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186 required approximately 37 days and 8 hours. This is a little over 21%4 times as long as the trip by way of the canal, The 3,997 barrels of fuel oil which PENNSYLVANIA burned on_ the trip would have been increased for the longer voyage to 9,962% barrels. The use of the canal saved accordingly about 5,965 barrels of oil. At 80 cents a barrel this amounts to $4,772. The canal tolls levied at $1.25 per ton on 4,064 net tons, United States registry, amounted to $5,070. In other words, the saving on fuel alone in this case, by the use of the canal, comes to within $300 of paying the tolls on the ship. The saving of all the other per diem expenses of operation, possibly $200 a day, for 22 days, represents al- most clear saving to the operator. Investigations of the Japanese de- partment of communications, as re- ported in a dispatch from Tokyo, show that the total number of vessels with a displacement of 1,000 tons and up- ward that have been built in Japan with the government’s subsidy since obeying the new rule which requires a time interval of not less than five minutes between downbound vessels navigating the Livingstone channel, two semaphore signals, installed by the U. S. lighthouse bureau, will be placed in operation at the opening of navigation, 1916; the upper one being located at Mamajuda rear light on the end of the light house dock, and the lower one being located at Livingstone channel pier light No. 9, which is on the west side of the north end of the cofferdam section. East station has a_ lead-colored watch-house with red roof, and a white semaphore with an arm 8 feet long and 10 inches wide. At night the position of the arm is shown by two fixed white lights, one at the end of the arm and swinging with it, and the other stationary at the pivoting point. The Mamajuda semaphore is supported on a mast with the arm pivoting 20 feet above the base; its lights are visible from upstream only. The Livingstone channel semaphore is attached to the mast of pier light No. 9, so that the latter serves as the pivoting light. The following directions pertaining to the operation of the semaphores have been formulated by Colonel Mason M. Patrick, the U. S. engineer le ORDER to assist vessel masters in THE MARINE REVIEW August, 1914, is 19, with an aggregate tonnage of 97,085; and that 39 vessels with an aggregate tonnage of 188,559 are now under construction with the government's subsidies. It was re- cently estimated that out of something like 490,000 tonnage in the trans- pacific service, available after the with- drawal of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co., 430,000 tons were Japanese, con- troled ‘through government subsidies. Opening of Russian Port Will Aid Shipping The American-Russian Chamber of Commerce in New York announces the receipt of a cable communication from the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce in Moscow, stating that the port of Nikolaievsk, at the mouth of the Amur river in Siberia, will be opened for navigation on June 14 and will furnish a new method of placing coods on the Russian market. Amer- ican exporters wishing to avoid the congestion and the delays in sending freight by way of Vladivostok should officer in charge of Detroit river chan- nels: At each station the semaphore arm will occupy one of two positions, either held vertically or held hori- zontally. If the arm is vertical it will indicate “the way is clear” and that .the required interval of at least five minutes obtains between boats pass- ing down by the semaphore location. If the arm is horizontal it will mean that there is less than five minutes interval between downbound boats. A vessel bound down, observing the Mamajuda semaphore in the hori- zontal position, must reduce its speed and run under check until the full time interval of five minutes between it and the preceding vessel has been gained. The distance from the Mama- juda semaphore to the red gas buoy No. 2 at the junction of Fighting island channel and Ballard reefs chan- nel is about 134 miles. After a vessel has passed down by the Mamajuda semaphore, the interval actually exist- ing between it and a preceding boat may be estimated by noting the time which elapses after the vessel ahead makes the turn at this gas buoy until the vessel following arrives at the same place. The distance from Fighting Island channel red gas buoy No. 2 to Bal- lard Reefs channel black gas buoy May, 19 direct steamers to Nikolaievsk. Good, received at Nikolaievsk will be tra: ported up the Amur river to Stre insk, which is reached by a railroag line connecting with the Trans-Sibe, ian railroad. The cable states it will be possible to move 72,000,000 pounds of freight through the port of Niko. laievsk and by river traffic up th Amur river to Stretyinsk, which woul, be a great relief to the American ship pers desirous of moving goods int Russia. - The opening of these new trans. portation facilities will be of par ticular value to the American export ers of cotton, metals, machinery, and tanning products. Shipments by way of Nikolaievsk on the Amur river will | not be interfered with on account of government shipments. The opening of this port, therefore, furnishes an | opportunity for exporters to avoid some of the delays heretofore en- countered in moving goods into Rus- sia. Further inquiries in regard to this matter should be directed to the American-Russian Chamber of Com- merce, 60 Broadway, New York. No. 81D, at the point where a vessel should turn into the Livingstone chan- nel, is about 2!4 miles, and the full interval of five minutes must be gained by the time the vessel reaches buoy No. 81D. If the five-minute interval has been gained, the channel from buoy No. 81D to the Livingstone channel semaphore will be clear and the Livingstone channel semaphore will show in the vertical position. In this case the vessel may proceed at the regulation speed of 12 miles per hour. No vessel shall make the turn into Livingstone channel at buoy No. 81D until after a preceding vessel has passed the Livingstone channel sema- phore, nor while the arm of that semaphore is in the horizontal posi- tion. The arm of the Livingstone channel semaphore will be lowered to a horizontal position when a vessel passes it and will ordinarily be held in that position for a period of one minute. Six four-masted schooners will be — built by R. L. Bean, Camden, Me., for foreign owners. In several Maine coast towns, ship yards which have been idle for years are now employed in repairing or turning out ships and several which are not now in operation are being hastily prepared to accept work for early delivery.