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The MarRINE REVIEW EMPRESS OF MIDLAND--A TYNE-BUILT STEAMER FOR THE GREAT LAKES. engine works, rolling in the shipyard, premises, all, sub-contractors' mills, étc., etc. THE NAME MAURETANIA. The directors of the Cunard Steam- ship Co., in selecting a name for the new vessel, have had recourse to classical times, and have chosen that borne by one of Rome's African pro- vinces in the early days of. Christian- ity. Mauretania extended over what is today Algeria and the northern half of Morocco. Its southern bound- ary was the lofty range of the Atlas mountains, which were believed by the ancients to support the heavens. East of Mauretania came the small provinces of Numidia and Africa, which are now more or less covered by Tunis. It is curious that the lat- ter of these two little provinces has given its name in modern times to the whole vast continent. Many classical and medieval associations cluster round the name of Mauretan- 1a, STEAMER FOR THE GREAT LAKES. On Sept. 4 the steamer Empress of Midland, built to the order of James Playfair, of Midland, Ontario, by Messrs. Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Ltd., Wallsend-on-Tyne, for service on the Canadian lakes, left the Tyne to undergo her trials. This vessel, built to the highest require- ments of the lake class under British corporation rules, is of the following dimensions: 252 ft. by 42 ft. 614 in. NEW by 25 ft. 4 in. and is designed to carry over 3,300 tons of cargo on a light draft of 19 ft. The machinery worked most satisfactory during the trials, a mean speed of about 1! knots an hour being attained. She took on her voy- age across the Atlantic cargo which she loaded at Middlesborough. ADVANTAGES OF SUBMARINE SIGNALING. Five trans-Atlantic steamers. which entered the port of New York in the thick fog that prevailed on Thursday and Priday, Noy. 21 and 22, report their experience with submarine sig- tials, Hirst Lieut; Poumlot, of the French Line steamship La Savoie ran into fog Friday morning when coming on the coast. At-1l o'clock he began listening for the submarine bell on Nantucket Shoals lightship; heard it clearly four, minutes later, 45 degrees to port; he shaped his course accord- ingly, and ran for Sandy Hook, which bell he picked up at a distance of three miles, and entered New York harbor. After a year's experience Lieut. Poumlot says that all vessels should be equipped to receive submarine sig- nals in order to protect them from disaster. On the afternoon of the same day the Hamburg-American steamship Patricia got the Nantucket Shoals bell about 10 miles out, and was able to shape her course so as not to ap- proach the light vessel nearer than 9 miles. The steamship Moltke also of the Hamburg-American line, leaving New York for Mediterranean ports, got Sandy Hook bell at a distance of five miles, and went on her eastward way. The White Star steamship Baltic heard the Fire Island bell when 11 miles distant, and two hours later picked up Sandy Hook at about the same distance. The Cunard steamship Mauretania, on her first trip, while feeling her way through the fog, heard the Sandy Hook bell at a distance of 12% miles, and ran slowly up to the lightship. She heard the bell for an hour before she heard the whistle. Undoubtedly this vessel, with 9 tons of gold be- sides other cargo, represented' the greatest marine risk that ever crossed the Atlantic. The sense of relief felt by a captain when he hears the sound of the submarine bell and is able to get direction exactly may be imagined. An air signal is uncertain; it is often absolutely misleading; it may be heard at 5 miles and lost at 2 miles; but such distances as the five steamships report on Friday last cannot be possibly equaled by the best air signals ever invented. The W. & A. Fletcher Co., Hobo- ken, N. J., is fitting the new propeller ferry boat, Perth Amboy, recently completed at New London, for service between Perth Amboy, N. J., and Tot- tenville, L. I., with her machinery. The vessel, which is a very modern one, has been constructed at a total cost of $90,000.