The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

to | MARINE REVIEW. Marine REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESALS. JOHN M. MULROONEY, Pe tee 8e stoke PROPRIETORS. F. M. BARTON, ON 4 aint pee Derek rie he atm eye es atts Pats ; HOMER J. CARR, . , Associate Editor and Manager Chicago Office, Western Union Building, 110 LaSalle Street. Published every Thursday at No. 516 Perry-Payne Building, Cleveland, O. SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per year in advance. Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on application. The books of the United States treasury department contain the names of 3,600 vessels, measuring 1,154,870.38 tons in the lake trade." In classification of this fleet the lakes have more steamboats of 1,000 to 2,500 . tons than the combined ownership of this class of vessels in all other sections of the country. The number of vessels of 1,000 to 2,500 tous on the lakes on June 30, 1891, was 310 and their aggregate gross tonnage 512,- 487.58; in all other parts of the country the number of this class of ves- sels was, on the same date, 213 and their gross tonnage 319,750.84. The classification of the entire lake fleet is as follows: Class. Number. Tonnage. Steam Vessels ......c..s.ssesceccsescnscccceerocoess 1,592 756,751-53 Sailing vessels......cesssscesees ceeeeeceersseecsees 1,243 325,131.06 Warten lO atsmesere meee ret ce sei ciarce site Taste ctetreies\eisie- 703 72,515 42 BargQeS.......0scereostocescoscrcenccesceccorcosereavens 62 20,472.37 BIg elem em eeaceron tactics seins see 3,600 1,154,870.38 Tonnage built on the lakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows : No. of boats. Net Tonnage. TGS [owen saane eeerurcie ches snat incr eacsesirciaces 152 56,488.32 MOC SEAS E REE eee easel te tee cisetiriieritec 222 IOI, 102.87 TOGO Went eee cvanasenieesdesennersaclneratesiee 225 107,080.30 TSQ0. 20.02 ecccceretcesassdoseeacnorccoseroscenas 218 108,515.00 MSG) lari ei si lerads emtvaleletentesie ee wiomier eine oie sn vale 204 111,856.45 MO bale cccccste ses secsideecsowcces sirens 1,021 485,042.94 St. Mary's Falls and Suez canal traffic: Number of boats through St. Mary's Falls canal in 1890, 228 days of navigation, 10,557; tonnage, net registered, 8,454,435. Number of boats through Suez canal during 1890, full year, 3,389; tonnage, net registered, 6,890,014. Number of boats through St. Mary's Falls canal in 1891, 225 days of navigation, 10,191, ton- nage, net registered, 8,400,685. Number of boats through Suez canal dur- ing r8qr, full year, 4,207 ; tonnage, net registered, 8,698,777. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. WE HAVE no thought of discouraging the noble work car- ried on by the United States life-saving service, but it does seem as though the officers of this service are injuring their claim for public recognition through absurd statistical reports sent out with the close of the treasury department's fiscal year. A sum- mary of Superintendent Kimball's report for 1892, now being given wide publicity, makes, for instance, the following claims: "The number of disasters to documented vessels within the field of the operations of the service during the year was 337. There were on board these vessels 2,570 persons of whom 2,550 were saved and 20 lost. 'The estimated value of the vessels in- volved in the disasters was $5,584,160, and that of their cargoes $2,700,365, making a total value of property imperiled $8,284,- 525. Of this amount $7,111,005 was'saved and $1,173,520 lost."' At such a rate of progress in the life saving service there will be no loss of life or property from ship wreck ina few years, and insurance companies might as well give up business. The figures are, of course, worthless, and the same may be said of a great deal of data emenating from the steamboat inspection ser- vice and bearing upon loss of life on steam vessels. PRESIDENT HARRISON'S message has again brought out an expression of opinion from leading statesmen favorable to the scheme for a ship canal from the lakes tothe seaboard. Senator Hill and Congressman Tracy of New York are now said to favor this big project. This is good news for the representatives of northwestern commercial interests who have worked so earnestly for recognition in this matter, and who were most in fear of seri- ous opposition from New York. If the support from Senator Hill and others, now mentioned in connection with the discus- sion attending this canal question amounts to enough to secure the passage in the present congress of the Bentley bill, which calls for a survey, a great victory will have been gained. so has been collected in tolls om Canadian s since President Harrison's retalia- effect at the St. Mary's Falls canal. dis, no doubt, very much below the AxBourTr $32,4 freight in the three month tory measure went into This is a very small item an amount exacted from American commerce through the discrimi- nating tolls on the Welland. Retaliation of this kind is undig- nified and unbecoming ina country like ours, according to the argument of some newspaper editors, who do not understand the importance of the question which hinges upon the present canal controversy. Congress will do well, nevertheless, to, give the president even further power, so as to deal with the question of railway privileges now accorded to the dominion. Ix ANSWER to a request from congress for information rela- tive to that part of the treaty of 1817 bearing upon the building of war vessels on the lakes, Secretary Foster says that the treaty is still in force. It is nowin order to modity this treaty so as to give lake ship builders an opportunity to compete with the coast builders in the construction of vessels of war for sea-going service. Do not, however, make any change in that part of the treaty in which it was agreed that neither government shall maintain more than two war vessels on the lakes at any one time. This clause in the treaty has saved millions to both countries. Bespeaks Success for the Baker Boat. W. M. Folger, chief of the bureau of ordnance, says in his annual report to the secretary of the navy: "On May 24, 1892, the chief of this bureau personally witnessed a private test at Detroit, Mich., of a submarine boat invented by Mr. George F. Baker of Chicago, Ill. Certain claims were made by the inventor ~ as to endurance submerged and speed of the vessel,and the chief of the bureau requested that an attempt be made.to steer a course one mile in length at at a speed of about six knots per hour, which conditions are less than the efficiency claimed in these particulars. A test which was made did not fulfill the condi- tions requested, but enough of the qualities of the boat were de- veloped to indicate fair promise of success in the future, after certain ameliorations in motive power and methods of steering were applied, together with a more suitable locality as regards current and moving trading vessels. It was therefore requested of the owners of the boat that it be transferred to Chicago, where better water would be obtainable, when further trials would be made. 'These requisite changes have been made in the boat and the bureau expects a renewed trialin the near future, and it is proposed, in the event of a successful issue, that a test be also made of the application to this type of boat of a dirigible tor- pedo. It would seem that such application would be entirely practicable with either the Sims-Edison or Patrick methods of propulsion in a torpedo, and it is the bureau's intention to rec- ommend such further test. It is believed that a submarine boat, either wholly or partially submerged, could be made an effective defensive weapon with either the dirigible torpedo or the sub- marine gun as the primary feature of its armament." 'The second trial referred to above was made in Chicago sey- eral days ago, the boat having been taken to that city in accord- ance with the request from the ordnance department. In a let- ter to the ReEviEw, Mr. Folger says the report of the trial is now in course of preparation. "It is the opinion of the bureau," he adds, "that the boat, in its present crude state, possesses many good features. Much yet remains to be done, however, to make it a practicable weapon for use in naval warfare. W. Maginnis, in an address before the Liverpool Engineer- ing Society recently said, in speaking of breakdowns in trans- Atlantic steamers, that though there had been 1,900 departures from each side, or nearly 74 a week from Oct. 1, 1891 to Oct. 1, 1892, he was only able to trace some seven cases of breakdowns of ordinary, and only three of these were really serious.