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MARINE REVIEW. es 9 ------_e RIVER STEAMER ST. JAMES. iE OF THE FINEST CRAFT ON THE MISSISSIPPI--OOMPLETED RECENTLY BY THE ce OINCINNATI MARINE WAYS FOR THE MISSISSIPPI PACKET CO. The steamer St. James, recently completed by the Cincinnati Marine Ways for the Mississippi Packet Co. of New Orleans, and a picture of which is herewith presented, iS claimed to be one of the handsomest ves- mee ever constructed for river navigation in this country. The vessel is 186 feet in length, 36 feet beam, 6 feet depth of hold, and draws 3 feet of water. 'Lhe timber entering into 'the vessel is fine oak and Washington fir, and the beams, knees and carlins are especially heavy, so as to insure strength and durability. The steamer is intended for the New Orleans and St. James parish trade--a run of about 165 miles along the coast-- and was built with especial reference to the requirements of the route, where the principal freight is sugar. Her main deck has 'been so con- structed that the boilers do not interfere with the easy carriage of cargo, which may aggregate 1,000 hogsheads of sugar or its equivalent. Engines of this steamer have 17-inch cylinders with 7-foot stroke and are equipped with the California cut-off. She has three main boilers and one auxiliary boiler; two boiler feed pumps; a fire pump; freight hoisting engine, and an electric light plant supplying a 4,000-candle power search whi T STEAMER ST. JAMES, BUILT BY CINCINNATI MARINE WAYS. light, three 2,000-candle power side lights and 125 incandescent lights. On the trial trip, on the Ohio river at Cincinnati, the engines, which are ot the Charles Barnes type, attained 22 revolutions per minute with an initial pressure of 160 pounds of steam, cutting off at 'half stroke of piston, the steamer developing an average speed of 20 miles per hour. Auto- matic steering gear on this steamer is claimed to be superior to anything heretofore placed in a river-built craft, and there is provided one of Craw- ley & Johnston's pressure system marineswaterworks. The interior fin- ishing is elaborate, the cabin being in white and gold and the office in walnut, paneled with mirrors. The vessel will be propelled by what is known as a double wheel, which, while in common use on Ohio river packets, is entirely new to lower Mississippi navigation. The St. James has just arrived at New Orleans and will be put in regular service at once. It is claimed that she will be far speedier than any vessel engaged in the lower river trade. Don M., Dickinson on the Treaty of 1817, Hon. Don M. Dickinson of Detroit, who went to Quebec last week to appear before the American members of the Anglo-American com- mission in the interest of the Michigan lumberman, also made a plea before he left for an alteration in wording or construction that part of the old treaty of 1817 which provides that neither Canada nor the United States shall be permitted to "build or maintain" war vessels on the great lakes. Mr. Dickinson has always taken a considerable interest in this question, and at the time of the Venezuelan dispute prepared a brief for presentation to the state department, advocating the complete abrogation of the treaty. Mr. Dickinson appeared before the commissioners at Ot- tawa ostensibly in the interest, of the ship builders of Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and other lake cities, and he asked that the word "build" be siricken from the old treaty. No request was made that the portion of the treaty providing for the maintenance of only one war vessel by each power on the lakes be changed. The Anglo-American commission has announced that nothing will be made public regarding the consideration of questions before the commission until the work is completed. No general thearings will be granted, and expert testimony will be utilized only on the most important questions. 'Chief Engineer Harold Norton and Assistant Naval Constructor Hor- ace L. Gillmor, U. S. N., have 'been ordered to report at the Armstrong works, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, as inspector of machinery and in- Spector of hulls, respectively, on the cruiser Alliance, rechristened Albany, now under construction there for the United States. The Albany is the first United States naval vessel ever constructed abroad, although several of those now in service were purchased outside this country. The United tates was compelled to purchase the Albany in order to secure the New tleans, which was in service during the late war. When the purchase Was made the Albany was just in frame, and under the strict neutrality Provisions work upon her was immediately suspended. The Albany and ew Orleans were purchased from Brazil, more because of a fear that Pain might secure them than for any other reason. September Storms on the Lakes, It will not be at all strange if some pretty severe storms are encoun- tered by lake navigators in September, especially during the latter part Gl the month, according to records kept by the United States weather bureau. The following summary of information regarding September weather on the lakes is from a chart issued by the Washington office of the service: "The atmospheric circulation in summer is more or less stagnant. Feeble storms or, more properly speaking, barometric depressions, pass over the lakes attended by thunderstorms and, in some cases, sharp squall winds. With the advent of cold weather the circulation becomes more active, the feeble depressions of summer give way to vigorous storms that move rapidly across the country, frequently in quick succession. 'The turning point in the character of the storms that visit the lake region is not generally reached until October, although at rather infrequent inter- vals severe storms occur in September, as in 1873, 1875 and 1878. The storm that swept over the lake region on Sept. 9 and 10, 1875, was quite. severe, both as regards loss of life and property. As will be remembered by the older navigators, the steam barge Equinox and the propeller Men- dota foundered on Lake Michigan with a loss of thirty-eight lives; the schooners Jno. Dunn and Onondaga and the scow M. J. Gaines were wrecked at Chicago, involving a loss for the three vessels of about $50,000. Many other casualties occurred at various points on Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie. While tropical hurricanes occasionally move inland from the south Atlantic coast, their energy, on reaching the lake region, is generally exhausted. In the last twenty-seven years but three such storms have endured long enough to give 'high winds on the lakes, the cne above. mentioned being the most severe. .The dangerous storms on the great lakes in September almost in- variably come from some westerly direction. The violent winds are con- fined to the central portion of the storm, which is generally as large as the lake itself, hence there is nothing to be gained by altering the course of the ship, as might be advisable on the high seas. As has been stated, the hardest blow almost invariably occurs with the shift of the wind to the southwest or northwest, as the storm center passes the vessel. Whether the wind shifts from southeast to southwest, or backs from northeast to northwest, depends upon the position of the vessel with regard to the storm center. In September the majority of the highest winds come from a westerly quarter, west or southwest on the lower lakes, and from southwest to northwest on the upper lakes. High winds from an easterly quarter rarely prevail except at Duluth. In the latter case the direction of the wind is doubtless influenced by local topography. Light flurries of snow are encountered off Keweenaw point and over eastern Lake Supe- rior about one year out of three.' Best Coal for Naval Use. No little amusement has recently been created by the very persistent efforts of anthracite coal producers to secure the adoption of anthracite for the use of the United States navy and the signal failure that has at- tended their efforts. Engineer-in-Chief Melville has just issued a state- ment which demonstrates very conclusively the impracticability of using anthracite, and there is hardly a possibility that a change will be made in the character of fuel utilized for some time to come. Exhaustive tests made 'by the navy department having shown Pocahontas 'coal to be the best fuel for steamship purposes, it has been adopted as the standard coal bw the navy department and is graded at 100 per cent. During the war with Spain our cruisers and warships generally used it almost 'exclusively, and the great value of superior fuel was never more clearly demonstrated than in the chase of the Cristobal Colon by the Oregon and Brooklyn at the battle of Santiago. The merits of Pocahontas coal are so well known that the leading ship builders of the counttry have always used it in making speed trials of government cruisers, and in every case where a bonus was offered for speed, it has been earned if Pocahontas coal was used. The aggregate premiums so earned by the William Cramp & Sons' Ship & Engine Build- ing Co. have amounted to over $2,000,000. It is probable that the strong- est bestimionial ever received as regards the superiority of Pocahontas coal was in ithe case of the Wolff & Zwicker Iron Works, Portland, Oregon, who thad Pocahontas coal shipped by all-rail from the mines in West Vir- ginia to Portland, the cost being more than double that of Cardiff. As the coal was required for testing torpedo boats that had been built fo: the government, the builders evidently felt it to their interests to disregard the question of cost of the coal in order to attain the highest possible rate of speed. Pocahontas coal has also 'been used exclusively for years by the Cunard and White Star transatlantic steamers, and by its use all great records of recent years have been made. Just at present the most interesting circumstance in connection with Pocahontas coal is found in the opportunity afforded American coal by the strike in the Cardiff mines to secure a firm foothold against British coal, and the anxiety of the English coal dealers on account of their in- ability to break this hold, now that the steamship owners, and even the consumers in foreign markets supplied by England, have an opportunity to appreciate the advantages of the American product. Large shipments of Pocahontas coal have been made to London of late, and the sale for it among steamship lines that have never used American coal of any kind is constantly increasing. Manufacturers of ship and engine building machinery have a pros- pective customer in William R. Trigg, president of the Richmond Loco- motive & Machine Works, who is expected to prove the lowest bidder ci torpedo boats and destroyers, for the construction of which the gov- ernment recently opened bids. Mr. Trigg 'has made arrangements to secure, in case 'he is awarded a contract for the construction of any of the new vessels, the use of the plant of the Virginia Machine Co. at Rich- mond, which was formerly occupied by the Talbot Machine Works, and also for the use of the dock of the 'Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co. If he secures a contract, the old Richmond plant will at once be equipped with improved machinery.