The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

MARINE REVIEW. 9 Ship Yard Matters. Asa result of the improvements made in the Isgake Superior Iron Co's steamers Andaste and Choctaw, during the past winter, the value of each in the May supplement to the Inland Lloyd's Register is increased from $90,000 to $190,000. Insurance agents receiving copies of the May supplement to the register are asked to note two typographical errors. The class of the tug Niagara should be A1¥% instead of Al, while that of the barge Sweetheart should be A2 instead of A2%4. Newsteel steamers in the May supplement are: City of Bangor, Eddy Bros., Bay City, $220,000, Al, Coralia, Mutual Transportation Co., Cleveland, $265,000, Al; W. D. Rees, Wilson Transit Co., Cleveland, $200,000, Al; L. C. Waldo, Roby Transportation Co., Detroit, $225,000, Al. The rebuilt Goodrich steamer Iowa (formerly Menominee) is valued at $80,000 and rated A1l%4*. It is now planned to have the new passenger steamer City of Buffalo turned over from her builders, the Detroit Dry Dock Co., to officials of the Cleveland & Buffalo line,on Monday next. Oathe following day, Tuesday, the 12th, the vessel will be brought to Cleveland, arriving in the afternoon. She will leave for Buffalo late Tuesday night, with a party of prominent citizens from Cleveland aboard. Oa Wednesday the vessel will be presented with her colors in Buffalo, during atrip into the lake with Buffalo business men and city officials aboard. On the vessel's re- 'turn to Cleveland, Thursday, the chamber of commerce will be given an excursion and the vessel will for several hours be open to public in- spection. It would seem that profitable felonies now prevailing in all branches of lake commerce would prompt Capt. James Davidson to hurry work on the several wooden vessels now under construction in his West Bay City yard, but it must be admitted that, on account of the great extent of new work and repairs in all ship yards and dry docks, the kind of workmen that are most desired are not plentiful. As a result ship building opera- tions are retarded and all new vessels will be later in going into commis- sion than wasexpected. This condition is helpful to the freight situation at the present time. Only one of the new Davidson ships, the Armenia, has as yet been launched. She did not leave the ways until Saturday last, but was so nearly completed that she is already in commission. The Montreal Transportation Co's schooner Melrose was launched, a few days ago, at Kingston. The Melrose is undoubtedly the strongest vessel ever built in Canada forlake service. She is 18) feet between per- pendiculars, 36 feet beam and 14 feet 3 inches depth of hold. Frames and planking are of white oak, and keelsons, stanchions, clamps, deck b2ams and hatch combings of steel. The deck and spars are of British Columbia'pine. The vessel has asteam capstan windlass, furnished by th: American Ship Windlass Co,, as well as steam pumps, and her outfit includ23 every appliance of modern kind that is found on the best lake vessels, In a few of the first impressions of the last issue of the REVIEW leav- ing the press it was stated that there are forty-five vessels of the whale- back type afloat. The error was plain as the barge to be launched at West Superior ina few daysis only No. 137, andthe numbering began with 101. Only three vessels were built away from the lakes,--two on the Atlantic coast and one on the Pacific--so that the number of whalebacks has not as yet quite reached forty. But this is, nevertheless, a great record, as it seems only a few years since the barge 101 was viewed with great curiosity in every port that she entered on the lakes. "Tt would certainly be fitting," says Mr. M. A. Bradley, "to name One of the new Rockefeller ships for Capt. Alex. McDougall, especially as the names are planned to honor men connected with progress in ship building and the iron industry. As the inventor of the whaleback type of ship, Capt. McDougallis entitled to distinction, and his connection with Rockefeller interests would seem to be a special reason why one of the ships should be named for him." There area great many vessel. . Owners on the lakes who agree with Mr. Bradley in this opinion. Tonnage and official numbers of new lake vessels reported from the bureau of navigation, treasury department are: Steam--City of Bangor; Port Huron, Mich., 3,690.90 tons gross, 2,976.38 net, No. 127,131; T. T. Mor- ford, Chicago, 109.17 gross, 63,88 net, No. 145,717; James T. Martin, Port Huron, Mich., 47.83 gross, 32.53 net, No. 77,216. Sail--Armenia, Port Huron, Mich., 2,040.76 gross, 1,919.78 net, No. 107,219; Bertie, Detroit, 43.95 gross, 35.77 net, No. 107,219. A large number of invitations have been sent out for the launch of the Sir Henry Bessemer, first of the Rockefeller ships, at the ship yard ofthe Globe Iron Works Co., Cleveland, Saturday afternon, and it is quite probable that the attendance will be much larger than usual. This Steamcr was fully described and illustrated in the last issue of the REVIEW. James T. Martin is the name selected for the new herrea line tug of Port Huron. ~Mr. Gregory Hurson of Milwaukee paid $20,000 for the steamer F, & P.M.No. land will expend about $8,000in improving her. New Cargo Records. The first cargo of the Mutual line steamer Coralia is a fair indication of what may be expected from steel steamers of the Rockefeller kind now nearing completion in lake ship yards. The Coralia has just de- livered at Ashtabula from"Escauaba a cargo of 4,301 gross or 4,817 nettons of ore,on an average draft of 15 feet 4inches. Thesteamer was drawing 15 feet 1 inch forward and 15 feet 7 inches aft when she left Escanaba, and in addition to this large cargo had on board also 130 net tons of fuel. This is by great odds the largest cargo of any kind ever carried through the connecting waters between Lakes Huron and Erie,although it will be noted by the record pcinted below that the steamer S. S, Curry, a much smaller boat, carried a larger cargo from Escanaba to South Chicago, where there was practically no limit in draft fora ship like the Curry. But on an Escanaba-South Chicago trip the Coralia would undoubtedly carry 500 tons more than the Curry. As the Coralia will be 'engaged all season iu the ore trade between Escanaba and Ashtabula, she will un- doubtedly be the bauner ship of the lakes for 1896, and with increased draft at Ballard's reefandin the vicinity of Amherstburg, Detroit river, where dredging is now under way, she will goon making new records, This steamer is 432 feet over all. The two Rockefeller ships build- ing at the Globe yard, Cleveland, are exact duplicates of her, as regards dimensions, and they are to be the same also in nearly all other respects. But they will trade to Lake Superior, and their draft will be limited to about 14 feet until the new canal lock at Sault Ste. Marie is completed next spring. Estimates regarding the capacity of the Coralia on 15 feet 6 inches were nearly 200 net tons below the actual weight of her first cargo, and her owners and builders are accordingly very much pleased. Cargo and speed records of lake freight ships, revised to date, are as follows i ° Iron ore--S. S. Curry, Hawgood & Avery Trausit Co. of Cleveland, 4,569 gross or 5,117 net tons, Escanaba to South Chicago; Coralia, Mut- ual Transportation Co. of Cleveland, 4,301 gross or 4,817 net tons, Esca- naba to Ashtabula on draft of 15 feet 4 inches. Lake Superior cargoes-- Schooner Aurania, John Corrigan of Cleveland, 3,928 gross or 4,399 net tons, Duluth to Ashtabula on 14 feet 4 inches draft. Grain--Selwyn Eddy, Eddy Transportation Co. of Bay City, 130,820 bushels of wheat, Detroit to Buffalo; steel schooner Martha, Minnesota Steamship Co , 163,000 bushels of corn, South Chicago to Erie on 15 feet 4 inches; S. S. Curry, Hawgood & Avery Transit Co. of Cleveland, 246,673 bushels of oats, Chicago to Buffalo. Coa!--S. S. Curry, Hawgood & Avery Transit Co. of Cleveland, 4,535 net tons bituminous, Conneaut to Gladstone; Selwyn Eddy, Eddy Bros. of Bay City, Mich., 4,252 net tons anthracite, Buffalo to Milwaukee. Speed--Owego, Union Line of Buffalo, Buffalo to Chicago, 889 miles, 45 hours and 16 minutes, 16.4 miles an hour; Centurion, Hopkins Steam- ship Co. of St. Clair, Mich., Buffalo to Duluth, 997 miles, 67 hours and -- 50 minutes, 14.7 miles an hour. Changes in Aids to Navigation. President Brown and Secretary Keep of the Lake Carriers' Associa- tion will endeavor to have the underwriters pay a portion of the expense of maintaining private lights during the present season. The under- writers directed Capt. F. B. Hackett of Amherstburg to locate and mark the wreck near Colchester, Lake Erie, on which the schooner Teutonic struck a few days ago. Capt. Hackett, who had a diver make an examin- ation, says the wreck is certainly that of the schooner Adams, which was sunk last fall. A float with two bright lights will be maintained over the spot. The wreck is about two miles west of Grecian shoal on Colchester point, a little to the north of the regular passage. From bearings taken last fall when the vessel sank, it would seem that the ice has moved the _ wreck about six miles up the lake. . Anotice from the Canadian government announces that a bell has been attached to the platform of the range light tower near the outer end of the east pier at Port Dalhousie, Lake Ontario, and will be rung by hand, as a fog signal, in reply to fogsignals from vessels desiring to make the canal. Under the direction of the Canadian government, Capt. Andrew Hackett of Amherstburg has placed seven red spar buoys on the east ' bank of the new 20-foot channel at Bar point. Some trials with nickel steel as a material for screw propellers have recently been made on behalf of the German naval authorities. Two small boats, fitted in the one case with propellers of ordinary steel, while the alloy was used in the other, were employed in similar service. At the end of three months the commen steel propeller was found to be badly corroded, while the nickel steel one was still in good condition. Less satisfactory results were obtained on another trial. These experi- ments have no relation, of course, to large wheels, but serious difficulty has been encountered with propelicss or torpedo boats, in which the thin blades corrode very quickly.