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the bottom and 96 ft. at the top, and a height above the floor of 36% ft. The seven pontoons which float the structure are independent of each other, and can be separately brought up inside the dock. Each pontoon. is fitted with two electrically-driven cen- trifugal pumps. The total weight of the structure is about 6,500 tons. At a meeting of the shareholders of the North German Lloyd Steam- ship Co. at Bremen recently a resolu- tion was 'passed tto raise a loan of $6,250,000 to cover the cost of con- struction of the two trans-Atlantic liners which were laid down last year. Herr Wiegand, one of the d'rectozs, said that the loan had been made recessary by the recent rate war as well as by the situation with re:zard to competition by a Japanese com- pany in the Far East and the struggle with the English companies for the South American traffic. It is expected that the report of Rear Admiral Converse, president of the board of construction of the navy, and former head of tthe bureau of navigation of that department, will be made public shortly. This report has been transmitted to President Roose- velt, at whose request it was made, as a result. of the charges of defective battleship construction which have been made so freely of late. report is stated tto be most vigorous and complete and it will show that from the standpoint of structural ef- ficiency he United States navy is one of the best in the world. There is a growing opposition on the coast to the towing of coal in barges between Boston and Norfolk. Every storm takes its: undertow as the barges are not especially sea- worthy. Moreover, the system is @ menace to navigation as sometimes the hawsers part and sometimes the tugs have to cast them adrift, though it must be said that is the last thing a tug ever does. The sentiment is un- mistakably growing in favor of the transportation of coal in steam col- liers. The Fore River Ship Building Co. has already built three vessels for this purpose. At a recent meeting of the Ameri- can Association of Masters, Mates and Pilots in the city of New York, it was arranged that a monster petition to President Roosevelt is to be circu- lated praying for the pardon of Capt. William Van Schaick, who has just been sentenced to 10 years' imprison- ment for criminal negligence in con- nection with the burning of the ex- curs'on steamboat General Slocum, of which he was in command. Capt. 'Ehe -- "TAE. Marine REVIEW Van 'Schaick is 70 years old and it is believed that the president will give serious consideration to such quest. The naval authorities at Washington have under consideration a plan for the use of a dirigible balloon in some experiments to be conducted at the Washington navy yard in the spring. One of the aeronautic construction companies has offered to supply the department with a balloon for the pur- pose and if the trials are satisfactory the balloon may be sent to the auxil- iary torpedo flotilla on the north At- lanttic coast with a view to testing its Gale efficiency in the discovery of submar- ine torpedo boats. Proposals have also recently been invited for the construc- tion of a dirigible balloon for the use of the army. : The house committee on naval affairs is to receive a special message from Secretary of the Navy Metcalf, urging that the committee insert in the naval appropriation bill, which it is now pre- paring, an appropriation for $1,500,009 for the construction of a steel floating dock to be a duplicate of the Dewey, which was built by the Maryland Steel Co., Sparrow's Point, Md., and towed to the Philippines. If the floating dock is built it is to be stationed at Solomons Island, Md., in Chesapeake bay. It is pointed out in connection with this pro- ject that not more than two or three of all the dock yards in the country are capable of docking the immense battle- ships now built and under construction. A special court was convened at the British consulate at Boston, Mass., for the purpose of investigating the loss of life on the steamer St. Cuth- bert, of ithe Phoenix line, which burned at sea early this month. No blame attaches either to the captain of the ship or to any of the officers for the breaking out of tthe fire on board. The court is satisfied that the cargo, consisting of fusel oil, matches, naptholin and rags, was properly stowed before the steamer left Ant- werp. Fifteen lives were lost in the panic which followed the discovery of the fire, the remainder of those on board being ttaken off by the White Star line steamer Cymrric. The Mauna Kea, built by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco for the Inter-Island Steamship & Navigation Co. for service among the Hawaiian islands, underwent a successful trial trip last week. The Mauna Kea is the largest of five steamers built by the Union Iron Works for the inter- "island trade and is 240 ft. long, 36 ft. beam and 18 ft. 6 in. deep. One of the unique features of this vessel is the poi room, an institution peculiar 21 to the inter-island traffic. This is for the benefit of second-class passengers whose staple diet this native food is. The Mauna Kea is well provided with surf boats as at some of the ports at. which she will stop it will be neces- sary to land passengers through the surf. Before the house committee* on naval affairs Rear Admiral Capps, chief of the bureau of construction of the navy, recently defended our navy, and said that intelligent criticism is welcomed by technical experts, but that criticism founded upon misinformation, as were the pub- lished articles recently, is creative of nothing but public distrust. He ad- mitted that in the Kearsarge and Ken- tucky the charge that turret ports are so large that when they proceed at full speed bow waves come aboard and flood the handling room were true, but added 'that since the time of their construction the size of these ports has been reduced. Rear Admiral Capps is preparing and the bureau will short- ly publish an official statement cover- ing all of the details involved in these charges. The New York naval militia is soon to have a much smaller vessel for use as its 'training ship as the protected cruiser Newark has proven itself en- | tirely too big for 'the amateur sailors. It is probable that the gunboat Wasp, formerly the private yacht' of J. Har- vey Ladew, of New York, which has gained fame as the champion recruii- ing ship of the navy, will succeed the Newark. The Wasp, which is at pres- ent at Norfolk under command of: Lieut. J. A. Campbell, Jn, was pur- chased 'by the government just before the Spanish war for $94,000. She has to 'her credit the destruction of the Spanish gunboat Jorge Juan, which she met on. July 21, 1898, in Nipe Bay, Cuba. After the war she was brought home and overhauled for a recruiting ship. In the last two years the Wasp has visited nearly every port of conse- quence on the Atlantic and Gulf sea- boards, in addition to extended trips up the Mississippi and Hudson rivers. The steamer building for Capt. W. C. Richardson at the Cleveland yard of the American Ship Building Co. will be named in honor of Howard M. Hanna Jr., of Cleveland. Charles J. Colonna, Norfolk, Va., is repairing the schooner Sarah W. Law- rence, which was dismasted and other- w'se damaged in a gale recently.