78 DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL Colonel JAcKaoN. You spoke of navigating in certain canals, some 200 feet wide and others 300 feet wide. Will you mention one or more cases of 200-foot channels where you operate yourself? Captain MTma. All of our channels in Tampa Harbor, and I operate down as far as Gadsden Point, a distance of 9 miles, are 200 feet; 7% miles, approx- imately, of that canal is what we would term open inland water and 3 miles immediately adjacent to the waterfront are dry banks or terminals. That is also 200 feet wide there, and our speed through there, of course, is but 6 miles an hour, but for any vessel that you might have to pass or a vessel lying alongside a terminal, your speed has to be much less than 6 miles. .Within that 3 miles the speed of a loaded vessel passing another vessel moored to a terminal has to be somewhat reduced, otherwise the suction between the two vessels will cause lines to be broken and possibly cause damage to terminals. Colonel JACKsoN. What is the width of the channel there? Captain Mms. Two hundred feet. Colonel JACseow. What is the width of the water surface? Captain MYms. There is practically no water surface outside the channel; there may be 100 or 150 feet on certain sides that have not been developed in the harbor development. Colonel JAcsKow. It is practically a typical canal then. Captain rms. It would be a typical canal, especially where there are ves- sels moored. Now, the same caution has to be used in passing a vessel moored to a terminal in order not to Jar the ship or cause lines to be broken or injury to terminals, just as much as in namsiin a moving vessel. Colonel HAwNNU. Your experience has been primarily with Tampa Harbor, has it not? Captain MIms. Yes; so far as eanals are concerned. Colonel HAINUx. I also noted you made some comment with reference to passing and overtaking vesels. Captain MTmaL Yes; I did. Colonel HAswum. We find, and I think yo will find from anyone who oper- ates in canals, that it is almost physically impossible and considered one of the most dangerous of operations to attempt to pas an overtaken vesseL Are you familiar with the Port Arthur Ship Canal and the Sabine-Nachez and Beaumont Canals? Captain Mrms. No, air; I know nothing about them, except what I have heard. Colonel HAmNwM. Have you ever operated through any of them? Captain MxTa No Colonel HauNx. Do you know what the bottom width of the Houston Canal is? Captain MYRms. I don't know what the widths of any of them are, other than they are all approximately 200 Ieet; some of them, perhaps, less than that. Colonel HAnNmx. The Houston Canal is 150 feet wide on the bottom, and it has a considerable slope. Have you ever operated through the Port Arthur Ship Canal; do you know how long it Is? Captain MTrns. No; I do not. Colonel HAxNUM. The Port Arthur Ship Canal is about 10 miles long and has 150 feet bottom width. Are you familiar with the ships passing through that canal? Captain MrTm I know somewhat of them. Colonel HANNUM. Do you know, according to the figures compiled, that 12,000,OCO tons came down the Beaumont Canal and the Neches River last year and that there are a great many large tankers which pass through the Port Arthur Ship Canal and the Sabine-Nechez Canal, which has a bottom width at the present time of 150 feet? Do you assume if there is danger in the opera- tion of a particular waterway that they will exclude ships from going through there? Captain MTms. No, sir; I contended that they will exclude ships from going through this canal as far as I know how to point out the experience we have in the operation of these narrow canals. Colonel HAwSUM. Your operation has been limited to local operation in Tampa Bay, has it not? Captain Mrlms. Yes; of course I have, in this way, in connection with the explanation of the operation of this and other canals, had the opinions of the captains of the different ships who have operated in those canals and what they think of our canal in comparison with this.