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

1998.1 i | ie eer ees MARINE A HORSE POWER ON 1% POUNDS OF COAL. PERFORMANCE OF THE PAOKAGE FREIGHT STEAMER TROY, ON HER FIRST TRIP DOWN THE LAKES, Officials of the Detroit Dry Dock Co. are greatly pleased with reports of the performance of the steamer Troy on 'her maiden trip. The Troy is the largest package freight steamer on the lakes and is also one of the - finest ships of her kind on fresh water. She is owned by the Western Transit Co. (lake line of New York Central Railroad) and was designed to engage ex- clusively in the grain and package freight trade. In contracting for this vessel the Detroit Dry Dock Co. was not required to figure against other firms on the close basis that usually attends the placing of con- tracts for freight carriers. They had built a large number of steamers for the Western line. All were satisfactory, and when another good vessel was de- sired a close figure was not demanded. 'The price of the vessel was, of course, given careful consideration bv the Western line management, but the job jwas not one of figuring down to the last dollar. This is why officials of the Detroit company are so well pleased with first reports from the Troy. They agreed to build a vessel that would make 13 milles an hour loaded on 2,650 pounds of fuel. The Troy on her first trip down Lake Superior with a load of iron ore made 13.2 miles an hour on 2,541 pounds of fuel. Ore was 'taken on the first trip in order 'to make the test. 'The ship was guaranteed to carry 5,050 tons on 17 feet 6 inches; her load was 5,076 tons on 17 feet 4 inches. She developed 1,690 I. EH. P., and the chief engineer of the line, Mr. Wilson, who furnishes the foregoing data, also figures from a test made on the way down . Lake Superior that the coal consumption per I. H. P. per hour was only 1.5 pounds. The Troy is equipped with the Howden system of hot draft. If this show- ing is borne out by more extended tests, as it. prob- ably will 'be, it will be recorded as the lowest figure yet: reached on the lakes, and possibly throughout the world, in the matter of fuel consumption. The Troy is 402% feet in length, 4214 feet beam and 28 feet molded depth. There are seven gang- ways, all above the 16-foot water mark, and the hatches are 24 feet centers. There are two complete electric lighting plants, and the hoisting apparatus for. freight, as well as all other parts of the ship's equipment, is modern in all respects. The propelling engines, supplied with steam at 210 pounds pressure, are quadruple expansion with cylinders of 19. 27%, 4) and 58 inches diameter with 42-inch stroke. The car dumping machines at Lake Erie ports have certainly been loading coal into ships at a won- derful rate during the present season. At the 'Erie fast plant in Cleveland, a few days ago, 2,700 tons of cargo and 140 tons of fuel were loaded into the steamer Geo. W. Roby in eight hours. This kind gf Gypateh is an every-day affair at some of the best ocks. October Storms on the Lakes. _ October has always had the reputation among lake vessel men_of being a month characterized by considerable tempestuous weather. This fact lends considerable interest to the storm forecast contained in the REVIEW. . 14e3 number that move northeasterly from the central valleys, however, is greater than during the preceding month and the storms are more apt to be accompanied by high winds and gales. On the average five storms pass directly over the lake region in October, the majority of which, -how- ever, can be safely weathered by the larger craft. Occasionally an Octo- ber storm of unusual severity sweeps over the lakes endangering the safety of the strongest vessels. In the last twenty years half a dozen such storms have occurred, all of which left a trail of destruction in their wake. "One of the most severe storms in the annals of lake shipping occurred QUADRUPLE EXPANSION ENGINES OF NEW WESTERN LINER TROY, Oct. 16-17, 1880. The coming of this storm with the attendant changes in the elements--the passage in a few hours from the delightful weather of autumn to a 'howling gale with snow squalls and freezing temperature-- illustrates one phase of lake weather that happily we are not often called upon to chronicle. The dangerous storms of the great lakes 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. NIC. 3 i JOS THODMI rSHnwo ws o4erisrt rr B ti Ac aM in'Oct storms, viz., those of the winter. 'These are more regular in their occur- rence and movement, sweep over larger areas, and develope greater Strength than:those' of summer. They 'are generally preceded in the Lake Tegion by higher temperature, increasing cloudiness, and moderately 'high Winds from some easterly or southerly quarter which blow steadily as Compared with the short-lived squall winds of summer. The greater num- October storms pass over the northern or Superior route. The "5 WESTERN TRANSIT 60.8 NEW PACKAGE FREIGHT STEAMER TROY. 1 ofnthly chart just' issued by the weather bureau. The forecast is as fol-. s: "There is an increase both in the number and violence of lake storms , VOctober, as Compared with September. The squall winds and thunder-., stofmsof'the warm season have now given way to a different, class of § re SY FMB 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), | previously 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 fromnorth-,, _ east 'to northwest, depends upon the position: of the vessel with regard.to., the storm center. The great majority of tthe high winds:come.from a.. westerly quarter, west or southwest on the lower lakes, and from south- west 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." e