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MARINE REVIEW. -- VoL. XV. CLEVELAND, O., FEBRUARY 11, 1897. No. 7. The New Insurance Combination. In Cleveland on Thursday last the full scope of the new Great Lakes Register, together with the general plans of the insurance com- bination that is publishing it, were quite fully explained to a meet- ing of vessel owners. Numerous rumors had been circulated about low ratings which it was said would be given to some good boats. It was said, for instance, that only one wooden vessel on the lakes, the Pabst of Milwaukee, would be placed in the 100 class. The danger of vessel owners refusing to allow inspectors to go aboard their vessels was to be met with on account of these stories, and a hurried meet- ing of the men who have been identified with the register and the new insurance combination was called. Of these there were present W. A. Prime of the firm of Charles EH. and W. FI. Peck, insurance brokers of New York, London and Chicago; Geo. L. McCurdy of Chicago, who represents the Insurance Company of North America on the lakes; Edward Smith of Brown & Co., Buffalo; Capt. Fred N. La Salle of Duluth; Capt. F: D. Herriman of Chicago, who is the chief surveyor for the register, and Walter Miller of Cleveland, who is conducting surveys of machinery. The vessel owners present were W. D. Rees, John Mitchell, Geo. P. McKay, W. A. Hawgood, M. A. Bradley, J. C. Gilchrist, Albert J. Gilchrist, B. L. Pennington, Thomas Jones, C. F. Palmer, Thomas F. Murphy, W. J. Miller, James Corrigan, W. C. Rhodes and John W. Moore. It may be said at the outset that although the meeting was called under circumstances that seemed entirely disadvantageous to the pro- moters of the register, it turned out very much to their advantage. _ It is not expected that vessel owners who have been doing business for a number of years through several general agents in Chicago and Buffalo, and through Johnson & Higgins of New York, will suddenly turn over their. hull business to this combination, because of the suc- cess it hasbtained in the the cargo business, or because of the leverage which the cargo-business will have on insurance generally; but it must be admitted that the principles which the new combination proposes to carry out, both in their insurance business and in the publication of the register, met with general approval when explained by Mr. Prime, and it is more than probable that there will te no objection whatever to the full prosecution of the work of inspection. Although the meeting was entirely of an informal kind, Mr. J. C. Gilchrist was asked to preside, and then Mr. Prime proceeded to ex- plain the object of the new classification of vessels as well! as the svs- tem under which it was being prosecuted. Numerous questions were asked by Messrs. Corrigan, Gilchrist, Pennington and others and answered by Messrs. Prime and McCurdy. The announcement that no attention would be given to age, size or value in the classification, the vessels standing entirely on their construction and condition, met with general approval, as it was explained that a vessel well kept up might be fifteen years old and valued at only $50,000, and still be classed as high and be accorded the same rate of insurance given toa larger vessel, that would be, for instance, only five years of age and valued by the owners at $100,000. The difference would, of course, be in the condition or construction of the two vessels. W. A. Prime, who appears as the moving spirit in the scheme, created a very favorable impression among the vessel owners. | He is of the clean-cut type of shrewd, quick-acting young men who are of late gaining prominence in the insurance business of the country. In the course of his remarks he referred to the very large amount of cargo business secured on the lakes within the past two or three years by his principals and the other underwriters with whom they are asso- ciated. The report about the Pabst being the only wooden vessel to be given the highest rating he pronounced unworthy of any attention, as the register work has not yet reached the point of deciding definitely even as to the number of classes. Still he knew personally of fifty wooden vessels that were regarded as the equal in every respect of the Pabst. Such reports probably eminated from assistant inspectors, who had no authority whatever in the matter of classification. They simply made reports on blank forms to Capt. Herriman,who would be given absolute power in the matter of classification, and who had been guaranteed continuity of office for five years, indicating that the combination was in the business to stay and to secure business slowly but surely under the best principles of underwriting that prevail throughout the world. The classification of vessels will not be com- pleted, Mr. Prime said, for three or four months, at the least, and it is doubtful whether access to the register, even then, may be had by any one excepting the underwriters and their agents. But infor- mation 2ollected by Capt. Herriman during the past three or four years is of great value, especially as regards the steel ships, and Mr. Prime announced that the combination is ready now to name rates on hull or cargo risks of any kind, even though the aggregate in the case of a single vessel and cargo may reach $600,000. Interests of vessel owners will be considered in the classification and in the preparation of rules, he said, through a governing committee, which will be made up of ship builders and vessel owners, and Capt. James David-' son of West Bay City will probably be chairman of this committee. Iron Ore and Vessel Matters. In line with the several very important changes in the iron industry that have followed the announcement of the Carnegie-Rocke- feller ore and transportation deal, it isannounced now that the move- ment of all the Carnegie ore, amounting to about 1,500,000 tons, and including asmall amount of Pewabic ore that is shipped through Escanaba, will receive attention in Cleveland from E. 8. Mills, who has represented the Carnegie company for some time past as a sales agent, and who will have his present office force increased so as to attend to this new business. As the Rockefeller vessels are to carry this ore, and as it all goes to Carnegie furnaces, the matter of caring for its transportation will be unimportant as compared with ore that must be sold, and for which vessels must be provided. But this action of the Carnegie company is the final move in a long line of re- ductions in cost of material. It removes entirely from the hands of middlemen--Cleveland ore sales agents--the handling of any part of this large amount of ore. Contrary to what might be expected, the collapse of the steel rail pool is not in any way asource of worriment to the producers of iron ore. In fact it is the general opinion of ore dealers in Cleveland that the failure of this big combination, which has held prices of steel rails far above reasonable figures, may stimulate trade toan extent that will result in a demand for new ore somewhat sooner than might be ex- pected under the conditions that have prevailed for several weeks past. As it is now, there is absolutely nothing in the ore business to warrant preparations for the coming season of navigation, and no assurance that there will be any purchases of 1897 ore for two months or more to come. The ore business will be benefited, therefore, if the collapse of the steel rail pool causes additional consumption and re- sults in other steel products, such as billets and rods, standing on their own merits. It is fully understood that under the operations of the rail pool manufacturers depended upon the profit in rails to en- able them to reduce prices of other steel products below actual cost of production in some cases. Now the situation will be different, as everything in the line of steel will be worked on an equal basis. The dissolution of the steel rail combination will have no effecton the iron . ore association. It may be that the ore producers will fail entirely in their efforts to agree upon prices of Bessemer ore for 1897, but if such is the case it will not be on account of any influence exerted by the failure of the steel rail manufacturers to hold together. It will be due to the producing-consuming element that is fast gaining a strong foothold in the ore business. Major Clinton B, Sears of Duluth will open bids, Monday, on th big contract which involves dredging in the harbors of Duluth and Superior. The contract will extend over fovr years and the amount of material to be removed is about 21,000,000 cubic yards. Probably twenty dredges will be engaged at times on this work.