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1901.] MARINE REVIEW. 15 COAST SURVEY STEAMER HYDROGRAPHER. The steamer Hydrographer, latest addition to the surveying vessels of the coast and geodetic survey, has just been completed and is now at work in Chesapeake bay. collecting data for the second edition of United States coast pilot, Atlantic coast, part VI, Chesapeake bay and tributaries. This neat and efficient little steamer was built by the James Reilly Repair & Supply Co. of New York and Philadelphia, who were the only bidders for the vessel at the amount appropriated. She is 101 ft. long, 19% ft. beam, 9% ft. depth, and has a mean draught of 5% ft. when full of coal and water. Her net tonnage is 79.26. For her size she is probably the most efficient steamer afloat, as she carries coal enough to steam 1,600 knots at a speed of 10 knots, and easily makes 11 knots. The frames are of oak, and planking yellow pine. She is fastened with locust treenails.and composition spikes to 1 ft. above the water line, and with galvanized fastenings above. All iron used in her construction is galvanized. She is classed Al for twelve years by the American bureau of shipping, under whose inspection she was built. She has a triple-ex- pansion engine with cylinders of 9, 13 and 24 in. diameter and 14 in. stroke, with Marshall valve gear, developing 250 H.P.; independent feed and circulating pumps, fire pumps, and feed pump, besides independent feed pump and circulating pump for the evaporator and distiller. The THE COAST SURVEY STEAMER HYDROGRAPHER. Built by the James Reilly Repair & Supply Co., New York. Reilly evaporator has a capacity of 700 gallons of water in 24 hours for the boiler, or 500 gallons capacity for drinking water. The capacity of water tanks is 2,300 gallons. A Roberts boiler of 250 H.P. supplies steam at 250 lbs. pressure to the engine and 100 lbs. pressure to the auxiliaries. -All exhaust steam is trapped to avoid a waste of fresh water. She is propelled by a four-bladed screw 4 ft. 8 in. in diameter, with 7 ft. 8 in. pitch, which made 240 revo- lutions on the trial trip, and when running 10 knots makes 200 turns. The Hydrographer embodies some new features for so small a vessel. ' She carries one 26-ft. whaleboat, one 20-ft. whaleboat, and a 13-ft. dinghey, all of which stow on deck in heavy weather. As she is liable to be sent through inland waters and canals, guards extend along her sides to pro- tect the boat davits. Baldt stockless anchors of 550 and 750 lbs. do duty for the cumbrous anchors and gear usually seen on the bows of vessels. Her complement of five officers and sixteen men have commodious quarters, her berth deck being large, light, well ventilated, and heated by steam, pipe berths allowing a free circulation of air fore-and-aft. The fittings of the cabin are plain but neat, everything else being sacrificed to sopior and convenience for the hydrographic work for which the vessel was built. The officers now on board are Capt. John Ross, nautical expert, commanding; Mr. H. C. Graves, nautical expert; Mr. H. S. Smith, deck officer, class 1; Mr. Harry Ely, acting chief engineer, and Mr. Talbot O. Pulizzi, clerk. Capt. Ross and Acting Chief Engineer Ely were attached to the Hydrographer while she was being finished by the builders, the others having joined her since to complete her complement for the work upon which she is now employed. The present work of the vessel is the collection of data for the correction and revision of the coast and geodetic survey coast pilot of Chesapeake bay and tributaries, and includes infor- mation relating to pilots and where they may be found, best and usual anchorages, depths in the channels, repair and supply facilities, quarantine, harbor and anchorage regulations, and sailing directions. All sailing directions are checked by running the courses with the vessel, and remarks are added relating to lights, buoys, and prominent features which may be of use to the navigator in following the directions. Tables of lights and fog signals, tides, reporting and storm-warning display stations, etc., are included; also the available data relating to tidal currents. In addition to the data collected while on the vessel, any available information in the office at Washington, including the hydrographic and topographic sheets of the latest surveys, and information from. the reports of the corps of engineers, United States army, are included. State and municipal laws relating to pilots and pilotage, quarantine and harbor control; the storm-warning displays of the United States weather bureau; national quarantine laws and the regulations of the United States marine hospital service; and the international and inland rules of the road are included in the coast nilot appendices. The Hydrographer carries a complete hydrographic party and outfit, and an important part of her work is the surveying of waters like Chesapeake bay, where there are large shallow areas, for which she is particularly fitted because of her light draught and general handiness. She is also available for surveying work and special examinations.in the shallow inland passages which are found along the Atlantic coast from New York to Florida, and her draught and size permits her to pass inland from the eastern end of Long Island sound to Ocracoke inlet, and from Charleston, S. C., to Fernandina, Fla. TRAFFIC OF THE KAISER WILHELM CANAL. Mr. Jackson, secretary of embassy at Berlin, transmits to the state department copies of a pamphlet on the development of traffic in the Kaiser Wilhelm canal. Mr. Jackson notes that the canal dues paid by the United States steamship Enterprise amounted to 400 marks ($95.20) and those of the United States steamship Buffalo to 900 marks ($214.20), which, he adds, would apparently indicate that it is less°expensive for our ships to go through the Kaiser Wilhelm canal than to round the Danish peninsula, taking into consideration the saving in time and coal. The total traffic of the canal in 1900, exclusive of ships of the German navy, was 29,571 ships, with a net registered tonnage of 4,292,258. The through traffic for the five years--Jan. 1, 1896, to Dec. 31, 1900--has more than doubled (222.22 per cent.) as regards number of vessels, and almost trebled (269.99 per cent.) as regards tonnage. The canal has given re- peated proofs of its capabilities in regard to the number of ships passing in one day. For example, on June:d5, 1900, 118 vessels, with 20,649 net registered tonnage, passed the canal, and it has likewise stood the test as regards its navigability for very large vessels, such as the German cruiser First Bismarck and the Japanese cruiser Yakumo; in fact, the average size of the vessels passing the canal has risen from year to year. It has been possible to maintain the traffic without any interruption from ice, even throughout the severe winter of 1896-97, when the sound and the belt were blocked by ice. SUBSIDIES FROM A SOUTHERN VIEW POINT. At a gathering of commercial interests in Atlanta, Ga., a few days ago, Senator John L. McLaurin of South Carolina delivered an able address, in which he brought out some important points favorable to ship subsidies. He said: "We must not imagine that American capital is dependent upon national legislation in order to make ship-owning pay. We have ample evidence of large American investments in foreign-built ships manned and operated by foreigners in our foreign trade. However much our people may have'invested in foreign ships, they are unavailable under international law when at war as naval auxiliaries. Another thing we should remember: These very ships and the men employed on board of them may be turned against the United States in the event of our becom- ing involved in war with the nation whose flag they fly. The object of extending government aid to the up-building of our merchant marine is to secure adequate protection for the nation upon the sea, and the mere fact that the investment has been made attractive to American capital is an incident of the transaction. We do not want to see the isthmian canal become merely a foreign highway of commerce. We do not want our millions expended merely to become a bounty to foreign shipping. | It should be an American highway and we should so develop our merchant marine that with the opening of this great canal our own flag shall pre- dominate at the masthead of a majority of the ships that it accommodates." SCIENTISTS CLASH WITH THE NAVY. A contest between-scientists on-one side-and-naval-line- officers: on the other, which has been waged for years past and involves the control of the naval observatory, has been brought to a crisis by the presentation to Secretary Long of the report of the board of visitors to the observatory. The board is composed of Charles A. Young, Charles F. Chandler, Asaph Hall, Jr., E. P. Pickering, Prof. Ormond Stone and William R. Harper, all men of national reputation in scientific research. The particular bone of contention of late has been a vacancy in the office of astronomical director. Regarding this the board says: : "Tt is recommended that no astronomical director be appointed at present, as a dual headship has been found to work unsatisfactorily, and 'under the existing law the appointment of an astronomer as sole director of the observatory--which the board considers the proper solution of the question--is impracticable. Vacancies should not he filled among assistant astronomers nor among professors of mathematics in the navy without examination for each vacancy occurring. In no case should appointments be made to the observatory merely by transfer frome other bureaus or offices in the service, nor should appointments ever be made even tem- porarily without competitive examination." ae : The board, therefore, recommends that the appointment of an assistant astronomer be made after a civil service examination under the auspices of the commission. Coming to the more important subject of the actual head of the observatory, the board says: -- "As every other prominent observatory is under the direction of an astronomer, we wish to record our deliberate and unanimous judgment that the law limiting the superintendency to a line officer of the navy should be changed so as to provide that the official head of the observatory --perhaps styled simply 'the director'----should be an eminent astronomer appointed by the president. by and with the advice and consent of the senate, holding this place by a tenure at least as permanent as. that of the superintendent of the coast survey, or the head of the geological survey, and not merely by a detail of two or three years' duration. Only in this way can there be a continuous and effective policy of administration which will insure astronomical work of a high order. The institution should be related to the navy department, if continued under its control, in some such way as the royal observatory at Greenwich is related to the British admiralty. It should be put under the control of the secretary directly, and not through a bureau, as at present." oe The board finds objection to the manner in which appropriations have been made in support of the observatory. The cost of maintenance for the last fiscal year was $108,428, of which amount $21,258 was expended in salaries. --------------------------Ooo Chicago and return $10.50, via B. & O. R. R., Dec. 2, 3. 4. Call city ticket office, 241 Superior street. 8 Noy. 28. WOK SB) oh