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

a2 MARINE REVIEW. FUTURE OF THE ITALIAN NAVY. The Italian minister of marine has recently expressed his views with regard to the changes which are destined to be made in the Italian navy in the near future. The following statement cannot fail, therefore, to be oi interest to the naval experts of other powers. As to the type of vessel most fitted for Italy's navy, Rear Admiral Bettolo is of the opinion that warships, to be of practical utility, should not exceed a displacement o. 8,000 tons, since, in consequence of the resistance offered by the new nickel steel armor, such vessels could offer the same amount of resistance com- b:ned with greater speed than is the case with the larger vessels con- structed of recent years. The armament of such a vessel ought to consist of eight 208 mm. guns; of eight guns of 152 mm.; of twelve of 76 mm.; and ot twelve of 47 mm.; and in addition, of six torpedo dischargers, of which two should be below the water-line. The speed must amount to at least from 22 to 23 knots an hour. Ata speed of 10 knots an hour such a vessel would have a radius of action of between 9,000 and 10,000 knots, and that would be considerably in excess of what the ships of other navies cou.d do in this direction. It will thus be seen that such a vessel corresponds with the model produced by Rear Admiral Bettolo in conjunction with the naval engineer Cuniberti. With regard to the composition of the fleet, Rear Admiral Bettolo insists that Italy, in view of its position in the Med- itcrranean, needs two classes of ships, namely, ships of the line and tor- pedo boat destroyers; and he considers that the latter are still more requi- s.te for Italy than they even are for England and France. Owing to their small size, and their inability to carry much coal, the stratégic advantages of torpedo boat destroyers are not great, and they are diminished in pro- portion as the destroyer has to put out further to sea. But, as it is not a question of immense distances in the seas that surround Italy, fast torpedo beat destroyers would be of no little importance for the Italian navy. In addition to the four torpedo boat destroyers ordered by the Italian gov- erfiment at the Schichau works for deivery soon, two others are now being biilt by Thornycroft'and four.by, Pattison at Naples. These latter 'de- stroyers will; however, be constructed under the supervision of the Thornycroft firm. Rear Admiral"Bettolo is also of opinion that 'steps mtist be taken to improve the condition of the older men-of-war in the Italian navy., To this end, for example, the fighting value of the battle- ships Italia and Lepanto.will be inereased by stowing, coal to. the thickness of five metres in those parts of the vessels which contain the engines. I xperiments have shown that a layer of coal three metres in thickness offers the same resistance as an armoring of twenty centimetres; more- over, the strongest of the explosives at present in use lose a great deal of their effect among the coal. In place of the disproportionately heavy armament of these vessels, guns of a lighter type, and therefore more easily to be handled, must be introduced, while, by a modification of the engines, the speed will be raised to 18 knots an hour. This modification will con- s st in adding three compound high-pressure cylinders to the three cylin- ders already in use. Out of the more obsolete vessels, or such as are un- able to steam at an adequate rate of speed, but which otherwise appear to be still fit for service, two squadrons for coast defense will be formed, and te them will be allotted such torpedo boats as may be fit no longer for service on the high seas. The thoroughness of Rear Admiral Bettolo's views is seen in the fact that he does not confine himself entirely to the inanimate part of the navy; he regards the seamanship qualities of the offi- cers and crews as forming the most important factor in estimating the value of a navy. He considers that his highest task is that of animating the personnel, and raising its standard; and he has in view a project for forming a naval militia- out of the time-expired sailors. Such a body of men would be of great service in time of war in maintaining public order, and in defending coast towns threatened or bombarded by the enemy.-- The Engineer, London. Boose ete noone Vessel owners are already reserving quarters at the Cadillac hotel, Detroit, for the annual meeting of the Lake Carriers' Association, which opens on the 17th of next month. As yet the only name mentioned in connection with the presidency of the association is that of J. G. Keith, Chicago. Capt. Keith probably does not know of his name being used in this connection, and there is therefore no telling whether he would accept the office if it were offered to him, but there are several of the Cleveland owners who appreciate his labors during several years past in behalf of the organization, and who would be pleased to see him elected president. It is not probable that W. J. Conners will try to secure the Buffalo grain shoveling contract for another year. The vessel owners will not give the contract to any of the labor unions or their representatives, on ac- count of the uncertainty that would attend dealings with these organiza- tions, and as a guess, therefore, it may be said that the chances are in favor of James Kennedy getting the contract for 1900. | W. J. Conners of Buffalo, is more prominent than ever in shipping circles of the great lakes on account of the harbor grants which he has just secured at Montreal. A vessel owner who has been closely asso- ciated with him in this large undertaking says: "(Conners would undoubt- edly have staked half his wealth on carrying out his plans in this matter, especially after he was confronted with bitter opposition of a spiteful kind from his own city of Buffalo,..He is vain in some matters, and 'made mistakes 6n this score it, the Montreal negotiations, but héxis a wonderful organizer and a constructor in the sense that nothing appears too big to him. If W. J. Conners had a military education, the quality of generalship that is in him would certainly have won him world fame." oe - Many marine men were in attendance at the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the museum of the East India Marine society at Salem, Mass. This interesting institution is filled with mementos of the mariners of a century ago. : The 1900 volume of the Record of American and Foreign Shipping, __being the thirty-second annual issue of the publication, has just come from press, The new volume lists more than 17,000 vessels of all classes, politan Steamship Co." al [December 98, WRECKED ON THE NORTH SHORE OF LAKE SUPERIOR. As might have been expected, the crew of the whaleback barge 115, wrecked on the north shore of Lake Superior, had a thrilling experience in that wilderness. A part of the story, as told by Mate M. J. Lynip, is as follows: "Tt was about noon on Monday, Dec 18, when the barge, after float- ing around Lake Superior for five days, drifted ashore on what we after- wards found to be Pic island. Where the barge grounded the land is very bold and rises from the water's edge 500 or 600 feet and even higher in places. The barge began to pound heavily and we were afraid that she would knock a hole in herself. There was_a little life raft on top of the after turret (our life boat had been carried away before we were separated from the steamer) and we used this to get ashore. First two of the men went ashore and made a landing, and then sent the raft back and forth until we were all ashore. The cook was just baking bread when we went ashore and we were unable to take this with us. The shore was a couple of hundred feet from the boat and quite a sea was running.. Some of the men took extra clothes with them and in the party we had two loaves of bread and a ham, besides our pockets full of candles. There were some provisions left aboard the boat but we had no time to get these and could not have carried them if we had, as the snow was very deep on the land. We landed in a small cove and began to climb up the steep bluff. We caught hold of roots and stones and the small evergreen trees which grew among the rocks and at last reached the top. We thought at this time that we were ashore on the mainland. The snow was about three feet deep, but the weather was not as cold as on the water. The first night we camped in the woods and the next day we started along the shore line. It was then that we found that we were on an island. As we followed the shore we came across a log cabin about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It was without a roof and had a part of an old sheet iron stove. We had taken ashore from the barge an axe and some matches and we all started to cut boughs and make a roof for the shanty and to make a fire in the stove. We stayed in the shanty Ttiesday night, and it was here that the steward's feet were so badly frozen. Wednesday morning we could see the mainland, about three miles away. We ripped the old shanty down and.made a raft-with which to get ashore on the'mainland. The raft was not darge enough to hold all of the men, and sank knee deep in the water when we all boarded her; but.we started;ont, and after drifting a couple of miles down the shore, making our trip about five miles in all, we landed. As soon as the raft struck the shore she went to pieces. There was lots of snow on the mainland, but we built a fire and camped in the bush all night. Thursday morning we started out and walked all day along the shore to the west. Our provisions were giving out, and we had about half a slice of wet bread and two ounces of raw ham each. That night we camped in the bush again, and Friday morning, after walk- ing until 11 o'clock, and after struggling four days in search of human beings, we struck the tracks of the Canadian Pacific road. Here we ate the last of the provisions which we had with us. At last we met two section hands, who told us that the nearest town was Middletown, a mile and a half away. We reached the railroad station at Middletown about noon on Friday. The agent there did all he could for us, fed us, gave us a place to sleep, and dressed the steward's feet. The captain then wired to the company of our arrival. The Canadian Pacific people took good care of us." WHEN GRANT CHRISTENED A STEAMER. The following story is vouched for by a writer in the New York Commercial: "Tt isn't generally known that Gen. U. S. Grant christened a steam- ship," remarked a gentleman connected with the Metropolitan Steam- ship Co., "but he did, and in a very modest way. It was the first iron steamship built by our company. The builders were Harlan & Hollings- worth of Wilmington, Del., and when the vessel was launched--in 1876, I think--Gen. Grant was present. There was no waste of champagne in the christening, and mighty little ceremony of any kind. One of the owners asked Grant to suggest a name for the vessel, and without a word he took the stub of a pencil from his pocket and penciled carefully on the stern of the ship the name 'General Whitney.' By that name the vessel was christened, and she still carries it. Gen. James S. Whitney was one of the best men that ever lived, and Grant liked him immensely. He was the father of William C. Whitney of New York and Henry M. Whitney of Boston, With Thomas Clyde of Philadelphia he organized the Metro- 'A PASSENGER AND FREIGHT STEAMER. Work is progressing very rapidly at the yard of William McKie & Co. at East Boston, Mass., on the steamer City of Rockland, building for the Boston & Bangor Steamship Co. The new vessel, which will be ready for service in May, 1901, will be 285 feet in length, 38 feet beam and 14 feet depth of hold. In general appearance she will be very similar to the steamer City of Bangor, now plying between Boston and Bangor, with the exception that the awning deck, so called, will run back flush with the.stern rail. The Rockland will be fitted with two electric light plants.of 300 lights capacity each, and they will be run by an independent engine,"-In almost every other patticular the steamer will be like the Bangor, and with the new boat the company will be as well equipped as any now doing business along the Atlantic coast. 3 MARINE REVIEW INDEX. With next week's issue of the Marine Review will be issued an index for Volumes XIX and XX, running through the year 1899. This will enable subscribers who make a practice of binding the paper to make reference readily to any article printed throughout the year. Subscribers who would avoid the trouble of binding their papers may have the two volumes bound together, with or without the advertising pages, by send- ing the papers to us accompanied by $3. The Review also has for sale for $1 a very handsome and substantial ready binder which enables any- one to bind one volume of the paper with ease and convenience,