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4 MARINE REVIEW. Puget Sound Shipping. Mr. Hugh White, a leading member of the Wilkeson Coal Company, Wilkeson, Wash., one of the largest coal producing concerns in the vicinity of Tacoma, visited Cleveland and other lake ports last week on his return to the northwest after an east- ern trip. Mr. White has been examining methods and appli- ances for unloading soft coal from vessels. With the great in- crease in the coal business of Washington during the past few. years, chutes and trestles have been applied to the loading of vessels from cars, and as there is no loss from breakage in the coal this system is very economical and rapid, the largest vessels being loaded now in a few hours. Little improvement has been made on old methods in the matter of unloading, however, and the Puget sound producers are now working with a view to ac- - complishing something in this regard. From the importance of the coal trade between the sound and San Francisco it was evi- dent to lake men who visited the Pacific coast of late that it would be only a matter of a short time until improvements of the kind noted here would be brought about. At this time shipping, and in fact trade of all kinds, is rather dull in the sound district, but Mr. White is of the. opinion that it is not a dullness of a serious nature but simply a reaction from a great pressure of business operations. He says the new town being built by the American Steel Barge Company will be reached by the Great Northern Railway (James J. Hill's line) before the close of the present year, and as the Pacific terminal point of that great railway system will soon be one of the most important places on the sound. : Grain From Chicago to New York. In his argument before the House committee on railways and canals in favor of an appropriation for a survey for a ship- canal from the great lakes to the navigable waters of the Hudson river, S. A. Thompson, Duluth statistician, presented the follow- ing table as showing the average charge, lake and rail, during a period of eighteen years for carrying a bushel of grain from Chi- cago to New York: ' Lake and | Lake and ; CALENDER YEARS. eanale catia All rail. 1s Se Spin apnor pap AShpeC aston io arHeda op ente Earns sees 25-3 20:0 42.6 SOU Mi roca ans ac cacmcens seeker aasiiceiaistes acs cee ate ete 24.1 25.0 35-1 TOTO Tecesein coat dees ae emienbetacen Semee eo ke Soe ees 0735 22.0 3G03n. TOG ono sianns 4 oMeasavotisuisateenmens ctirgtes scene tee near 21.6 25.0 31.0 OID toc seetnabl le sepega neeeae Serene os Secmeter el tseas ae ceea 26.6 28.0 33-5 1873 Be enc vin a» = fete Veseia eit eas ate ancl cists its ee acre een 19.2 26.9 3332 TNS Y 7 Al scbath vss om signe tectietcet eoremee cis pct eee teeerer eee 14.2 16.9 28.7 eS a eee ec aati niet sede recent matinee leat 14.6 24.1 1876 Base siclemietee aAa\sisc nie saleanie acta curaet th te meee lam otsce 9.7 11.8 16.5 1877 neooc anette acre PRE DeROGA dem: Hh Agen hath AP AGH eC bAURAnaEee 75s 15.8 20.3 YS fie pete ee cies necln'n.s oes easbta so aia Giese each 4. vie sol 10.1 11.4 WF MOG eeemeigabels atettterl oo cs asbhdicp eadete «satin. mesa 13.0 1373) 17.3 TS OUane cite ER eresase sea Sfosencuaecheseeaticc ret ie 132 15.7 19.7 1881 ROMs sa Nelieitle an Shagels obeieda sels eR teianin skeet 8.6 10.4 14.4 TR 2 pete ete ete eons scle'e «eels Sagaittle Smee nale in Qe cunns oat 8.7 10.9 14.6 1883 ee eMOPEET AAS MM aclss seseagranencd Sense fc xbtoee an ets 8.4 11.5 16.5 Tio Arete us eee a sae ESE. «ins «2 Gu Pert Mig tla « n fEi vd aio ORY 6.59 9.9 ri2 WSO eee oanae Meta seeds Sausidisie soon sek Sar pde «sade ainetik 4.55 9.06 14.0 * Including Buffalo charges and tolls. Turret Deck Steamers. A few weeks ago the REVIEw described with illustrations a new type of cargo steamer patented in England by Messrs. Wil- liam Doxford & Sons, Sunderland. At that time no arrange- ment had been made for the construction ot a boat of the new class, but a contract has since been made with Messrs. Peterson, Tate & Co., Newcastle, and a boat of 3,200 tons dead weight ca- pacity will be built at once. With triple expansion engines, on a light consumption of coal, she is to have a speed of 9% to 10 knots, and her total cost is to be £22,500. 'Turret deck steamer is the name given to the new boat. ~ Architects. Canada Gives Little Attention to Water Levels. In the last annual report of Canada's department of ma- rine and fisheries, J. G. Boulton, staff commander in the royal navy and admiralty surveyor now in charge of a survey of Geor- gian bay, says: 'The absence of the usual summer rise of the water on the lakes was an unusual phenomenon, and whatever was the cause, was attended with serious consequences to shipping, not merely in the vicinity of my work but in the shallow channels of the lakes generally. I think myself that the low water which has existed for the past four years, culminating in the low dip of the past summer, is only temporary. From records kept by the public works department of Canada at Little Current Algoma, and at Milwaukee by United States engineers it would appear that the water was, between 1881 and 1887, as much above the average level as it is now below it. I think, therefore, that dur- ing the next few years the water will be up again. However, as long as we have to rely only upon the fickle memory of the oldest inhabitant there will always be an element of uncertainty as to whether the waters of the lakes are subject to tempo- 'rary fluctuations or are steadily lowering their level. In addi- tion to its scientific interest a knowledge of the movement of the waters of the great lakes, with a view to future commerce, may be of great economic importance in the deepening of harbors and construction of canals. I would therefore respectfully suggest that datum stones be erected say at Collingwood, Sarnia, Port - Colborne and Kingston, similar to that placed at my suggestion in the interest of the survey by the department of public works at Little Current, Manitoulin island, and that your agents at the ports mentioned, be instructed to note the height of the water at least once a day during the season of navigation." In view of the extensive records of lake water levels kep by the United States army engineers and-the conclusions derived . - from these records, the foregoing does not seem like a very intel- ligent reference to so important a subject, but it will serve to call attention to the fact that Canada has been negligent in not keeping the data referred to. It is not too late to begin now. 'Naval Architects Discuss Whalebacks: English exchanges report a lengthy discussion on '"Whale- back Steamers" at the spring meeting of the Institute of Naval Plans of the boat building by Messrs. Doxford & Sons, Limited, of Sunderland, which were exhibited at the meeting added interest to the discussion. A paper on the 'new style of boat was: read © [byes inser Goodall. The author stated that since the visit of the American whaleback steamer, the Charles W. Wetmore, he has been frequently consulted by ship owners as to the efficiency of such vessels as sea-going cargo boats. He had, therefore, given ail the information he had been able to gather both for and against such steamers as compared with the ordin- ary "tramp" steamer. The objections to the whaleback steamers are the spoon-shaped bow, the want of proper means of com- munication from end to end of the vessel, the cramped facilities for navigation, the absence of sail-power, and the want of feed- ing arrangements when carrying bulk 'cargoes. The principal feature claimed in connection with whaleback steamers is the lesser percentage of spare buoyancy. One advantageclaimed is the saving of weight of material in construction, another advantage is the largely reduced surface on which the sea can exert its force. Another feature is that the engines are placed aft. | A lengthy discussion followed this paper, most of the speak- ers merely accentuating the features for and against, which had been brought forward by Mr. Goodall. Mr. Martell, as the rep- resentative of Lloyd's, spoke strongly against vessels built after the model shown. He said the modern cargo steamer was the natural product evolved by the experience of shipbuilders and Owners carrying cargoes ofall kinds to. all parts. 'To throw away all this experience without the most careful consideration was most hazardous. Send 50 cents in stamps for names of masters and engineers in over 100 of the largest fleets on the lakes,