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>A 2 -- 16 MARINE REVIEW. [September 26, GEORGE CROUSE COOK. The name Geo. Crouse Cook attached to several articles on subjects of naval architecture during the past two years is familiar to readers of the Review. Mr. Cook is a young man whose training, preparatory to opening an office in New York, is worthy of attention. He was born in 1875 at Fort Plain, N. Y., of one of the old and well-known families of the Mohawk val- ley. After the usual. grammar-school training he entered a private military academy, where he remained until the Webb Academy for Ship Builders was opened, and, having quali- fied in the entrance examinations, entered and graduated with the first class in '97, receiving the first diploma issued by that academy. Dur- ing this time he also served as an apprentice in the ship yard of Dialogue & 'Son, Camden, N. J:, and as an assistant on the engineers staff of the S.S. Europe of the Atlantic Trans- portation line. Having qualified in the United States civil service examinations for the navy department, he was sent to Washington, but on being assigned to the ordnance bureau he resigned to enter the hull- department of the Wm. Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co., Philadelphia, where he remained for two years, engaged in general drafting and calcu- MR. CHARLES H. CRAMP ON THE TURRET QUESTION. Mr. Charles H. Cramp, the veteran ship builder of Philadelphia, is opposed to the system of superposed turrets which has been introduced on the Kearsarge and Kentucky and which is now being urged for some of the other battleships. He is also opposed to covers on top of some of the single turrets. At least he quotes many officers who were in the fight at Santiago as expressing the opinion that there should be no top on a turret, for the reason that the ventilation is so bad, and the facilities for observation so poor in time of battle, that officers cannot well direct affairs from a closed turret. In a letter to Rear Admiral Bowles, chief con- structor of the navy, Mr. Cramp says: . "T think that the majority report of the board has in its design for the new battleship provided the best possible scheme of gun capabilities and protection. While my objections to the use of the superposed turret, I think, are convincing, particularly on account of the excessive movable weights consequent, and the impossibility of sighting the gun, to say noth- ing of the equally important consideration of its vulnerability, 1 would recommend turret protection for the 12-in. guns. The line should be drawn here. All guns of smaller caliber, excepting possibly the 10-in., should be mounted with casemate protections, and their shields used only when firing in broadside or from the ends of the casemates. _ "The liability to complete disablement of a single turret with two guns is, of course, beyond question. In a superposed turret two more guns in each turret are involved in the trouble, and certainly render the question _ First Steel Vessel Constructed in Canada. lating on merchant and naval work. From the Cramp works he entered the University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, where he was a student of engineering and naval architecture for two years. In his second year he was awarded by the university the senior class naval architecture prize--the first American from civil life to be so honored. Following the Glasgow university training he was employed by the Howaldtswerke, Kiel, Germany, where he had charge of three vessels. This was his last service in a ship yard. He has now established an office in the Kemble building, Whitehall street, New York city, as general ship draftsman and designer, and is at present preparing a 105-ft. design for one of the New York transportation companies.. Mr. Cook is an associate member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, New York; associate member of the Institution of Naval Architects, London; and was a member of "Congres d'Architec- ture et de Constructien Navales,' which met in Paris in 1900. In 1899 he was married to Miss Florence E. Bradford of a well known. ship building and seafaring New England family. As a daughter of the male line of Goy. Wm. Bradford of the Pilgrim colony, at Plymouth, Mrs. Cook is a prominent member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants. 'Mr. Cook writes on general topics in the field of naval architecture and has made a special study of the naval architecture schools of the world, with a view of fitting himself for academical work in his profession. Any retrospect like that taken by General Manager Swank of the American Iron & Steel Association on "Iron and Steel at'the Close of the Nineteenth Century," gives great significance to statements such as the Pressed Steel Car Co. has made recently, as to the tonnage of steel entering into its cars month by month. It can scarcely be realized that this industry, whose beginnings go 'back only four years, is now requiring in the shops of the single company named over 1,600 tons of plate and shapes a day, or fully 500,000 tons a year. Here is a new outlet for the product of our steel mills that requires a tonnage almost equal to the entire make of our open-hearth steel plants ten years ago. [Such facts tell the story of the advance of our iron and steel industry, which in very truth has been in recent years by leaps and 'bounds.--Iron Trade Review. LAUNCH OF THE} HURONIC AT THE WORKS OF THE COLLINGWOOD SHIP BUILDING CO., COLLINGWOOD, ONT. more complex. In the examination and investigation of the subject of fighting in turrets I have ascertained the views of many of the officers who were in the turret during the engagement at Santiago, and I feel convinced that there was hardly a shot fired during that battle or in any of the bom- bardments under conditions that ought to be. I have been informed by an officer of the navy who was in command of an 8-in. gun turret at the battle of Santiago that as soon as the firing began he abandoned the sight- ing hood and lifted the manhole cover on top of the turret. This he found it absolutely necessary to do in order to obtain that view of the situation which he deemed necessary to proper execution of his duties. This offi- cer further informed me in reply to an inquiry as to the personal exposure involved that he considered it safer to stand in that manner, with his head and body exposed, than with his head in the sighting hood. At any rate he preferred it. This is by no means an isolated case. Other officers who - servediin turrets during the Spanish war have declared emphatically that they would rather have the entire top removed, leaving the turret com- pletely open above, for the reason that it was impossible to sight or work the guns satisfactorily in the confined and closed space; that even the ven- tilation, no matter what kind of powder was used, whether black or smoke- less, was a serious question. With the open tops there would be good ventilation, and above all an opportunity for the officer or officers in charge to look over the upper edge of the turret and see what was going on, instead of having their view of the situation confined to the small peep holes which prove utterly useless in action." A charter was granted this week to the Sharon Sheet Steel Co., Sharon, Pa. The incorporators are John Stevenson, Jr., Nevin McCon- nell, David Adams and James P. Whitia of Sharon, George W. Darr of New York, and Senator William Flynn of Pittsburg... The. Sheet Steel company will at once begin the erection of ten modern sheet mills, and, in addition, will erect a mammoth galvanizing plant. These improvements will cost about $600,000, exclusive of machinery. The company also has under contemplation the erection of ten more. sheet mills, making a twenty-mill plant. The Sharon Sheet Steel Co, will be a strong com~ petitor of the American Sheet Steel Co.