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1902.) MARINE REVIEW. 7 : | oo DRY DOCK.AT ST. JOHN, N. B. A committee from the city of St. John, N. B., recently made a tour of the dry docks of the United States with a view to establishing a dry dock at St. John. The committee consisted of Messrs. William Christie, Robert Maxwell and R. H. Cushing. Throughout the trip they were accompanied by Mr. George Robertson, member of parliament, Louis Coste of the public works department of Canada, John H. Thompson of the firm of William Thompson & Co. of St. John, and Mr. William E. Simpson of the Simpson Improved Dry Dock Co. The committee visited | the Erie basin and navy yard dry docks in Brooklyn, the Cramp works in Philadelphia, the Newport News works at Newport News, Va., and the William Simpson & Sons Co. dry dock in Baltimore. The com- mittee's report is quite comprehensive and indorses without reserve the wooden dry dock with stone and concrete entrance. The report says: "The Erie Basin Dry Dock Co. has two dry docks in Brooklyn, built of hard pine. No. 1 was built of spruce (owing to war) in 1864 and has since been renewed with hard pine and is in good condition; it is 510 ft. long with draught of 22 ft. on sill. No. 2 was built in 1865 of hard pine and only the flooring has been renewed and the dock is now in good con- dition. It is 600 ft. long with draught of 25 ft. on sill; has just handled four ships in three days. Can pump out the dock in 134 hours, Passen-. ger steamer New York (12,000 tons), now. in dock undergoing extensive | repairs, which will cost.$1,500,000. The two docks handle about 400 ships per year; about 3,000 men employed., Mr. Dickie, the manager, favors wooden docks as a commercial enterprise. Mr. McGilvray. of Pictou, N. S., is dock foreman. He has been there twenty years. He says that for St. John climate he would strongly urge wood docks, not stone or concrete. Rise and fall of tide about 3 ft. At Erie Basin we also saw two floating docks. "The United States government has three dry docks at. Brooklyn. No. 1, a granite dock, 340 ft. long, cost about $2,000,000 and costs consid- erable to maintain. No. 2 is a concrete dock, 530 ft: long. At this site a wood hard pine dry dock was built about 1869. About 1887 it was said to be much decayed and it was ordered out and to be replaced with concrete. Although the concrete dock was completed about eleven years ago it has not yet done any work and work is still being done on it. No. 3 is built of hard. pine, 600 ft..long. It was built about 1869 and is still in good order.. From the present condition of No. 3 dock it would seem evident that the wood dock was not replaced by the concrete dock No. 2 owing to decay of the wood dock. "The Cramps have one dry dock at Philadelphia. It was built in 1875 of hard pine and is still in.good order. It is 450 ft. long; depth of water over sill, 22 ft.. Mr. Cramp said the repairs had been nominal and if build- _ing another dry dock they would build it of wood. He said he had large experience in planning, constructing' and using dry docks and considers those of wood best commercial value. About 7,000 men are employed at -- these works. "William Skinner '& Sons Co. have one dry dock at Baltimore. It is built of hard pine with a concrete and granite entrance; is 628 ft. long over all; 600 ft. long on keel blocks; entrance 60 ft. wide at bottom and 80 ft. wide at top; dock 62 ft. wide on floor and 125 ft. wide at coping; depth of water over sills at low water 22% ft., and over keel blocks 19% ft. 'Commenced work June, 1899, and completed November, 1901. They intended to build a: concrete dock and had plans prepared and tenders submitted, but before building visited other docks and obtained fullest in- formation and decided to build of wood with concrete and granite - entrance, and say if building today would build of the same dimensions and of the same material. Two years ago it would dock any ship afloat with the exception of twelve ships; today the exceptions would be about forty. No sea worms there. They consider wood entrance all right if no worms, but prefer concrete and granite entrance because this portion is thus permanent and the water shut out so repairs or extensions can be made to the wood dock within. Can pump out this dock in 1 1-3 hours. Cost of this dock about $600,000, including $75,000 for pumping station. "The Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. has two dry docks at Newport News, Va. No. 1 was built of hard pine in 1888; it is 630 ft. long; depth from sill to coping, 36 ft.; keel blocks, 6 ft. high; draft on sill, 25 ft. Entrance is badly eaten by sea worms. No. 2 was built in 1900. This dock is hard pine, but owing to the sea worms the entrance is. of con- crete and granite, It is 800 ft. long; depth from sill to coping, 36 ft. At these works are employed from 7,000 to 8,000 men. The superintendent, Mr. Post, favors docks bitilt of wood and says by far they are best commercial value. Can pump out No. 2 dock in 40 minutes. Extreme rise and fall of tide, 3 ft.; average, 2% it." Recommendations of the committee are as follows: "1. We recommend the dock be built of wood. "9. We recommend the entrance be built of concrete and granite. "8 We recommend the pumping plant of sufficient capacity to pump out the dock in 80 minutes. "4. We tecommend the dimensions be: Length on keel blocks, 665 ft., which includes 15 ft. recess at head of dock for bow of ship; width of entrance at bottom, 75 ft.; width of entrance at top, 90 ft.; width of dock on floor, 75 ft.; width of dock at top of keel blocks, 83 ft.; width of dock at coping, 140 {t.; depth of water over floor at extreme low water, 10 ft.; depth of water over keel blocks at extreme low water, 6 ft.; depth of water over keel blocks at extreme high water, 35 ft.; dock to be so located that it can be extended 100 ft. "We have not the details necessary to prepare an estimate, but from a general knowledge obtained we believe such a dock can be built at this city for the sum of $800,000. "1. Wood--We recommend the dock be built of wood, because we believe wood docks to be the best commercial value. The necessary re- pairs during a period of at least twenty-six years are merely nominal, and we saw docks thirty-six years old, in good order, in which practically no timbers had been renewed except the flooring; and docks built of wood have a farther commercial value over those of concrete or granite in a - country of heavy frost. Work can be done at less cost in a dock built of wood, because it can be built much wider at top, thus admitting more light and air; there are more steps in the altars, thus giving better facilities for shoring and the workmen can get in and.out at any point. The piles. sills and caps may be of-our native woods, but the exposed wood should be hard pine or British Columbia fir. : "9 Entrance--We recommend concrete and granite entrance, be- cause with a permanent entrance repairs or renewals can be made to the dock without stopping work in the dock, and the dock being necessarily unusually deep such entrance will give all the more stability. The con- struction of the dock of wood and the entrance of concrete and granite gives best commercial value and is true economy. : "3. Pumping--We recommend a first-class and ample pumping plant, because the falling tide would not drain the dock by from 10 to 18 ft., and we understand from parties using docks that if they had our tides they would not use them to drain docks, as the time is too valuable. -- "4. Dimensions--We. recommend dimensions . with a view to the future; they are larger than most of the docks of the present day, but are smaller than some and are certainly not in excess of the requirements of shipping in this port in the early future. Owing to the rise and fall of tides in this port the docks should be unusually deep, and the depth we recommend as such that vessels drawing 15 ft. of water can be placed in or out of the dock during eighteen hours of each twenty-four. "In regard to the desirablity, and we may say necessity, of a dry dock at the port of St. John, we beg to submit the following: "It is the opinion of your committee that the time has arrived when a dry dock is absolutely necessary in the best interests of the port. We do not know of any other ocean port in the world with anything like the amount of shipping that is without a dry dock. In the year ending June. 30, 1901, 880 ocean-going steamers of 835,790 tons cleared outwards at this port; 1,185 sea-going (sailing) vessels, of 142,822 tons, cleared outwards at this port; 630 coast steamers, of 394,206 tons, cleared outwards at this port; 2,160 coast sailing vessels, of 168,572 tons cleared outwards at this port; in all 4,255 vessels; of 1,041,391 tons, cleared outwards at this port. We have every ground for believing that this enormous tonnage will be largely exceeded in the early future. All other things being. equal, especially with steam tonnage, the port with a dry dock would be given the preference by vessels seeking cargo. No stronger evidence could be given of the value and advantages of dry docks to a port than that your committee saw at Newport News. A scattered village on what may be called a barren marsh, has been built up to a large and prosperous city with a great ship building plant and 8,000 men employed. The com- mencement of the wonderful development, about thirteen years ago, was the building of a dry dock. We think it is a reasonable hope that a first- class dock at our port, with a modern repairing plant, would be the step- ping stone to steel ship building in our port. Transportation is one of the most important questions to be dealt with by the government and people of Canada, and our port should be thoroughly equipped in every way, not only to enable it to hold its own in the great struggle, but also to enable it to forge ahead and take one of the first positions as one of the greatest shipping ports on the North Atlantic. It cannot be considered fully equipped without a dry dock, and that is why we have expressed the strong opinion that the time has arrived to equip the port in that respect. HONORED BY CHICAGO NEWSPAPER WORKERS. Vessel interests of the great lakes probably derive in daily business affairs more direct service from the newspapers than any other branch of industry in this country. The system of telegraphic reports of vessel movements, freights, accidents, etc., is highly essential to the conduct of lake commerce. So it happens ; that a few men trained in marine work on the newspapers of some of the leading cities of the lakes are generally known to _ vessel men--not in their own cities alone but throughout the lake region. Prominent among these is Homer J. Carr of the Lake Marine News Association, whose likeness ap- pears herewith on account of an honor just bestowed upon him by the newspaper workers of Chi- cago. A few days ago Mr. Carr was unanimously elected president of the Chicago Press Club. The press club has 450 members, is in a most prosperous condition and is the most influential press or- ganization in the country outside of New York city. It has hand- some quarters on Madison street in the heart of the city. The Lake Marine News supplies telegraphic reports to thirty daily newspapers around the lakes and does a large business in direct reports to : : ie underwriters, vessel owners and shippers, with vessel reporting stations at Mackinaw City, Sault Ste. Marie and Detour. The Lake Marine News is in its eleventh year. Mr. Carr was its organizer and has been its man- ager since it was organized. : TO PROVISION STEEL CORPORATION SHIPS. Officials of the United States Steel Corporation, or rather the Pitts- burgh Steamship Co., are making arrangements for provisioning all their lake vessels--there are some 112 of them--at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. They have purchased the steamer Superior, which ran for two or three seasons in the excursion trade between Cleveland and Euclid Beach park, and intend to convert her into a supply steamer. Capt. W. W. Smith and Chief Steward Chambers inspected the steamer at Port Huron a few days ago to see what changes it would be necessary to make in her. It is the purpose to convert the steamer into a provision store of the most compre- hensive character with refrigerators for the preservation of meats and other perishable articles. She will run alongside of the vessels: of the Steel Corporation as they pass the Sault and will supply them with, all needed provisions. It is expected that the departure will save both time and money. Alterations will be made in the steamer at once so that she will be ready to go on her station at the opening of navigation: