The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-05-13

This ship has seven sisters. all OF
which have achieved practically similar
speed.
The above results. which speak for
themselves. are extracted from the Of
nciAl records and have all been pub
llshed In the London Times and other
leading Journals And venture 10 sub
nit that their accuracy Is rs little 10 be
doubted as In the recent performance OF
| the Massachusetts, In spite OF your some
what remarkable editorial explanation
that in creditlng the Massachusetts,
with being the fastest bRttleship anoat
the Herald ignores the claim OF foreign
nhipbuilders for armored craft OF their
| construction. because ths speeds assigned
/ 10 the foreign vessels are either wholly
| theoretical or have been made for short
| run only. usually one mile"
| Sir, does not this SAVIOR OF abusing the
\ plaintiffs attorney" and Is I, not calcu-
| lated TO lead the casual reader TO adopt
/ the unwilling conclusion that the great
/ est OF American newspapers is for once
| allowing It's patriotic zeal 20 outrun Its
/ Vcracity1
| Though an Engllshman. would be the
/ last TO deny the unrivalled proficiency OF
/ the United States In breaking all rec
ords" but may not that OF Anhnlas be
allowed to stand for the present.
ARTHUR II. LEE. Captain r. A.
Kingston. Ont, April q, 1896.
Captain Lee asks the publication OF the
foregoing letter trusting" he says, in
the Herald's well-known reputation for
fairness" The captains amusing refer
ence to AnRnlas would alone be enough
20 entitle him to hearing. because.
since he. OF course. assumes that his
statements are correct, II Is a very clever
riposte-coming from an Englishman
Unfortunately for the captain. however.
he is n landsmRn. with a landsman's
limited acquaintance with the nice feat
ures OF things nautical.
The speeds assigned TO the British bat
tlcshlps in the captains letter were
taken from an instrument known as
patent log-a device which, at high speed,
always registers much more than the
actual rate through the water.
Thus on the trial OF the United States
steamer Columbia the patent log recorded
for a part OF her run speed OF about
twenty-five knots.
II would be interesting TO know where
In the British admlralty's conditions for
speed trials are "more rigorous and
more adverse TO the contractors than
The course over which the Massachu-
setts was run was carefully laid out
and accurately measured by triangula-
ton. There were six vessels anchored
along this course TO observe the strength
OF the tide. II Captain Lee knows any
moro rigorous rule by which n ships
speed can be determined he probably has
a monopoly OF the knowledge.
II the British battleships have ever
been run over a measured distance, be-
yond very short one, to test their
speed. the fact has been kept from the
public. The patent log record is use
less Two patent logs, towing astern
OF the same ship at the same time, will
vary as much as n knot in the speed
they register. but each OF them will show
n far greater speed than the ship is max
Ing.
In spite OF that allusion to Ananias,
the Herald must still credit the Massa-
chusetts as holding the speed record for
flrst-class battleships,