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rau! .MARINE REVIEW : 49 NEW CANADIAN LIGHTSHIPS. The Polson Iron Works, Toronto, Ont., recently completed and dispatched to its destination one of a pair of steel lightships, which it is under contract to build for the Dominion government. These vessels are the first of their class built in Canada and are along the line of the lightships used in the United States, but with many improvements. They have a large amount of free- board and are sheered very high in the bows, so as to keep dry when pitching in a heavy sea. 'They are in excess of Lloyd's requirements for vessels of their size, and have watertight bulk- heads, which will make them almost absolutely unsinkable. The Lurcher No. 14, which left for its destination just before navigation closed, has a length over all of 124 ft. beam 28 ft., depth from top of keel to spar deck 21 ft. 6 in., draught, fully loaded, 11 ft. 6 in. It has two steel pole spars, on which, 50 ft. above the deck, are swung three powerful electric lamps on each spar. The galley surrounding the lamps serves for a day mark. There is a large automatic fog bell and fog siren worked by com- pressed air. Fresh water tanks of 60,000 gallons capacity con- tain water for drinking and to supply waste in the machinery. The engine is of the high-pressure, surface-condensing, ver- tical, marine type, cylinder 23 in. diameter, with 22 in. stroke. Steam is supplied by two navy-type boilers, with a working pres- sure of 140 lbs. All the pipes are of copper. The vessel will be moored by three mushroom anchors, each weighing 5,000 lbs. The mooring chains are 15@-in. stud link, specially made and tested for this work. The ship is furnished with 240 fathoms of this chain, also with 120 fathoms of 1%4-in. stud link chain. The auxiliary outfit is most com- to build for the United States government, while in the Machias district Capt. Warren Sawyer of Milbridge will build a 1,500-ton ane and Sawyer Bros. contemplate building two three-mas- ers, At Bath there are now in course of construction five schoon- ers, with half a dozen contracts pending, and E. & I. K. Stet- son of Bangor will build a large schooner for Capt. Hutchinson, the model for which was recently finished by J. J. Wardwell of Rockland. Bath also has the honor of having launched the last vessel in 1903, the four-master Harry F. Kreger, which took the water from the old Reed ship yard. She is of 1,250 tons, a double decker, 202 ft. long, 40.2 ft. beam and 21.8 ft. deep. FOUR-MASTED SCHOONER HELEN THOMAS. In Washburn Bros.' yard at Thomaston, Me., the new four- masted schooner Helen Thomas was launched recently. The Thomas is the thirteenth vessel built by Washburn Bros. The vessel is named in honor of the daughter of Washington B. Thomas, and will be commanded by Capt. Willian J. Lermond. Her dimensions are: Length, 195 ft.; breadth, 40% ft.; depth, 19% ft.; tonnage, ebout 1,400 gross. She is built of a solid Vir- ginia oak frame, square fastened with 134-in. iron, and locust treenails, having five tiers of sister keelsons, 15x15 in., and three tiers of sister keelsons, 14x14 in. She has a full set of hack- matack hanging knees under each deck. Her planking is of yellow pine, 4% in. thick, and the ceiling is of the same material. She has three full decks, and is fitted with every modern device throughout. Her plete, and com- prises steam wind- lass, capstans, pumps, electric gears, steering gear, etc.; also complete life-sav- ing apparatus con- stituting it a well- equipped life sta- tion. The fittings and furnishings throughout are first class in al] re- spects and provide everything reauis- ite for the comfort and convenience of the crew. The Lureher will be stationed at. the --Lureher shoals in the Bay of Fundy, off the Nova Scotia coast. The second light- ship, which will not be completed till next spring will be stationed off the island of Anticosti in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. SHIP BUILDING IN MAINE. Ship building in Maine, mostly wooden vessels, for the past year compares favorably with 1902 but is about 10,000 tons less than in 1901. The estimated total for 1903 is 36,055 tons; in 1902, 37,201, and in 1901, 47,146. The Bath district, as usual, leads, while Waldoboro, in which is included Rockland, Thomaston and Waldoboro, is second in place. The tonnage by districts was as follows: Bangor, 1,237; Bath, 21,310; Belfast, 9,122; Castine, 97; Machias, 207; Passamaquoddy, 817; Portland, 105; Wiscasset, 1,143; Waldoboro, 9,855. In the latter district, the vessels built included the steamer Mohegan and schooners Wash- ington B. Thomas, which was lost off Sutton's island, near Old Orchard: the Robert H. McCurdy, William Bisbee, E. Marie Brown, Dorothy Palmer, Hattie Taft, and Edgar W. Murdock. Prospects in the Bath district are especially encouraging. The Edward H. Cole, now building for Crowell & Thurlow of Boston, at Cobb, Butler & Co.'s yards in Rockland, and which is of about 1,700 tons carrying capacity, will be launched the latter part of January, and probably before that time the keel for another schooner for Capt. C. W. Sprague of Stockton Springs will be stretched there. In Thomaston the Helen Thomas is now building at Washburn Bros.' yards, while Dunn & Elliott have another four-master building, and in Waldoboro a 2,500-ton five-master is being built for the Palmer fleet and will be ready to launch in April. In the Belfast district Capt. H. M. Bean of Camden will build two schooners of 2,500 and 2,200 tons respectively, and over at Rockport Carleton, Norwood & Co. are building a four- master for Capt. J. B. Crocker of Franklin, who last year had the Joseph G. Ray built in Rockland. At Vinalhaven the Margaret M. Ford has been under con- struction for an unusually long period by Capt. A. M. Webster, owing to the inability to secure ship carpenters. The vessel is 142 ft: keel and 34 ft. beam. When she is launched Capt. Web- ster will build a vessel for himself, the Margaret N. Ford being principally owned by Joseph Ford of Boston. There is not much doing in the Belfast district with the ex- ception of the large dredge which George A. Gilchrist is preparing LIGHTSHIP LURCHER NO. 14 FOR THE DOMINION GOVERNMENT. masts are whole sticks of Oregon : pine, each 100 ft. ° long; topmasts 52 ft. The vessel has three houses, aft, midship and flor- ward and after cabins, ca ptain's room, mate and second mate's rooms, two spare staterooms, pan- try, chart, tojlet, bath and _ store- rooms. The after cabin is a spacious apartment and is finished in quar- tered oak, cherry, and SV¥Camore The forward cab- in is finished 'in the same woods and is also a neat [Buzlt by Polson Iron Works, To: onto, Ont. ae ° The . Or after house is well lighted and is heated with steam radiators. The captain's room is finished in oak. The midship house has di- mensions of 18x18 ft., and contains the galley, mess, steward and boy's rooms. The forward house is 22x24 ft., and within it is the engine room, forecastle and engineer's room. 'The vessel is fitted with a good-sized Hyde boiler, engine and hoister, and a Cam- den steam windlass. She has two heavy bow anchors, one stock, one patent, one fisherman's and one kedge anchor, and 210 fathoms of 2-in. standard chain. There are two Worthington wrecking pumps, one forward and one aft, each with a capacity of 440 gal- lons of water a minute; also three hand pumps. She has three large iron water tanks, and three galvanized iron tanks extra for supplying water for the house. She is fitted with John A. Roeb- ling & Son's wire rigging and turnbuckles, has Robinson's patent steering gear, and will spread about 6,000 yards of canvas. The vessel is built for all kinds of freight. NEW SHIP YARD AT JACKSONVILLE. Henry W. Cook, formerly identified with lake transportation interests, has established a modern ship yard in close conjunction to the Cummer Lumber Co.'s saw mills at Jacksonville, Fla. Mr. Cook has undertaken the construction of a new fleet of vessels to aid in forwarding to the northern markets the large yellow pine output of the Cummer Lumber Co. of Jacksonville, Matteson & Drake, naval architects of Philadelphia, prepared the designs for the fleet, which include a large sea-going steel tug and six wooden barges of about 1,200 tons capacity each. Contract for the tug has been let to the Burlee Dry Dock Co., Staten island, N. Y. Her dimensions are: Length, 137 ft. over all; beam, 27 ft.; depth, 16 ft. She is equipped with triple-expansion engines, with cylinders 16, 25 and 42 in. diameter- by 30 in. stroke; one Scotch boiler 14 ft. 6 in. in diameter and 12 ft. long, allowed 180 Ibs. pressure. The barges will be built of long leaf southern pine and will be ror ft. long, 35 ft. beam and 19 ft. deep. They will carry their entire load of yellow pine:below decks. Mr. Cook announces that the new ship yard is prepared to furnish estimates on any size or style of wooden vessel. Inquiries may be sent to the ship yard at Jacksonville, Fla., or to Matteson & Drake, 706 Bourse, Philadelphia. C. S. Taylor, harbor master at St. John, N. B., for thirty years past, died there a few days ago.