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8 MARINE REVIHW. The Northern Line Passenger Steamers. Engravings on the opposite page show deck plans of the two steel twin-screw passenger steamers, building at the ship yard of .the Globe Iron Works Company, Cleveland, for the Northern Steamship Company, and intended for fast high-class service between Buffalo and the head of Take Superior in con- nection with the Great Northern Railway, recently completed to the Pacific coast. In our issues of Dec. 22 and 29, a detailed de- scription of the hulls, machinery and boilers of these vessels was given, the issue of the latter date containing a supplemantal en- graving made from a painting of one of them as they will appear in service. 'The deck plans presented herewith are, however, especially interesting, as they serve to show better than any written description the full detail of deck arrangements. Against the Ship Canal. Readers of the REvrew are aquainted with its position relative to the proposed ship canal from the lakes to the Atlantic seaboard. 'There is no harm in giving publicity to the views of opponents, and on this account we reproduce here an extract from a paper recently written by Horatio Seymour, Jr., ex-state engineer of New York. It is only necessary to note that Mr. Seymour's position as a public official connected with the New York state canals in the past would make him predjudicial to- wards the big canal project. His arguments are, however, inter- esting, as they are in line with the only question on this subject which admits of opposition, that of practicability. He says: "Tf this was a parallel case to the Suez canal, or that pro- posed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, there would be no ques- tion as to its expediency, for,in those instances there is but a narrow neck of land separating long stretches of ocean naviga- _ tion, and the delay and hazard of the canal passage is compara- tively small. We have different problems to encounter in a ship canal through New York. The first is the cost, the second is the water supply, and the third is whether it would serve its purpose. 7 . "In order to construct a navigable channel in which vessels may move with economy, the depth of water must be at least three feet more than the draft of the boat, and the area of the cross-section six times the cross-section of the submerged portion of the boat. The canal, therefore, should, for ocean vessels, be at least 30 feet deep, and 300 feet wide, with locks 600 feet in length. No estimate has ever been made on a canal of this size, but Hlnathan Sweet, Jr., and John D. Van Buren, late state engineers of New York, estimated the cost of a canal extending from Buffalo to deep water in the Hudson, 18 feet deep, roo feet wide at the bottom, with locks 400 feet long and 60 feet wide, at from $150,000,000 to $200,000,000. If the cost of a canal 30 feet deep and 300 feet wide be compared with this estimate by a ratio between the areas of the waterways, the amount would be over four times $150,000,000 or $600,000,000. 'This estimate may seem extreme, but the Erie canal, with a prism 72 feet on top and 52 feet on the bottom, with seven feet of water, cost $30,000,000 to construct. The Suez canal, 100 miles long, 39 miles only of cut- ting above surface of water, with 61 miles only through lakes, with no locks and a prism 72 feet on the bottom, with a depth of 26 feet, cost $100,000,000. 'The Panama canal, 50 miles long, with no locks was estimated to cost $150,000,000. 'The proposed ship canal would be 345 miles in length, and with 30 locks anda large number of costly aqueducts. That this great sum might be expended for the country is not to be measured in its needs, but the water supply and its control are subjects that require even more consideration than the cost. "Mr. Sweet, in his estimate for a ship canal that I have spoken of, estimates 200,000 cubic feet per minute for a canal 100 feet wide at the bottom and 18 feet deep; the canal to float ocean vessels would require much more water than this. /T'he present water supply of the Hrie canal can furnish 65,000 cubic ---- ee, feet per minute, leaving a deficiency even in a canal of only 78 feet in depth, of 135,000 cubic feet per minute. Where is this supply of water to come from? 'There is no source that I know of except Lake Erie, and, as the water is needed to carry the boats over the level between Syracuse and Utica, the canal would have to be so constructed as to permit a flow of water continy- ously from one end to the other. To do this the present Erie canal would have to be elevated above the valley at Montezuma, the Jordan level cut down, aud the canal carried across the depression at Syracuse, and the bed of the Mohawk River used from Utica to the Hudson. 'The difficulties that would have to be encountered in carrying such a body of water through the state, with its culverts, aqueducts, bridges, and locks, are very great. I do not say that it cannot be done, but I can safely say that no such work ever has been constructed."' Legal Matters at Detroit. Following is a report of admiralty proceedings in the United States district court, Detroit, last week, Judge Swan presiding: Tuesday, Jan. 10 to Saturday, Jan. 14, No. 4058, S. B. Grum- mond vs. steambarge Isabella J. Boyce, heard and submitted; an action for damages, the Boyce running into the Atlantic last May. Monday, Jan. 16, No. 3914, Ella Bowers vs. schooner Lone Star, heard and submitted; an action for wages. Tuesday, Jan. 17, No. 4156, Albert Forest vs. Benjamin Bou- tell and Peter C. Smith, heard and submitted; an action for -- breach of contract. Wednesday, Jari. 18, No. 3975, John Mullerweiss, Jr., vs. pile driver EK. O. A., heard and submitted; an action for supplies furnished pile driver. Thursday, Jan. 19, No. 3936, Capel R. Emory vs. tug Gracie A. Ruelle, heard and decree for libelant for $20 and costs; an ac- tion for dockage, the tug using Emory's dock when idle. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 20 and 21, No. 4009, Annie Sulli- van vs. Gillman Bros. & Barnes. Nocause for action, and libel dismissed with costs to libelant; an action for breach of contract, Sullivan claiming that defendants leased the City of New Balti- more to run to their summer resort. In General. Wednesday, Feb. 1, is the date fixed for the launching of the Ammen ram at Bath, Me. An interesting summary of a lecture on '"'Gauges for Regis- tering High Pressures," delivered by F. Bundenberg before the Lantern Society, London, is printed in the January number of Cassier's Magazine. ; "Until evidence of something to the contrary is produced," says the Engineer of London, "we think that Messrs. Russell, Spence & Co., Glasgow, may claim the honor of having invented the modern triple-expansion marine engine." A twin-screw steamer 366 feet long will be built by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Me,, for the Norwich line. The con- tract was closed only a few days ago. 'The machinery will be of 4,000 horse power and the boat will cost $430,000. __ The contract of F. W. Wheeler & Co., West Bay City, Mich., with the government for a new lightship, specified that the ves- sel should be delivered Dec. 16 on her station. At g o'clock on the date named the vessel was turned over to the govert- ment. 'This is worthy of note as a strict adherence to the letter of the contract.--The Engineer, New Vork. A book just from the government presses shows that there were 12,868,683 tons of coal mined in the state of Ohio during the year 1891. 'The spot value was less than $1 a ton, being $12,106,115. 'Twenty-nine counties in the state produce coal. Twenty-two thousand one hundred and eighty-two men are ell- gaged in digging it. The American Shipbuilder announces that Herbert Apple ton of Brooklyn, N. Y., James F. Cox of Morristown, N. J., and Nee Woodworth of Orange, N. J., have organized the New York Shipbuilding and Engine Company, with a capital of $500,000, for the purpose of constructing steam vessels al marine engines, :