The following is a statement of the general services performed by them during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877: Number of vessels seized or reported for violation of law... Number of miles cruised..... Number of vessels in distress assisted... Estimated value of property rescued, consisting of vessels 1,260 25, 396 196, 036 204 60 .$3,901, 362 In accordance with the provisions of the act of March 3, 1877, the revenue-steamer "Richard Rush" was properly fitted out and despatched from San Francisco, on the 1st of May last, for the protec tion of the seal-fisheries and sea-otter hunting-grounds in the vicinity of the seal islands and among the islands of the Aleutian archipelago, and has successfully accomplished her mission. The cadet system for the Revenue Marine, provided for in the act of July 31, 1876, has been entered upon with the promise of great advantage to the service. Seven appointments have been made during the past year, from those applicants exhibiting the highest degree of proficiency, upon examination. These cadets having been assigned to duty on the schooner "J. C. Dobbin" for the purpose of affording them uniform and satisfactory instruction, a cruise was taken for practical training at sea. Upon its completion, the vessel was stationed at New Bedford, Mass., where the young men have entered upon a course of instruction, both theoretical and practical, arranged with a special view to the acquirements requisite for officers of the Revenue Marine. The revenue steamer authorized to be built for service on the Pacific coast has been completed and placed on duty, with headquarters at the mouth of Columbia river. A new bark, of about 154 tons burden, is under construction, to be stationed, when completed, upon the Atlantic coast, and used as a training-ship for cadets, in conjunction with the performance of her regular work. The expense of maintaining the Revenue Marine for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1877, is $841,176 31, the lowest reached since the expenses of this service have been kept separately. The waters upon the Gulf coast between Mobile bay and Lake Pontchartrain are too shoal to admit of being properly patrolled by any of the vessels now in the service. This is, consequently, a favorite region for illicit traffic, which is greatly facilitated by the proximity of the railway running from Mobile to New Orleans. A small lightdraught steam revenue cutter, not exceeding 100 tons burden, properly manned and stationed in those waters, would, it is believed, afford important protection against smuggling. Such a vessel, it is estimated, can be built for the sum of $25,000. Recommendation is accordingly made that legislative action be had with a view of meeting this demand. LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. The report of the operations of this service affords a gratifying exhibit. During the past year four new life-saving districts, one upon the coast of Florida, and three embracing the line of our coast upon the Lakes, have been organized. Thirty new life-saving and life-boat stations on the Atlantic and Lake coasts have been opened for service, together with the five houses of refuge authorized by law at different points upon the Florida coast. On the Pacific coast three life-boat stations have been completed, and are now receiving their equipments, and another is in process of construction. The report makes several important recommendations, to which careful consideration is invited. Special attention is called to the recommendation for increasing the compensation of the keepers of the stations, a measure the necessity for which has been strongly impressed upon the Secretary by a personal examination of the service during the past year. The recent resignation of several of the best keepers, owing to the continued insufficiency of the pay, and the fact that other resignations are pending, and that most of these valuable men are retained with difficulty, upon the hope of adequate remuneration, presage serious consequences, which can only be averted by timely action. Under the charge of these officers the record of the service has this year surpassed that of any year preceding, the ratio of lives lost to the number imperilled having been reduced to about two and a half per cent. To allow the service, with this unexcelled record of usefulness, to lapse into incapable hands, would be a grave error, involving serious results to maritime interests and to human life. The vast area embraced by the operations of the service, the multiplicity and importance of the details involved in its proper conduct, and the worth and gravity of its guardianship of vital concerns, now require that it be placed under an administration defined by law. Little, if any, increase of expense would attend this measure, which would carry with it all the benefits of completed organization essential to its proper management. A noteworthy incident in the reported improvement of life-saving apparatus during the year is the extension, with an accompanying diminution in the weight of the gun employed, of the range of the shotline for establishing the means of safe transit from wrecks, to what is probably its utmost point of utility. This gratifying result narrows the problem of gun or mortar service at wrecks to the simple consideration of further lessening the weight of the ordnance used, with a view of facilitating rapid transportation. The appalling disaster to the United States steamer Huron, on the coast of North Carolina, which has so recently occurred, would seem to demand that provision should be made for the opening of the lifesaving stations in that vicinity at an earlier date than the appropriations have hitherto allowed. LIGHT-HOUSE ESTABLISHMENT. The light-house establishment is in a satisfactory condition. During the year, nineteen new light-houses, one new light-ship, one hundred and ninety-six river-lights, and one steam fog-signal have been put into operation. Light-ship No. 41, referred to in the last report of the Secretary of the Treasury, was completed early in the fiscal year, and at once placed on an exposed station. Her fog-signal, which was of a novel design, has given great satisfaction. Light-ship No. 42, for which appropriation was made by the last Congress, is also nearly completed, and will have a similar fog-signal She has been built with great care, at a time when material and labor were to be had at low rates, and is expected to be the best light-ship ever built by the Government. Attention is called to the estimates of the Light-House Board for new light-houses at American Shoal and Rebecca Shoal on the Florida reefs. These lights are essential for the completion of the system for the Florida reefs, and would be aids of the greatest importance to the navigation of the difficult and dangerous waters of that locality. The suggestion is made that considerable expense in the conduct of the light-house establishment might be saved by vesting the lighthouse inspectors with authority to make, upon their periodical visits to the stations, the disbursements which are now made by the collectors of customs acting as superintendents of lights. This step would also relieve many of the keepers from the trouble and cost incident to the journeys they are now compelled to make to obtain their salaries, besides preventing the detriment to the service involved in their absence, on such occasions, from their posts of duty. COAST SURVEY. The report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey shows that good progress has been made in the general work of triangulation, topography, and hydrography, with commensurate results in the issue of charts for navigation. In the prosecution of the work some notable facts have been developed. One of the investigations proves that information regarding the approximate velocity and direction of sea-currents, at any hour of the day, may be compiled for the use of navigators, so as to make these currents, which now so often baffle the mariner, available in approaching or leaving the coast. As of equal importance with a knowledge of the currents and tides. along the seaboard, but of even greater interest to the public, the variations of the magnetic needle have been noted in the work of the Coast Survey; and, by elaborate discussion and collation with older observations, it has become possible to predict variations of the compass, as in the case of the tides. THE MARINE-HOSPITAL SERVICE. The amount received as hospital-dues from seamen during the last fiscal year was $372,465 70, and the expenditures for the Marine-Hospital Service for the same period were $368,395 28-leaving a surplus of $4,070 12. The number of sick and disabled seamen treated during the year was 15,175. The average cost per patient was $24 28-the least cost ever attained-a reduction to this amount having been made since 1870, when the average was $38 41. No deficiency appropriation has been required for this service since 1873. No provision of law exists for the care and treatment of such destitute American seamen (employed in the fisheries) returned to the United States under section 4577 of the Revised Statutes as may not be enti tled to the benefits of the Marine-Hospital Service, and whose condition on arrival requires admission to a hospital. No reasons exist for the abandonment of this class of seamen, when sick, upon their arrival in a port of this country. I would, therefore, recommend that the law be so amended as to authorize the continuation of the relief furnished them out of the fund appropriated for that purpose, until hospitaltreatment shall be no longer required. The appointment of medical officers to the grade of assistant surgeon only, and the promotion of assistant surgeons when vacancies occur in a higher grade, have produced satisfactory results. This sys tem is at present carried out under the regulations of the Department; it would seem advisable, however, that it should be regulated by statute. Such provisions as may be needed for the improved administration of this service will be made the subject of further special communication to Congress. STEAMBOAT INSPECTION. During the past year there have been inspected 4,061 vessels, involvng an aggregate tonnage of 1,014,912.36 tons, and licenses have been issued to 14,293 officers. During that period there have been received, on ac count of fees for inspection of steam-vessels... On account of officers' licenses.. Total..... $140, 312 56 121, 345 00 261,657 56 There have been expended, during the same period, amounts as fol lows: To avoid the expense incurred by the annual meeting of the board of supervising inspectors, as required by section 4405, Revised Statutes, it is recommended that authority be given to convene the board at such time and place as the Secretary of the Treasury shall designate. The Supervising Inspector-General of Steam-Vessels recommends that section 4419, Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to lock-up safety-valves, be repealed, or so amended as to compel uniformity in its application; that authority be conferred upon the Secretary of the Treasury to appoint clerks to supervising inspectors in districts where their services are actually required; also, that a reduction be made in the fees for inspection of vessels of fifty tons and under; and also for licensing officers-to which recommendations your attention is respectfully invited. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. Attention is respectfully invited to that portion of the Supervising Architect's report, in which recommendation is made for the construction of buildings for the accommodation of the Bureau of Engraving |