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oe SUBMARINES GOOD SEA ~ BOATS. The Naval Board of Inspection. and Survey, of which Capt. Sutherland is chairman, has completed its exhaustive trials of the four submarine torpedo boats the Octopus, Viper, Cuttlefish and Tarantula, under contract for: the Gov- ernment, and forwarded its report to the Navy Department. The inspections and trials were held at Newport and including the time spent in the competi- tive tests by a special board occupied eleven weeks, subjecting the boats to the most exhaustive series of experi- ments ever made by the department with this type of vessel. The board devotes much attention to the open ocean trial of the Viper, which was selected to make a ninety-six hour sea test for the purpose of determining the endurance of these boats. The re- sult was a complete refutation of the arguments that boats of this type are suited only for inshore duty. The per- formance of the Viper demonstrated that she has a radius of action of 1,000 miles without coming into port or communi- cating with any other vessel for a period or four days. On her open sea run the Viper was followed by the tug Nina and the tender Sterling, carrying members of the board to observe the movements of the boat, but no assistance was rendered the sub- marine by either of her escorts. When the Viper left the torpedo station her batteries were charged only partly, and she was put to the test of charging them up to their fullest capacity when run- ning full speed on the surface. This she accomplished successfully. At a signal from Capt. Sutherland that the enemy's scouts had been sighted the Viper submerged and ran at top speed for six hours at the end of which time she came. to the surface and while running under her gasoline engines re- charged her batteries. She was kept at full speed during the night and the next morning subjected to a severe test rfun- ning in the trough of the sea. During the remainder of the long test the boat cruised off Rhode Island. In view of the fact that the Viper was obliged by the board to be self-sustain- ing throughout the entire trip, a special chef was taken aboard and meals were prepared upon electric stoves with which the vessel is equipped. Despite the fact that the crew was confined closely in what is practically a steel cage, the men stood the trip well and there were no -mishaps. Capt. Sutherland remained aboard the Nina, while Lieut. D. C. Bingham, who is to have command of the Viper as soon as she is commis- sioned, was aboard her during the voy- age, as was also Lieut. E. T. Marquart, who is to command the Cuttlefish. TAE MarRINeE REVIEW All four vessels have exceeded their contract requirements and their accept- ance is recommended by the board. In the course of their series of trials the four boats cruised at full speed on the surface 1,150 miles, 900 miles in the open sea and including three trips to Cape Cod in heavy weather. Eighty- five submerged runs were made, amount- ing to 800 miles and 36 torpedoes were fired, all of them successfully with the exception of three. It has been decided. that when the boats are commissioned Lieut. C. E. Courtney shall command the Octopus and Lieut. Joseph F. Daniels the Tar- antula. WORLD'S OCEAN SHIPPING: The Imperial Statistical office has re- cently published a compilation showing the amount of ocean shipping of the eleven leading commercial countries of the world. Such a compilation was first made by the Norwegian Statistical Bur- eau in 1888, and the German figures are published in comparison with those of that bureau. The two publications, therefore, give a fairly correct view of the development of the world's shipping in the seventeen years from 1888 to 1905. The investigations under consid- - eration are based upon the number of vessels arriving at all the seaports of the countries named, hence they have no bearing upon the ownership of the vessels or the amount of cargo carried. In the following table the arrivals in register tons are given for 1888 and 1905, the former year from the Nor- wegian and the latter from the German authority, and: the percentage of in- crease is given in the third column: In- crease, Arrivals In-- 1888. A905: Pet. Brelande sob... 37,249,000 48,332,000 30 TATOO Gace ee cs 15,450,000 21,887,000 42 United States...... 13,368,000 30,983,000 132 Spain he. ge ss 11,974,000 15,769,000 32 Germanyi@... <i... 3 9,442,000 19,130,000 103 RUSSIA eee cs 7,413,000 <11;375,000°. .53 Otay a ge ay ko 7,373,000 12,722,000 73 Netherlands ....... 5,336,000 11,741,000 118 Belgium «.2..0.... 4,913,000 11,615,000 136 Portugal: 603.4 3,630,000 14,043,000 290 WADOM csr se ees «as 1,486,000 14,373,000 867 It is noteworthy here that the United States made the largest absolute gain. Its arrivals increased by 176,155,000 tons, as against 11,083,000 for England, 6,437,- 000 for France, 9,688,000 for Germany, 10,440,000 for Portugal and 12,877,000 tons for Japan. The increase for Japan, indeed, is so prodigious as to cast sus- picion upon the figures for at least one of the years; most probably the Nor- wegian statistics were defective for that country. Another remarkable fact brought out in the above comparison is the strong shifting of commerce toward the smaller countries, The following table shows how the participation of the various countries in the total shipping movement shifted from 1888 to 1905: 1888. 1905. P. Cent. P. Cent. Change. Bngliand 7360. 3s 3 28.36 20.85 --7.5i BrAnCO os irae iw ws ELEAZ 9.44 --2.33 United States: ?...0. 10.18 13.36 +3.18 SPAM pais eis as ce 9.12 6.80 --2.32 Gerinany 16.3 asa. 7.19 8.26 +1.07 ASSIA Gy cies cw serels ws 5.64 4.81 --0.73 Italy eee as 5.62 5.50 --0.12 Netherlands ccc as 4.06 B07. +1.01 Belginuin' sec. 3.74 5.01 +1.27 Portugal 2.065 eee 2.74 6.06 +3.32 Japan verses 1.13 6.20 +5.07 100 100 SUBMARINE BELL -SIGNALS. It is announced that the Trinity House Brethren are about to fit submarine bell signals on three of their lightships, the necessary expenditure of £1,200 having been sanctioned by the Board of Trade. The equipment is very simple. A tank connected to the interior of the hull be- low the water line contains a micro- phone, from which a wire extends to the wheel house. There a receiver and indicator are hung within easy reach of the navigator. The bell, if connected to a lighthouse, is operated by electricity ; if attached to a lightship compressed air or some other mechanical means is used to move the bell. The latest vessels of the Cunard and White Star Lines are fitted with re- ceiving apparatus for this system. Re- cently the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board decided to instal the system in the North West Lightship at the bar of the river below Liverpool, and Trinity House experiments have also been car- ried out with the North Goodwins Light- ship. HENDRICK'S COMMERCIAL REGISTER. The sixteenth annual edition of Hen-° drick's Commercial Register of the Unit- ed States for buyers and sellers has made its appeafance. The volume is especially devoted to the interests of architectural, mechanical, engineering, contracting, electrical, railroad, iron, steel, . mining, mill, quarrying, exporting and kindred industries. It contains 1,224 pages with an index of over 350,000 names and addresses- and upwards of 15,000 business classifications. The work is especially valuable as a buyers' refer- ence and for mailing purposes. It is published annually by the Samuel E. Hendricks Co., 74 Lafayette street, New York, and is furnished at the price of $10 each, express charges prepaid. The passenger steamer City of Detroit and the lumber barge Harold bound up light in tow of the steamer Ralph, were in collision in the Detroit river across from the Michigan Central freight house last week. The Harold was stove in down to the water line and the stem of the City of Detroit was twisted,