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protect the cargo; that the peculiarly con- structed ceiling will outlast the wooden ship’s ceiling and only cost about a third as much to replace; that the outside seams be- ing firmer will not require recalking so often and that there is no calking or recalking of ceiling; no wooden bulwark stanchions to rot out, etc., etc., itis plain that the cost of keeping it in order and preserving it against the inroads ot natural decay and ordinary wear and tear, must be but a small per cent- age of that of keeping a wooden hull in re- pair. It is less apparent to us who are unfamil- iar with the employment of iron ships in ocean traffic, but doubtless a fact, that-.dam- ages accruing to them from minor casualties such as would not injure the locally stronger composite hulls, frequent docking to clean and paint, and the purchase and application of preservatives against corrosion to the ex- tensive surfaces exposed to. it, would cost more than the ordinary repairs tothe com- - posite hulls, including copper sheathing. I have now partially described this new system of composite shipbuiding, and dis- cussed its comparative merits, under partic- ular heads, as fully and clearly as. have been able to do within the space to which I have limited myself, and, will, endeavor to finish the. subject tor the. present in the course, of one or two more letters, with some general remarks and some further quota- tions from the numerous written and verbal opinions I have received. J.B. Harn. ARMOR CLAD VESSELS AND PRO- JECTILES. In view of the fatt that this country was the first to make armor clad war ships, and that other nations are now attempting to make the armor more and more impenetra- ble, it is interesting to know that we ard now constructing guns which will send prpjee- tiles, of such a weight and with such pf ve- locity as to crush the heaviest possible ar- mor. In Europe a series of experiments were recently made in Spezzia, Italy, for the pur- pose of comparing armor plates of English and French make, and it is reported that they have resulted in a complete victory for France. The tests consisted in firing from the 100-ton gun a projectile, made of San Vito hardened cast iron and weighing 368 kilograms, against three iron armor plates, two being of English make from the estab- lishments of Cammell and Brown, respec- tively, and the third of the make of the French firm of Schneider. At the firat shot the Schneider plate remained absolutely uninjured; the two English plates were cracked all over, and even the backing to which they were fastened showed signs of breaking up. At the second shot the two English plates flew of in splinters and the backing, which was laid completely bare, showed an enormous leak. The Schneider plate, on the contrary, stopped the projec- tile and broke it, remaining itself uninjured, except for some few cracks, and was evi- dently fit to continue its resistance, the backing being intact. The official series of trials being concluded, the commission de- cided to try against this same plate the effect of two other projectiles, one of compressed steel made by Whitworth, and the other of molded steel made by Gregorini. These two projectiles also were stopped by the plate, into which they penetrated but little, the Whitworth one losing all shape and the other being broken. The numerous repre- sentatives. of various foreign navies who were present were greatly interested in these trials, and acknowledged without any re- serve the superiority of the French armor plate over those made on the composite sys- tems. ; In this country, experiments with guns which dre designed to penetrate any thick- ness ot armor were made some time ago in New York with the Lyman Haskell, multi- charge cannon which proved so encourag- ing that a large gun on this plan has been cast in Reading Pa., and its steel lining in the foundry at West Point, the whole work being 80 well advanced, that its completion is expected in a few months. The gun is very long and has side pockets in which ad- ditional charges ignited in succession, ac- celerate the delivery of the projectile toa degree impossible to attain by a single charge. In fact if all the powder with which this gun is charged was Dut in the breech and ignited at once, it would burst the gun before the ball had time to leave it, but being ignited in separate postions, each portion adds to the velocity of the projectile. which is of the hardest steel itself, and claimed to be able to penetrate any armored war vessel which can be made to float on water. WOODEN SHIPBUILDING IN MAIVE. In an extended review of wooden ship- building in Bath, Maine, the Boston Adver- tiser shows that Bath is not only the great- est wooden shipbuilding place in the United States, but the greatest in the world. The value ot the shipping built there within a century past is estimated to be upward of $50,000.000. ‘The largest annual production was in 1854, when 64,327 tons were built, or 87 vessels. Of this number 59 were ships. In the ten years ending 1840 the building amounted to 69,589 tons. ‘The next decade showed a gain of about 70 per cent,, the to- tal being 118,732 tons. Between 1360 and 1860 the product nearly trebled, and reached 323,888 tons. The war period brought the yield of the next term down to 163,539, but between 1870 and 1880 there was a gain of 3744 per cent., giving a total for that period of 225,045 tons. During the past year, the tonnage of vessels launched at Bath was 39,090, with vessels of 13,520 remaining on the stocks. The cost of a completed wooden ship, or other new vessel, is reckoned at from $50 to $55 a ton. The vessels launched last year at all the Maine shipyards gave a total, tonnage of 62,567 tons, with 23,016 tonsn the stocks. ‘The official report of. the wooden shipbuild- ing of the whole country for the year ended June 30, 1881, places Matne:at the head, with 41,374 tons. _Nextin rank is Michigan, 5,852 tons. Then comes Massachusetts, with 4,723 tons; Wisconsin, 3,429 tons; Pennsyl- vania, 3,278; and California, with 3,197 tons. In one of the Bath shipyards is a planer, said tobe the largest in the world. It is capable of working a keel piece of timber sixty-six feet long, five and a half feet wide and two and one-half feet deep. The keel comes out of the machine ready for laying on the blocks,-and perfectly smooth and trueon all sides. A beveling saw is another eapacious machine, which turns out timber sawed at any desired angle from the hori- zontal, and by it curved timber and ship knees may be worked true to the line, The steam engine which runs these ma- chines runs also a bolt cutting machine which will mip off round iron of any diame- ter up to two inches; also a large anda small circular saw, a machine for making tree-nails, and in the finishing shop, a band and circular saw, «a planer, moulding ma- chine, and a plug and wedge machine. The waste steam is used in bending timber. A plant for the construction of iron ships is now under way, and it is expected that the first iron vessel will be begun in May. — SANDAKAN HARBOR, BORNEO.- Captain Green, of the steamer Tannadice, entered the harbor of Sandakan, North Bor- neo, an arecent voyage from Australia to China. He gives the Australian press an interesting description of the settlement newly acquired by Great Britain there. The harbor, he says, surpasses that of Syduey, not only in extent, but also in beauty of scenery. From east to west it is seventeen miles, and from north to south fourteen, and its shores are thickly covered with magnifi- cent timber, many of the trees being 300 feet in height. No tewer than seventeen rivers flow into the harbor, and two of them being navigable for twenty milesinland for vessels ot a draught of twelve feet. he Kiniba- tangan river, alittle way down the coast, is described as being navigable for 400 miles, with a draught of twenty-six feet when the bar is crossed. he town of Elopura is built on rising ground about a mile and a half inside of the harbor, and already con- tains a population of 3,000 Chinese and na- tives. The climate is reported to be excep- tiovally cool for the tropics. The new steamer of Inman Line, the City of Chicago, will be launched next month. She will be of 6,000 tons and will have a straight stem, four masts, two funnels, and will be 435 feet long, 45 feet beam, and 3314 feet deep, with her saloon and _ state-rooms amidship, forward of the engines. She is guaranteed to make sixteen knots an hour. MARINE LAW. COLLISION—RULES OF NAVIGATION, Dist. Court, S. D, New York. Novw., 24, 1882. A steam tug having ‘another tug, with which there is danger of collision, on her own port hand, is bound by the twenty- third rule to keep her course; and it is no defense to a violation of this rule to. show that she blew two whistles, and at once sheered to port in order to give the other tug more room to cross her bows, on the supposition that the other tug designed to cross the stream, the latter not having any answering signals assenting to this maneu- ver; and where a collision ensued from such change of course, the former was held liable. Brown, D. J. ‘The libel in this case was filed by the owner ot the canal barge Shoe, to recover, damages fora collision on the fourth of February, 1880, with the schooner Yosemite, in Buttermilk Channel, whereby the barge was sunk. The Yosemite was in tow of the steam tug Hudson, upona haweer about 200 feet long. As they were coming up about the. middle of Buttermilk Channel, with a strong flood-tide, the cap- tain of the Hudson, when about abreast of the black buoy, saw the steam tug E. A. Packer, with the Shoe in tow, lashed upon her starboard side, coming down the stream near Governor’s Island, and not far from the governments docks. SbBortly afterwards he gave two blasts of his whistle, and, with- out waiting for any reply, he immediately starboarded his helm, designing to go to the left, between the E. A. Packer and Gov- ernor’s Island. In doing so the Hudson went about 75 feet clear of the barge, but the Yosemite, unable to keep in the wake of the Hydson, and being swept turther out by the strong tide, was drawn against the stem of the barge and sunk her.- Those on board the Yosemite did ‘all they could to keep away from the barge, and no fault being found in them, the libel, as to the Yosemite, must be dismissed, with costs. The Hudson was plainly in fault, and must be held liable on several grounds. The E. A. Packer, with her tow, having a strong adverse tide out in the stream, was making her way just inside of the eddy, along the line of the shore, and ata distance of from 150 to 200 feet therefrom. When first seen from the Hudson she was above the elbow formed by the shore line below the government docks, and was therefore pointing somewhat across the channel and towards the Brooklyn shore. ‘The Hudson was on her starboard bow, while, according to the preponderance of testimony, before her change of course, had the E. A. Packer somewhat on her port bow. In this situa- tion, under rules 19 and 23, it was the duty of the Hudson to keep her course, and the duty of the E. A. Packer to keep out of the way. There is no reason to suppose the Packer would not have done s0 if the Hudson had held her* course, according to the twenty-third rule, as there was plenty of sea-room and no obstructions. The Hudson’s strong sheer to port, under a starboard helm, in violation of the rules, led directly to the collision, and far this the Hudson must be held liable. The excuse given by her captain, that from the way the Packer was heading he supposed she was going across the stream to the coal docks below Hamilton ferry, cannot be admitted as sufficient to exonerate the Hudson. Not only was this surmise as to the destination of the Packer incorrect, but the excuse, if allowed would defeat one of the very objects of the rules of navigation, which is to establish certainly in navigation, instead of the uncertainty dependent upon surmises. It was the manifest duty of the Hudson to observe the rule and keep ber course, at least until a different course was agreed upon by both vessels through the ex- change of mutual signals. The captain of the Hudson did not do this; but incorrectly assuming that the Packer was, designing to cross the stream when she was merely keep- ing the line of the shore, and intending to continue down within the eddy, assumed also the responsibility and the risk of viola- ting the rules by blowing two whistles and immodiately making a strong sheer to port, without waiting for any signals of assent from the Packer, which, in fact, were never given. All the ‘cireumstances of the case, more- over, rendered the maneuver of the Hudson arash one, except upon the assured co- operation of both tugs after mutual agsent- ing signals, The Packer was moving slowly, within a slight downward, eddy near the shore; the Hudson was going at the rate of some six or seven miles per hour; in the full strength of the floodtide; and when the Hudson whistled, the tugs were only about 8 quarter of a mile, or less than two minutes, apart. In taking a strong sheer to port, out of thé tide and into the eddy, so as to pass between the Packer and Governor’s Island, it was manitest that the Yosemite, ou a hawser 200 feet lon, ld not be kept so far in shore as the Hudsoy, but would neces- sarily be swept aldng somBwhat outward by the strong flood-tide. thus rendering any nice calculations to her exact course impossible, and the hazardous one within the narrow space allowed available. The prevailing reason for the Hudson’s course scems, however, to have been the captain’s preference for the westerly fork of the channel around Diamond Reef, instead of the easterly one. But it was proved on the trial that the easterly one was equally safe, and was then unobstructed; so that no weight can be given to that consideration. The Packer not being sued, I have not considered whether or not she was in fault for not doing all she could to avoid the collision. The libellant is entitled to judgment against the Hudson, with costs, and to an order of reference to ascertain the damages. CANADIAN HARBOR DANGERS. Kingston Whig: When an_ esteemed young lady of Bellville, en route to yoin some friends on the steamer Alexandria, walked off the wharf and was drowned, our citizens woke up to the fact. that reasonable precautions were not taken against the loss of life, that our harbor’ was insufficiently lighted and the pathway of the stranger attended with great snares and dangers. When the youthful ‘son of a prominent citizen, at midsummer, while bathing, got beyond his depth in the water off the Cataraqui Bridge, and no appliances were at, hand to rescue him, a second time candor compelled us to admit that life was not properly valued, that our public men did not provide the safeguards which it was reason- able to expect of such a corporation as that of Kingston. ‘The third lesson, within a few weeks, was taught most solemnly on Satur- day, when two young men perished betore the eyes of hundreds and no means were attainable of giving them aasistance. Had there been convenient a coil of rope, put up in spool shape, and capable of being pro- jected 100 yards from the shore, the loss of life might have been prevented. We may regret the past but we cannot recall it, nor can we undo the workings of fate, but we warn the authorities of the duty incumbent upon them. I1t behooves the government to erect life saving stations in every harbor, and along the dangerous coasts; it becomes the council to expect a sufficient sum to procure pike poles, ropes, grappling irons and even boats, and have these located so that they may be accessible in case of emergency. Continued neglect must entail criminal con- sequences. THE MARINE LAWS. A special Washington telegram to the Incer-Ocean says Representative McLean has introduced in the House a resolution in- structing the Secretary of the Treasury to de- tail three competent persons from his de- partment as a commission to visit the large maritime cities of the east, south, west and north with full power to inquire into the marine laws governing the ocean, lake and river navigation regarding the wants, needs, abuses and changes required to assist our growing commerce, securing to owners, ofti- cers and pilots of all coastwise vessels, steamers on lakes and rivers, and other eraft their legal and just rights; also tu secure seamen, sailors, deckhands and the crews all their rights and privileges, including health comfert and conveniences, which will be for the benefit of our national commerce, not only protecting the capital invested and en- couraging continuous protection, but giving to those employed in this dangerous and precarious mode of living a guarantee that they shall and must have due recognition. The commission is to prepare a_ full report of their investigations and conclusions, which shall be transmitted by the Secretary of the Treasury to the next Congress, sug- gesting such laws and amendments as in hi opinion will be for the benefit of commerce and of national importance.