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10 MARINE REVIEW. SS SSeS SS Se SSS --=--- - DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. Published every Thursday at No. 516 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, O SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per yearin advance. Singlecopies Io cents each. cuvenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on appli- cation. The books of the United States treasury department on June 30, 1895, contained the names of 3,342 vessels, of 1,241,459.14 gross tons register in the lake trade. The number of steam vessels of 1,000 gross tons, and over that amount, on the lakes on June 30, 1894, was 359 and their aggregate gross tonnage 634,467.84; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 316 and their tonnage 642,- 642.50, so that half of the best steamships in all the United States are owned on the lakes. The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1895, was as follows: Gross Class. Number. Tonnage. Steam vessels........ccccccssseoe sueeees gocneqs00n 1G 1S 857,735-00 Sailing vessels.............000 Ben de cob ok sat on ob «. 1,100 300,642.00 Wate Seder. ccceccsetscscsssoes. Rte deieeetcesesses 487 83,082.00 Pi Otaleavenssencwicccsssss00es neepecedenene "2 35342 1,241,459.00 _ The gross registered tonnage of vessels built on the lakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States com- missioner of navigation, is as follows: Number. Net Tonnage. Year ending June 30, 1891............. donc oy 111,856.45 i yy = 1892...00. cee crecesee. 69 45,168.98 'e yy f TibO4seccaececnssceeq sony 5 99,271.24 as ss TSQAscscoectwesess<-s0 LOG 41,984.61 e as a ISOS. cesccososevetdere. 1 -93 36,353.00 TOtal.....csressescecscererssereossers 747 334,634.28 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. (From Official Reports of Canal Officers.) - St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1894. 1893. 1892. 1894. 1893. 1892. No.vessel pass'ges 14,491} 12,008 12,580 3,352 3,341 3,559 T'n'ge,net registd]13,110,366|9,849,754|10,647,203||8,039,106|7,659,068|7,712,028 Days of Navigat'n 234 219 223 365 365 365 Entered at. Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. THE substitute introduced by Congressman John B. Corliss of De- troit for Senator McMillan's Detroit river bridge bill seems to be even more objectionable to some leading vessel owners than the original measure. Mr. Corliss' bill, which is understood to have been based on suggestions from Geo. Y. Wisner, engineer of Detroit, provides for only one pier in the center of the river and two spans of 1,100 feet each, with a height of 142 feet above mean water level. Senator McMillan's bill provides for two piers, giving one wide span in the center of the river with two small ones onthe side. A big pile of masonry directly in the center of the river is declared by the vessel owners to be a most serious objection to the Corliss plans. It may as well be understood anyhow that the vessel owners will under all circumstances oppose a pier or piers in the navigable part of the river, and their opposition to a bridge of any kind will be as strong as it ever has been. Fifteen or twenty years ago the bridge builders did not offer in their plans a span of more than 300 feet. Now they propose 1,100-foot spans. Then they said a tunnel could not be built on account of the difficulty that would be encountered in handling quick sand. Now big cylindrical shields are forced into - quick sand, and by the use of air compressors and other apparatus the construction of a tunnel is rendered even less difficult than it would be if some kinds of material other than quick sand was encountered. Still the railways refused to build a tunnel, on the claim that their passenger traffic would suffer on account of it. This argument is now met by the fact that electric locomotives will do away with the smoke nuisance in tunnels. The tunnel is more costly, but the railway officials do not press this feature of the question, as they know it would not prevail against the overwhelming importance of a commerce in the Detroit river that is greater than that of any other waterway in the world. IN CALCULATIONS regarding freights for the season of 1896, neither vessel owners nor shippers should conclude that all new vessels now under contract in lake ship yards will be available during all, or even half, of the coming season. As shown in the REVIEW of last week, the ship builders have orders for sixty-five vessels of all kinds, but only forty-two of these are freight carrying vessels--thirty steel and twelve wood. These forty-two vessels will carry on a single trip an aggregate of about 136,000 gross tons, and it is estimated that they will move during a full season about 2,450,000 tons on 14% feet draft. Buta large number of them will not be out until Sept. 1, and the completion of a few will be delayed until Oct. 1, so that it is safe to roughly estimate the increase in vessel capacity at not more than 1,300,000 gross tons. Especially is this true when we take into consideration the loss last season of vessels capable of carrying on a single trip about 49,000 net tons. Of course the number of trips made in a season by vessels of the kind that were lost in 1895 is small as compared with fast running modern ships, but the item - of tonnage lost has, nevertheless, been found to be more important than was expected. WHEN Germany opened the North sea-Baltic canal some time ago the nations of the earth joined in a big naval display, and festivities at- tending the celebration extended over several days. The canal was pro- nounced a great commercial enterprise. Let us compare the business since developed in this canal with the commerce of St. Mary's Falls canal, which connects Lake Superior with other bodies of water in the chain of great lakes, and about which our own government makes no fuss whatever. During November, 1895, 1,394 vessels, whose total net carrying capacity was 157,172 register tons, passed through the North sea- Baltic cana], This is equal to about 7 per cent. of the business of St. Mary's Falls canal for a single month. The average number of vessels per month passing through the St. Mary's Falls canal during seven and a half months of navigation in 1895 was about 2,400, and the average freight tonnage of the canal per month was about 2,000,000 net tons. These figures may be verified in detail by reference to the MARINE RE- view of Dec. 19, which contains the full report of the war department covering St. Mary's Falls canal commerce during 1894 and 1895. EASTERN manufacturing concerns and mercantile houses that pro- vide auxiliary machinery and various articles of equipment for ships are finding the lakes their best source of trade these days. In most cases the heads of these concerns are giving personal attention to the exten- sive business that has developed in the ship yards. Within the past few weeks, no less than a dozen representatives of firms furnishing electric. light plants, machinery forgings, windlasses, capstans, electric light fixtures, anchors, etc., have called at the Office of the REVIEW, prepara- tory to a trip around the lakes, They were all of the opinion that the business in sight warranted personal interviews, in addition to the ordi- nary solicitation by correspondence, and they were furnished with the necessary information as to men in charge of matters in their several lines at the ship yards and in the offices of vessel-owning firms. AT THE annual meeting of the Lake Carriers'Association, to be held in Detroit next week, it will be found from the treasurer's report that the receipts from dues in 1895 have been sufficient to dispose of a few old debts, in addition to meeting all requirements for the year. It will be necessary to collect about $400 of dues as yet unpaid in order to fully balance accounts, but this will be done, and it may be said now that the association is on an even footing as regards money matters, with pros- pects of an increased income on account of new vessels next season, if the present tonnage assessment is continued. Belleville Boilers for Eight More British Cruisers. Editor MARINE REVIEW:--The following important applications of Belleville boilers in the English Navy have been decided upon for cruisers about to be built or already under construction: Cruisers of 10,- 000 horse power--Gladiator, Arrogant, Furious, Vindictive. Cruisers of 16,500 horse power--Niobe, Diadem, Andromeda, Europo. These applications are the result of the excellent trials that have just been made of these boilers on board the Sharpshooter, and answer in a peremptory way the passionate attacks of which these boilers have been the object from builders and partisans of the cylindrical-tubular boilers in Great Britain. MIkgRS CORYELL. Cleveland, Jan. 4, 1896. Capt. George R. Bennet and others have purchased from Runnells & Sinclair the steam barge Cleveland for $6,500 cash. She will continue in the lumber trade, towing the barge Magnet and two others. Another sale is that of the Detroit river ferry steamer Hope to Capt. Edward Maytham of Buffalo and Edward Baxter of Fort Erie, Ont., for $5,000 cash. The vessel will be rebuilt to run on the Canadian side of Niagara river. Harvey's marine bureau at the Sault has purchased an interest in the steam yacht Waupoose, 40 feet long and 9 feet beam, and will use her for marine reporting next season. On account of vessels sometimes: using the Canadian lock a large number of letters and telegrams were not de- livered in time to be of any use. The Harvey bureau now proposes to bring a tug into service, in order to insure delivery of all messages,