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18 MARINE REVIEW. [December 28,' MARINE REVIEW Devoted to the Merchant Marine, the Navy, Ship Building, and Kindred Interests. ; Published every Thursday at No. 418-19 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohio, by THE MARINE REVIEW PUBLISHING Co. SuBscRIPTION--$2.00 per year in advance; foreign, including postage, $3.50, or 15 shillings. Single copies 10 cents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, $1.00. . Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. Three new auxiliary cruisers of the second class are likely to be added to the American navy under the terms of a contract to be adver- tised shortly by the post office department. The vessels referred to are those now building to the order of the Oceanic Steamship Co. of San Francisco. They are vessels of more than 5,000 tons burden and must maintain a speed of 16 knots, covering the distance between Sydney, Australia, and San Francisco in twenty-one days. The government con- tract contemplates a mail service for an optional term of either five or ten years, beginning Nov. 1, 1900. The Oceanic company now receives a subsidy of $80,000 in addition to the usual allowance for transporting the mails to Sydney. The intent of the new service is to supplant this system of contract service and subsidy. In framing specifications for this service the department has been guided by the subsidy act of 1891, under which the vessels of the American line were made auxiliary cruis- ers. Should the Frye-Payne shipping bill become a law it is thought that the prospective bidders for this service will permit their proposals to stand. A great many remarkable records for elevating grain have been made at Buffalo since the introduction of steam shovels several years ago, but what it is claimed is the most creditable achievement to date was made a few days ago in the unloading of the steamer H. W. Oliver | at the C. J. Wells elevator. Work was started at 7:55 o'clock in the morning, and at 9:55 33,000 had been taken out. An hour later the record was 49,600, and at 11:55 65,000 bushels was safely in store. A stop was then made for dinner. At 1:30 o'clock 81,000 and at 2:30, 93,000 had been elevated. The finish was at 3:20, completing the cargo of 99,192 bushels. Allowing for shifting of the vessel and dinner the actual work- ing time was six hours, an average of 16,532 'bushels per hour. It is reported from England that very extensive improvements are to be made in the American liner Paris, which was ashore on the Manacles rocks. The contract recently entered into with Harland & Wolff of Belfast, Ireland, is said to provide, in addition to a thorough overhauling, for an addition of 100 feet to the Paris, which will give the vessel a total length of 665 feet. It is said that the vessel will also have the eight boilers which at present constitute her equipment replaced by a battery of steam generators just double in number. -As already stated in the Review, the Paris will be renamed when she goes back into the transatlantic service. In all probability Philadelphia will be the name chosen, although a strong effort is being made to have the boat named Chicago. It is interesting to note that the board of inspection and surveyewhich has been making an inspection of the cruiser Olympia, as noted elsewhere in this issue, includes in its report reference to the necessity for refilling the cofferdams of the vessel with cellulose. It is stated that the exami- nation of the Olympia showed that her cellulose protection was well soaked in water. A general replacing of all woodwork with light steel is recommended. The board recommends that partitions between state- rooms be constructed of corrugated steel and that metal hinged bunks be provided, and suggests the advisability of covering parts of the ship devoted to living quarters with asbestos sheathing, as this will reduce the danger from fire. The torpedo boat Shubrick, which was launched with great ceremony at the yard of the William R. Trigg Co. at Richmond, Va., some time ago, narrowly escaped destruction by an accident that happened a few days since. The vessel, which is 90 per cent completed, was lying at a dock at the northern end of the ship yard, parallel to which and but a few feet away runs a high trestle of the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad. As the result of a collision following the breaking of a train, freight cars were piled up on this trestle and one of them, loaded with seed, fell from the trestle, missing the Shubrick by less than a foot. The Bethlehem Steel Co. of Bethlehem, Pa., entertained the mem- 'bers of the naval committee of the house of representatives at their magnificent plant a few days since. All branches of the institution were shown, to the, wisitors, who saw armor plate for the battleships Alabama and. Lllinois:and the monitor Wyoming in process of construction. and. were also given an opportunity to inspect the Krupp armor plate being made for a Russian battleship.. It is understood, of course, that the Bethlehem.company has purchased the right to make armor plate by the Krupp process in this country. | : 'The Wm. Cramp & 'Sons Ship & Engine Building Co. has notified the Russian government that the battleship Retvizan, now. building -at the Philadelphia yard, will be launched in April and that the cruiser Variag, also under construction by the (Cramp company for the Russian navy, will be ready to leave the yard at the same time. The Neafie & Levy Ship & Engine Building Co. of Philadelphia are nothing if not prompt. They have already begun the preliminary work on the cruiser Denver, for which they have the contract and it is expected that the actual work of construction will be under way in less than six months, A HISTORY OF AMERICAN PRIVATEERS. Edgar Stanton Maclay, whose "History of the United States Navy" has won for him the sincere appreciation of all students of our progress 'in warfare on the high seas, has followed up this work with a volume-- supplementary to it in a certain sense--of which it may well be said that it is worthy to rank beside the history just mentioned--certainly the highest praise that could be bestowed. The volume just from press is entitled "A History of American Privateers,' and the reader wonders when he has perused this intensely interesting book that it should have been poss ble for so vast and highly important a field to have remained so long without a chronicler. At any rate it will need few in future, for Mr. Maclay has in his characteristic style covered the ground with remarkable thoroughness. fhe volume is dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt, who is spoken of asthe pioneer of the modern school of naval writers." In the opening chapters the whole subject is treated broadly and it is shown conclusively that in both wars with England our privateers were a most important if not a predominating feature of our early sea power. Then follows' stories in detail oi all the principal rovers of the sea in the early part of the present century, or the latter part of the last, and as may readily be imagined these narratives are very interesting. There was not until Mr. Maclay's work came from press any complete record of American privateers and the author acknowledges at the out- set his realization of the fact that he has entered upon a new and 'most difficult teld of historical research. In writing his "History of the United States Navy,' Mr. Maclay had the official reports and other reliable rec- ords on which to base his work, but in attempting a history of American privateers he found himself entirely cut off from this solid basis and was dependeut on the fragmentary and scattered records which are to be found in the periodicals of that day and on the private letters, logs and tradi- tions that have been preserved by descendants of the privateersmen. These records are scattered all over the United States, and certainly the author 1s not more deserving of praise for his patience and persistence in collecting their contents than for the complete and connected narrative that he has managed to evolve from records, which at first inspection seemed to be lacking in many important links. ee _ The arrangement of the work is admirable. The more notable priva- teets. are each made the subject of one or more chapters, whie the crait. (their operations were of lesser importance) are grouped either with Sees reference to the periods of their activity or to the ports from which they hailed. As a result the book has special value as a work of reference, re-- search necessary for the investigation of any given topic being reduced to a minimum. The book is most handsomely bound and the text is accom- panied by upwards of one hundred illustrations, embracing reproductions of contemporary pictures, portraits and documents, and also original illustrations by Mr. George F. Gibbs. Published by D. Appleton & Co., New York city. Price $3.50. é --_---- AREA AND RAINFALL OF THE GREAT LAKES. The special report on the subject of lake regulation by means of a dam in the Niagara river, recently submitted to congress by the United States Board of Engineers on Deep Waterways contains the following table showing the area of the surfaces of the great lakes and watersheds, as determined by the best authorities: AUTHORITY. Lake Watenbed Te behee, L. EH. Cooley. | T. R. Russell. : : Square miles. | Square miles. | Square miles. | Square miles. SUpPOLiOk: cach cnsasec: ao 200) 31,800 32,060 48,600 Michigan Ee wae as 22,450 - 22,400 22,336 45,700 Huron 23,800 23,200 22,978 52,100 SUS Claire tc caeercne bo mettre: 495 503 6,320 Erich eee ae 9,960 | 10,000 9,968 24,480 @ntarions cae T2405 | 7,450 7,248 25,530 The values given by Mr. Cooley have been used in the discussion ol the lake regulation problem with the exception of that for Lake Erie, the area of which has been redetermined by the board of engineers and found to be 9,932 square miles. The average annual rainfall on the lake basins, as furnished by the United States Weather Bureau, is as follows: Lake Superior, 28 inches; Lake Michigan, 33 inches; Lake Huron, 32 inches; Lake St. Clair, 35 inches; Lake Erie, 36 inches; Lake Ontario, 33 inches. A report of the work done during the past season on one of the large breakwaters of the Atlantic coast, the harbor of refuge at Lewes, Delaware, shows that the superstructure of the work has been' prac- tically completed from the west end to the angle for about a mile, and from this point to the end of the breakwater it has been practically completed to low water for about 2,700 feet. A total of 419,642 tons of Belmont granite have 'been placed in position and the season's work foots up in.cost to :$550;000. The height of the breakwater from the sea bottom to its summiutevaries from 12 to 55 feet, according to. the varia- tions: of the sea bottom. To date the breakwater has cost $1,260,000, and it is-expected that it. will be finished, by the 'summer.of 1901 at-a total cost: of2$2,350,000, including the expenditure necessary for, the con- struction "of: ten ice piers.;-The total length of.the structure wil] -be 8,000: feet. In the regular weekly statement issued by the bureau of navigation treasury department, the steam yacht Virginia, recently completed at Bath, Me., is listed as of 441 gross or 212 net tons. The schooner Jennie French Potter, launched at Camden, Me., a few days since, is of 1993 gross or 1794 net tons, and the schooner Mary W. Brown, another new Bath-built craft, is of 2153 gross or 1907 net tons. The schooner Ohio still another recent product of the Bath district, is of 1629 gross or 1506 net tons burden, ae.