REFUELING WARSHIPS AT SEA. 167 



The German bark Margretha played hide-and-seek with hostile battleships for 

 thirty-five days and finally landed safely in the Azores. 



The German full-rigged schooner Indra was on the high seas continuously 

 from the time the war broke out until she landed in New York early in November. 



The German steamer Brandenburg sailed from Philadelphia on August 22, 

 clearing for Norway with a cargo of 8,000 tons of coal and general ship supplies. 

 Ample notice was given of the ship's intentions. Outside the Delaware Breakwater 

 she transferred coal to a German cruiser and succeeded in eluding English cruisers 

 all the way across the Atlantic and landed safely in a port in Norway. 



JAPANESE BATTLESHIP HIZEN AT HONOLULU. 



On October 22 a cable dispatch from Honolulu stated that the Japanese battle- 

 ship Hizen (formerly the Russian battleship Retvizan) anchored in the roads 

 awaiting the exit of the German cruiser Geier and said : — 



"The Hizen appeared off the harbor late to-day fully coaled and provisioned, 

 fourteen days out of Yokosuka, a naval depot near Yokohama." 



This is of interest, for the battleship Retvizan carried a marine cableway oper- 

 ated by special electric winches, the installation and trials of which were fully de- 

 scribed in the author's paper read before this Society in 1904. The test of this ma- 

 rine cableway (Fig. 2, Plate 59) took place in the Baltic Sea, August 30, 1902, 

 near Cronstadt, Russia, under the direction of a Board of Inspectors, among whom 

 were Admiral Nikonof, I. R. N., Chief of the Test Squadron, and Rear-Admiral 

 Wirenius, I. R. N., Chief of Bureau of Navigation. The old auxiliary cruiser Asia 

 served as collier. The sea anchor was used in this installation and, while seemingly 

 successful on this battleship, is now regarded as obsolete. 



AN APPEAL FOR COALING EFFICIENCY. 



Capt. Albert P. Niblack, U. S. N. (then a lieutenant), in 1893 read a paper 

 before this Society entitled "Coal Bunkers and Coaling Ships." Captain Niblack 

 urged that rapid coaling was a factor in efificiency and said : — 



"The efficiency in ship and crew must be supplemented by the best mechanical 

 arrangements practicable and a ship must be able to go somewhere and stay there. 

 Coal supply and rapid coaling are very important factors in efificiency not only in an 

 emergency but in time of peace, for time spent in coaling ship is time wasted." 



Captain Niblack appealed for improved coaling gear, larger bunkers, and for 

 simplified arrangements to reduce the time for stowing. He showed that few of our 

 ships averaged better than 30 tons per hour in coaling. 



Enormous progress has been made since this paper was read. The United 



