Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-25
PHILIPPINE WATERS
Surveys Being Made by
Government Officials.
DEPTHS OF CHANNELS
DATA FOR USE IN PREPARATION
DATA FOR USE IN PREPARATION
OF NEW CHARTS.
Pathfinder the Largest Vessel Employ.
ed in the Survey Work-The
Other Craft.

vey is actively engaged in making surveys
OF the navigable waters in the vicinity of
the Philippine Islands, and has feet of
five ships engaged In the service. The data
they are now obtaining regarding the
depths of the channels, the shoals tides
currents and the like will be used In making
rev charts Of these waters for the guild
ance OF the American mariner trading to the
archipelago.
AS there are several hundred islands in
the Philippine group, all of more or less i'm
portance to trade, the task the survey has
before 1t is by no means small one, and
many years will be required to complete it.
Inc Pathnnder. the largest steamer en-
pioyeo IN the work and the largest in the
coast survey service, is the product of an
Atlant1c coast shfpyard and visited this city
several years ago, just before she set sail
Tor the Pacific. The Fathomer and Re-
search, two other steamers engaged tn sur
veys in the Philippines. are the product of a
Cnlnese shlpyard having been built by the
I!ongkong and Wampra Dock COMPANY at
ihongkong They are not. strictly speak
us, Vesssts Oh the coast survey fleet. as they
were built by the Philippine government
ana turned over to the survey for the pur-
pose OF doing the work about the islands
ne nrst-named ship, the Fathomer, was
launched last fall, and from DESCRIPTIONS
received of her by the coast survey officiaIs
mere she is handsome vessel well adapted
TO the work In which she is employed She
Is steel hull, schooner rugged steamer of
1 '.S tons. and IS la feet long on the water
line and 100 feet over all: has a beam of
20 feet and loaded draws 10 feet Her
engine is fore and aft compound surface
eondensing engine. with cylinders II and
81 inches in diameter on a 2i-ifch stroke
The engine is of 400 horsepower and the
steamer has speed of 10k miles an hour
Her boilers are built for a working pres
sure OF 10 pounds to one square inch and
her bunkers will carry 90 tons of coal suffi-
Gent for about weeks steaming at a slow
speed. She is electric lighted and has a
cold storage plant aboard, necessary ad-
junct in the hot climate In which she
works and where 1t is very difficult to keep
provisions wholesome.
Differs From Other Vessels.
Built for service In the Philippines. she
differs in many respects from vessels built
here. and one great difference is that her
officers quarters are forward and the crew
aft, the reverse being the case in American
built ships The living quarters are all in
houses built on deck in order to secure all
the air possible, and the vessel is navigated
from a bridge on the top of the deck
houses. She is equipped with all modern
ideas in plumbing and has ample bath room
and toilets for officers and men.
The hull of the Fathomer is divided by
five water-tight bulkheads, making her
practically unsuitable in case her hull
should be punctured by hidden rocks while
she Is employed in unknown waters. Her
water tanks are large, having a capacity Of
about twenty tons, so that she can steam
long distances without the necessity of
obtaining fresh supplies of. water
She carries crew of seven officers and
thirty men. Five of the officers are white,
the remainder of the crew, both on deck and
in the engine room, being natives of the
islands, who are among the best sailors in
the world.
Capt c. H Yates, an assistant in the
coast survey service, Is master of the YES
SELL with Assistant T. B. Loren as navigat-
ing officer. E. S. Daniels, watch officer John
Wyet, chief engineer and assistant surgeon;
c. E. Yeagie. medical officer.
Research Built in Hongkong.
The Research is a smaller vessel than Is
the Explorer, being of ninety-five tons bur-
den only. She was built in Hongkong in
1894, and is 946 feet long Is feet beam,
and has draft of 9s feet. Her hull is of
wood and she is also schooner-rigged. Her
speed Is nine miles hour. but owing to
her light draft she is able to penetrate into
many of the channels and do work that
could only be done otherwise with small
boats or launches. She carries a crew of
four officers and eleven men, and like the
Explorer, her officers are Americans and
her crew Fiipinos.
Assistant w. c. Dibielle is the command
ing officer. with Aid D. R. Jewell. naviga-
tor; N. G. Garrison, watch officer and G. NJ
Hutchinson, chief engineer. Besides these
vessels there are several small launches en-
pIoyed in the coast survey service in the Is
lands and the work they doing will be
invaluable to commerce in the future AS
yet but little is known of the waters about
many of the islands in the Philippine
archipelago and the men on these steam ,rs
employed in gathering and arranging
the data in shape for publication to the
world They viii map all the channels.
giving the depth OF water in and other
information regarding them. so that with
this aid the steamship master can approach
the islands without fear of disaster to his
vessel from submerged dangers.
At last reports the Research was engaged
in making a survey of Guinaras strait be-
low the Islands of Panay and Nigus and the
Fathomer in survey from Nasugbu 10
Manila bay the coast of Luzon. The
coast and geodetic survey also has a large
number of experts at work in the various
islands gathering information about them
that will be embraced in the publications
of the bureau regarding our island pos
sessions.