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wards learned was the second mate, met me with a questioning glance as I crossed the gang plank. I said, "deck hand," and was directed to the crew's quarters aft. Such quarters! The room was large, well ventilated and above deck. Two windows sup- plied plenty of light and sunshine. The door and windows were screened. The walls were covered with post- cards and pictures clipped from mag- azines, lending a cheerful air to the surroundings. Six bunks, in three tiers, were far enough apart to allow space for a table and chairs. In one corner of the room was a wash bowl with hot and cold. water, and over it hung a large mirror. But, most mar- vellous thing of all, closer inspection revealed reali sheets, pillows, blankets and comforters on the beds, and they were clean! With the ringing of the dinner bell the other five deck hands came romp- ing into the room like so many school boys, their faces wreathed in smiles, and I thought of the dark visaged, grim, discontented men of the deep seas. Still another surprise awaited me in the mess room, where the deck hands and firemen eat. The humor- ous tales of deck hands breakfasting on rivet heads and when sick dieting on! ginger snaps were made the more humorous by the repast which greeted my éyeés and nostrils, and which my palate was soon to welcome. Soup, roast' beef, veal, mashed _ potatoes, stewed , , tomatoes, succotash, corn bread, hot biscuit, fresh onions, sueumibere? cakes, pie, 'coffee we sighted down the board: Best of all, was Cleanliness. The meals kept up to this ope during the trip, owing to the _ brief time between ports and the ease with which fresh provisions can be ob- tained. But on salt water the food is apt to be far from inviting after two or three weeks from port. The work was not hard. We paint- ed and scrubbed nine hours and one- half a day, with Sundays off. If nec- essary work kept us up at night, time off was given the following day to even things up. ular bankers' hours, compared with the ocean dog watches. » Orders were given as a rule in a pleasant, cordial manner. There was no fear of blows, nor "logging", the method of fining for mistakes and disobedience on foreign salt water boats. If a sailor there, through in- experience or sickness cannot do his task, he is apt to find his existence pretty miserable. An unwritten rule on salt water seems to have "if a man is too sick" to work, he is too sick' to eat." He may be cursed by the officers and scoffed at by the & - $65 in the fall. - Superior, 'Wis. small réstaurants in Cleveland... His there : " saves money for a rainy day. | These seemed reg THE MARINE REVIEW crew, so that oftentimes he stands by his job till he drops. But on the lakes a sick man re- ceives as much attention as if he were among his friends ashore. If he is unable to perform his task, the mate will usually find him one more suited to his ability. The lake deck hand has absolutely no responsibility. He is paid to do only what he is told. Five days convinced me that the av- erage business man would enjoy noth- ing better than to trade lots with a deck hand on an ore boat for a few weeks. But what becomes of the deck hand? If he is so inclined, he can, after a few months' 'sailing, go watching or wheeling, when he will sleep forward in nicer quarters and eat in the dining room with the other officers. A deck Hand is: paid: $31.50. per month in the summer season, and $40 in the fall. A watchman or wheels- man receives $52.50 in the summer and An able-bodied sea- man on salt water, who has served his three-year apprenticeship, is paid approximately $20 per month A watchman on the lakes can _ save nearly $400 in the course of a season. Not many meén,'of the class which ordinarily takes to steamboat life, have such an opportunity. I know one deck hand who owns 320 acres of land in Montana and 10 acres in Florida. He is saving money to work his farms. Another has 20 acres in California atid a small sailors' supply store in Another owns too brothers" run them for him, while he These are instances of men who are only. deck hands, and likely will never be more on a steamboat. But a little education and training opens up the fields of navigation or marine engi- neering and any young man with grit and intelligence, one who does not mind a little grime and hard work, in a comparatively short time, can obtain his master's or chief engineer's pa- pers and earn the lucrative salary which goes with such a berth. The sailor's life on the Great Lakes is, taken altogether, a clean and happy one. His shipmates are usually whole- some, hearty fellows. The discipline and the training and the good, fresh air are a boon for 'any man who likes the big outside. Major R. R. Raymond, government engineer, Wilmington, Del., received the following bids for constructing the steel sea-going suction dredge Minguas: Ellicott Marine Corpora- tion, Baltimore, Md., $198,000; Sped- den Ship Building Co. Baltimore, $186,390. cisco, Cal., November, 1913 Work at Union Iron Works The Union Irén Works, San Fran- is quite busy at present. The new work consists of a large floating steel caisson for the Panama canal, an oil tanker for the Associated Oil Co., a wooden oil barge with steel cylindrical tanks for the Brown Towing & Lighterage Co., three sub- marines for the United States gov- ernment, two large 'suction dredges and one small motor-driven steel oil barge for the Standard Oil Co. The caisson will be 113 ft. 10 in. long, 65 ft. deep, 36 ft. breadth, light draught 32 ft, and extreme draught 61 ft. The caisson will be equipped with a pumping system' for unwater- ing the lock chambers and_ consists of four 20-inch centrifugal pumps, electrically driven. The oil tanker will be 426 ft. 9 in. long over all, 55 ft. 3 in. beam and 31 ft. 8 in. deep to upper deck. Her engines will be triple-expansion, 26%, 45 and 75 in. diameter by 48 in. stroke, supplied with steam from four Scotch marine boilers. The Standard Oil barge will be 116 ft. over all, 24 ft. molded beam, 10 ft. a in. molded depth and. $ft.. 6 in. draught. Four single-ended. Scotch boilers will be installed, 11 ft. 9 in. long and 14 ft. in diameter. : The largest repair job at the yard is that of the steamer Newport, owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.,: which sunk at Panama when the gOov- ernment pier Collapsed, badly damag- ing the steamer. The Santa Clara, of the Northern Pacific Steamship Co., in in dry dock undergoing extensive repairs, and the Mexican, of the American-Hawaiian Steamship Co.'s fleet, and the Hyades, of the Matson Navigation Co.'s fleet, are awaiting annual overhauling. whe ,fatkoo. Dock Yard at Hong Kong, China, recently launched a motor-driven ship 220 ft. x 32 ft. x 9% ft. for the Asiatic Petroleum Co., being the largest motor vessel ever built in Asiatic waters. The motive power will be supplied by two 240- H. P. four-cylinder Bolinder motors, using crude oil fuel. The Maryland Steel Co., Sparrow's Point, Md., has been awarded con- tract by the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. for two steel steam lighters, 120 ft. long and to cost $60,000. kK. A. Perry, Oakland, Cal.;. has been awarded contract for dredging a 30-foot channel at the entrance to Mare Island Strait on his bid of $197,000.