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1901.] MARINE REVIEW. | | 17 DEATH OF DAVID CARTER. Mr. David Carter, secretary and general manager of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co., died last Thursday afternoon at his home in Letroit. He was born in Cleveland, Feb, 27, 1832. He first worked on his father's farm in St. Clair county and afterwards clerked, in 1845, in a lumber yard in Sandusky for his board and clothes. In 1846 he was em- ployed on the lakes, beginning as ship's cook. In 1851 he left the lakes and in a short time became cashier of the Mad River railroad docks at Sandusky. Later he went to Detroit where he again took to the lakes. At the age of twenty he began as a clerk on the propeller Forest City his career of half a century with the D. & C. line. Mr. Carter saw this line grow from a small beginning to one of the largest navigation companies on the lakes. : : : The Lake Carriers' Association adopted the following resolution in memory of Mr. 'Carter: "The members of the Lake Carriers' Association, many of whom were life-long, personal friends of David Carter of Detroit, learn with deep regret of his death, and in consonance with the esteem and personal regard in which he was held by all, record is here made. His long con- nection with the marine interests of the lakes made him known to all, and brought him into close, personal association with many of us. No one was held in more kindly regard; the judgment of none carried greater weight in the councils called from time to time in the common interest of all. By his death we lose a clear-minded, reliable, consistent associate; a kindly, considerate, trustful friend. At all times, in all places, and to all men, he was a whole-souled, conscientious, tolerant, Christian gen- tleman. Therefore be it "Resolved, that we, as friends and associates of the deceased, hereby make due acknowledgement of our loss and extend to the widow and fam- ily of the deceased our sympathy in their greatest loss. That a committee of this association attend the burial services and that as many of the inembers attend as may be able, and that all vessels belonging to the association fly their colors at half-mast on Saturday Nov. 23, 1901. That a record of this memorial be made upon the books of the association and copies transmitted to the family of the deceased and to the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co., to which and its predecessor he gave long, continuous, progressive endeavor." Messrs. T. F. Newman, John Mitchell, Harvey D. Goulder and H. Coulby were appointed a committee to attend the funeral of Mr. Carter on behalf of the association. The funeral was held in Detroit on Saturday. SUCCESSFUL TEST OF THE FULTON. - The new Holland submarine boat Fulton was given a severe test at New Suffolk last Saturday, which seems to have been successful in every particular. She was submerged from Saturday evening until Sunday morning with the following on board: Rear Admiral John Lowe, retired; Lieut. Arthur McArthur, commander of the torpedo boat Winslow; Capt. Frank T. Cable, navigator for the Holland company; John Wilson, ma- chinist; John Saunders, engineer, and Henry Morrell, electrician. The heavy iron hatch was closed over them and after it was securely fastened the Fulton sank slowly, steadily and evenly out of sight. Before going down the men had eaten a hearty dinner and had with them their lunch and breakfast. At 10:30 o'clock Sunday morning the Fulton arose from the bottom, upon which she had been resting all night, with a suddenness which startled those who had been watching through the night. Admiral Lowe said: : - "Well, I have had a fine night's rest and feel just as well as if I had been ashore in usual surroundings. The air in the ship appears to be now about as good as when we went on board last evening, much purer than you will find in any New York city court room. We might have stayed down a great deal longer. Really, I don't know how long, for little of the air in storage was used. I must have slept about ten hours out of -the fifteen we were under. The boat is all right." Capt. Cable said: "The Fulton settled evenly to the bottom and rested there without motion till she was lifted this morning. There was no motion to her to indicate the severe storm passing over. The men were divided into four-hour watches for the night and then amused them- selves by playing euchre, reading the new magazines and papers and spin- ning yarns. Not a valve was touched during the test. The Fulton goes to Washington this week by the outside route." Commanders Nishi and Sata and Lieut. Ide of the royal Japanese navy, who witnessed the trial of the boat, declared they would recommend the adoption of the boat by the Japanese navy. TURRET QUESTION SETTLED AGAIN. The heated controversy in the naval board of construction over the question of recommending the installation of ordinary turrets or super- posed turrets on the battleships which Secretary Long will ask congress to authorize has been amicably adjusted. A compromise was effected by which the ships will have ordinary turrets as recommended by the ma- jority of the board, but certain features of the battery advocated by the minority will be adopted. The report of the board will be unanimous. Unanimity was made possible by Rear Admiral R. B. Bradford, chief of the bureau of equipment. For a long time he was the only member of the board who held out for turrets of the superposed, or two-story type, and he has been successful in getting the department to sustain his views, despite the adverse vote against him. Recently he had been joined by Capt. Charles D. Sigsbee, chief naval intelligence officer and the junior member of the board. Appreciating, apparently, the danger of confront- ing the naval committee of both houses with a divided opinion among the naval experts, thus giving congress the opportunity of devising a battery arrangement of its own, Admiral Bradford proposed a compro- mise. He agreed to withdraw his advocacy of the superposed type if the majority,would come over to his views in regard to other features of the main battery. After much discussion this was agreed to, and at the next meeting of the ,board the arrangement will be formally adopted. The plan agreed op will embrace four 12-in. rifles in two ordinary turrets, one forward and the other aft, and a heavy battery of eights, sevens and sixes. Some of these guns will be placed in turrets, but the exact arrangement of the several calibers cannot be ascertained, owing to the secrecy ob- served by members of the board. ADMIRAL O'NEIL ON THE GATHMANN GUN. Rear Admiral Charles O' Neil, chief of the bureau of ordnance, says that the test of the Gathmann shell and 18-in. gun fully sustained the opinion held by ordnance experts of both army and navy, that any large amount of gun-cotton exploded against the sides of the heaviest armored battle- ship would have little effect on the vessel or crew. He said he regarded the tests as a great triumph for army ordnance in demonstrating that the new 12-in. coast defence gun is capable of carrying a projectile contain- ing high explosive through the side of any battleship afloat and can be fired with absolute precision by the accurate time fuse employed. The navy gun of the same caliber was equal, he said, to even more destructive work. The admiral said: "The government has expended about a quarter of a million dollars on the Gathmann gun trials, which have shown nothing that the naval ordnance officers did not know all along. For six years experiments have been conducted with this system and three years ago the trials with another gun on the same general principle as the one employed at Sandy Hook, though smaller, gave results that then were accepted by ordnance men as clearly proving the non-utility of the system. The navy has now, after several years, obtained a high explosive, the secret of which we do not care to divulge. It can be fired, however, in a projectile through any side armor afloat and exploded with accuracy and precision in the interior of the ship. Its effect on both ship and crew would be most destructive. The explosive is not gunpowder, which, as we have known for years could be carried through a vessel's side and exploded. One of the diffi- culties to be overcome in firing high explosives in projectiles has been to secure a fuse that would detonate the charge at the right time. This we have at last secured. The army gun has amply shown that eleven or more inches of the best armor can be easily penetrated with an explosive shell and this at a range usually regarded as one that most vessels would employ in actual battle.' PLANS FOR POWERFUL SHIPS OF WAR. The plans for the two largest and most powerful battleships projected for the United States navy were completed by the naval board of con- struction this week. These are the vessels which congress directed the navy department to design and the plans will be sent to the naval com- mittees of the senate and the house at an early day with a recommenda- tion from Secretary Long that authority be given to build them and an additional one of similar type. Each of these ships will have a trial dis- placement of 16,500 tons. The only war vessels of greater displacement are some recently laid down by England. These will displace 17,500 tons of water. It was hoped by the board on construction that a ship capable of making 19 knots could be designed, but this was found to be impos- sible without lengthening her considerably. The engines will be capable of providing 18 knots speed. The main battery is powerful, consisting of twenty-eight guns of long range and great power. It is not wholly satisfactory to the members of the board on account of containing four different calibers, thus in- creasing the ammunition problem. No better arrangement, however, could be reached by the board to effect a compromise that would enable it to submit a unanimous report. The majority wanted no 8-in. guns, and advocated the use of the new 7-in. guns without turrets. The minority, by abandoning its advocacy of superposed turrets, induced the majority to consent to the installation of eight 8-in. guns in turrets, but broadsides of sevens were also provided for. The biggest guns of the battery will be four 12-in. rifles in two ordinary turrets, one forward and the other aft. The eight 8-in. rifles will be plaeéd in four turrets, two rifles in each. One of these four turrets will be at each corner of a quadrilateral citadel containing the 7-in. guns. There will be twelve of the sevens, protected by the armored walls of the citadel, six guns to the broadside. Then there will be four 6-in. rapid-fire rifles on the superstructure. CONTRACTS FOR TANK STEAMERS. Evidently the Standard Oil Co., as well as the new companies engaged in developing the oil district of Texas, is badly in need of tank vessels for the oil trade and wants them as soon as possible., The great lakes have been searched for vessels suitable to conversion into tankers and three or four have been taken to the Atlantic seaboard. Of course the require- ments of the Standard may have reference to the oil trade as a whole and not particularly to increased business on account of the Texas field. The big corporation has just closed contracts with several ship yards for tank steamers and barges. The Cramps at Philadelphia have received an order to construct a tank steamer, the Townsend & Downey Ship Building & Repair Co., Shooter's Island, N. Y., an order for two tank steamers, and Arthur Sewall & Co., Bath, Me., an order for a barge. The steamers are to be 360 ft. long, 50 ft. beam and 29 ft. deep and to have capacity for about 6,000 tons of oil. The barge will be 293 ft. long. It is understood also that the William R. Trigg Co., Richmond, Va., is to receive a con- tract for a steamer. DRY DOCK AT BALTIMORE DEDICATED. The new dry dock of William Skinner & Sons Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., Baltimore, Md., was opened with public ceremonies on Mon-. day. The principal dimensions of the dock are: Length over all, 628 ft.; width on floor, 62 ft.; width at top of keel blocks, 69 ft.; width at top of dock, 125, ft.; entrance at bottom, 60 ft.; entrance a top, 80 ft.; depth of water on sill at low water, 22% ft.; depth of water on sill at high water, 25 ft... With the exception of the dry dock of the Newport News company it is the largest of its kind in the United States. Among those who were present at the exercises were Secretary John D. Long of the navy depart- ment; Rear Admiral M. T. Endicott, chief of the bureau of yards and docks; Rear, Admiral Bowles, chief of the bureau of construction;-Gen. James A. Dumont,.of the steamboat inspection service; Capt. C..A. Shoe- maker, chief of the revenue cutter service, and Eugene Tyler Chamberlain, commissioner of navigation. ° f j Wa Henry Wineman, Jr., of Detroit has purchased from E. D. Carter of Erie, Pa., the steamer Tampa and consort Aurora, one of the best wooden tows on the great lakes. He takes possession of the vessels at once. a act