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10 MARINE REVIEW. MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. 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. Single copies 1ocents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on appli- cation. The books of the United States treasury department contain the names of 3,657 vessels, of1,183,582.55 gross tons register in the lake trade. The lakes have more steam vessels of 1,000 to 2,500 tons than the com- bined ownership of this class of vessels in all other sections of the country. The number of steam vessels of 1,000 to 2,500 tons on the lakes on June 30, 1892, was 321 and their aggregate gross tonnage 534,490.27; in all other parts of the country the number of this class of vessels was,on the same date, 217 and their gross tonnage 321,784.6. The classification of the entire lake fleet is as follows: Gross. Class. Number. Tonnage. MLCAMISVESSELSUcareudkss caicceteysedecscteecescoess 1,631 763,063.32 DALMMOAVESSECL Gace hiassae screen taser ee mee et eres 1,226 319,617.61 (SANAIE DOUG y cvsacssmsnatencge ie ccd éeouep so, 731 75,580 50 BAGS EGteccacunsedoneeshijecdcevceracdcstvesscscesiccsscsscs : 69 25,321.12 SNE Al gee ath rakes) aavarset tasswces « svgees x8 3,657 1,183,582.55 Tonnage built on the lakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows : Number. Net Tonnage. TSO Mrevccce cee tcuer ace echo ret tor lesen 222 IOI, 102.87 d TOSQu cod ret ste sese ght eeaeei sacle cacoveeasabest 225 107,080.30 MOQ Osiclaggecdls< + otdcasb dalsed asad cescubepeeces 218 108,515.00 TSO tese etre hocccdcces ce svonG ceseecesepecwans 204 111,856.45 HOO Sacteta tect sso nasvedg sasudias tap rcsne ria ange; | 109 45,168.98 MROUALS iy ceiiticseteecdea sida sobt hes 1,038 473,723.60 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL, TRAFFIC. St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1892. 1891. 1890. 1892. 1891. 1890. No. vessel passages 12,580] 10,191; 10,557 3,559 4,207 3,389 Ton'ge, net regist'd|10,647,203|8,400,685|8,454,435||7,712,028|8,698,777|6,89 ,o14 Days of navigation 223 225 228 . 365 365 365 Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. IN an article in the current number of the North American Review, Mr. J. H. Biles, the designer of the. Paris and New York, suggests that 30 knots an hour to Europe is. within the range of calculable possibility, and that in all probability the passage will be reduced to a little over four days within the next ten years. Mr. Biles inclines to enthusiasm on the subject of fast Atlantic passenger ships, and some of his writings of late appear visionary, but as an expert who has won laurels his opinions on this question have been accorded attention by many well informed people who would lay aside similar views coming from other naval architects of less distinction. The use of nickel steel, the introduction of a lighter type of boilers, additional draft and, of course, a larger ship are the main sources of in- creased speed suggested in support of the arguments presented by Mr. Biles. Ifa draught of four feet could have been added to the present Atlantic steamers they could, the writer says, have been designed to have a speed of one and a quarter knots more, or to have a gain of about eight hours on the run across. A concluding paragraph in the article is as follows: 'A vessel 1,000 feet long, 100 feet wide, with a draught of water of thirty feet, with a structure built of stronger steel than that at present adopted, with lightened boilers, with oil or some equally light fuel instead of coal, and with the steady general improvements in methods of construction and management of ships and machin- ery, such a vessel will be capable of crossing the Atlantic in a little over four days. The design of such a vessel will involve the consideration of many problems of structural detail, but there is nothing insuperable in any of the difficulties which will ac- company such a project. Whether the carrying out of such a work will be done in the old or in the new world time can only show, but when it is undertaken, whether by the old or the new, there is no reason to doubt that it will be successfully carried out."' Capr. ALEx. McDouGALL, inventor of the whalebacks, Walter Miller, superintending engineer of the Globe Iron Works » Company, and other gentlemen in scientific pursuits, who are well known on the lakes, will represent this section of the coun- try in the International Engineering Congress, to be held, in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition, in Chicago during the last week of July. Capt. McDougall and Mr. ae will both present papers, the former on "Whaleback Steamers and the latter on "Steam Shipping of the Great Lakes.' This congress will bring together the most distinguished representa- tives of the ship building industry of Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy and other leading maritime nations. Lists of authors and papers covering the branch of the congress devoted to marine and naval engineering and naval architecture appear elsewhere in this issue. CoNGRESSMAN 'Tom LL. JOHNSON, free trader from the Cleve- land district, ejected a little free ship screed into a letter pub- lished in the REVIEW on May 11, in which he was answering the claims of Mr. R. P. Joy of Detroit, that a duty of 10 per cent. on goods imported in foreign vessels would be beneficial to the mercantile marine of the United States. An article in the Cleve- land Leader of Monday, the 5th inst., signed N., takes Mr. Johnson to task in an able manner. The writer, whoever he may be, is undoubtedly a careful observer of commercial matters. New Classification Society. Commenting upon the organization of the new British association for the classification of ships, which is known as the British Corporation for the Survey and Registry of Shipping, Engineering of London says: "Since the absorption of the Liverpool organization for the registry of shipping by Lloyd's, the latter has had an unchecked advance towards a position which, however satisfactory to the management, is not quite agreeable to the client. The spirit of the age is entirely opposed ~ to monopoly, which in great measure, retards progress. 'Theall- powerful position of Lloyd's has fostered a conservatism which is adverse to the adoption of new ideas, even when suggested: by ripe experience. Innovations are not always to be commended, and Lloyd's have very vroperly observed caution in some respects; but in other instances, where the change has been forced on the marine constructor by the satisfactory character of preliminary tests, the contravention of the letter of Lloyd's rules should scarcely_have been sufficient to bar progress. 'Thus it is that many have at various times been annoyed, and the spirit of opposition has been fostered. The culminating point was reached when the load line act of 1890 was passed, because ship owners foresaw that without action Lloyd's would have, under the enact- ment, a sole right in the determination of what was to constitute the load line. The load line depends upon scantlings, and_ this meant that Lloyd's would have a monopoly of classification also. This would, under the circumstances, have been most unfor- tunate, as it would have tended to check enterprise in ship building, and reduce marine constructors to the level of manu- facturers. 'The British corporation for the Survey and Registry of Shipping was therefore formed, not so much in antagonism to Lloyd's, but because of the profound conviction that monopoly is not desirable. Its great strength is largely due to the fact that it comprises ship builders, marine engineers, etc., as well as ship owners and representatives otf all classes of shippers. Not only is it representative in this respect, but it comprises within its organization nearly all the Clyde men of influence, and many of those in the north of England, and in Ireland and Liverpool.' The new association has just issued in book form the regula- tions upon which the survey and registry of vessels will be based. The rules are primarily the work of the late Professor Jenkins and Mr. Archibald Denny.