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ita] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. stance of the value of this double bottom was the cas steamer Pilgrim of the Fall River Line some years ee vessel was then quite new, the pride of the line, and was fitted © with all then known appliances for safety, including the double bottom. One morning when heavily loaded with passengers and soon to make her dock in New York she slid over some unex- pected obstruction on the bottom, perhaps one of the numerous sunken ledges in that vicinity.. A point of this obstruction slit a tapering hole in the outer bottom a hundred feet long and vary- ing from a knife edge to four inches wide. The inner bottom was not penetrated, however, and though the great steamer set- tled a little she steamed up to her dock and discharge gher passengers as usual. What would have been the disastrous result had she been built with the old-style single bottom may be easily seen, for the slit was such that though she was built with com- partments, the opening was long enough to have filled them all The double bottom is now in extensive, indeed almost universal, use on the later models and is used as a ballast tank, as well as an appliance for safetv. water being let in to increase the stability of the ship when without cargo. ; In the old days a steamboat captain was simply a person hired by the company to take charge of its boat. Now he is practi- cally a government official, and he and his officers have to pass the carefully devised regulations of the government, which are intended to prove that he is a man of ripe experience and fully competent. In transatlantic vessels, service for several years in subordinate positions must be proven and besides a written ex- amination passed in all matters pertaining to seamanship and 'navigation. A similar rule is applied to coast-wise steamers, and, when it first became a law years ago, caused much consternation among some of the old sea dogs. They were capable of navigat- ing successfully their vessels to and from the accustomed ports, but the passing of these written examinations was a terror which no storm had ever equalled. It is related that one of the old- time successful captains of the Bangor Line, who could not tell how to take a sight or a lunar observation or handle the sextant and quadrant, replied. in answer to the question: "What is a day's work?" meaning the distance the vessel should log in a ue "Get in all the freight you can and leave for Bangor at 5 o'clock. As to the life saving appliances required aboard an ocean steamship, their number, variety and the details fixed in regard to them are simply astonishing. A vessel of 10,000 tons must have about 8.000 cu. ft. of boats. Having those she may carry her full capacity of passengers. That is what the inspectors call "boating her up to her tonnage." But if for any reason she car- ries only part of her capacity of passengers she must have boats enough to supply these passengers (and crew) and need carry no more. One-third of this boat's capacity may be supplied in life rafts if the company prefer but in all cases the specifications are carefully worked out in the minutest detail and make a "code as long as the moral law." But this is only the beginning in the way of life-saving apparatus. To enumerate the life preservers, buoys, lines to shoot ashore and guns for shooting them, floats, rubber, canvas, cork and wood, and all the details in regard to them, with rockets, signals and everything else, would require the writing of a book. STRANGE LEGEND OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC. These safeguards constitute a necessary equipment, for, after all, there is always the chance of wreck, by sea or shore; the most careful of navigators will sometimes err, and there are dan- gers which come not within the ken of human foresight. Note the strange fate of the Huronian of the Allan Line. She was a cargo boat built for crossing the Atlantic, a modern steamship of good size and fitted with watertight bulkheads. double bottom, splendid engines and all the latest equipments. * She had a care- ful captain and a good crew. About a year ago she sailed west- ward on her maiden voyage, passed the headlands and disap- peared in the mysterious mists of the North Atlantic never to be seen or heard from again, like many another. - : : And that brings us to a strange legend of the North Atlantic, often repeated but never yet quite verified. Somewhere in mid- ocean, due north of the Azores and not far from the lines of travel, a single bare pinnacle of rock has been repeatedly sighted by passing vessels. No searching vessel sent out has ever seefl it. no vessel has stopped to examine it, yet the position given for it is about the same each time. It may not be there. Exper- lenced navigators who have never seen it smile and say it was a basking whale or -a derelict or a_ figment. of the imagination, yet more than one vessel's log notes it and it is charted in the minds of careful mariners with a question mark as a doubtful point. one to be avoided on principle if nothing more. The trend of soundings north of the Azores confirms its possibilities. There is a broad ridge of shallow water that ex- tends far north of these islands and nearer the islands are scat- tered bits of rock that approach the surface. Why might not this be the last pinnacle on the tip of the plateau? If it is really there, and it is yet to be proven that it is not, one may. well question if it is not the port made by more than one missing ship that like the Huronian has left behind her nothing but Mystery. Within the year a fishing schooner lay on the banks far east of Sable island and sent out her dories.. A fisherman in one of 27. these boats looked over the side and saw b i : eneath him a spot that spoked, lle a compact school of squid. He put a line ee and eg : a astonishment that it was bottom instead, a little peak - ees . eo up from unknown depth to within 2 or -- ae a e the surface. No such reef is charted, but it was ; eae t ia the path of ocean liners. The fishing schooner ce t back the story and the hydrographic office sent a survey a up to the spot, as near as could be found, sounded all about and got 70 fathoms of water. That was to be expected. So little a spot is like a needle in the haystack of the vast sea. The water was 70 fathoms deep yet the fisherman declares that a rock was there and there is no reason to doubt his word. The office has marked it on its latest charts with a question mark. It seems in a way to make more plausible the story of the pinnacle in mid-ocean. The hydrographic office takes cognizance of all these stray stories and seeks them out for the benefit of mariners, and that is only a small part of the work it is continually doing for the making of safety at sea. Incoming captains at fifteen United States ports report to this office and get information in return. All evidence is received and sifted, reported at Washington, and weekly bulletins and charts sent out for the use of mariners. All over the world the United States hydrographic office is known to mariners as the best in existence. Mariners of other countries ask in their home ports for the reports of our office | in preference to the reports of their own government, as later and more surely reliable. The office keeps track of the weather at sea, the path of storms, the position of derelicts, and charts them all monthly. It collates and sifts a vast fund of informa- tion to mariners, issues a weekly bulletin and does much more for their safety and comfort. SPECIAL MEETING OF SUPERVISING INSPECTORS. A special meeting of the board of supervising inspectors of steam vessels has been called to meet in Washineton on June 3. It is the purpose to discuss at the meeting certain changes in the administration of the service and new plans with reference to in- spection will also be considered. The rules and regulations gov- erning the inspection of vessels will be changed in important par- ticulars. One of the most important subjects to be discussed is that relating to the construction of marine boilers. 'The rules will be revised with reference to the thickness of shell, spacing of braces, riveting and all the other requirements entering into the construction of marine boilers. 'The purpose of George Uhler, the new head of the steamboat inspection service, is to have marine boilers and all equipment of steam vessels over which the government has jurisdiction conform to modern practice. The administration of this service has been so lax during the past few years that little attention has been paid to the question as to whether owners of vessels have been prompt in securing modern apparatus and appliances. It will be impossible for Mr. Uhler to put into effect all the reforms in contemplation by means of rules and regulations. New law on the subject will be necessary and at the meeting of the board of supervisors it is expected that in- formation will be obtained which will materially aid the depart- ment in making recommendations with reference to amendments to the law relating to steamboat inspection. The board will also: consider at the coming meeting any protests that may be received relating to the building and operation of steam vessels. DOCKING WARSHIPS AT NEWPORT NEWS. Newport News, Va., May 20.--The battleship Texas will be docked at the shipyard this week for repairs, after which she will join what will be known as the North Atlantic coast pro- tection squadron as flagship. This squadron will do duty while the battleship squadron under Rear Admiral Barker is away on its cruise to the Azores. Rear Admiral Sands raiséd his flag over the Texas Monday and will command the coast squadron. The battleship Illinois will follow the Texas in dry dock in the next week or two. 'The Illinois will be the fourth warship docked at the Newport News ship yard in the past three months. First the Maine was floated in the big dock, to be followed by the German cruiser Gazelle. The Texas goes in this week. The bat- tleship Missouri has also been in dry dock in that period, but she is not in commission yet. : : The old training ship Alliance arrived in Hampton Roads Saturday with 300 landsmen aboard, just seventeen days overdue from Kingston, Jamaica, a distance of only 1,200 miles. The Alliance left Kingston April 17 and the navy department al- lowed twelve days for the cruise up the coast. Contrary winds held the ship at sea until Friday night last. 'The department was preparing to send half a dozen ships out to search for the ae Old Dominion liner Monroe, new vessel, is still at the shipyard undergoing alterations, but it is expected that she will get away by June I. After making about six trips between here and New York it was found that the hatches and other parts of the vessel were heavier than necessary and changes are now i de. ? pes Oe Admiral Wise will on June 1 take command of the United States training ship fleet on the Atlantic coast and it is probable that he will raise his flag over the Prairie in Hainpton Roads.