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16 shore, it is impossible to operate the breeches-buoy. © Furthermore, unless the sea is particularly rough, they do not expect to use the breeches-buoy, but use the life boats; in fact, the rec- ords show that far more lives are saved by life boats than by the use of the breeches-buoy; therefore, when you realize the limitations of the breeches-buoy, it will be seen that it is remarkable that in a single year 189 lives should have been saved in this manner. We all remember, too, the experience of the steamer Berlin that was wrecked a year ago, I think, Of the Hook of Holland. That ship was so far from the shore that no breeches-buoy could reach it.. The sea was so tempestuous that no life boat could live in it. A ship was actually sent outside to render assistance, and breeches-buoys were carried, and the lines were actually rigged up between the wreck and this ship. Of course, what happened can naturally be sur- mised. The lines snapped as fast as tuey could put them out. Capt. Mc- Allister has said, therefore, that the breeches-buoy appliance which is to be applied to this life saving craft is a modification of the modern cableway for cOaling warships at sea. Perhaps that is one way to put it; perhaps it would be better to say that this ap- Piance will -be a common coast - 'breeches-buoy, plus an automatic reel. The automatic reel will be placed in the engine room, to which the ends of the hawser will be carried, and the up- per line of which will be coiled on the reel. This reel will automatical'y take in the rope as fast as required, and Diy (t Out as fast as demanded. Whether the ship be moving by the motion of the waves, or by any other means, it is the function of this reel to take in and pay out this rope, and this function is to maintain a uniform tension in the line, which means, ot course, a uniform deflection at the same time, permitting thelength of the ine 40 vary at will. This is under construction, and tests have been made already to establish the entire feasi- Dility of the plan. Fifteen hundred feet of the hawser--I may use the term hawser, because that is the term by which the upper or elevated line is known along the cost--1,500 feet of this hawser will be always present on the reel. The distance, therefore, can vary anywhere from 200 to 300 ft., Sr to 1.000 or 1,200 ft. - If there is deep water in the vicinity of the wreck, logically they will get near it; if it is shallow water they will have to remain at a considerable distance. It is not for one moment expected that the passengers will arrive any Tak MaRINE KEVIEW dryer than they do at present. It is also evident if the sea is not particu- larly rough, the breeches-buoy appa- ratus will not be required at all, be- cause the lie. boat will. then. be launched. It is only, therefore, under the conditions where everything else is not to be thought of that the breeches-buoy will come into use. The reasons why this apparatus was offered was because of the experience had with the marine cableway in coal- ing warships at sea. And in these ex- periments it is rather remarkable that the behavior of the machinery, the operation of the conveyo-, has been proven to be identical in a rough sea as in a smooth sea. If I may be permitted to reminesce, Tl will say 1 'was a. passenger on the Massachusetts at the time it coaled from the first marine cableway at sea. There were five sea trials. The fifth was a rough weather. test. The sea was so rough that I proposed to the captain that the apparatus had not been built for that purpose. The con- tract calls for a moderate sea, and if - he attempted to set the apparatus up in stch a heavy sea the company would not be responsible for what might happen. Capt. Crane answered, "Oh, let us try it and see what hap- pens." What happened is on the rec- ord in the proceedings of this society. Capt. Crane himself came to tell the story to this society, and what he said was that in this heavy sea the appa- ratus worked with greater precision and with greater capacity than it had on any previous days when the sea was smooth. The trial' at England took place in over a half gale of wind. The trials at Italy took place when the ship coaled, was showing her screws to the collier. It was these things, it was these experiences, that have led to the attempt to build a de- vice for life saving, and it is perhaps rather a source of congratulation that a device which was primarily invent- ed to make a battleship an engine of destruction, more efficient, that a mod- ification of it should be taken to save life in the wildest ocean. COMMUNICATED DISCUSSION. Col, . A. Stevens: .1 would ask Mr. Miller whether it would not be possible to bend a tackle on to a tow- ing hawser, lead the hauling end of falls to the marine cableway engine and make the tail block fast to the towing bitts. If this is done, will not the engine give the requisite spring to the towing hawser to make it work satisfactorily in a heavy sea? The President: Are there any fur- ther remarks to be made on this pa- per? If not, the discussion will be c.osed. TWO INSTANCES OF UNUSUAL REPAIRS TO VESSELS. Assistant Naval Constructor Furer then read Assistant Naval Construc-. tor W. B. Ferguson's paper entitled "Two Instances of Unusual Repairs to Vessels." It is doubtful if the re- pairs indicated (to the bottom of the collier Nero after grounding, and re- newing sheathing on the Fire Island lightship, due to action of electrolysis) impressed experienced ship builders as at all unusual; in fact, they appeared to be quite in the usual run of ordi- nary practice. DISCUSSION. William McEntee: I think there is one point of interest in connection with the sketch showing the way in which the floors and frames buckled. A similar thing is seen in the case of the army transport Sheridan, now in the dock at Mare island. It appears that the inner bottom of the reverse frames were very little, if any, dis- torted. All of the distortion occurred with the outer frames and the floor plates, thus indicating that the fram- ing, considered as beaming, was much weaker for local stress than for beam- ing,- pure and simple; that is to say, a load applied to any particular point would buckle the beam locally, but bend it as a beam. This is of interest, also, in connection with the disaster which occurred to the Quebec bridge, which seemed to have failed in about the same way. In that case, though, it was a girder. The deep beams se- cured on the edges to form a column failed by the buckling of the web. R. R. Row: I noticed carefully the remarks that were made in connection with light vessel No. 68, but I should like very much to hear from Assistant Naval Constructor Ferguson regard- ing the condition of the frames and the tie-plates, what effect the dete- rioration of the steel or iron bolts had on that, because I know that the re- pairs were made and the novel brass bolts replaced. I should think it might have some effect, the galvanic action, in replacing a composition bolt, and putting a composition bolt in place of the iron bolt or steel bolt. F,. L. DuBosque: The gentleman who has just spoken anticipated what I was going to say. The fact that this vessel, single sheathed, .has had the single sheathing fastened to its frame by composition bolts comes to those with experience with considerable sur- prise, and as it has not, apparently, received the sanction of the bureau of