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1901.] MARINE REVIEW. -- "S, TRIAL OF THE BATTLESHIP ILLINOIS. Following are the salient points in the trial trip of the battleship Illi- nois which attained a speed of 17.31 knots and which today has the rec- ord of being the speediest battleship in the United States navy. The trial was briefly referred to in the last issue of the Review. The Illinois is speedier by a fraction of a knot than the Wisconsin, her immediate pre- decessor. The battleship passed the first buoy at 10:12:08. There was no per- ceptible vibration in her hull unless one stood on the quarter deck. She displaced a great deal of water forward, which frothed off in a bank of white fully 50 ft. wide, but her stern wave was very small indeed consider- ing the immense displacement of her hull. It was apparent from the start, almost, that the ship would make very fast time, and her progress over the first section of the course, a distance of 6.6 knots, was very closely watched. She passed the second buoy at 10:34:56, having covered the dis- tance in 22 minutes.53 seconds, which showed a speed of 17.3 knots an hour. On the start the ship carried 175 lbs. of steam, but this was gradu- ally worked up until between the second and third buoys she had from 180 to 185 lbs. Her time between these buoys was 23 minutes 20 seconds, showing that her speed here was at the rate of 16.97 knots an hour. How- ever, as the intermediate marks were not placed with absolute accuracy, A TIDE RECKONING MACHINE. _A machine that will do the work of thirty expert mathematicians is being constructed by the government in its scientific instrument shop on Capitol Hill, in Washington. It is to be an improvement on an instru- ment in use in the bureau of the coast survey, which has charge of cal- culating the tides. This machine will beiin a class all by itself as a mathematician. England has one which does a similar class of work, but does not carry its calculations so far. The British instrument was in- vented by Lord Kelvin. The American instrument was contrived by E. Terrel, an employe of the United States coast survey. The American ma- ° chine now in use cost $3,500. It stands about 2 ft. high and is 18 in. across. Its half-a-foot of depth is a maze of wheels, pulleys and levers. It does wonderful things. There is a little crank on the lower left hand side, and at a simple turn of that crank the machine will give the answer to a problem involving nineteen separate calculations. The problems it works out are the enormously complicated calculations of tidal variations. In the year 1903 some ship will be in the harbor of Karachi, India, at the head of the Arabian sea. Suppose the ship arrives at 6:30 in the morning on the first day of October. The captain. will have a printed table in his pilot house and in that table he will read that at that par- ticular hour of that particular:day of that particular year there is 7 ft. of tide in the bay. By referring to a chart showing the depth of the bay THE UNITED STATES BATTLESHIP ILLINOIS. Built by the Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., Newport, News, Va. owing to their distance from shore ranges, there was some question as to the accuracy of the results obtained from them. The old wooden ship Lancaster, on the second mark, was passed at 10:34:56. On the third stretch on the course the ship showed her greatest ap- parent speed of the trial, or 17.84 knots. something to do with this. The fourth stake boat, the training ship Essex, was passed at 11:20:28, the time for the third stretch thus being the short- est of any in the run, 22 minutes 12 seconds. The run to the fifth stake boat, the training ship Newport, was made in 23 minutes 3 seconds, she being passed at 11:43:31. The indicated speed for this stretch was 17.18 knots. The end of the course was marked by the tug Potomac, and a buoy boat stood by to take up the can buoy there when the battleship should have passed. The mark was passed at 12:06:07. This made the time for the outward run 1 hour 54 minutes 4 seconds and the speed 17.36 miles an hour. Before passing the last mark the ship's port engines were slowed down, preparatory to turning after the stake was passed. On rounding the stake the battleship was given two complete turns, the first to star- . board and the other to port, both at full speed. She turned gracefully, taking only a slight heel, and steering very easily. The water thrown aside from her stern rolled away in a heavy wave, while the suction made on the lee side of the stern caused a rush of clear green brine that made a hissing noise and presented a most picturesque sight. Two turns here were considered sufficient to test the ship on this point. turned in practically three times her length, with both engines going ahead at full speed, and made the complete circle in 3 minutes. The start for the home run was made at 12:47:11. It was then flat calm. There was not a suspicion of ripple or swell, and the sun beat down hot on the decks of the cinder-strewn bulldog of the navy wrestling for honors that had been taken by her sister ship in the Pacific not long - ago. The home run was made without incident. The ship forged along as steadily as if out for a practice run to give her crew an airing on the wave. The tctal time for the home run was 1 hour 52 minutes 42 seconds and the average speed for the 33 miles 17.26 knots. The entire time for the run of 66 knots was 3 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds, and the average speed 17.31 knots. The slack tide may have had. It was found she - Copyright, 1901, by Samuel E. Rusk, Newport News, Va. normally he will know just how much water there is for his vessel. The calculation by which it is possible to predict 7 ft. of tide at that place and time was made by the United States government's machine on May 17 last in Washington. The machine owned by the British government is the only other one by which the calculating could have been done; but on account of the enormous volume of such work to be done the two governments try to divide the territory. Foreign governments have frequently applied to the United States to do some tide forecasting for harbors important to their commerce with the machine invented by Mr. Terrel, which the new one is expected to supersede. They have been quite willing to pay for such work, but as a rule the coast survey has been unable to comply with such requests owing to the pressure of its own work. Dr. R. A. Harris of the coast survey devised the plans for the new machine now being constructed. He has _ taken suggestions from the-two instruments now in existence and hopes to produce one which will combine the good features of both. ae ~The employment of mechanical apparatus for doing work usually per- formed by the human mind is more extensively seen in the government scientific departments than any other place in the country. The multiply- ing and dividing machine, for example, is a great saver of time and mental labor, not to mention its absolute accuracy. The machine declines to make mistakes, and if the operator tries to make seven go into six will | ring a bell in protest. Practically all the adding in the government's coast ' section 8x4 ft., same survey. at same price. survey work is done by machines. Where the column contains three- quarters of a million figures, as frequently happens in the tide computa- | tions, the saving in mental effort is very considerable. A chart of Georgian bay, entire, on one sheet, from survey of . Com'dr Boulton of British admiralty, will be sent to any address, post- paid, at $1.25; regular price $1.75. Size of sheet 3x3 ft. Chart of Mid'and A British admiralty chart, Midland section of Georgian bay, will be ' sent, postpaid, to any address for $1.25; regular price $1.75. Size of sheet 8x4 ft. The Marine Review Pub. Co., Perry-Payne building, Cleveland. Chart of the whole bay on one sheet at the same price. :