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and current must be known and. ves- sels must guard against them. Haz- ardous maneuvers must not be at- tempted, and a vessel approaching another, must pursue a consistent and steady course, and be vigilant to dis- cover: faulty maneuvers of the other, and. she must take all means in her power to avoid a collision. The mas- ter of a vessel is not, however, held to the. highest degree of care. He is only bound ,to take all such pre-. caution as a man of ordinary pru- dence - and» skill, exercising a reason- able foresight, should use to avert danger in the circumstances in which he may happen to be placed. And where he takes such precaution his owners are not held responsible . be- cause he may have omitted 'some possible precaution which the event. suggests he might, have resorted to. Ordinary care and caution and due nautical skill are not absolute terms. They are relative and: depend in a high degree upon the circumstances which invoke their. exercise. Due care and caution are what are reason- able in the condition in which the vessel is placed. What is ordinary and reasonable in the conduct of a steamboat in the open sea, may be great imprudence and even reckless- ness in a place ot under circum- stances in which error or mistake would probably be destructive to her- self and other vessels whose proxim- ity might reasonably be expected. While vessels moored at piers must be of sufficient strength to bear with- out injury the ordinary pressure or contacts which may be _ reasonably expected to come upon them from vessels moored or landing alongside, it is no defense to a suit for damage that no loss would have been sus- tained if the injured vessels had been stronger; and the fact that the in- jured boat was a weak one affords no protection to 'the defendant, if the collision happened through" his carelessness, (To -be continued.) IMPROVEMENT OF MISSISSIPPI. The: project for a deep SS way from the great lakes to thé? gulf of Mexico has been thoroughly "investi- gated by the United States water ways commission, which completed its trip from St. Louis to New Orleans by boat. An immense amount of data was gathered en route. Chairman Theodore F. Burton an- nounced that no expressions of opin- ion are now ready, but that a con- 'vention will probably be held next January at Washington to aid the commission to obtain further informa- TAE Marine REVIEW tion for use in forming recommenda- tions. From fells with the members, it was learned that some of them were much impressed by the absence. of shipping on the' Mississippi river. They noted the:.infrequency with which they met other craft, also the fact that many river towns have al- most no dock: facilities, and that these towns have given up to railroad use the ground which might ° have been used for river shipping purposes. Mr. Burton gave out the following statement: : "This commission was fe not merely to study the subject, of navi- gation, but also,to. report upon the waters .of.,the jcountry as related to national development and the conser- yation: of natural resources. jects to be considered include water supply, clarification of streams, water power, and all the varied uses of wa- ters in connection with. irrigation, power, reclamation, flood prevention, forests, and the public lands. at is not the intention of the com- mission to report on any specific im- -provement in the rivers of the coun- try, but only on questions of rte Polley =. i) s "The members af the cemmission have held meetings daily. while. on board the boat. A considerable range of topics has been considered, but the members do not feel ready to an- nounce any conclusions. Indeed, it is desired that all subjects. be very ma- turely" considered Co aHy report is made." Mr. Burton said that the increase or decrease of traffic and the: condi- tion of navigation and levees were among the subjects investigated. ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST. . The net profits of the French Line increased from $2,000,000 to $2,800,000 . during 1906. A dividend of 6 per cent was declared. The lighthouse of. Pointe: De. La Coupre at the entrance of the Gar- onne, which was 180 ft. high, fell on May 22, being undermined by the sea. The Oceanic Steamship (v».'s liner Sonoma, which formerly rin in the Australian service, has been chartered by the Pacific Coast Steamship Co. of Seattle to replace the steamer Queen, which is .awaiting. repairs at the : Union Iron Works. The Houston Marine Club, Houston, thas been formed with Hy "Bi: Texas, Rice, Charles Dillingham, John H. Kirby, F. A. Reichardt,, F. A. -Heit- mann, J. H. B. House and Harvey T. D. Wilson as the leading spirits. Their object is to interest commerce in the 'he sub- Bath, Me, 33 ° improvemient-of the Buffalo bayou ship canal, oes The Centennial Mill Co. ° Seattle, Wash., has entered into an agreement with the Jebsen Steamship Line, Ham- burg, Germany, to establish a line- of. steamers to.trade between Seattle and the Orient. Three vessels will be put on the run, making regular trips. The steamers' Tolosan and Eva are two of the vessels' which are 'to be used in this service and a third will, be added ~ later, making the total net ee employed about 6,500 tons. s The submarine boats Pike and Grampus are to have alterations which' will embody the results of more re- cent experience, and which will great- ly increase their factor of safety. Larger batteries will lengthen their period of possible submersion to three hours and bilge keels will enable the. crew to move about with greater free- dom without altering the position of the vessel. Hooks are to be placed on the sides to provide for the haul- ing of the vessels to the surface. in case of: accident.: ~ The Allan line is to make another ; addition to its fleet. It has recently placed an order for a new 10,000-ton. liner, to "be called the Hesperian. The Grampian, a sister ship, is being built, and the Corsican is expected to 'be ready for service in July. The Hes perian is intended for' the Glasgow and Boston service. None of these. vessels is to be fitted with turbines, reciprocating | engines es 'employed in each case. Capt. M. L. Francke, master- of the Dakota, lost on Osaka reef last Febru- ary, has had his master's license 'sus- pended for two and one-half years. ~The board of steamboat inspectors ex- pressed their astonishment that a man 'of Francke's standing took no sound- ings or bearings when he knew he was in the presence of a reef. The board states that the captain's excuse that he was anxious to avoid a strong cur- rent and was eager to reach Tokio bay before dark, did not justify him in steering so fine a course when he had a valuable ship and catgo' 'under his control, eotcmhes Dill of the Ashton Valve Co., 271 Franklin street, Boston, Mass., was in the great lakes district last week on behalf of his company. Ash- ton pop valves. are on a large per-. centage of the steamers on ts epee lakes. : The five-masted schooner Fannie Palmer, building by Percy & Small; for William F. Palmer, Boston, was launched May 25.