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VOL. 36. CLEVELAND, DECEMBER 26, 1907. NEW YORK No. 26 NAVAL ARCHITECTS AND MARINE ENGINEERS At Friday afternoon's session of the Society of Naval Architects and Ma- rine Engineers, D. H. Cox read Capt. C. A. McAllister's paper entitled, "Our New Revénue Cutters for Special Pur- poses." This paper will be published later. DISCUSSION. Robert S. Riley: In connection with the design of these vessels, they show a very careful study of the require- ments, and it is noticed particularly that they are to be used for derelict destroyers, but one of their important functions will not be as destroyers, 'but as savers both of life and prop- erty, and one of the particulars men- tioned is their ability as towing ves- sels, and it occurs to me one possible criticism of their design might be the omission of towing machines.,Ic would seem that towing machines would add to their capacity in handling derelicts or other disab'ed vessels in heavy weather. They ave. very likely to be called on to render assistance of this kind, and that is the time when lines would be snapped unless they had some means for giving and taking in under the conditions they are likely to meet. Spencer Miller: JI am very sure we are indebted to Capt. McAllister for the very interesting paper which he has presented, and perhaps if there is any criticism to make of it is the fact that he has combined two papers in one. For the purpose of indexing, it seems it would be better if the paper had been divided into two parts, one part to be entitled "A Life Saving Tug," and the second part to be en- titled "A Derelict Destroyer." The titie that Capt. McAllister gives of "Two New Revenue Cutters for Spe- cial Purposes,' is not of g7eat value in indexing; and whether or not the council or Capt. McAllister could in the proceedings divide the paper into two parts, with their separate titles, is not for me to Say. The breeches-buoy appliance which is feferred to as being {itted. fo te life saving tug is something that is yet to be. Perhaps the society tay be surprised to know how good a thing breeches-buoy) that no passenger has ever begun the journey by the breeches-buoy through the most vio- lent sea has ever failed to arrive on land alive. The majority of them got pretty wet, of course, and some of them arrive benumbed with the cold, and some of them are nearly drowned, but the facts are that no lite has been lost in that way. Now, there are a great many limi- ILLUSTRATING SPENCER MILLER'S REMARKS IN THE APPLICATION OF THE MODERN CABLE- WAY FOR COALING SHIPS AT SEA TO THE SAVING OF: LIFE, the old fashioned, simple breeches-buoy apparatus is; that is to say, that which is in use along our coast. I know that at the time I was inquiring into it, I was very much surprised to learn that in the year 1906, last year, there were 189 passengers transported from wrecks to shore on the breeches-buoy. It is very remarkable that throughout the life saving service of the United States (and, by the way, I want to say there were 139 passengers in the United States alone transported from wrecks to shore by the use of the tations of the use of the breeches- buoy. For instance, unless the wreck lies within 'a reasonable distance of the shore, it is impossible to estab- lish communication, because logically the only way of establishing commu- nication is by the line firing gun or rocket, although I believe recently there has been some invention for sending the line ashore by a small buoy with a sail. At any rate, the breeches-buoy will not operate at very long distances; therefore, if the wreck is at a considerable distance from the