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532 THE MARINE REVIEW problem. The lakes did not have the experience in stevedoring or in pack- ing such as is requisite for the over- seas trade, having heretofore to deal almost exclusively with the bulk car- goes common to the lakes and with packing for fresh water transit. It was necessary therefore to begin at the bottom, employ a new form of labor and educate the necessary ex- ecutives to handle them. So profi- cient has this branch of the work been handled during the season just closing that the stevedores on the lakes have made a record which, it has been claimed, exceeds the record of stevedoring on the Atlantic coast. Whereas the average for the Atlantic is the loading of 15 tons of Cargo per gang per. hour, the. steve- dores on the lakes have increased their efficiency so that they have been M. E. FARR As President of the American Shipbuilding Co., he is an outstanding figure in the lakes' record of quantity production capable of loading 25 tons per gang per hour. ; ouch. items as these, while of course small in comparison to the aggregate overseas tonnage required by the bel- ligerent governments, have been of great-.aid. Loading 50 ships on the lakes to 50 per cent of their capacity is the same as loading 25 ships to capacity, and upon all of this freight the rail rates to the Atlantic might be said to have been saved, This loading of overseas cargoes on new Boips 1 tue lake ports has con- tributed to the reduction in freight car congestion at eastern terminals. Built Mary Coal Carriers Out of the total number of ships Mit ou the lakes this year, two- thirds are being used in the coast- Wise trace on the Atlantic. Many of these are carrying coal in which tvage- iiere is. sich an urgent de- mand. A number of the ships built on the lakes have already been placed in that service and are showing excellent results. Others, it' has been learned, are intended to be placed in trade ,with the West Indies. In this trade the ships will bring sugar and coffee to American ports. None of them is equipped tor carrying fruits, inasmuch as the refrigeration plants are lacking. Nevertheless they should prove of inestimable service to the breakfast 'table of the Amer- 'ican citizen by adding to the ton- nage available for the sugar and coffee trades. How the Ships Reach the Sea Many artificial waterways are re- quired to. float ships through the canals out of the lakes into the Atlantic. Montreal is at the head of ocean navigation, but Montreal is 1003 statute miles from Belle Isle at the mouth of the St. Lawrence river. From Montreal to. Chicago is 1240 miles, The greater difficulty is én- countered when leaving Lake Erie. To reach Lake Ontario it is necessary JOHN R. RUSSELL President of Great Lakes Engineering Works, whose company set a world's record by delivering a ship in 29 days to pass through the Welland canal which is approximately 27 miles long, or more than one-half the length of the Panama canal. After gaining the lower level -bevond the Niagara 'Falls, and crossing Lake Ontario, a series of canals must be passed in order to avoid the many rapids in the St. Lawrence river. The locks Mm dnese river canals. are .equal: or ereater in sizé than the locks in the- Welland canal, so that the meas- ure has always been spoken of as the size iol ship that can navigate the Welland. A vessel passing from Lake Supe- rior to Montreal, for instance, must navigate 74 miles of canals, which nave a total lockage of 55314 'feet. They are 50 per cent, greater in length and the lockage three times as high as that of the Panama canal. To reach the sea from head of the lakes a vessel must pass 48 locks. The minimum dimensions of the locks between Lake Erie and Montreal are 270 feet in length, 45 feet in width, and the depth of water on the sills is 14 feet. Vessels accommodated with safety are 261 feet overall December, 1918 length, and, loaded with 50 per cent of their cargoes, draw 13 feet of water. These canals from Lake Erie to Montreal are all Canadian property. The Dominion government was en- gaged in enlarging the. canals when the war broke out and work quickly stopped. Considerable work had been done on the new Welland canal but this is now waiting the restoration of normal conditions. It was sug- gested that in view of the dimensions of the locks of the canals the lake yards should build steel vessels of larger size but build them in two parts so that the canals could be navigated. This would, of course, have required a more extensive as- sembly plant at Montreal and prob- ably other yards further down the St. Lawrence river to put the two A. MILLER McDOUGALL General manager of McDougall-Duluth Co., one of the new lake companies which quickly reached an efficient production basis halves together. Had this recom- mendation been adopted by the Emer- gency. Fleet corporation, the lake yards would have been able to show a much larger tonnage of construc- tion than they have. The sugges- tion, however, was not approved and the yards were directed by the gov- ernment to proceed with the building of the small standard steel freighter. Ships Cut In Two Vessels for lake service are not well adapted to the ocean _ trades. These vessels are built primarily for transporting ore, coal, grain and similar bulk cargoes. They are much longer than the - ordinary 'oceam steamer of the same capacity and structurally are not designed to meet the strains imposed when caught in the trough of ocean waves during a heavy storm., However, a number of small ships have been in use on the lakes which have proved their ade- quacy on the ocean, Many of these ships were too long to pass through the Welland canal. To overcome that difficulty, the shipping board devel- oped the idea of cutting them ing