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MARINE REVIEW. 11 Appointments of Masters and Engineers, Zenith and Empire Transit Companies, A.B. Wolvin, Manager, Duluth, Minn.: Steamers--Zenith City, Capt. F. C. Rae, Engineer I. M. Peck; Queen City, Capt. R. J. Lyons, Engineer Jos. F. Hayes; W. H. Gilbert, Capt. R. J. Cowley, Engineer J. Wood. . Windsor, Detroit, & Soo Line, G. W. Brown, Manager, Windsor, Ont : Steamers--Cambria, Capt. Neil Campbell, Engineer John Doran; Car- mona, Capt. Chas. Hill, Engineer ---- Lehigh Valley Transportation Co., Buffalo: Steamers--Wilbur, Capt. P. McFarlane, Engineer C. R. Plodeck; Seneca, Capt. D. Driscoll, En- gineer, C. Nise; Saranac, Capt. J. M. Todd, Engineer J. Leahy ; Tuscarora, Capt. W. Williams, Engineer H. N. Wadleigh; Tacoma, Capt. Jas. A. Brown, Engineer Geo. Hale; Oceanica, Capt. James Todd, Engineer J. P. Navaugh; Clyde, 'Capt. Stephen Lyons, Engineer R. Fleming; H.E. Packer, Capt. M. M. Holland, Engineer Samuel Moore; Fred Mercur, Capt. C. E. Fuller, Engineer Wm. Teon; R. A. Packer, Capt. John Burns, Engineer J. Bluett. _ Wallace, David, Lorain, O.: Steamers--Vega, Capt. W. H. Wallace, Engineer Chas. Sterling; Vulcan, Capt. Adolf Oldorff, Engineer John McMonagle; Robert Wallace, Capt. John N. Smith, Engineer Edwin Stoddard. Schooner--David Wallace, Capt. F. Ingraham. McCormick, H. W., Bay City, Mich.: Steamer--Katahdin, Capt. John Sterling. Lake Erie Transportation Co., A.W. Colton, Mgr., Toledo, O.: Steamers » --Geo.J.Gould, Capt. Walter M. Cottrell, Engineer Geo. Butler; S.C. Rey- nolds, Capt. Henry Root, Engineer Jas. Miller; Russell Sage, Capt. T. C. Herrick, Engineer Joseph Kohlbrenner; Jno. C. Gault, Capt. Chas. H.° Lewis, Engineer John Busted. Anchor Line, Buffalo: Steamers--India, Capt. P. O'Neil; China, Capt. Charles Christy; Japan, Capt. John Doherty; Susquehanna, Capt. M. Riley; Schuylkill, Capt. H Miller; Codorus, Capt. D. Ryder; Ma- honing, Capt. Joseph Corcoran; Clarion, Capt. Charles Nelson; Conestoga, Capt. Cronkhite; Conemaugh, Capt. Frank Bloom; Lycoming, Capt. L. Wright; Juniata, Capt. Henry Delaney; Alaska, Capt. Edward Martin; Delaware, Capt. A. Mackenzie; Lehigh, Capt. Frank Berro; Wissahickon, Capt. John McCarty. Lake Michigan & Lake Superior Transportation Co., Chicago: Steamers--Manitou, Capt. Allen McIntyre, Engineer R. lL. Peck; City of Duluth, Capt. Donald McLeen, Engineer Henry Chalk; Peerless, Capt. H. C. Page, Hagineer J. R. Bennett ; City of Traverse, Capt. J. M. Twichell, Engineer Edward Meeh; Jay Gould, Capt. Jas. White, Engineer A. P. Williams. Ogdensburg Transit Co., Ogdensburg, N. Y.: Steamers--Gov. Smith, Capt. W. S. Shay, Engineer J.N. Phillips; H R. James, Capt. Jas. Owens, Engineer Jas. Turnbull; A. McVittie, Capt. W. H. Williams, Engineer A. D. Houghton; J. R. Langdon, Capt. H. Brown, Engineer D. G. Costello; F. H. Prince, Capt. D. A. Kiah, Engineer Robt. Chestnut; W. J. Averell, Capt. W. D. Wait, Engineer J. Alexander; W. A. Haskell, Capt. D. Murphy, Engineer M. Gore; W. L. Frost, Capt. E. E. Shay, Engineer Jas. Chestnut. Ship and Engine Building Matters at Detroit. DETROIT, MicH., March 18.--The management of the Detroit Dry Dock Co. points with considerable pride to the job which is now about completed on the big steel steamer Selwyn Eddy. The dry dock compa- ny built this ship and the managers are proud of the material they put _intoher. When she was docked her bottom was corrugated. Alike to many other steel ships that have been in contact with rocks, her bottom resembled the small hills in a cornfield. But the material in every plate was of good quality and not one of them was thrown away. All were re- rolled, or straightened in some other manner, and put back on the ship. Thus the job of repairs was far less costly than it would have been if it were necessary to supply new plates. The Eddy's place in the dock will be taken by the steamer Gettysburg, which will get a new wheel and gen- eral repairs. Work on: the two Rockefeller boats that are building here is prob- ably being advanced rapidly enough to complete them within the speci- fied time, although it is understood that the dry dock company is not subject todemurrage. The understanding in their case was that in event of delay they would simply pay interest on money advanced for the work as it goes along. At the engine works the machinery for these ships is well under way and repair jobs are quite numerous. The big new shops at the Wyandotte ship yard are about completed. A new Corliss engine isin place and two boilers that will furnish steam for this engine are being rapidly fitted up. Allof the new tools are of modern type and very powerful, notably the big "squeezer," which will straighten out heavy 16-inch channels with ease. A new shears and punch, constructed at the Dry Dock Engine Works, weighs about twenty-three tons and is specially adapted for heavy work. Most of the wood sheathing on the steamer building for Jones & Co. of Cleveland is in place and other parts of the work is progressing so rapidly that the vessel will be ready for launching at an early date. The 400-foot steamer for the Wolverine Steamship Co. of Detroit is entirely in frame, with ballast tanks com- pleted and some of the bottom plating in place. Not so much can be said of the Rockefeller ships, but a night shift is kept at workin the shops and the new machinery will add wonderfully to the capacity of the plant later on. It will probably be three weeks or amonth before the steamer Fayette Brown, which is being lengthened 50 feet, leaves the dock at Springwells. The steam barge Louis Pahlow, which received new keel- sons and steel arches at Springwells during the winter, has been taken to the River Rouge for new upper works and will be practically a new ves- sel when she comes out in the spring. Her machinery will be improved by a new high pressure cylinder, to be furnished by S. F. Hodge & Co. . At the Frontier Iron Works, triple expansion engines for one of the Davidsew steamers (builder's number 76) are ready for shipment to the Bay City yard. These engines have cylinders 20,32 and 54 inches diameter by 42 inches stroke. A second set of triples for Davidson's steamer No. 77 are partly erected. These have cylinders 16, 25, and 42 inches diameter by 34 inches stroke. The Frontier works is also engaged extensively on soda ash and other chemical machinery. Care of St. Mary's River Buoys. Bids were to have been opened in Detroit on Monday last, by Com- mander W. W. Mead of the Eleventh light-house district, for the care of buoys on the St Mary's river. The REviEw is not informed as to the lowest bidder on this work, and anything that may be said here will probably not now have any effect on the contract, but it is certainly the opinion of vessel owners and vessel masters all over the lakes that this work has never been as well attended to as when it was under the direc- tion of P. M. Church of Sault Ste Marie. Among the specifications is an item which says that 'a daily patrol of the channels will be required." This is the important item of the contract but it appears so uncertain that anyone taking the contract might certainly take advantage of it and go to little expense in partly tending to a work that is highly important to all vessel owners. When Mr. Church had this contract in former years it was known that he furnished a suitable tug with steam derrick and capable men, and this is why the service under his direction is com- mended. A bidder offering assurances of this kind is certainly at a disadvantage as against an irresponsible bidder who may fill the re- quirements of a daily patrol with an inexpensive steam launch, or possi- bly by taking passage on some freight vessel up or down the river, noting on the trip whether the buoys are in proper condition or not, and then, if any are out of place, waiting until atug can conveniently be secured to replace them. This is certainly not what is meant by a daily patrol of the river, and it is to be hoped that the light-house officials will insist upon a full understanding with the contractor, whoever he may be. Nat. W. Pratt, president of the Babcock & Wilcox Co., died at his home in Brooklyn, N. Y.,on the 10th inst., aged forty-four years. He was of old American stock. Families on both his father's and mother's side settled in Plymouth county, Mass., in 1630. His father, Wm. Pratt, was during the war superintendent of the Burnside armories in Provi- dence, R.I. He has been with the Babcock and Wilcox concern since 1870. His engineering knowledge, inventive genius and extraordianary business qualifications have had a great deal to do with the wonderful success which the Babcock & Wilcox boiler has attained throughout the civilized world. He was a member of the leading engineering societies of the country, and his death, in the prime of life, must be regarded as a great loss to advancement in the line of engineering in which he was engaged. By his extraordinary sagacity and sound business judgment the business that engrossed his life from a very small beginning devel- oped and grew enormously, and the best monument he leaves behind him is the world-wide fame of the Babcock & Wilcox boiler. ae Senator McMillan of Michigan has interested himself in trying to amend the laws relative to the granting of medals for saving life, so as to extend the benefits to citizens generally, as wellas to regularly em- ployed life savers. He found difficulty in securing recognition for a brave act performed by one of the Lynn brothers of Port Huron, and has introduced a bill, which has the approval of the secretary of the treasury, and which provides "that the acts relating to life saving stations, and the life saving service, which provide for the award of life saving medals, shall be construed so as to empower the secretary of the treasury to be- stow such medals upon persons hereafter making signal exertions in rescuing and succoring the shipwrecked, and saving persons from drowning in the water over which the United States has jurisdiction, whether said persons making such exertions were or were not members of a life saving crew or whether or not such exertions were made in the -- vicinity of a life saving station."