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MARINE REVIEW. | ie Ship Yard Matters. Capt. Thomas Wilson of Cleveland has named his largest vessel, a steel steamer just launched at the yard of the Cleveland Ship Building Company, for Andrew Carnegie. Capt. Willson can probably do this more appropriately than any other vessel owner on the lakes. Both men were born in Scotland, and it is understood that their birth places were not far apart. The new steamer is in every respect a modern lake freighter. Quite a little ceremony attended the launching, which oc- curred on Saturday last. The vessel is constructed on the channel system and is 400 feet long from the forward side of the stem to the after side of the stern post, 420 feet long over all, 48 feet beam and 28 feet deep. She has a water bottom 5 feet deep, capable of carrying about 2,000 tons of water ballast. There are twelve hatches and three pole. spars. 'Houses are of the usual barge style. A complete electrical lighting plant, steam steering gear, steam windlass and capstan forward, steam capstan aft, and two steam capstans as well as a hoisting engine amidships, are features of the outfit.. Cylinders of the triple expan- sion engines are 23, 38,and 63 inches in diameter with a common stroke of 40 inches. The propeller will be 13 feet in diameter and 17 feet pitch. Steam will be furnished by three Scotch boilers each 12 feet in diameter and 13 feet long, to be allowed a working pressure of 175 pounds of steam to the square inch. It is thought this power will drive the vessel easily 12 miles an hour loaded. The Carnegie should carry 4,000 gross tons of ore on.14} feet mean draft,<or about 6,000 gross tons on 164 feet. . She will be commanded by Capt. B. H. Jones. Frederick Harmon will be chief engineer. It is understood that as a result of the meeting of creditors of the firm of F. W. Wheeler & Co., held in Detroit a week ago, all arrange- ments are being made for an issue of bonds amounting to about $200,- 000, which will be sufficient to remove the immediate pressure of an indebtedness of about $180,000and leave a balance for working account. The people to whom the ship building company is indebted are satis- fied that the great bulk of indebtedness is due to improvements in the company's big plant. A warm friendship shown for Mr. Wheeler personally by a great many people interested in the affairs of the com- pany had much to do with the plans that have been made for bridg- ing. over the company's embarrassment. The Carnegie Steel Co. is understood to be the principal creditor. Mr. W. J. Wood of Chicago has prepared for tie O. B. Green Dredge Co. of that city plans for a large steel scow, on which bids have been requested from several lake ship builders. Dimensions of the scow are 126 by 30 by 104 feet. It is understood that two or three other vessels of the same kind are to be built later. A strange error crept into the Review last week in a short article from West Superior. The term. "oak spars'? was used, It is, of course, well known that pine is the material used for vessels' spars. A Compliment to Col. Jared A. Smith. In a letter to the Army and Navy Journal of New York, a Cleve- land correspondent pays a fitting compliment to Col. Jared A. Smith, corps of engineers, U. S. A., whose promotion to the grade of Colonel has resulted from the appointment of Col. John M. Wilson as ehief of engineers. The journal's correspondent says: "All here are pleased at the rise to the highest grade in the corps next to the head and the consequent enlargement of his scope of usefulness to the country at large. Col. Smith is a past master in his profession, and possessed of remarkable energy and perseverance to bring upon any questions which pertain to his profession as an engineer and an officer of the army. When his wonderful capacity for dealing with details, his tenacious memory and thoroughly trained business mind are consid- ered, his great success in the many important public works entrusted to his care is readily accounted for. In private life he isa kindly gentleman, courteous and kind to all with whom he comes in contact, socially or officially. It is extremely gratifying to this community especially, as it must be to the army and the country, that the casualties of the service have occasioned the promotion of this distinguished officer,"' A telegram from Grand Haven announces the death of Capt. Alvin Dodge, local inspector of hulls in the Grand Haven district. He was fifty-six years of age and had followed the lakes for nearly forty years before being appointed to the ee ee service, Low Insurance For 1897, "An advertisement elsewherein this issue announces that iba new insurance combination, headed by Charles E. & W. F. Peck of New York, London and Chicago, is in readiness to undertake hull insur- | ance, as well as cargo business, in the latter of which the promoters of the combination have been engaged for some time past. Names of - the local concerns connected with the combination, and given out in connection with this business announcement, are Brown & Co. of Buffalo, La Salle & Co. of Duluth and J. G. Keith & Co. of Chicago. The foreign. connection is C. T. Bowring & Co. of Ne 5 and 6 Bil- liter avenue, H, C., London. Since the new Gentbinatinn has begun soliciting hull business, all 'of | the general agents who have been doing business on the lakes have been. very active in consulting their principals and their customers among vessel owners, either through lengthy correspondence or per- sonal visits, Within the past few days Mr. C. A. Macdonald of Chicago, Mr. F. P. Gordon, representing Johnson & Higgins of New York, and representatives of the firm of Smith, Davis & Co. and other general agents have all been in Cleveland assuring their customers | of ability to give them liberal policies and insufance in every way Sag - good and as cheap as can be had from anybody else." It is under- -- stood that a meeting of representatives of several of the lake agencies was held in New York, a few days ago,. and that an agreement of some kind may be made up even among these agencies and Johnson & ~ Higgins, notwithstanding. the opposition of the regular- companies. to _ Johnson & Higgins in the past. In the meantime vessel owners are -- not worrying about their insurance, as the indications are all in the direction of more liberal policies and lower premiums, especially on the best class of risks, on account. of the fight for business that has - been stirred up. It can not be learned as yet that there is anything being -done.towards. actually closing up insurance .contracts.-. -Some stories are told about the combination threatening to use its control of the cargo business as a leverage against vessel owners who do not place hull business with them, but the best information that can be -- neat vatively and are proceeding along straight business: lines, both in 1 the work of publishing ihe new register and in their 'solicitation of insurance. Poe Lock Is All Right. Editor Marine Review:--Your note of Feb. 20 is at hand, in which you inform me that from some sources a story has been cireu- lated to the effect that the machinery of the Poe lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., is not powerful enough, and that the service that will be obtained from the lock next season is not likely to be an efficient 3 one. Iam very glad that you have given me information of this . story, for until your note was received I had no idea that any 'such 2 wholly erroneous rumors were afloat. They are entirely wron g, and their circulation should be promptly arrested oe an authoritative con- tradiction. I therefore state that the power available for aerate 2 the machin- ery of this lock is not only amply sufficient, but even more abundantly so than is necessary. It is true that some parts of the machinery did not work with satisfactory smoothness and regularity during the past ' season, but the experiences of that period clearly indicated the causes -- of trouble and showed the remedies, The required changes are: com- paratively few, simple and inexpensive. They are now in progress, will be fully completed before next season's navigation opens, and -- an efficient service is confidently anticipated as their result. The Gola lowing record may be of interest in this connection: COMMERCE PASSING THE ST. MARY'S FALLS CANAL, MICHIGAN, FROM AUGUST 3 TO DECEMBER 10, 1896. Poe Lock. Weitzel Tae y x Total registered tonnage passed...... 2,986,972 _ 8,322,556 Total number of lockages....... een ee! 961 2,109... Total time of lockages, hours........ 730 923 | Average tonnage per lockage........ 3,109.2 1,575.4 si : Average tonnage per hour..........- 4,094 Bi 599: os Tt should be understood that during this period the Poe lock ° was, in reality, simply undergoing a thorough working test of its new and, in some respects, untried machinery; whereas the machinery of the Weitzel lock was thoroughly familiar to the operating force and in per- fect UE order throughout. G. J. Lydecker, Lieut. Colonel, oe of Hinpinerrs, U, 8. A. 2 - Detroit, Mich., Feb. 24, 1897. -- eee