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THE MARINE RECORD. improvements now being carried on nt at lake districts. nent of Major Adams will again admit of ng his entire attention as chief engineer of division, and it is to be hoped that the ng works which Gen. Poe has plauned Milton B. Adams was born in Pennsylvania and the West Point academy September Ist, 1861. s promoted to major July 3rd, 1883, and was last y at Burlington, Vt. jor Adams has had charge of the defensive works Montgomery, N. Y., the improvements of the at Ogdensburg, N. Y., Plattsburg, N. Y., and gton, Vt.; the constraction of a breakwater at ’s Point, N. Y., improvement of the St. Lawrence, leroga and (Great Chazy rivers, the narrows at Lake mplain, N. Y., and Ottter Creek, Vt., and the exami- tion of the harbor at Adams Landing, on Grand Isle North [lero Harbor, Lake Champlain, Vt. ajor Adams is without doubt a highly accomplished er and the entire lake interests will be pleased to come him to the field of his new labors and to give hearty support in all work destined to enhance the ities to shipping and improve the waterways, rivers herbors in the ninth and eleventh light-house icts. rs “A A NOBLE BENEFICENCE,. ies enrolled under the title of the Woman’s National lief Association provide the life saving stations of the Tnited States with parcels of good warm clothing, both in male and female attire. Many no doubt bave thought ‘that the life saving service procured these necessary comforts for the shipwrecked and distressed rescued from the jaws of death, but we fail to find in the annual reports avy spare cluthing allowances, therefore, the in- ~ ference is,that thess charitable women see that each sta- is supplied with the necessities of cluthing. ‘This isa grand and noble work that. the Woman’s ‘National Relief Association has taken upon itself, and the efforts of the association to assist those in dire ex- tremity are again being solicited ou behalf of discharged patients from the marine hospitals, who usuaily enter there with clothing either unfit to keep, or unsuitable to _ wear in their emaciated condition after recovering from asiege of sickness. If the association succeeds in rais- - ing funds (and they certainly wili) to secure a supply of clothing for needy and destitute seamen discharged from : the marine hospitals of the country, coupled with their already silent humanitarian work at the life saving sta- tions, the United Scates will then have provided a private ‘beneficence not entered upon by any other maritime power, and we wish the Woman’s National Relief asso- ciation a hearty “God speed” in their new though highly laudable purpose of taking care of our needy seamen who enter the hospitals poor, sick and destitute, and leave there not infrequently when too feeble for actual ~ work or to follow their arduous. calling. Many such cases, worthy of all reasonable assistance, occur tie world over, and the uew departure is a most excellent one, in rendering assistance to those, whether native or lien, who may be temporarily stranded on these hos- pitable shores. pe _ THE past week has been a most disastrous one in the way of strandings and at this writing several vessels are 2 stillashore with chances of heavy damages being received unless the weather moderates sufficiently to admit of sal- vage and wrecking expeditions getting promptly to work. ‘The season, while it may possibly last tor two or three _ Weeks yot, may practically close within the next ten days. There is little or no demand for grain carriage, iron ore is beginning to freeze in the pockets and there is no rush _ in the lumber and coal freights, so that the wind-up of _ the season is drawing very near. a : IVIL SERVICE AND STEAMBOAT INSPECTORS. __ Inspector General Dumont, of the steamboat inspec- tion service, in his annual report to the Secretary of the f sury, makes a strong recommendation in favor of non-partisan personnel of the steamboat inspection Service below the grade of supervising inspector. His main argument on this point is that the present . Uncertain tenure of the office, as a rule, deters those best qualified for the service from seeking appointments therein. This fact alone he deems sufficient to convince my one that the public interests would be better served local and assistant inspectors as secure in their of office, during good behavior, as are the classi- clerks in the executive departments. In the case of it named, he says the worst result of misconduct part is remedial, whereas misconduct on the inspector, possibly involving human life, is ‘eparable. THE FREIGHT SITUATION, All boats except the railroad liners, are now on what is considered their final and last trip for the season, and have, in nearly all cases, chartered, or are provided with cargoes, so that chartering even during the past week has been very dull. Owners have been somewhat sur- prised by the Lake Superior ore and grain rates drop- ping when they had reasonably expected them to rise, but such has been the situation. Some tonnage to load at Duluth was chartered yester- day as low as 3% cents, and 3% cents was the best offer made, but, it now seems needless to state that 4% cents had been the freight rate figured on as the ruling quota- tion at about this time and the drop is only accountable for by the eastern market conditions. Chicago grain freights are equally demoralized, and some winter stor- age has been secured at 4 cents for spring delivery. Ore rates are not changing, shipments from Lake Su- perior have practically closed, as the ore is beginning to freeze in the pockets, but Escanaba and Gladstone will probably operate if this weather holds out for ten or twelve days longer at the old rates. Little is doing in coal, except to Lake Michigan and the rivers, Lake Superior shipments have ceased, the Chicago rate is still 75 cents and Milwaukee 70 cents. Lumber receipts have been heavy during the last few days, but many of the carriers in this line of trade are now beginning to lay up and but little more will be carried in the usual bottoms this season, although, no doubt, many vessels will work as long as their insurance policies will permit on a moderate extension. pS Sa Bele ee OF eee U. S. ENGINEER OF THE NINTH AND ELEVENTH LIGHT-HOUSE DISTRICTS. Under orders issued from headquarters at Washington, Maj. Milton B. Adams,Corps of Engineers, will proceed to and take station at Detroit, Mich., and report by letter to the Secretary of the Treasury for duty as engineer of the Ninth and Eleventh light-house districts, reliev- ing Col. Orlando M. Poe, Corps of Engineers from duty. By direction of President Harrison, Secretary of War Elkins has appointed Major Adams engineer of the ninth and eleventh light-house districts, the position re- cently vacated by Col. Wm. Ludlow, at the request of the Light-House Board. At that time General Casey, chief of engineers, directed General Poe to assume charge of the work, but recently Col. Ludlow was de- tailed to relieve Gen, Poe of some of the river and harbor improvements along the Michigan shores of the lakes. Major Adams the new appointee, is a Pennsylvanian and is 47 yearsold. At the age of 20 he was made first lieutenant of engineers ; five years later he was pro- moted to a captaincy, and in 1883 was made major. Since graduation he has seen seryice at Massachusetts Bay, West Point, New Orleans, Chattanooga, White- stone, Wash., Louisville, Buffalo, Cleveland, Erie, Dun- kirk, Ashtabula, Conneaut, Little Rock, San Francisco, New York, Vermont and Fort Montgomery. en a NEW TONNAGE ENROLLED. The only new tonnage hailirig from lake ports to which official numbers have been assigned by the bureau of navigation during the week ending Novem- ber 12th, 1892, is the sail vessel Rose Etta, 12 tons, of Marquette, Mich., and the three unrigged or canal ves- sels, Charles E. Conrad, of 135 tons, David J. Crosby, of 127 tons, and the Rhoda and Charlie, of 135 tons, all hailing from Buffalo, N. Y. $a + + —______- THE ATLANTIC OCEAN FLYERS. What are the limits of the marine architect in the building of mighty ships? asks the New York Sun, A representative of one of the great lines thinks this ques- tion may be answered in Yankee fashion by propound- ing another, and that is: How big must a ship be be- fore her running expenses exceed her receipts? Will larger ships than the giantess of the Cunard fleet, the Campania, launched last month on the Clyde, be sent forth to battle for commercial supremacy of the Atlan- tic? Other competitive lines doubtless will build, and we may not unreasonably expect to see within the next few years a flyer of greater tonnage and power than the Campania. An American engineer of large experi- ence recently wrote to Mr. Vernon H. Brown, of the Cunard line, congratulating him on the launching of the great Cunarder, and expressing the belief that the day was not remote when the 1,000-foot ship would be in service between New York and Liverpool. Mr. Brown says he does not see what is to prevent the coming of this maritime Colossus if it can be demonstrated to the line that may order her from the ambitious British builders that she will yield a reasonable income. There is now no dock either in New York or Liverpool large enough to accommodate such a vessel. The biggest docks we have, recently lengthened for the twin-screw ships now in service, are not over 700 feet long, and they would not be wide enough, even if lengthened, safely to berth a 1,000-feet ship, whose beam would be close upon 100 feet. The Liverpool docks were not large enough for the White Star flyers, and these ves- sels are docked at Birkenhead, which bears the same re- lation to Liverpool that Brooklyn does to New York. There was a strong feel among shipping men when the pioneer of the twin-screw Titans, the City of New York, was launched in 1888 that she would ruin the In- man Company. She turned out to be an immensely profitable ship, and in the important item of coal con- sumption she showed herself more economical by nearly $100 a day than either the Etruria or Umbria, then the swiftest merchant ships afloat. The sister Curnarders burn about 350 tons, and the City of New York and City of Paris burn each about 325 tons a day. The conserva- tives opened their eyes when they heard that the Cun- ard Line was building two 60U-foot ships. They had supposed that no company would venture beyond 10,500 tons of the City of Paris, and they shook their heads after the ancient custom of shellbacks, and looked a big doubt they did not care to utter after the failure of their evil prophecies about the first twin screw. The Campania is more than 2,000 tons larger than the sister ships of the Inman Line. The only vessel ever launched that was bigger than the Campania was the ponderous Great Eastern, whose designer sought to solve the prob- lem of swift ocean navigation by bulk, combined with the comparatively insignificant horse-power of 6,200, : applied to paddle wheels and propeller. The Great Eastern was 680 feet long and eighty-three feet broad, , or sixty feet longer and about thirteen feet broader * than the Campania. The builders of the Campania ex- pect her engines to develop, after she has been in ser- vice a season or two, between 29,000 and 30,000 horse- power, or nearly five times as much as the Great Bast- ern used ineffectually and with much expense, owing to the comparatively crude development of the marine en- gine of her time. The Cunard Company feel so well-as- sured that the Campania will be a swift and profitable ship that they have duplicated her in the Lucania, which will be launched next month. The Campania slid from the ways at the yard of the Fairfield Company, the builders also of the Etruria and Umbria, September 8. The Clyde was dredged imme- diately opposite the yard, as there was fear that the deep draught of the ship would cause her to strike bot- tom. She made hardly any commotion when she took the water. She is built somewhat on the lines of the Umbria, having a straight stem and an elliptical stern. She will have, when completed, two pole masts. She meastired 620 feet over all and 600 feet on the water line, and thus has) an over-hanging stern of 20 feet. Her extreme beam is 65 feet, 2 inches, and her depth of hold from the upper deck is 43 feet. She will have six- teen water tight bulkheads, so constructed that in case of damage to any two of them she will still be able to float. _ She is built to meet admiralty requirements, for serving as an armed cruiser in time of war, having decks spec- ially arranged and strengthened to carry guns, and her vital parts protected. Unlike the other twin screw ships, the Campania has an opening in the stern frame similar to that in a single screw steamship, This is in- tended to give the propellers more freedom of move- ment. No brackets are fitted to the stern frame to sup- port the outer end of the shafts. Instead the frames of the hull are bossed out and plated over so as to form the stern tubes. At the outer end of these are strong castings of steel, which answer the purpose of brackets and being a continuation of the lines of the hull are supposed to offer the least resistance to propulsion. It may be assumed from this description of her ‘busi- ness end that the Campania was built for a racer. Her designers and constructors have done away with almost every conceivable hindrance to speed that exists in the best of the twin screw fleet in service. But the most marked difference between the Campania and the City of Paris, fleetest of steamships, is in their engines. The engines of the City of Paris are triple expansion ; that is, each set has three cylinders, one high pressure, one intermediate and one low pressure. The engines of the Campania, although nominally triple expansion, might not improperly be called quin- tuple expansion. Each set of engines 1s fitted with five inverted cylinders, two of which are high pressure, two low pressure, and one intermediate pressure. The for- ward and after cylinders are tandem, that is the high pressures are placed above the low pressures. The ex- haust is from the high pressures to the intermediate, and thence to the double low pressures. Engineers say that these are the most powerful engines ever con- structed. ‘The cylinders are arranged to work on three cranks, and set at an angle of 120>degrees with one an- other, and all having the same stroke. Steam is gene- rated for the eugines in twelve big double-ended boilers, arranged in two groups, with one funnel for each group. EBach boiler has eight furnaces, ninety-six in all. Excepting her rudder, the Campania is entirely of British build, which is formed of a single piece of steel, and was rolled by Krupp, the gunmaker of Essen. _ With the adyantages her constructors have had through studying the weak points of the racers of this season the Campania ought to carve a large slice off the record in a year or so, when her engineers begin to un- derstand her. Since June, 1888, when the Etruria held the record, then 6 days, 1 hour and 55 minutes, the twin screw speeders have reduced the time between Sandy Hook and Queenstown by 11 hours and 31 minutes. In the next four years we may not reasonably. expect the power of steam, which ha: imitations even when ex- — erted through triple expansion engines, to knock an- other eleven hours or more off the record. But we may hope to see the Campania fulfill the expectations of her owners, just as the other big ships have sometimes done after disappointing first efforts, by covering the — ocean race track at the average rate of twenty-two knots an hour, thus bringing Queenstown within five are and a quarter days of New York. Should shé develop twenty-three knots, and maintain it for the xopee ey the new world and the old will be divided by onl} it days, counting the difference of longitude in ti i et