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1902.) MARINE REVIEW. 1s CARNEGIE FAVORS PANAMA ROUTE. Andrew Carnegie in a letter to Senator Platt of New York declares in favor of the Panama canal as against the Nicaragua. His letter is as follows: "The senior senator from New York should have a commanding voice in regard to the Isthmian canal. I subscribed $10,000 to test the Nicaragua scheme, but Gen. Ludlow's report satisfied me that it was not to be thought of as a reasonable undertaking. I think that I have read every official report published since then, and all have confirmed my opinion that, instead of $200,000,000, it will cost $400,000,000, and will not be a serviceable canal when finished. It has curves of 4,000 ft. radius; the Manchester canal has nothing under 5,000 ft., and yet tugs are required fore and aft of every vessel that tries to pass around these curves. I understand that Senator Morgan and our southern friends believe that the Nicaragua route is shorter than the Panama, but in this I think them mistaken. The commission gives thirty-three hours for the passage; this means daylight only--really three days. It will be found impracticable to pass through at night. May I suggest to you that it would be well to call before the committee the members of the commission and cross-examine them about their preferences, Panama or Nicaragua? There is another point which you, as representing a great commercial city, I think, should consider. There has never been a commission of experts appointed to report upon the traffic tributary to an Isthmian canal. The situation has changed so much during the last ten years that the best intormed believe that instead of 6,000,000 tons of traffic there will not be more than a quarter of that. Railroads will reduce their rates to a very low point when it becomes a question of taking additional traffic. But, although the canal will not obtain as much traffic as expected, it will, of course, have a good effect by reducing rates; but the Panama, costing $1,300,000 per year less to work, becomes important. The commission estimates the increased cost of operating the Nicaraguan canal at only $1,300,000 more per year than Panama. This is merely for operating, but what of maintenance? This is a far more important point and the longer distance of the Nicara- gua route will, of course, entail more replacement and repairs and liability to disaster. - : : "As you know, I have had considerable experience in navigating canals, in handling our ore shipments, and I wish to go on record as assur- ing Senator Morgan and his friends of the south, as well as the north, that they will be more benefited by the Panama canal than by the Nicaragua. "T am sure, senator, that this is a matter which deserves a great deal more consideration than has yet been given to it. Now, since the Panama seems within reach, I beg you to exert your influence to. have the ques- tion thrashed out before the committee. ANDREW CARNEGIE." HAMPTON ROADS SHIP BUILDING & DRY DOCK CO. The name of the new ship yard enterprise which is backed by ex- Governor Atkinson and State Treasurer Peter Silman of West Virginia, R. C. McCoy of Pittsburg and W. H. Anderson of Wheeling, and which will be capitalized at $2,000,000, has been changed to the Hampton Roads Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., and in the next few days a deal will be closed for the site at Sewall's Point, across Hampton roads from Newport News. In addition to the above mentioned parties several Philadelphia capitalists are interested. A general superintendent for the works has been employed and he is now in Norfolk doing some work in advance of active operations. The land under consideration is at present the property of the Norfolk & Atlantic Terminal Co. at Norfolk-on-the-Roads, but is held under option by the ship building concern. Seven hundred and three acres, fronting 5,000 ft. on the Elizabeth river, running south from the pier of the Norfolk & Atlantic Terminal Co. at Sewall's Point, and extending back to Boush's Creek, compass the tract. Present plans call for the use of 100 of these acres in the ship yard, the balance has been surveyed and laid off into building lots. The ship yard proper will be some 2,000 or 2,500 ft. south of the pier, and is perfectly square. At the northern corner there will be a marine railway with a capacity of 500 tons, and at the south corner another railway which will carry 1,000 tons. There will also be two large power houses. Electric cranes will travel the entire yard. In the center of the water frontage there will be a floating dry dock, it is said, with a capacity of 15,000 tons, large enough to hold any battle- ship in Uncle Sam's navy. This dock will be built on the sectional plan and can be increased in size from time.to time. A repair wharf will extend into the river just north of the dry dock. There will be in all sixteen buildings, many of which will be very large. The majority of them will be of brick, while some will be of sheet iron. Three, four and possibly five-story buildings will be erected. The different structures are classified as follows: Power house and machine shop, shipwright shop, inside shipfitter and machine shop, shipsmith shop, plumbers and pipe- fitters' shop, pattern shop, foundry, shipwright and spar makers' shop, sail and rigging loft, pitch house, store house, general office and boat house. A spur track of the Norfolk '& Atlantic Terminal Co. will make a loop through the yard. Roach's Ship Yard at Chester, Pa. is turning out a new freight propeller for river service which will have a novel stern for this style of craft. It is nothing less than the application of the flaring torpedo boat stern, which holds the after body up when running at full speed or in steaming over shoal places. Such sterns have been incorporated in the design of passenger propellers, but this is the first instance on record where a freight steamer has been built where this peculiar modern idea has been used. The boat will undoubtedly be the forerunner of a large number of the same type. The new vessel is the Chester, which will ply between Chester and Philadelphia, on the Delaware river. She is of the following dimensions: Length, over all, 151 ft. 9 in.; beam, on deck, 24 ft.: beam, molded, 27 ft.; beam, over guards, 26 ft. 8 in.; depth of hold, 10% ft. The hull is of steel divided into water-tight compartments. The main deck is given over entirely to freight, the officers' accommodations being located on the hurricane deck. The engine of the Chester is of the compound type with cylinders 18 and 36 in. by 26 in. Steam will be supplied by a steel boiler 10%4x11 ft. The Chester is owned by the Chester Shipping Co., Chester, Pa. SHIP BUILDING AT PHILADELPHIA AND VICINITY. _ Philadelphia, Feb. 19, 1902.--All is ready for the launch from Cramp's ship yard of the International Navigation Co.'s big liner Kroonland, the greatest vessel ever built in the United States. Provided no unforseen obstacle intervenes the shoe piece will be sawed through at high tide tomorrow. The staging has been knocked away from the Kroonland and the big black and red hull, 650 ft. long, towers high above everything else in the ship yard. The builders have been besieged by hundreds of persons, many from distant points, who are desirous of witnessing the launch, and in deference to the unusual interest manifested in the maiden dip of a merchant ship will throw the gates of the yard open to the public. The Kroonland would have been put overboard on Tuesday had it not been for the ice in the river. It has been several years since so much inconvenience has arisen from this source. For nearly a week the . "horseshoe," an abrupt turn in the river above the navy yard, was so congested with drift ice that navigation was practically closed. As many as seventeen steamships were frozen in at one time, remaining for periods varying from one to three days. : At Neafie & Levy's ship yard several launches are held back on -- account of the ice. The torpedo boat destroyer Barry stands on the ways, practically complete and ready for her trial trip, with little chance of taking the water for many days. President Matthias Seddinger said that it would be folly to send the frail craft down the ways into the midst of the great cakes which are grinding against each other in the stream. The cruiser Denver is also ready to be launched. The Neafie & Levy Co. is anxious to have this effected as soon as possible, as that launching slip is urgently needed for the cruiser St. Louis. This latter vessel has pro- gressed in the shops to the point where it is absolutely requisite that her keel go down to keep within the time limit clause of the contract. On this line it may be said that despite the optimistic views of ship builders in this locality, expressed only a few weeks ago, regarding the supply of steel and iron, there is unfortunately a scarcity in both markets. This was manifested at Neafie & Levy's last week in the iron delivery of finished shapes to be used in the construction of the Denver and St. Louis together with quite an array of minor craft. Ship builders are anxiously awaiting developments in the situation, fearing that work will be seriously retarded not only on warships but merchant vessels as well. -- 2 It is extremely difficult hereabouts to get at the bottom of the failure of the torpedo boat destroyer Bainbridge. That the destroyer did fail on her. official trial is now a matter of local history, but the builders are reluctant to comment on the various features. President Seddinger openly expressed himself about a year ago as against the entire general design of these craft. The publication of the objections in a local paper created quite a sensation, Mr. Seddinger being quoted to the effect that everything in connection with the trio--Bainbridge, Barry and Chauncey --had been sacrificed to speed, and that the hulls were too light for the powerful machinery. This interview was later retracted by the paper in which it appeared, but the fact remains, according to a semi-official statement by Constructor J. H. Hanscom, that excessive vibration was primarily responsible for the Bainbridge's inability to meet her contract requirements. 'The vessel is known to be a well built craft throughout, an embodiment of a rigid adherence to government plans and snecifications viewed by the builders with distrust from the incipiency of the undertak- ing. The future of this vessel and her sister ships is somewhat obscure, but it seems logical that they will be accepted by the government, as the builders cannot in any plausible manner be connected with the failure of the Bainbridge to make. Neafie & Levy's business in merchant ships and cruisers has increased so tremendously of late that there is every probability they will follow the example of the Cramps and have little to do hereafter with torpedo boat destroyers. It is a matter of history that one of_the latter, the Mackenzie, was responsible for the failure of the Hillman Ship Building Co., whose defunct plant has since been absorbed by the Cramps, and there is a concensus of opinion in this vicinity that the least ship builders have to do with these troublesome craft the better it will be for their business. In all probability the Clyde of America will shortly be enriched by another ship yard. The property of the Tway Machine & Blacksmith Co. at Cooper's Point, Camden, N. J., has been disposed of by its owners, Sheriff David Baird, J. Herbert Mathis and John H. Tway, to a syndicate of Philadelphia capitalists, who will operate as the Joseph Cooper Ship Building Co. From what can be learned of the new concern its scope will be quite extensive, comprising the construction of steel and iron ves- sels, in addition to contracting for extensive repairs. So far the future plans of the company are in an embryonic condition, but it is intimated that business is intended, and that work in improving the property will be inaugurated without delay. Samuel B. Macdonnell, a director in the Philadelphia maritime ex- change, has commenced a vigorous crusade against the sea-going barge and has enlisted the sympathy and support of a local paper in his behalf. Briefly, Mr. Macdonnell contends that the sea-going coal barges, made from old, cut-down ships, are "floating coffins." That they are not inspected and are allowed to go to sea without examined and licensed captains and first mates. The effort to compel inspection of sea-going barges is being well organized. The Seamen's Union, the American Feder- ation of Labor, the Atlantic Carriers' Association, composed of the owners of merchant vessels along the Atlantic coast, and several maritime ex- changes, are back of the effort to force the needed legislation. The out- come of the fight will be awaited with the keenest interest. Barges mon- opolize at least 75 per cent of the coastwise carrying trade of this port, and-during the past few years have relegated half of the erstwhile schooners into obscurity. The device for burning petroleum for fuel is being installed in the steamship Nevadan, recently launched by the New York Ship Building Co. It is viewed with favor by the builders of the vessel and if successful on the trial trip will likely be used in connection with coal quite exten- sively by vessels trading to this now prominent oil center. The Mikasa, Japanese battleship, by Vickers, Sons & Maxim, is doing excellently on trials. On a displacement of 15,200 tons, with draught 97 ft. 2 in., she made on the mile 16,400 I.H.P., and a speed of nearly 19 knots. The contract is, indicated horse power 15,000, and 18 knots. The coal consumption at four-fifths power was 1.53 Ib., which is about the Vengeance's record. The contract consumption was 1.90 Ib.