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20 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. STERN-WHEEL STEAMER FOR GOVERNMENT WORK. Capt. Charles S. Bromwell, government engineer at New Orleans, will open bids Aug. 20 for the construction of a steel-hull stern-wheel steamboat for use in government work on the Miss- issippi river. She is especially intended for shallow waters and is to be of the following dimensions: Length between perpen- diculars, 80 ft.; length over fantails, 93 ft. 6 in.; beam, molded, 19 ft.; width over nosings, 20 ft. 4 in.; depth, molded, 4 i; draught, fully equipped, 2 ft. The hull is to be divided into four compartments by transverse watertight bulkheads, and to be stiffened longitudinally by two fore-and-aft bulkheads. The deck beams are to be of oak and the deck itself of white pine. The deck house is to extend from the forward bulkhead to the engine room at a width of 14 ft. and thence to the splash bulkhead at a width of 19 ft. The boiler room is to be 18% ft. long, and to be divided from kitchen and cabin by two bulkheads at each end. The cabin is to be 17 ft. 9% in. long, and the kitchen 9 ft. Io in. long. The pilot house will be 1o ft. wide and 12 ft. long, 8 ft. 6 in. high for a length of 5 ft. and 6 ft. 6 in. high on aft end. The vessel will be equipped with a pair of stern-wheel en- gines with cylinders of 11 in. diameter and 48 in stroke, fitted with poppet valves and California cut-off, and designed for a working pressure of 180 Ibs. per square inch. The wheel is to be 1 1 1 ' | | i [Aug. 13, sentations were made to Secretary Whitney that the appoint- gO a mistake, but President Cleveland, who had heard ot Melville's action, told the objecting naval officers that the appoint. ment could be credited to the president himself, and that he woulq stand responsible for the trouble that Melville would bring spot erhe first reform that Melville inaugurated was to prevent every man who believed that engineering consisted of opening a throttle valve and operating a reversing link from busying himself about the affairs of the bureau of steam engineering. This was q rude shock to the embryo engineers, and the manner in which they were told to attend to their own affairs was neither consider. ate nor diplomatic. The pride and vanity of the discarded self. advisers were wounded, and it was not surprising that the new engineer-in-chief immediately became the object of their bitter attack. It was the nature of Melville to hit back, and then started his aggressive campaign in behalf of all working beneath the pro- tective deck of our warships. In looking over the complement al- lowed each warship he found that the entire engineer force were officially denominated 'idlers.' This simple illustration tells the story of engineering conditions twenty, years ago. The inborn capacity for leadership that existed in Melville prompted him to find out how things were being conducted on deck, and then there was a turning over of bones in the naval vault that almost drove Stern-wheel Steamboat for Government Work on the Mississippi River. 12% ft. outside diameter of buckets, and the buckets are to be 15 ft. long and 18 in. wide. Steam will be supplied by a Scotch marine boiler 9 ft. 6 in. in diameter and 10 ft. long. Two fur- naces of the Morison type are to be provided. Furnishings of the steamer are to be of the most approved character. APPRECIATION OF REAR-ADMIRAL MELVILLE. The New York Times prints the following character sketch and appreciation of Rear Admiral George Wallace Melville, who has just retired from the position of engineer-in-chief of the navy: "His career has been a strenuous one from the day he entered the naval service, but particularly from the time he became chief of the bureau of steam engineering has his forceful and resource- ful nature asserted itself. Admiral Melville possesses in a re- markable degree certain attributes that have commended him to his superiors. He has had a great capacity for work, special ability in measuring men, quickness and soundness of judgment, and 'rugged integrity of character. There are so many stories current of his unusual strength of character that a brief sketch cannot do ample justice to the subject. There are many in the service who believe that physically he is one of the strongest men who bas held a commission in the navy for at least two generations. During the retreat of the crew of the Jeannette there were days when he carried for hours over hummocky ice a blind and help- less brother officer weighing 175 tbs. With this man clinging to his back he would move among the crew, directing affairs, and even help launch a boat where the footing was very insecure and dangerous. During his forty-two years of service in the navy ne has had practically no medical record, for it has been seldom, except within the last two or three years, that.he ever found it necessary to call upon a medical officer. His frame is heroic in size and shape, and there is not a feature of his face that does not betoken firmness of purpose, intelligence of action, and exceed- ing powers of endurance. : __ "He was appointed chief of the bureau of steam engineering without solicitation or expectation in August, 1887. The appoint- ment was a probationary or ad interim one, and yet between the day he took the oath of office and the meeting of congress, three months afterward, and even before the president sent his nomina- tion to the senate, Melville sent in an official report to Secretary Whitney as to engineering conditions in the navy that made the service fully understand he was going to give the old-time naval officers more trouble than had been given them by all the en- _ gineers who had ever been in the service before. In fact, strong to desperation those who believed the prestige of the navy was ie in the traditions of the past and in the interests of a favored class. "It would be a long story to tell of Melville's struggle in be- half of the officers and enlisted men of the engineer's force. He quickly saw that no reform could be inaugurated by keeping the fight within the service. By calling upon the various engineering influences and organizations throughout the country he waged a campaign that secured for the engineers even more than what they had demanded. This campaign was really a struggle of the en- gineering profession of the country for the recognition that it de- served, and as a result engineering throughout the world securea a status that was never accorded it before. "While concerning himself in regard to the personnel of the navy, he did not forget that improvement was required as fe- gards the material. He was ever of the opinion that there was nothing in the construction of a warship which could not be manufactured in this country, and thus he always stood like a rock in resisting the effort to install some appliance or patented articr that was only made abroad. At first the shipbuilders were as- tounded at-the manner in which he construed government specifi- cations, but they soon discovered that it was to their financial interest and prestige to do good work, and that the only way 0% fulfilling the requirements of official speed trials of warships was to build and install machinery that would be the equal of any made abroad. The machinery designed under his direction is economical in the use of steam, light in weight, and durable even under severe conditions, This machinery will approximate 1,200,- ooo H. P., and probably the additional tentative designs that have been formulated, if taken into consideration, will double the ag- ee of horse power of machinery for which he has prepared ans, "It was by his insistent and persistent action that triple-screw vessels were built for the American navy. He was the first en- gineer-in-chief of any navy to thoroughly investigate the con- sumption of steam by the numerous auxiliaries that are installe on board the warship. These investigations showed that the aux- iliaries actually consumed several times as much coal as it was believed they required, and therefore it was shown that the actual steaming radius of the warship was only about half that which tacticians and strategists had assigned to the respective vessels. In his common sense and business experiments of this nature he has furnished all navies with strategic and tactical information 0 the utmost value. Probably his most enduring monument will be the naval engineering laboratory that was authorized by the last congress,"