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ARINE REVIEW. Wot. 1h: CLEVELAND, OHIO, THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1891. No. 16. ‘No Gas Buoys this Season—Their Peculiarities. * The lakes will get none of the five gas buoys promised for this season. Although no announcement to this effect has been made from Washington, it is understood that the appropriation of. $30,000 made by the last congress for fifteen of the buoys is barely enough to meet the first cost of the buoys, $2,000 each, to say nothing of maintenance. The Pintsch buoy, manufactured by the Safety Car Heating and Lighting Company, of New York, is undoubtedly the buoy which the officers of the light-house board had in mind when congress was asked for an appropriation to secure fifteen of them, and the gas used in this buoy i is of a peculiar kind, made only by the manufacturers of the buoy. It is a petroleum gas that can be greatly compressed and is suited to the purpose. While coal gas and othes gases used for lighting purposes weuld clog up burners and reservoirs after compression, and could not be stored in sufficient quantity to last more than about ten days, this Pintsch gas can be compressed in buoys to such an extent that a light will be sustained for ninety to 100 days, and the discharge is so.regulated that the con- sumption. is but about twelve cubic feet a day The trouble is found in supplying this kind of gas on the lakes. The gas must be taken either from Syracuse, N. Y., Marion, O., or Chicago, where Pintsch gas works are now located, and this would involve an extra-expense not warranted by the appropriation. This gas, which is so well adapted to the lighted budy, is largely used for lighting and heating purposes on railway pass- enger trains, and it is on this account that the gas manufacturing plants are located at different points throughout the ‘country. Only Canadian Lights to Care for... Capt. George P. McKay, of the Cleveland Vessel Owners’ Association, spent Friday and Saturday of last week in Detroit and vicinity making inquiry regarding matters pertaining to lights for the coming season. Through appropriations secured at the last session of congress all lights in American territory maintained last year by private subscription are now provided for, excepting the small float light at Ballard’s reef. This light, together with the range lights at Sarnia, would also be taken off the hands of the vessel owners were it not for the delay in se- curing the gas buoys which were expected from the government this season. Col. Ludlow is now engaged in putting the mate- rial aboard boat for the Windmill point ranges and they will be in readiness about May 1. ‘The Gratioit lights will also be maintained by the government hereafter, arrangements having been. made with Lynn, of Port Huron, for theircare. It is with regard to to the Bar point light-ship, Duff & Gatfield’s ranges and the float lights marking the west side of the Lime-Kilns cut that some anxiety is felt, however, as nothing has been done toward providing for these lights,and the keepers say they will not look after them unless they are paid last year’s figures for their. ser- vices. Some of the vessel owners say ‘‘let the boats tie up,” but the recent accident to the City of Detroit would indicate that there will be many serious groundings immediately upon the , opening of navigation unless these lights are provided for. If ' they are all to be paid for by the vessel owners it will require, in the absence of the gas buoys, about $6,500, as the list includes _ Bar point light-ship, Hackett’s ranges at Malden, Duff & Gat- ‘field’s ranges, float lights on the east side of the Lime-Kilns cut, Ballard’s reef light and the range lights at Sarnia. Mr. Carter, general manager of the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, has caused the light at Ballard’s reef and Duff & Gat- field’s ranges to be put in operation since the accident to the City of Detroit and is paying for the service. He will endeavor to get other vessel owners interested in having all the lights main- tained again this season, but there will undoubtedly be a great deal of objection to it, on account of the poor outlook in freights. Capt. McKay also called upon some of the Canadian officials and with the assistance of secretary Keep, of the Lake Carriers’ Association, will endeavor to have the Dominion government take up these lights that have proved so costly to the vessel own- ers. He has promise of assistance from some of the members of the Canadian parliament as well as the Canadian vessel owners. a es Bes Lake-Built Government Boats. : Through the building of a few boats for light-house service : the officers of the treasury department are becoming acquainted — with the merits of lake shipbuilders. It was not expected i in Washington that the three light-ships for the Straits could be built for $15,000 each, Col. William Ludlow’s estimate, but they will be built for a little less than -that figure, and they will undoubtedly be completed within the very short time allowed the builders, the Craig Ship Building Company, of Toledo, as Commander Clark, of Chicago, who has charge of the work, has all matters pertaining co them well under way. ‘The low prices secured on these boats undoubtedy prompted the light-house — board to ask lake builders for bids on the two coast tenders, Lilac and Columbine, but it is not probable that the work of constructing these boats will come to the lakes, as they can hardly be finished in time to get through the St. Lawrence before freezing weather sets in. A third tender, for which the board will open bids on May 5, is the Amaranth, to be used for light-house construction work in the Ninth and Eleventh districts. This boat will be finished about October and will take the place of the Warrington, which will be sold. The Eleventh district tender, the Marigold, built by the Detroit Dry Dock Company, is a fitting specimen of lake ship- yard work. She begins service this spring with everything aboard her new,.and Commander Heyerman certainly has one of the best boats in the service. Every modern appliance is to be found aboard this boat and she is a very trim looking craft. Her triple expansion engines are models in every way and she makes twelve miles an hour against the river current without difficulty. Capt. Scott, who has been in the light-house service on the lakes for more than a quarter of a century, and who is well known as the author of Scott’s Coast Pilot takes out the Marigold, and has been succeeded in the Warrington by Capt. Stoddard, a young Toledo officer. A Marine Boiler. In a supplement to this issue is presented a handsome en- graving of one of the boilers recently placed in the Detroit Dry Dock Company’s steel steamer No. 106, to be launched at Wyandotte soon. The boiler was built by the Dry Dock Engine Works and is 14 feet 2 inches diameter and 11 feet 6 inches long. It has four furnaces, 38 inches diameter, and 294 return tubes, 314 inches diameter. The Siemens-Martin steel used in its con- struction has a tensile strength of 60,000 pounds and the shell is 1.15 inches thick, allowing a working pressure of 162 pounds. The chimney is 7 feet 6 inches in diameter,