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MARINE REVIE Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. Published «very Thursday at 418-19 Perry- Payne Bldg., by the Marine Review Pub. Co. Vou. XXIII, CLEVELAND, O., JUNE 6, 1901. Subscription $3.00 a year. Foreign $4 50 a year. No. 23 A GREAT STEAMBOAT RACE. THE CITY OF ERIE IN A RACE OF NEARLY IOO MILES BEATS THE TASHMOO BY ONLY 45 SECONDS--A CONTEST DELIBERATELY PLANNED AND FULLY CARRIED OUT. The race, or rather the contest of speed, between the side-wheel pas- senger steamers Tashmoo and the City of Erie on Tuesday was doubtless the most interesting event that has ever been held on the great lakes. It is probably the only time in the history of lake navigation when two great steamers have deliberately set out to determine the question of speed supremacy. There have been other races, entered into upon the spur of occasion, but there has been none deliberately arranged for in advance. The result of the race is the indisputable fact that the City of Erie is the fastest boat on fresh water. Under fair conditions and with plenty of water beneath her the Tashmoo can never hope to beat the City of Erie. It was only when the Erie was under disadvantage in shoal water that the Tashmoo gained upon her. In a shoal strip off Fairport the Erie increased her number of revolutions to 34%, which was the maximum for the entire trip, but her slippage was so great that she made less than 21 miles an hour. Had the shoal water continued much longer the Tashmoo would have beaten her, for in the brief time in which it obtained she made up the distance lost in crossing the line behind the Erie and placed her nose about half a length ahead of her contestant. This lead, however, she could not hold when the Erie again struck deep water. Supt. C. B. Calder of the Detroit Ship Building Co. estimated the loss of distance to the Erie by reason of the shoal water at half a mile; and Mr. W. H. Fletcher of the W. '& A. Fletcher Co., which built the engines of the Erie, estimated the loss in time at three minutes. The Erie, to use her power to full advantage, needs 100 ft. of water under her; off Fairport she had only seven fathoms. Mr. Stevenson Taylor, engineer of the W. & A. Fletcher Co., New York, said that if the question of supremacy of speed between the Tashmoo and Erie was submitted to any naval architect prior to the race he would unhesitatingly choose the Tashmoo. She is a vessel 322 ft. in length, 37 ft. beam, 1,200 tons displacement and of about 3,000 H.P. The Erie is a vessel 324 ft. in length, 43 ft. beam, 2,450 tons displacement and of about 6,000 H.P. The Tashmoo is sharp and yacht-like in build, stripped to a skeleton and looks like a racing machine; the Erie, though a graceful ship, has fuller lines owing to her greater beam. The Tashmoo on the actual run had about one-half the displacement and more than half the engine power of the Erie. Therefore, says Mr. Taylor, any naval architect would have chosen the Tashmoo. It will be noted later in this article that the figures regarding horse power are supplemented by actual figures as to power developed in the contest. What is the lesson of the race? Mr. Taylor replied instantly that the Erie had the better application of power. Would Howden draft on the Tashmoo have altered the result? Mr. Taylor replied at once that had the Tashmoo been equipped with a plain beam engine, supplemented with forced draft she would have generated 1,000 more horse power and would have run away from the Erie. He added a moment later, how- ever, that with her triple expansion inclined engine forced draft would have been of no avail as she was limited to the capacity of her high pressure cylinder. That being full all the time no more could be ex- pected of her. She carried all the time all the steam that she could use. It may be well to note, in connection with these few remarks from Mr. Taylor, that he is, of course, especially interested in the beam engine, for the manufacture of which his firm is known all over the country. The Erie crossed the line off Cleveland at 9:38:56 o'clock and the Tashmoo 35 seconds later. When the starting gun was fired both vesséls=* were lying motionless within half a mile of the line. The greatest sur- prise of all was the ease with which the Erie got under way. No one expected her to cross the line first--except 'Chief Engineer Rendall, and he was confident that she could set under full headway within the dis- tance. For this extraordinary performance the amateur crew of the Erie raised a purse of $100 and gave it to Rendall. The Erie maintained her lead until Fairport was reached, when she ran into shoal water and pounded. The outer course would have been the better one for the Erie but the Tashmoo won it on the toss. The Erie regained her lead when she reached deep water and held it to the finish. It was common report that each vessel was holding something in reserve for the last few miles, but this was erroneous. Both were all in at the start and held nothing in reserve. They never varied at any time more than three or four lengths. The singular part of the race was that it was more exciting to those who were not on board than it was to those who were on board. In order not to disturb the trim of the ship the passenger crew were not permitted on deck but were locked in the cabin with even the windows closed. They consequently viewed the race with their noses glued against the glass and at a considerable altitude from the water, which, of course, did not permit of any adequate comprehension of the speed at which they were traveling. There being much at stake this regulation was absolutely necessary, but a few embryotic newspaper reporters, with the mother's milk still oozing from their mouths, thought it a most out- rageous curtailment of their liberties and drew up and signed a formal protest against the management of the boat. Maybe it was published in some newspapers and maybe it was not. All of them at least took copies of it. The Erie crossed the finishing line at 1:57:5 o'clock, having made the trip in 4 hours, 19 minutes and 9 seconds. The Tashmoo crossed 1 minute and 20 seconds later. Deducting the 35 seconds start which the Erie had in crossing the starting line ahead of the Tashmoo, the actual difference in time between the two vessels was 45 seconds. It was a perfect Tashmoo day. The sea was as glass. Not a breath of air rippled it. The Tashmoo had the outer course and all the ad- vantage of weather and water. She was primed for a race. She was scraped and polished to the pink of perfection. She was, indeed, as beautiful a picture as one could hope to see in a world of oceans and was in as fine a fettle as some well-groomed and splendid animal. The Erie, on the other hand, had rested but one hour from the common drudgery of her' freight business. She discharged her cargo and went out as she was. She had not been scraped, nor were her boilers clean, and yet she tore through the water and snatched a race from a racer. The result of the Erie's performance, as computed by Mr, Taylor, is as follows: _ Distance, 96 miles; time, 4 hours 19 minutes and 9 seconds; speed, 22.28 miles per hour; average steam pressure, 118 lbs.; maximum steam pressure, 120 Ibs.; minimum steam pressure, 112 Ibs.; revolutions, 3314; maximum revolutions, 841%; displacement, 2,450 tons; horse power, 5,658; maximum speed, 2234 miles; minimum speed, 21% miles; mean speed, 21,764 miles.. Mr. Taylor had estimated prior to the race that the Erie's time would be 4 hours and 21 minutes. He did not think that she could possibly make it in any less. The figures of Mr. C. B. Calder, who was on the boat on behalf of the ship builders, do not quite agree with Mr. Taylor's. He figures the distance at 94 miles and the speed at 21.76 miles. The revolutions were 33% and the total number during the entire trip was 8,646. He insists that at no time did the boats make 22 miles. The Erie was drawing 9 ft. 9 in. forward and 10 ft. 10 in. aft. .The dip of wheels was 5 ft. 2 in. and she carried sufficient freight to give her a displacement of 2,450 tons, this 'displacement being in order to permit her to use her power. The slip- page of the wheels was 32.76 per cent. Mr. Calder telegraphed the Review on Wednesday morning that the Erie's horse power during the race was 6,800 and the Tashmoo's 3,200. "Both boats have exceeded our expectations,' said Mr. Calder. "They were both built for 20-mile boats and have given a wonderful per- formance. I am here to get at the facts for we don't want to deceive our- selves. I don't believe the race teaches any lesson further than to demon- strate which is the faster boat. Howden draft would nut have aided the Tashmoo for she had all the steam she could use. She was blowing off steam part of the time. I made the prediction before the race that neither boat would make a less speed than 21% miles and that neither boat would reach 22 miles. I believe my figures are correct." Mr. W. H. Fletcher, whose firm built the Erie's engines, was one of the most gratified men on board. "It is the most remarkable race I ever saw," said he. "In point of fact I think it is the most remarkable race that was ever run and I would go across the world to see another like it. It has been a gentlemen's race throughout. It started out without a hitch and it ended without interference.. Never before have two vessels so deliberately set out to match their speed. Think of it. A perfect day, a lake like a pond, one vessel built for rough weather matching her speed against one built for smooth water and coming out ahead. The Erie is truly a-very fast boat." ae The Erie is equipped with a compound, vertical, jet condensing beam engine, high pressure.cylinder 52 in. by 8 ft. stroke and low pressure 80 in. by 12 ft, stroke. Her feathering wheels are 28% ft. diameter outside of buckets, and 12 ft. face. The Tashmoo's wheels are 22 ft. 4 in. Her maximum revolutions were 42:and the total number of turns 10,462. _A very large amount of money changed hands on the race. Much of it was placed in Cleveland after the arrival of the Tashmoo Monday evening, due to the fact that it had been proven during trials of the pre- vious week that the Detroit boat had more power than was looked for by her designers and that her boilers would provide all the steam that would possibly' be required and maintain full steam pressure on a long run. Three ship experts connected with the Detroit works are supposed to know most about the vessels. The men are Frank E. Kirby, designer of the best known side-wheel steamers of the lakes, and his two principal associates, C. B. Calder, superintendent, and A. George Mattsson, de- signing engineer. It is certain that these men expected on the day of the race a contest so even that they would say nothing that might be contributed as an opinion in favor of either vessel. Previous to the com- pletion of preparations for the race it was thought that they looked upon the Erie as having some slight advantage in her great excess of power over the other vessel, but if such an opinion existed with them it was probably changed after the Tashmoo trials of last week to one of decided uncertainty regarding the outcome. Referring to these trials, Mr. ae who represented the ship building company on the Tashmoo, said: "We had been getting only 2,700 H.P., extreme, out of the Tashmoo, until, in preparation for this contest, we changed the valve arrangement. We reduced the lap of the high pressure valve so as to get more steam into the high pressure cylinder and we also found that the safety valve had been set too light by about 10 lbs. These changes gave us 3,000 H.P. on a test made Decoration day, Then we turned our attention to the steam and found on a long run the next day that we had all the steam we needed and for almost any length of time." It was the satisfaction with the condition of the ship that increased the enthusiasm of the Tashmoo's supporters when they set out for iCleve- land. Disappointment was, of course, apparent after the race in every- body interested in the vessel, and there was some talk of defeat being due to a hot condenser and to a change in the trim of the vessel after a large quantity of coal had been used that was stored forward, but these state- ments did not come from the owners, who simply said they were fairly beaten in a fair race. Toe Sir Windsor Richards and Arthur Keen, two of the most prominent iron men of England, are in the United States inspecting the various steel plants.. They were shown through the Bethlehem works at South Bethlehem, Pa., this week. "