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M A R I N E R E V & £8 yo ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST. Capt Barziliai Cousins, a sugar planter of Plaquemine, La., died recently, aged 66 years. He was for many years in com- mand of vessels trading between Liverpool and Pacific Coast ports. The steamer Providence, launched recently from the yard of the Fore River Ship & Engine Co., Quincy, Mass., for the marine service of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, -is equipped with a vertical steani windlass and two steam gypseys made by the American Ship Windlass Co., Providence, R. I. The new torpedo boat Blakely successfully passed one hour during its trip last week and she will be accepted by the United States government. She traveled 24% nautical miles in an hour, breaking her required speed by % knot. During the standardizing test her speed averaged 25.7 knots. She was constructed by the Geo. Lawley & Sons Corporation, Bos- ton, Mass. é In 1891 an old lady left to the British Life Boat Institution, which is supported by private subscription, the sum of $2,000 to be paid on the death of a favorite kitten which had sur- vived her and which was to be provided for with interest. In 1902 the cat disappeared and the courts have now decided to assume its death and let the Institution have the money on giving bond to provide for the cat in case it should come back. Col. Milton B. Adams of the United States engineer corps, now serving in New Orleans, will be transferred to Buffalo to succeed Gen. Theodore A. Bingham, retired. Col. Adams has an excellent reputation as an engineer. He was appointed at the military academy in 1862 and entered the army as engineer. He became a captain in 1870, a major in 1883 and lieutenant colonel in 1898. Gen. Bingham was forced to _tetire from injuries received in a course of duty. The Comanche, a high-speed gasoline launch built for S. H. Vandergrift of Pittsburg, a member of the New York and the Larchmont yacht club, was launched at the works of the builders, the Gas Engine & Power Co. and Charles L. Seabury at Morris Heights last week. The launch is 66 ft. 6 in. over all, 65 ft. on the water line, 6 ft. beam, and of minimum draught. The model has long torpedo boat stern and sharp overhang, with very fine entrance linés for the forward body. The forward deck is curved at the sides, and what is commonly known as "turtle back." The gasoline engine has nine cylinders, each 10 by 8 in. The hull is di- vided into three compartments, the forward and aft cock- pits for passengers, and the engine is placed amidships. The hull construction is made up of three thicknesses of plank- ing with copper fastenings. The outside planking is of teak below the water line and of Spanish cedar above the water line. A mahogany coaming incloses the entire cockpit. The builders have guaranteed that the launch will make 30 miles -- an hour, and are confident she can be made to do better. The naval boad of construction is considering the design of the battleship New Hampshire and the armored cruisers North Carolina and Montana, authorized at the last session of congress. There will be no novelties in the plans of those ships. They will follow closely the design of the fastest ves- sels of their respective classes. The New Hampshire. will closely resemble the Mississippi, and the cruisers will be re- productions of the Tennessee. Of course, there will be im- provements in minor particulars, but there will be no de- parture from the general type. There is some talk of making changes in the batteries so as to increase the number of large caliber guns. If this is done, of course, there must be a sacrifice of weight in other directions, and any proposi- tion of that kind always leads to much discussion among the bureau chiefs. There can be little change in the character and disposition of the armament, however, for the reason that any radical change in that particular would require much alteration in the internal construction of the ships, and there is no time to carry this out, as the navy department desires to award the contracts for the vessels as soon as possible. The annual report of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co. for the fiscal year ended April 30 has been published in pamphlet form. President Harriman in his report gives the changes in the capital account for the year as follows: Cost of steamship Colon written off $377,545; cost of six small boats at Panama written off $1,035; making a total of $378,580; from this amount the following deductions were made: Cost of equipping the Siberia with electrical generating apparatus, $1,140; expended for account of tug Arabs, building at San Francisco, $25,000; cost of two coal launches built at Aca- pulco, $2,985; cost of additions to water boat at Yokohama, $249; riparian rights and construction of wharf at Hong Kong, $1,989, making a total expended for these purposes of $31,364, and leaving-a balance to credit of capital account of $347,216. President Harriman states also that after charging the fund for depreciation and for general and extraordinary repairs of steamers and other floating equipment with $208,- 946 for repairs and renewals, chargeable to this account and with $113,548 for depreciations chargeable against the Colon beached at Acajutla and for other property condemned during the year, there remained to the credit of this fund at the close of the year the sum of $914,307.' LAKE SHIP BUILDING. A new steel freighter to carry grain and package freight between Fort William and Montreal was launched from the Bertram ship yards, Toronto, on July 23, the ceremony of christening being performed by Mrs. John Bertram. The Haddington is of full canal size, her dimensions being: length 254 ft., beam 42 ft. depth 18 ft. Her engines will be of the triple expansion type, having cylinders of 15, 25 and 42 in. diameter and a stroke of 30 ft. Steam is furnished by two Scotch return tubular boilers, 10 ft. in diameter and 11 ft. long. On deck there will be six 3-ton cranes for handling cargo. Her capacity is 75,000 bu. of wheat, and her cost complete will be about $130,000. She is of handsome model and looks well in the water. : It is announced that the new steamer City of Benton Har- bor will be taken to the Craig ship yard at Toledo at the close of the present season to be lengthened about 50 ft. The steamer went into commission at the beginning of the present season, having just been completed at Craig's. The additions will make her the largest sidewheeler on Lake Michigan. It is expected that the added length besides greatly increasing the steamer's carrying capacity will also increase her speed. It is stated that the contract with the Craig Ship Building Co. calls for a guaranteed speed of 22 miles an hour. If this is so she will be the fastest side-wheeler on the lakes. During the famous City of Erie-Tashmoo race neither vessel quite reached the speed of 22 miles though both came very close to it. It is reported that the Eastern States and Western States have exceeded this speed, but actual figures are not obtainable. The work of rebuilding and repairing the tugs B. B. Inman and Excelsior, of the Union Towing & Wrecking Co., which were badly burned in the warehouse fire at head of the lakes the week of July 16, has begun. The Excelsior, the worst damaged of the two, will be rebuilt by contract with the Duluth Dock & Dredge Co. while the work on the Inman is being done directly by the towing company. The Inman was the most valuable of the tugs. She was built in 1895 at Port Huron, Mich., and was of 89 gross tons burden. Her length measures 81 ft., beam 19 ft., and depth 11 ft. The Excelsior was built in 1892 at Buffalo, was of 73 gross tons burden and measured 72 ft. long, 19 ft. beam and Io ft. deep.