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MARINE REVIEW. Vot. X. CLEVELAND, O., NOVEMBER 1, 1894. No. 18. Plans for New Lights and Fog Signals. As efforts of lake vessel owners in the session of congress which begins in December next will be directed mainly to securing additional aids to nay- igation on the lakes, the subject of new lights, fog signals, etc., has received special attention among the executive officers of the Lake Carriers' Associ- ation. The visit to Washington of a committee that has had this matter in charge has resulted in the vessel owners expecting earnest support from the light-house board, as reports made by members of the committee since their return have been very encouraging. Commander Wilde, naval secre- tary of the board, was pleased to find that the vessel owners' petition con- tained only ten items, a sufficient number of which had reference to fog signals and other small appropriations, so that the sum total did not ex- ceed the amount appropriated for lake lights last season. He gave the committee every encouragement to think that the vessel owners could get the items through congress and promised all the assistance in his power. With the aid of charts the committee went over each item on the petition with him,explaining its necessity, and he seemed satisfied with the explan- ation. It was found from the reports of district officers that the reports of these officers classified the lights which the committee asked for as among the most important in their districts. Most of the new lights were classed as indispensable in the district officers' reports; one or two were classed as "necessary," and two, viz., Gravelly island, Poverty passage, and Iansing shoal, north of Squaw island, had not been reported upon by the district officers at. all. Commander Wilde suggested gas buoys for these points, andthe committee agreed that these would answer the purpose admirably. After going over the items of the petition, the committee took up one or two other matters with Commander Wilde. His attention was directed to the changes in recent years in the character of the vessels, and the date when season insurance on hulls expires, and he was asked to correspond with the district officers to see whether something better than heretofore could not be done in leaving stakes and buoys until the close of navigation. Commander Wilde heartily agreed with all that was said on this subject. He said that the stakes and buoys were there to aid vessels, and ought to to remain as long as the vessels continued to run, even if a few of them were lost. He promised to take this matter up with the district officers. Lake Freight Matters. Ore shippers of Cleveland now realize that notwithstanding all the work of the ship yards,which has brought about an increase in the capacity of the lake fleet that has seemed far beyond requirements, they would have been forced to pay some stiff figures on ore from the head of Lake Superior this fallif the grain movement had not been so limited. The sudden and enormous increase in the manufacture of pig iron has demanded a movement of ore during the past two months that is very much in excess of what was expected, and on some of this ore a higher lake freight would certainly have been paid if competition from grain had been a factor in the situation. As it is, all tonnage offered for ore from the head of Lake Supe- rior is still readily taken at 90 cents, and at one time during the past week there were indications of 95 cents being paid. The prospects of grain shipments, however, are no more encouraging than they have been, and although it is expected that the desire of ore shippers to bring down all the ore that it is possible to move on about the present rates of freight will re- sult in a continuance of the present 'conditions during November, no spe- cial improvement in freights is looked for on the final trips. It is gener- ally agreed that a continuance of the present rate of consumption in ore will result in docks being very well cleaned up next spring, with prospects of shipments next season aggregating 2,000,000 tons more than the move-, ment of the present season. A Business that Does not go to Buffalo. The action of the Big Four Railway in increasing its facilities for handling flour at Benton Harbor, Mich., indicates the power of the great Vanderbilt railway system in this country. Although it is not generally known, the greater part, if not all, of the flour that is shipped from points in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan to Chicago and Benton Harbor and which is consigned to the Big Four Railway is transferred from that line to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, running from Cincinnati to Newport News, Va., and from the Virginia port it is exported in the steamers of the Chesapeake & Ohio Steamship Company, a corporation organized in Eng- land and for which a fleet of a half dozen or more big ships have been built within the past two years on the Clyde. Of course the boats, running be- tween Newport News and Liverpool, are as much a part of this branch of the Vanderbilt system as are the Big Four and C. & O. roads. The C. & O. tra- verses the coal, coke and iron regions of the Virginias and finds profitable return freights from those districts. Thus a business for which vessels trading to Buffalo, as well as the Vanderbilt trunk lines running into New York, would be competing, is diverted to the southern port, through the Vanderbilt interests in the Chesapeake & Ohio. An Important Soft Coal Line. For some time past the management of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway, which runs between Wheeling and Toledo, has been seeking an outlet to Cleveland, and now it is announced that the company is about to secure control of the Valley Railway, ashort line running from Valley Junction, O., to Cleveland. The Valley has never been a profitable road of itself. Of late it has been controlled by the Baltimore & Ohio, but it is in the hands of a receiver. This short line would be a very valuable property for the Wheeling & Lake Erie and there is little doubt now of the latter company obtaining it and making it a part of the main line, probably to the extent of removing the shops and headquarters of the W. & L. E. to Cleveland. The W.& lL. E. ships avery large amount of coal by lake' through Huron and Toledo and finds a remunerative business in carrying ore to the Wheeling furnace district from the lakes. The Cleveland outlet would greatly shorten the rail haul, as the full line of the Valley would be used to Valley Junction, where the W. & L. E. intersects the Valley. Strong Points in Our New Navy. In the November issue of the Review of Reviews there is printed an interesting synopsis of an article by Irving M. Scott, the ship builder on the naval needs of the Pacific. Mr. Scott brings out in his article some of the strong points of our new navy. He says: "To convoy the battle ships and inform them what friends or foes are to be expected, armored cruisers of the Brooklyn type represent the com- bined opinion of naval architects, and are able to meet all possible require- ments,--their size being one of the factors most liable to change, according to the opinion of the bureaus constructing them. "As to swift destroyers of commerce, America is in the lead with the Columbia or Minneapolis type, which have a theoretical radius of action of 24,000 miles at moderate speed, with the heretofore unattained speed of twenty-three knots, which at present is in advance of any demands. "For unarmored cruisers, there is the Olympia type, with a large battery of 5-inch rapid firing guns, a speed of twenty-two knots, and high free board, combining large radius of action, great speed, a formidable battery, and a lengthof hull and draught of water to enable her to enter the small and shallow harbors prevalent on the Pacific. "For harbor defense purposes, the Monterey, a double-turreted moni- tor, seems to fill the requirements; while for the shallow rivers, sounds and bays, gunboats of light draught, medium speed, and fair battery, are re- quired to enable the successful patrolling of the shallow waters of our coasts. "The shallow, crooked and narrow rivers of China require a special cruiser to maintain the position that the United States has always held in that country. The navy department has recognized the importance of this, and two boats, designed especially to meet that want, are now under course of construction. "While there are other special services that will have to be met by spe- cial designs, the above is a general outline of what the emergencies of to- day require. While it is very desirable, from the point of discipline, to have the various classes described of uniform design, continual improve- ments and changes in the devices used require modifications in every ship in adopting the latest and best attainable, and this prevents entire uni- formity." Marshal sales are quite numerous of late. Here is the list of the past few days: At Cleveland--Tug Hattie L, to City National Bank, bid in, $1,150; Schooner Lone Star, to Marine Bank, $125. At Tonawanda--Small excursion steamer Nellie, valued in insurance register at $10,000, sold for $2,000. At Grand Haven--Tug McCormick, formerly owned by Boswell & Pike of St. Joseph, to Thomas W. Kirby of Grand Haven, $175. The schooner Geo. L. Wrenn, which was started on atrip around the world last summer, was also sold by the United States marshal at Manistee, Mich., but the price is not given.