The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Water Supply Aboard Ship > Letters from the Masters of the Erie Railroad Lake Line Showing the Efficiency of Separate Connections N THE March Marine Review we presented a comprehensive plan for the safeguarding of water supplies aboard lake ships which had been worked out by the management of one of the railroad lines and which, at least as regards the areas from which supplies are to be taken, has been adopted by the Lake Carriers' Association. It is now pretty generally known that the line referred to is the Erie Railroad Lake Line, and the Marine Review recently addressed an inquiry to the management as to the working of the system which has brought forth the following interesting letters from the officers of the ships of the fleet which have been in commission this season. These letters certainly speak volumes in appreciation and the freedom from sickness resulting from the adoption of the system, as compared with former years, fully justifies all the efforts put forth. It will be borne in mind that the methods employed, in addition to prescribing carefully worked out safe areas, include entirely independent sources of supply and means for distribution as well as for sterilizing sea-cocks and tankage. Moreover, in order tuat no possibility might exist of drawing drinking water 'from a possible contaminated supply, the entire tankage, supplying not only exclusively drinking and cooking water, but baths and lavatories as well, is filled from the same source. Toilets are supplied from an entirely separate closed system which has no other outlets. The management advises that the shortage of tankage referred to in the case of one ship has been already rectified. That the example set by the Erie line, now that it has been proven a success, for granted. July 18, 1914. Dear Sir :-- Replying to yours regarding water supply have to say that the tanks on this ship are ample with one exception, that is, the one which supplies the bath and lavatories in firemen's and deck- hands" house. This should be larger to avoid taking water at other times than when the rest of the tanks are filled. As to the value of the system; it is inestimable. Our supply is now taken altogether on Lake Huron crossing Saginaw Bay and on Lake Huron on the course between Pt. Betsey and Mil- waukee with the result that our table water looks equal to any filtered or bot- tled spring water furnished to the trade. I attribute a goodly proportion of this to the independent sea-cock and hose system installed last winter in this line. Yours respectfully, Cuas. D. Ross, | Master, Str. F. D. Underwood. July 18, 1914. Dear Sir :-- In reply to your letter with refer- ence to the fresh water system will say, that if carried out, it will, in my Opinion, always stand as one of the greatest improvements ever made aboard ship, as regards the welfare of the personnel. I. am not well enough informed to know the causes of cramps, diarrhoea, typhoid, etc., so often preva- lent, but it seems to me that with the Provision now made for pure drinking water, they cannot at least be attributed to that source. One of the conditions which I believe might well be applied to the "Safety First" movement is' personal cleanliness. both internally and externally, and the opportunity for such. With the present method of providing and caring for drinking water, this company has cer- tainly made a long step in advance, in that: partictilar,.towards "Safety Hirst, The supply on this ship is ample for all purposes with ordinary stays in port with the exception of the firemen's and seamen's bath. Their tank is too small for the number of men served. An im- provement could be made in the tank covers and service pipes. Yours: truly, Auc. NAGELVvoorT, Chief Engr., Str. F. D. Underwood. July 18, 1914. Dear Sir:--The system for supply- ing drinking water on this ship is a great improvement for the reason that it is independent of everything else and gives us water as pure as it can be had. The tankage is ample for all needs and cannot be any bet- ter, Yours truly, 'jonun ©. Clarke, Master, Str. Delos W. Cooke. July 17, 1914. Dear' Sirs-- Regarding fresh water suppy. Our tanks are ample for about four days in port. The water is always pure. The system works O. K. and. is. aff that will be extensively followed may be taken could be desired to insure pure water for drinking and cooking purposes. Yours truly, Cas. Ry Ogg, Chief Engr., Str. Delos W. Cooke. July 26. 1914. Dear Sir :---- The fresh water supply on Str. Brownell is as near perfect as is possi- ble to obtain without filtering or dis- tilling, which, with our source of supply would not improve the water any. We have sufficient tankage to last eight days in warm weather. We fill our tanks on Lake Michigan westbound and on Lake Huron eastbound, but take no water from Lake Erie. Yours truly, GC. W.. Watson, Master, Str. Geo. F. Brownell. July 26. 1914. Dear Sir :-- Regarding fresh water system in- stalled in this ship last winter would say that the conditions are greatly im- proved both in quality and quantity. The water is clear and as pure as I have ever used or seen, and on trip two the tanks were filled on Lake Huron east- bound and lasted until we got back to Lake Huron again, having been in Buffalo four days and stopping at Fair- port both ways, making nearly eight days. There has been no sickness this year so far and that alone is proof of better