranties are complied with if the ship breaks ground and accomplishes some part of the journey, however short, with the bona fide intent of prosecuting so much of the voyage; though the master khew that he would be obliged shortly to come to anchor, because of con- trary winds, and made the start in order to comply with the warranty. Cochran v. Fisher, Tyrwhitt 424; 5 do, 496; The Fran- cesco Cuno, 4 Phila. Weekly Notes of Cases, 415; Pettigrew v. Pringle 3 B. & Ad. 514, In the case last cited Lord Tenduden says: “The general principle of the decision is this, thatif aship quits her moorings and removes, though only to a short distance, being perfectly ready to proceed upon her voyage, and by some subsequent occurrence detuined, that is nevertheless a sailing, but it is otherwise if at the time when she quits her moorings and hoists her sails, she is not in a condition for completing her sea voy- age.”’ The facts of the present case do not bring the Atalanta within the principle of these decisions. The change of berth by the Ata- lanta on the 4th, although it brought her a few lengths nearer to the dock gate, through which she must pass, was not a movement made in the prosecution of any partof her voyage. She was not ready to “now at Bremen, n or before December ot December, her gen- ny a was moved by order prevent, on compliance with the |} and was obliged to stop at some other place within the dock because she was not ready to proceed tosea, When she was afterwards got ready, whether before or after the 10th, “| she did not prosecute any part of her voyage juntil the 15th, The previous change of place was merely in the preliminary prepa- ration for the voyage, and can not be held to | be a constructive sailing prior to the 10th, 80as to defeat the plain intention of her charter. Pettigrew v. Pringle, 8 B. & Ad. 514; Graham v. Barras, 5 do, 10,11; Rides- dale v, Newnham, 3 M. & 8. 456; Wilson v. Salvator, 1 Moody & M. 809, The libel must therefore be dismissed with costes. November 15, 1887. em ci SUBSTITUTE AS GOOD AS REGULAR. To the Editor of the Marine Record: Curcaago, Itu., December 6. I will not attempt to picture to you all the ups and downs connected with my lec- ture on “Samson,’’? which I was unfortunate enough to deliver in Port Huron recently. Suffice it to say, that it was a failure in every sense, for the lecture that I wrote and the one that I delivered were not the same; for some one, bent upon ruining the honest intentions of a member of the Marine Recorp’s editorial staff, changed the docu- ment after I had reached the speaker’s table and just as I was in the act of getting a drink of water. A very fair audience greeted me, and after the introduction, quite a number ot the “boys” went out, The lecture, as I wrote it, is straggling around Port Huron somewhere, no doubt, while the lecture as J delivered it is here produced, not to show the euridition of the gifted writer, but to demonstrate the perse- cution of honest labor. “Samson,” says the writer, ‘stands forth upon the mountain of history like a mcun- tain goat, his, Samson’s, long hair floating in the breeze of time, emblematic of that great physical strength that enabled him to carry the gates of the police station to the top of Prospect hill when the enemy thought him tast asleep.’’ {At this junture three boys and six girls left the room.] ‘Neither sacred or profane history giyes any information as to Samson’s name, that is, his g ven name, and all we have to guide us in this direction is tradition, which tells us that his family name was San, his father being atelegraph operator and is recorded upon the oriental pay roll as John Sam. John Sam had thirteen sons, and about the time the seventh son, he of historical re- nown, was born, the grocery keeper where Mr. Sam bought his butter and negotiated for names for his children, issued a boycott on the old man, and refused ‘to sell him any more names for his children unless he would agree to pay off a non-union servant he had in his family. Mr. Sam was a God-fearing man, and said: ““*Verily I say unto you, I’m blamed if I?ll pay anybody off to suit the union, and my son can figure in the world’s history without a name, for every one knows that he is Sam’s son,’ and let it go at that. “Thus our hero grew to manhood and figures to-day in the world’s history as Sam- son, or the son of Sam.” [Some more folks just left. ] “About three weeks after that some folks in another town got mad at Sam’s son be- cause he beat them at a lifting match, and one of the gang went to a medium and there learned that the strength of tbe victor lay in his hair, for Samson wore his hair Jong and done up in a French twist. “The two families did not move in the same set, so one of the boys who yot worsted in the lifting match, gave his sister eighty cents to rush over, make love to Samson, and when she canght him asleep, cut off his hair and hurry home. “Delilah, for that was the girl’s name, said she’d do it, and accordingly she threw her handkerchief over her shoulder the first time she eaw Samson, and he followed her to the little grove of timber on the other side of town. Delilah then told Samson how she was gone on him, and asked him to take a pnil at the flask, which he did. ‘**And the boys mixed the whisky,’ says Plutarch, ‘and Sameon soon slept the sleep of the drunkard,’ “When Samson woke up the next after- noon he did not know where he was, for his hair was gone; but te found a note telling him that his girl had been giving him taffy, and that she was going to have a switch made from his hair, and that she would wear it to the ball on New Year’seve. Samson grew angry and he did say cuss words, whereupon he ran down the hill, his vision obscured by tears, until he stumbled and fell head first ——$—$—$—$—$———_———— ‘up minate ylobules of water that are held in | In connection with the above I remark | that if such wheels were erected in the parks of our city, and driven at a high speed in the hot days of summer they would remove much of the foul heated air to be replaced by air cooler and healthier. Besides such a wheel would have power to create air in fall in atime of draught. Although this may be into a barbed wire tence, putting out both his eyes, Samson picked his once brilliant optics from the sand, muttering as he did so: “Now, I’m in a great fix; will have to wander through life looking through a pair of glass eyes.”’ [At this point there was not one left of my audience but the door keeper and he was asleep. ] a first attempt to show man’s power in the “Samson used black oil on his head and| atmosphere, much good will come of it.— his hair grew out again,’’ history says; and, Jas. E, Coun, in Maritime Register. (ionic ali MiilSaapens he swore revenge, so when Barnum 7 STEAMBOAT INSPECTION. along with his circus he bought a good many tickets and gave them to his enemies, The following Smuncation, signed Jus tice, was published in the New York Star whereupon they all went to the cireus. of the 20th ult: ee eee ee eee In a conversation with a prominent ma- ct d ee ee ee ee voy rine engineer I learned of a very grave throwing both arms sround it said, ‘now for revenge;’ he gave one jerk, pulled the detect in the laws governing our steamboat center pole up by the roots, letting the can- inspection service tending to, if not super- inducing, serious abuse. en et ee Cees ere Peeeule: DOr jared thek thi Iooal inspector in this ished in the heat of the conflict, his arms i‘ port has encountered trouble and difficulty fastened about the neck of the ring- master, by issuing an unlawful license to an engi- and 4s ‘ ‘ Mr. Editor, somebody turned the lights neer, which license is illegal according to a out and I had to walk home, The only very singular and seriously questionable ; ¥ law recommended by the board of supervis~ cause I can find for this joke is, that I started ‘ 7 thai: Caeela/ aia AOROCeR in to put on style and got left. ane Fospectorn OF e i PP iin 'Skoonh RnGuier by Jas. A. Dumont on January 24, 1887, at * | Washington. The gentleman thus illegally licensed is thoroughly conversant with his profession and entirely competent,and would have been legally licensed had be made his application one hour before this suspicious and defective law took effect. By this recent enactment no man who has been employed as machinist in building and erecting engines of any class or size can get a license as an engineer of a steam vessel over 100 tons burden unless he has had a service of one year in some capacity in the engineer’s apartments of some steam vessel of 20 tons burden or upward, and then he must be indorsed by the master or engineer with whom he has been employed; his pre- | vious services in constructing engines, plac- | ing them on board ships and taking them to sea on trial trips is not allowed to his credit. To make a test of this sinister law one of for air are completly filled with ‘warm the most noted men in the United States in m engineering, who has been employed |’ Sa ehcte Uae OF eae ee RY RS ESSER THE REMOVAL OF FOG, When man was given dominion over the earth he was told to subdue it, which was equivalent to telling him that he has the ability and the powerto doit, It was telling him that it wasa work to be done, thus mak- ing it a privilege and a duty, and the goal of man’s ambition to accomplish it. Supported by such high authority I remark that one of the evils of our day is fog and I ask the privilege to place before your readers for their consideration a way to remove it from the waters around the vity of New York. Fogs are produced by a warmer air resting on or moving over colder water. Southerly and easterly winds cause them and northerly and westerJy winds disperse them. To un- derstand how fog is produced I offer tke fol- lowing: In southerly winds the columns vapor, which resting on the colder water, became capillary tubes that attract and take | 28 designer, superintendent, as well as erect-| ing and running engines as a general expert and as an unquestioned authority in all mat- ters connected with various styles of marine and stationary engines of the largest class. He has also been in this business for forty years and is pow part owner of one of our largest machine works. This gentleman, with all his skill and ex- perience to recommend him, applied to the local inspectors (within the last ten days) for an engineer’s license for steam vessels of of 250 tons only. This license the inspec- tors were compelled (by the singular law of January 24, 1887) to refuse, notwithstand- ing the application was earnestly indorsed by such distinguisked engine builders as George W. Quintard, a part proprietor of the Quintard iron works, and a long time president of the Charleston Steamship Co; Chas. H. Delemater, proprietor of the Dele- mater iron works; Benjamin F. Sherwood, ex-engineer in chief of the United States navy; Andrew Fletcher, proprietor of the North River steam engine works; Herman Winter, superintending and constructing engineer of Morgan’s Texas line of steam- ships, and Meirs Coryell, superintending engineer of the Cromwell line of steam- ships. These gentlemen stand at the head of the steam engine business in our country, and have known the accomplished but rejected applicant for forty years. What a farce is this law of January 24, 1887, unless its con cealed purpose was to force property and life in the hands of incompetent men. What are the antecedents and experience of men who would recommend such a law? They have never been designers, con- structors or practical machinists in building steam engines, and consequently are not qualified to provide legal regulations for this most important service; important from the fact that on steam vessels entering and leaving New York City more than 400,000, 000 of passengers were carried the last years.” suspension as water by capillary attraction, thus creating what we know as fog. In northerly winds al] this is changed, the air is moving equatorward and wants more vapor which it takes from the fog. To turn water into vapor much heat is required, this absorption of heat creates cold and the con- sequence is the demand for vapor and the creation of cold makes short work of the fog, On inland waters fogs are not much ele- vated; in dense fogs on the Mississippi, pilots navigate steamboats successfully by climbing a Juadder a few feet where they can see the tops of the trees on the river bank over the fog. At sea fog banks are often seen adistance; seen in this way I should judge at their average height to be less than 300 feet. With this knowledge ot fog to help us, the question is, can it be removed from im- portant business localities. In answer I offer the following asan experiment worth trying: Select a place on Governors Island where a screw propeller wheel of 100 feet diameter can be placed to work horizontally 20 feet above the surface of the ground. To support the long arms of such.a wheel secure a light bar of the pattern used on railroads face downward under each arm so as to form a circle 50 feet from the central shaft, and one or more similar bars inside of itas may seem expedient. ‘These bars to rest on light verti- cal wheels supported on posts placed at short distances apart under them. The object of this arrangement is to support so large a wheel when driven at high speed when the pressure downward on it would be great, The fans of such a wheel would perhaps be best to be formed as window blinds are. To keep the wind from interfering with the operation of the wheel it should be pro- tected by a fence built around it, the fence to begin a little below the wheel and extend upward say 200 feet. The reader will understand that sucha wheel properly constructed and driven by machinery at high speed, would take a large volume of fog laden air from under it and drive it ina rapid current upward where the temperature would be so different that the air would be stripped of its fog, and if it did this successfully, it would show that a few such wheels got up at a moderate expense wonld banish the fog from any section —————————__—_— THE BALTA FOR LIFE SAVING, Rear Admiral Ammen has proposed to the Secretary of the Navy a plan for the rescue of shipwrecked passengers. It consists of the con- struction of what is called a balta, or float. The Bear Admiral proposes that in launching them: “The head sail should be hoisted so as to bring the wind quarterly; oil bags would be thrown covered by or to leeward of them. This, |°¥eF from each quarter, The railing at the however, is takinga shortrighted view of the | "2 fitted) for: apalil ping. sonld: be: let: dows |and launching skids putin place and a balsa matter, it is no measure of the effect such a} carried aft by eight men and lowered with four wheel would have on the atmosphere. One| on it, Then a rough car to fitin the skids would such wheel would destroy its balance over a |}. joaded with the helpless persons and lowered large district, it would create great atmos-| | to the balta, be received and placed, and the op- pheric waves that rolling in every direction | eration continued until the boat had her load; over this district would no doubt break up| then she would be cast adrift, make a drag of the fog. her mast and sail, throw overboard her oil bag, —_ ss and the same oj eration would be repeated un- til every one was embarked. Then they should fasten to each other in sections of fives.’ The Admiral in a letter to Secretary Whitney, asks that the department construct a balta and sub- ject it to practical tests in all kinds of weather. The balta consists of two casks, upon which a platform is laid. In the casks are scuttles for stowing provisions, A sufficient number of them to carry a thousand people could, in the opinion of the Rear Admiral, be carried ona large steamer without inconvenience. WAR SHIPSTHAT ARE WEAK AND SLOW Captain Bunce’s report to the Secretary of the Navy on the neweruiser Atlanta shows that ship to be ill adapted if not positively unfit for the purposes of war. He has commanded her since she was in commission, and we may, there- fore, be sure he had ample opportunity to study her defects. The ship, he says, is well nigh un- manageable in rough weather, and her battery is too heavy. Add to this that she is both nn- armored and slow, and it remains she can neither fight nor run away. Of the sister ship Boston, like unto her in construction and armament, the same is exactly true, Captain Bunce suggests some fifty alterations, o eof which is that she be built up out of the water both forward and aft. Such changes, it is said, would cost some- thing like a quarter of a million and perhaps much more. These alterations, though adding to her buoyancy, would in no wise improve her speed, and it may thus be seen how profitles# would be the task of the constructor who should undertake them, It ought to be said here that in nowise can the that could be construed into such an inference in Captain Bunce’s report. It was not the con- tractor who decided she should have low bul warkas, not he who miscalculated the her load line when her guns were mo her coal bunkers full, not he see to: ee ‘knots ons. All this was done for | advisory | "What been thinking of? is th suggests itself to those members a3 autho! ities o pie took for the r mod. Acidtedtige: but seem to hay of the advantages of her wo searching vainly, it seems, Speed, it has been shown, is more t than heavy armor; but to an unar: speed is, of course, a prime necessity, else the assault of heavy guns, and though these sides, like the Atlanta’s and Boston’s, were backed with bunkers filled with coals, they would, likely enough, prove at best buta sorry protection, if they afforded any at all. But we are told: ‘‘These ships are not intended for the line of battle at all. They are simple cruisers for the protection and attack of com- mercial ships in time of war, and to carry the flag to different ports in time of peace, Their function is rather to keep the peace than to make war, and they are properly designated as ‘the police of the sea.”” They must, of course, be able to defend themselves from enemies of approximate size and similar character, and to escape by their speed from heavily armored iron- clads of the enemy.’”’ This 1s all very well, but with the exception of showing the flag, which our old hulks of an- tique type are quite able to do, these new cruis- ersare unable to fulfill the eonditions as laid down by their apologists. They would not be able to protect commercial shiys, because a ref- erence to the muster of foreign ships shows many of them that have sufficient speed to overhaul them and power to beat them off; and as to their capacity to come up with the fast steam fleet of the European mercantile marine, it is immediately obvious thet they are nothing like fast enough, As to the power of the guns of these cruisers to stand off an enemy, it were a bootless errand to inquire, because, as we have seen from Captain Bunce’s report, not to men- tion the recent disastrous trials, they are not structurally strong enough to carry such guns, As to the Chicago, Admiral Porter has told us over his own signature that she is filled with machinery of a complicated kind, put into her, willy-nilly, through the agency of the four branches of the cirenmlocution office whieh fur- nish machinery for ships, and that # merchant steamer, which he names as carrying engines of 8 similar type, spends half of her time laid up for repairs. There are war shine afloat to-day, not unsrmored cruisers, but line-of-battle ships, that have a record of over nineteen knots an hour. There’s the Spanish ship Reina Regente, with a record of 20°6 knots over the measured mile; the Dogali, built in England for the Ital- ian government, 19°66 knots; the Orlando, built by private contractors forthe English govern- ment, 19°25; and there others which do not fall far short in speed of nineteen knols. How could an Atlanta, or a Boston, or a Chicago pro- tect or attack a merchant fleet with such ships athand? They cvuld neither fight nor fly from _ them, What we want are fast cruisers, at least as fast as any afloat. Yankee ingenuity, which has never failed when put to the test, ought to be able to construct them. It is certain that Yankeé ambition will not be content with any others, Atlanta’s defects be laid at the door of the con- tractor who built her, and there is not a word ‘ ‘she might find herself opposing her eggshell sides to TES SEI, renee va