New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-01

OF the many dangers that beset the
seafaring man and demand the apph-
cation of the we'll known legend
Safety first" none is of more vital
Importance than the avoidance by war
ships, yachts and coasting vessels OF
the dangerous shoals that lie near the
courses that steam and sailing vessels
have been obliged to use in passing
from the Vineyard Sound around Cape
Cod on their way to Boston.
1t would seem scarcely necessary now
to call the attention of the owners Of
yachts and coasting schooners to the
fact that the Cape Cod Canal has been
open for six months or more and is
navigabie to vessels drawing eighteen
feet If water, also that time and money
may be saved by its use in preference
to the shoal-strewn, fog-bound route
formerly taken because there was no
other one available. Vessels Of all
types are now using the canal and the
traffic is increasing materially.
The building and successful opera
ton Of the canal was made possible
through the efforts Of August Belmont,
those ancestors were seatarlng men,
his grandfather being TO less per
,onage tu&u Commodore Matthew c.
Perry. vino opened up the commerce OF
Japan to the United States and to the
morfne Iurore.t1 of The world.
During the last fifty years there
have been 1000 wrecks between Gay
Head and Provincetown, more than 700
lives have been lost and property av-
eragng 100000 year destroyed,
while the government reports show
that the loss to the coast merchant
marine during the last eighteen months
has been well above the average.
Similar TO Kiel.
Rear Admiral Colby ". Chester, T..
s. ~, speaking of the national impor-
tance of the Cape Cod Canal. says:
"Fortifcations without navy have
been we'll compared 20 shield without
sword We have conspicuous par
allcl TO the importance Of the Cap Cod
Canal to New England interests in the
Kiel Canal, which was built by the
German nation, at cost Of nearly
S10O.0O0,00 for practically strategic
purposes, vet the reduction OF the DIS
lance between the base of the German
fleet IN the Baltic and the North Sea
by way of the canal is but little more
than that which will be gained for the
American fleet by the enlargement of
the Cape Cod Canal between the two
important strategic centres, Newport
and Boston"
Some $500 vessels have passed
through the canal since its opening
last year. among them many govern
ment ships, including the submarines
Ks and K-G which made the passage
from Boston to Newport al the rate Of
eleven miles an hour. i was a test
bv the government Of an inland passage
for war craft and it was brilliantly
successful. II required only forty-fve
minutes to make the ojCht-mile passage
through the canal, and the submarines
saved sixty miles Of distance and much
rough weather. Another important
test of the waterway was the passage
of the TenberCcn, n Dutch steamer Of.
1896 tons. She went through in ballast
and made quick passage. Had shc
not been a neutral vessel she thus
would have been relieved Of all danger
Of capture by an outside bellirerent..
New York Yacht Club Cruise.
One of the most interesting and i'm
portant tests that the Cape Cod Canal
will be put to this year will p" the
passage from west to east on August