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4 sea. ‘The same cause would produce an as- cending current of warm air to exert a tnarked influenc upon the atmospheric cur- rents of the whole northern hemisphere. Ghe Marine Record. A Journal devoted to Commerce Navigation and Science Publish: 5 we Such in brief is the normal system of wa- peas : ter and air currents. AT Arctic explorers and deep scientific think- ers have made this a special study and know that an open polar sea exists around the North Pole. ‘They are also aware that the dscoverer ot the North Pole would be a greater man than Christopher Columbug, the discoverer of America. Pride, ambition and the love of fame will go far towards tempt- ing man to risk his life for the sake of an immortal name. ‘he disastrous results of past expeditions have little effect, on men of this class, and so Jong as man exists and the North Pole remains undiscovered, men will risk their lives in search of this wonderful warm climate of the north. ee ee ee eo ee EDITORIAL NOTES. CLEVELAND, OHIO Office Nos- 171 Superior and 136 Bank Streets, Room 7. : TERMS: $2.00 per Annum. INVARIBLY IN ADVANCE, AGENTS ARE WANTED IN EVERY PORT ADVERTISING RATES. Ten cents per line solid Nonpariel measurement. Twelve lines of Nonpariel set solid make one inch, Twenty cents per line for reading notices, solid tainion measurement, A Articles, letters and queries on all subjects fare soli- cited. , 8@-The Editor assumes no responsibility for the opinions of correspondents. To insure notice, contributors must give name and address, and write on one side of the paper only. THE MARINE RECORD has an Agent in every port on the Lakes and Rivers, and will consequently circu- late more or less in all of them. Asa medium for advertising it has no superior, as it circulates among a class of people that can be reached in no other way.. REMOVAL APR. 1. Owing to the “March of improvement” in this our great and growing city, we are com- elled to remove from our old quarters to the Bretanal ‘Block at the entrance of the Viaduct. No. | South Water St. which is directly under the Office of the Merchantile Fire and Marine Insurance Co. Our Offices will be nearer to the docks and very handy for vesselmen, whom we shall be pleased to see at any time. There was a man named Wiggins, That lived up in the Canadian diggins. He predicted a storm that would do great harm To all vessels caught out with poor riggings. He said it would blow, and perhapsit would snow; And cause great disaster at sea. And of sailors so wise, there’d be a sudden demise, Of those who thought they knew better than he. He ordered the Presidents and Kings of all nations To stop all vessels bound out to sea, And order the men at the Life Saving Stations, To be ready in case of emergency. Old General Hazen, thought it sim ly amazin’, That sailors so frightened should be, And lie in a nook just arouad Sandy Hook, And not go right out to sea. The weather department had quite an assortment, Of bulletins pasted high, That told E. Stone Wiggins to go to the dickens ‘The Block in which we are now situated will be torn down and a fine new building erected in its place. Because he had told such a lie. It laughed and it scorned at the route Wiggin’s formed That his storm of the 10th should take. It had never before, in this wide world o’er Heard of such a funny mistake. Uneasy lay the head on the Wiggin’s bed, Of him who predicted disaster; The thoughts of the wave that immortal fame gave Through his mind crowded faster and faster. At last the day came that was to give Wiggins fame, It opened as mild as you please. But soon the snow came, it was well mixed with rain, And a wind that could blow down the trees. In far off Quebec it brought ruin and wreck, Earthquakes and mountains of snow; But in many locations, the storm signal stations, Simply said “It just happened 50.” And now Wiggins lias fame and an immortal name For winds that blow like sixty. Please give us a man that will predict a calm, And a thermoneier not below fifty. (The above is our first attempt at the poetry business since we were a verdant schoolboy. We, however, shall submit it to Professor Wiggins and if his verdict is fa- vorable we hope our subscribers will not or- der their paper stopped as we shall not in- flict them again until the man with the mild weather comes round. Ed.) ——— IS THERE AN OPEN POLAR SEA? During the past week there has been on, exhibition at Cleveland a punoramic view of the ill-tated Jeannette. It shows in detail, highly colored scenes of the stately ship sail- ing out of the harbor on her fatal trip. | It pictures fields of ice, gigantic icebergs, tu- rious gales, ‘ind finally the ice pack which held the Jeannette so firmly that 10 availa- ble power could release her. ‘The scenes bring before the mind the advisability of sending out Arctic explorers in séarch of the North Pole. Science has gained many points by these explorations, but can they be considered profitable? Will the points gained repay the world for the lives lost in the search of these points? We consider the subject too deep to be answered lightly. A few pvints will bear mentioning which will undoubtedly throw some light on the subject as to why men will risk their lives for the sake of knowledge. Enough has been discovered to go far toward showing that an open séa exists north of the icy bar- rier which seems to laugh at all human ef- forts to pass through it. It is thought be- yond a doubc that there must be a warm climate around the North Pole. There are a tew reasons favoring this theory. First— Waterfowl go regularly each spring north- ward from Greenland for nesting. As the * icy barrier from 73° to 82° is too cold for birds to raise their young, their nesting places must be north of this barrier, and in a milder climate. Second—The occurrence of warm winds trom the circumpolar re- gions, as verified by explorers in high latti- tudes. Third—Thg occurrence ot furious gales during the long Arctic winter, which would be unaccountable if the region for ten degrees around the Pole were as cold as the zone of the ice-barrier, and therefore as calm as the equatorial belt. Fourth—Mor- ton and Hayes both saw open water in Ken- nedy channel as fatas the eye could reach northward. Mr. Howell, of the\ New York State li- brary, thinks the agengy of the Gulf Stream is commonly regarded as limited to the lat- itude of Spitzbergen. \His belief and theory is, that the waters of the Gulf Stream have a greater specific gravitK than those sur- rounding the ice-barrier fox two reasons: First, the immense rain and smaw fall of the Arctic regions must freshen thd water and make it lighter; and second, water \g lightest near the freezing point. ‘he compaxatively warm water of the Gulf Stream dip passes northward under the ice-barrier, and emerges with velocity reduced by corre- sponding cQrrents from the opposite side of the Pole, into the comparatively warm polar TureyY must have a very fine police force up at Muskegon, as we see in a recent exchange that during the winter every tug- boat and schooner at that port has been broken into and some articles stolen. In one or two cases ineffectual attempts were made to set fire to the boats, but not much damage was done. WE are very much afraid that the country will loose just about as much by not pass- ing the river and harbor bill as it would if it had been passed. A great many of the improvements and projects now under way will suffer by not having sufficient means to place them at a point where they can be left without danger of being damaged by the elements. WE think that by continually keeping the subject of the Life-Saving Service before the public, we will ultimately secure, what we have 60 long been working for—more at- tention, better wages and more stations. We are pleased to learn that twelve new life- saving stations will be established this sea- son, four of them on the lakes. Wr mentioned some time since that stormy weather had but little effect on the sidewheel steamer City of Cleveland. She seems to have her equal in the ocean steam- ship Alaska, which has just arrived at New York after a passage of seven days and eleven hours in which she encountered some eather. One steamer which sailed from Liverpool forty-eight hours ahead of the Alaska came in the day after her. Baron NoRDENSKJOLD, the famous Arctic explorer, has made the tamous northeast passage through the Arctic seas and now in- forms the government of Holland, that he would be pleased to receive the prize of 25,- 000 guilders, which was offered as a reward in the year 1597 to the person who should make the passage. We think the gentleman has earned his guilders, but we do not know how Holland’s credit stands or what show he has of getting them. Ir itis Wiggins, or Vennor, or Hazen, or any other man that is causing such diaturb- ances in the weather business this year, we should just like to have him step up and knock a chip off our shoulder. We feel mad enough to duck him dowa the hatehway or over the mainmast, or anywhere else that will make him act half way decent. Its the hardest kind of work to sit down and write an editorial this kind of weather. THe Jeannette investigating committee have at last finished their arduous task and made the final report and nobody isthe wiser. Engineer Melville will not start on a lectur- ing tour, neither will Jim Sing, the China- man cook. The former is on exhibition at the Washington hotels where he can be seen at almost any hour of the dav, free of charge; while the latter is exhibited at a cheap mu. seum down town. ‘One lookee ten centee, two lookee fifteen centee.” “THERE is one thing about ocean passen- ger steamers and that is, that if ety ess is dull in all other branches, that of their steeragefpassenger traflic is goo, d inust go far toward paying expenses of the trip. It is estimated that 735,000 foreigners em- igrated last year and took up their homes in Uncle San’s comfortable dominion. It is further conjectured that the average wealth per emmigrant was about $85 after landing on our shores. : SuBscrizers will please bear in mind that we do not send the MARINE REcoRD af- ter the time expires for which it has been paid, and that if they intend to renew it will be an accommodation to us to have them send in their subscriptions about « week -be- fore the expiration of their old subscription. We ask this because it will save much time and lubor to take their name out of our list and then set it up again when they renew, and then again they are liable to miss some of the numbers if they wait until the pa- per has stopped coming. COMPOSITE SHIPS. Carcaeo, Ill., March 13, 1883. Editor Marine Record: Ihave received many other letters and verbal endorsemente from shipbuilders, ma- rine insurance agents, classification inspec- ‘| tors, ship masters and owners of long ex- perience, all confirmatory of the opinions T have quoted. Mr. Pankhurst of the Globe Iron Works and Drydock Co., of Cleveland, to whom I have before referred in these let- ters, endorsed my plans at two or three dif- ferent interviews last summer, and offered to take a considerable amount of stock as soon as the prospect for shipping sbould mend, if a company could then be formed to build a large steamer on them. The De- troit Drydock Company also offered last spring to take stock in a steamer to be built on my system, but the discouraging outlook for business prevented the consummation of a project then on foot for that purpose. I have made the foregoing extracts as brief as possible and embody the leading points of the opinions expressed. I will add in an- swer to Captain Merrill’s suggestion, that every particular of detail has been provided for. Mr. Kirby has made several exatnina- tions of the details of my plans of construc- tion, and hag as often assured me that they are complete, and involve no difficulty what- ever. My method of fastening the planking to the metal frames with log or wood screws met with some adverse comment at first, but among those who have studied the ‘subject, there has come to be a pretty general acqui- escence in the idea of their superior tenacity and firmness, provided they are protected against the corrosive action of salt water when used in seagoing ships, which can easily be done. ‘Those who have had exper- fence in tearing out and repairing, will bear me out in the assertion that the portions of iron bolts: solidly imbedded in the timber, will never corrode to any injurious extent | during the lifetime of a sea-going ship. It will occur to those builders of sea-going vessels and others, accustomed to sharp Dot- toms only, that the construction of floors with timbers in single lengths across the bottom, is a mechanical impossibility, unless they are naturally and artificially curved But some in sharp, bottomed vessels, the floors can be made up of combinations of timbers, stronger and cheaper than in frames entirely of wood built up in the usual man- ner. But the day of sharp bottoms in large ships, especially steamships, is paesing away. It is found that the sacrifice of burden is too great, and without adequate corresponding advantage, except in tugs, and some other small steam and sailing craft in certain em- ployments. In these there is so much pe strength in the form of the bottom, that im creased strength of frame in the floors is not of so much importance. It is apparent that less than half the valu- able timber used in the construction of a wooden ship, is required in the construction of same dimensions upon this composite system, and if desirable, the quantity can be reduced by the substitution of iron in the keelaons, hold, stanchions and waterways. This would considerably increase the cost at the present time, but it might be otherwise sooner or later in the future. he question naturally arises about how long we shall be able to get supplies of timber even in the di- minished quantities required in this new sys- tem of building ships. I reply that we need hot tax ourselves with the solution of this question, but can leave it for future genera- ‘tions to settle. Our sources ot supply are ample for many years to come. Before our timber is exhausted, or becomes scarce and dear to be used in shipbuilding, we shall have had abundant time to test the safe dur- ability and value generally of iron and steel ships, and to acquire the ability to compete with our English neighbors in their con- struction. ‘There are still within convenient distances of our harbors and navigable riv- ers, vast quantities of white oak, southarn, yellow or hard pine, spruce, tamarack, rock elm, ete., all of which enter more or less into ship construction; and much larger quanti- ties of all these in regions hitherto inacces- sible at reasonable expense, but now being opened up by railroads traversing them in every direction. Allthe characteristics and details of this system of ship construction being settled in its favor, so far as the most competent opin- 1ons and estimates can settle them, and there being no room tur question as to the abund- ance of all materials entering into it, con- venient to our Atlantic, Gulf and inland sea- ports, and river; what is to hinder, even now during the present dullness in lake shipbuilding, the formation of a company te lay the foundation for profitable enterprise, under the protection of the United States and Canadian patents which cover the pecul- iar combinations of this system, and get ready against the time when more tonnage will be wanted, to supply the demand with thé most economickl and profitable ships ever construeted? There is still, Mr. Editor, abundance of the finest white oak, within easy reach of your own city of Cleveland, as well as of pine,and all the shapes of iron re- quired. ‘You have a wealthy company that has all the appliances needed for doing both the timber and iron work, in perfeet work- ing order—requiring no more preparation than would be necessary to begin the con- struction. of either a wooden or iron ship. There is constant demand in our salt water ports, for steam and sail vessels of such sizes as can be sent to sea by Way of the Welland and St. Lawrence canals, with cargoes that will more than pay their way out. These vessels can be built at Cleveland, or any other conveniently situated lake port, for less money than out there. Why should we not, during the present lull in demand for tonnage here, propose to supply that de- mand; and by and by in the near future, when the enlargement of the St. Lawrence canals now being made, are completed, to build a larger class of ships for ocean ser- vice? Well modelled and partly laden ships of more than a thousand tons burden can now pass these canals; and when the en- largements are completed, they will admit the passage of more fully laden ships, of about twenty-five hundred tons capacity. J. B..Haw, —— The tug Favorite is being rebuilt and will come out new. }