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\ panies for their pay and not to the boats. g | MARINE REVIEW. oe Chicago's Hydrographic Office--Important Libel. WESTERN OFFICE, MARINE REVIEW, No, 701 Phoenix Building, CHICAGO, JIl., Aug. 24. The sooner the captains of lake vessels begin to patronize the Hydrogra- phic office here, and call upon George P. Blow, who is in charge of this branch, every time they are in port, the sooner will they learn the advantages to be de- rived from the service. Marine men have found the hydrographic offices es- tablished in New York and other cities on the coast of great value to them, but the benefit is not confined to marine men, for Mr. Blow says that when he was in charge of the New York office, it became a bureau of general informa- tion, and questions were daily put to him and his assistants on an endless variety of subjects. Mr. Blow and his assistants became recognized by the newspaper men of New York as authorities on naval matters, and during any disturbance or storm their office was constantly besieged with anxious seekers after information. Admiralty lawyers came to the office for witnesses in their suits, knowing that nowhere else could important data be obtained. The facts obtainable were often of great value to insurance men. Shippers sent for re- ports on derelicts, ice, etc., and captains rarely left port without visiting the office to obtain information of fogs, ice bergs, wrecks, shoals, ete. There the captain could learn about the buoys, lights and beacons which he would meet on the yoyage. From the hydrographic office information is furnished to other branches of the government, such as the light-house board and the bureau of inte'ligence. The best part of this service is that all this information is fur- nished free of charge, and the only thing that is asked in return is that the re- ceiver will reciprocate when he sees any unusual phenomena, buoys adrift, derelicts, etc., or is able to give information of any kind that he thinks his brother navigator would like to know. The office is located at No. 1621 Masonic Temple. In the books of the service, which are kept at every office, is to be found a description of every port in the world. This includes a good description of the harbor, the way of entering shoal and deep water, tides, supplies and all. information that a sailor would want to know, putin aform where he can get at the facts without trouble. The usual feeling against nayal officers which merchant captains have need not be felt in this case, for Mr. Blow holds.a captain's papers on the oceans and has served in the merchant service. He has held these credentials for five years. Among other things which he intends to do, is to publish a pilot chart of the lakes, like the valuable ones published of the oceans. On top of the high building will be placed a time ball, which will drop at the stroke of noon. A libel was forwarded Monday to the United States marshal at Detroit tying up the steamer Newsboy for a Bill of $200 due the H. Channon Company, ship chandlers, for supplies furnished the steamer while running in world's fair traffic last spring. The Newsboy was one of the boats, which were char- tered by irresponsible companies, to carry people to Jackson park, and which ran away from a large number of bills when the companies collapsed. These unpaid bills aggregate over $20,000, and were incurred on the belief that they were by marine law liens upon the boats themselves. So confident were the creditors that such was the case that they did not make any serious effort to libel the boats until they had suddenly sailed away. To their surprise the plea has been set up that the creditors must look to the defunct wildcat ¢om- taken to Detroit on account of the United States district court there being more speedy in acting on admiralty cases than the district court here. What- ever the decision of the lower courts may be, the case will be carried to the court of appeals for the final hearing. The point at issue is one of the most important ever raised in the marine business on the lakes. If the decision is that boats chartered are not subject to liens for coal, provisions and repairs marine men say the door will be thrown wide open to wholesale fraud. It will be possible by chartering boats to irresponsible people to pocket the entire earnings and pay none of the bills. The case has aroused much interest in marine circles. a Bills Introduced in Congress. Mr. W. P. Frye introduced in the United States Senate during the past week the following bills relating to the merchant marine, which were referred to the committee on commerce, of which Mr. Frye is a member ; 495--To establish a marine board for the advancement of the interests of the merchant marine. 496--Admitting to American registry vessels built in the United States and owned by citizens thereof residing abroad, and for other purposes, 497--To amend "an act to amend section 4,400, of Title LII, of the re- Yised statutes of the United States, concer ning the regulation of. steam yves- sels," approved August 7, 1882; and also to amend section 4,414,Title LII, of the revised statutes of the United States, "Regulation of steam vessels," 507--Providing for the collection of fees for furnishing certificates of title to vensels, 508--Exempting American coastwise sailing vessels piloted by their licensed masters or by a United States pilot from the obligation to pay state pilots for services not rendered. 609--To amend an act entitled "'an act to amend section 4178, revised Statutes, in relation to the marking of vessels names at bow and stern, and also to provide for marking the draft,"' approved February 21, 1891, \ / - them special attention. general supervision of all laws affecting the merchant marine. A test case was made up, and was: 510--To protect the wages of seamen. 511--Providing for the establishment and enforcement of rules and regu- lations for the use and navigation of United States canals and similar works of ' navigation, and for other purposes. 586--To provide communication from light- ships and outlying light- houses to the shore. 587--To amend an act entitled "an act to regulate the carriage of passen- gers by sea," approved August 2, 1882. The foregoing bills are nearly all duplicates of measures that were not given full consideration in the last Corgress, on account of the late date of their introduction, but it is probable that they will be pushed in the present Congress, as Mr. Frye, through the influence attached to his position as a mem- ber of the Senate commerce committee, will have ample opportunity fo giye | By far the most important of these measures is that -- which contemplates the establishment of a marine board. Through this board which is to be made up of one of the assistant secretaries of the treasury, who is to be ex-officio chairman, and the chairman of the light-house boa d, super- vising inspector-general of steam vessels, supervising surgeon-general of the marine hospital service, general superintendent of the life saving service, com- missioner of navigation, superintendent of the coast and geoditic survey, chief hydrographer of the navy and chief of the division of revenue marine, it is proposed to facilitate work in the treasury department, by bringing to- gether in regular quarterly meetings the heads of departments who will have This bill was very favorably received when brought upa year ago. Another important measure, Senate bill No. 497, seeks to adjust the sal- aries of the local steamboat inspectors and assistants, when the latter are allowed, in accordance with the number of vessels inspected in the different districts. An adjustment of this kind should have been made long ago, and the bill would have passed the last Congress if it were not for the political wire pulling qualities of some supervising and local inspectors, who should have no place ia the service. As had been expected, there is evidently some hitch in the law of Feb. 1, 1891, providing for the marking of vessels' names upon each bow and upon the »~P 8 g i k stern, together with the name of the home port on the stern, and the new bill, which differs only slightly with the present wording of the law, is undoubtedly intended to make it plain that the names must appear in this way on all mer- chant vessels of the United States, whether steam or sail. In 1886 the fees of customs officers were abolished in many instances. Previous to that year the vessel oyyner wanting a certificate in the nature of an abstract of title to a vessel, paid $1 for such an abstract, taken from the record of bills of sale, mortgages, ete. Since this fee was abolished such ab- stracts should be furnished free of charge, but considerable labor is inyolyed' in making up the certificates, and vessel owners have usually paid the clerks in the different districts for their trouble in work of this kind. Mr. Frye's bill, No. 507, provides now for the collection of a regular fee of $1 in such cases. The bill numbered 511 aims to give to the secretary of war the right to make and enforce rules similar to those now in force in the St. Mary's and St. Clair canals on the lakes for all canals and similar works of navigation _ throughout the country. Other bills introduced in the Senate during the week and referred to the committee on commerce were the following by Senator W. C. Squire: 606-- Establishing a ship channel in the Columbia river near Vancouver, Wash. 607--To increase the number of light-house districts, and for other pur- poses, 608--To amend section 4,414 of the Revised Statutes relating to inspec- tors of hulls and boilers. Official Numbers and Tonnage. The bureau of navigation, E. C. O'Brien commissioner, assigned during the past week official numbers to the following lake vessels and also passed upon returns as to their tonnage: Steam---City of Mackinac, Detroit, Mich., 1,749.65 tons gross, 1,277.86 net, No. 82.78 tons gross, 58.41 net, No. 126,989. Sail--George B. Owen, Chicago, IIL, 744,16 tons gross, 706.96 net, No, 89,264; Clara, Chicago, IIl., 8.24 tons gross, 7.88 net, No. 126,058. Sev Nicken PLArE acunts.--A bout world's fair excursion August 31st. Lanor Day.--At the world's fair is Sept. 4th. Take Nickel Plate road's excursion of August 31st. Granb Anmy DAy.--At the world's fair is Sept. 9th. Go on Nickel Plate road's excursion of August 31st. A British chart of Lake Superior taking in the entire lake, and giving detail regarding: the north shore that is not to be -- found on United States charts, can be had from the Marine Review for $1. 126,988 ; Catherine C., Chicago, IIl., . eee oS cee Fee ee eee ee