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eee eee If MARINE REVIEW. -- DEVOTED TO LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. hlo Published every Thursday at No. 409 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohlo, by John M. Mulrooney and F. M. Barton. Susscrtprion--$2.00 per year inadvance. Single copies 10 cents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, $1.00. Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second class Mail Matter. The books of the United States treasury department on June 30, 1896, contained ' the names of 3,333 vessels, of 1,324,067.58 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, 1896, was 383 and their aggregate gross tonnage 711,034.28; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 315 and their 'tonnage 685,204.55, so that more than 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, 1896, was as follows: : Gross i a Steam vessels......: i 1630. Sailing vessels and barges 1,125 354,327.60 Canal boats 416 45,109.47 MMO tales civ<sssenessuoareseas coceta teapestvnsssaseos 3,333 1,324,067.58 The gross registered tonnage of the vessels built on the lakes during the past six Oana; ROcOTatTE to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows: Year ending June 30. ee Bs aoe IN Se RAE BN cs 204 111,856 45 lessenssessececsecvacsceccscescsonnacprose 169 45,968.98 i oi Ss 175 99,271.24 ay ? 1 41,984.61 a ms s 9 36,352.70 as ie ef 117 108,782.38 BING Ue eeseanuesnesasanertsvstawssaressesuscucscssencacesescpectese® 864 444,216.36 8T. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. (From Official Reporta of Canal Officers.) St.Mary's Falls Canals. ~ Suez Canal. 1896* | 1895* 1894 1896 | 1895 | 1894 Number of vessel passages: 18,615 17,956 14,491 3,409 3,434 3,302 Tonnage, net registered......|| 17,249,418] 16,806,781] 13,110,366]} 8,560,284) 8,448,383] 8,039,175 Days of navigation...... ...... 232 231 234 365 365 365 *1895 and 1896 figures include traffic of Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie. Some Detroit vessel owner has entered into a combine with the editor of the marine column in the Detroit Free Press to regulate the marine business of the lakes. His latest complaint is against the Lake Carriers' Association, The interview claims that all the association is good for is to gain the recognition of congress of the greatness of the lakes and the necessity of givng raore money each year for their im- provement. He also gives it a rap for making wage cards, that the members do not adhere to. Then he outlines what the work of the association ought to be, as follows: 'But if the association existed for a purpose that it has thus far religiously fought shy of--the regulation of carrying charges--and if it succeeded in this mission, it would bind the owners together in a way that would give the organization mighty power indeed." This statement carries its own trademark, and the vessel owner must be new in the business not to have known that agreements have been made and broken among its members and owing to the diversified interests of lake commerce such agreements cannot be kept. If the Lake Carriers' Association went to dabbling in-freights it would not stick together ten days, and its work is now thoroughly appreciated by all the owners who have been in the business long enough to know anything about it. y The establishment of a subsidized steamship-line between Canada and the Central and South American ports may be safely 'regarded as an event of the near future, says the San Francisco Chronicle. In the first place, such a project is now under way; in the second, it has behind it the practical encouragement of two successful previous ven- tures. With tne aid of Dominion subsidies a line of first-class steam- ers has been put on between Vancouver and Hongkong, to the obvious disadvantage of our local trade, and another between Vancouver and Australian and Hawaiian ports. Both enterprises have paid. Hence it is a reasonable presumption that the Canadians will try their luck along the Spanish-American coasts, where opportunities exist that are not afforded by either of the other markets. i u6 A well-equipped competing line of this sort would be a serious matter for our mercantile and shipping interests. With the advantage of cheaply built British steamers, low-priced seamen and 'low-priced coal there would be the same marked difference in favor of the Cana- dian line which the British mercantile marine has long held over American rivalry. When to these advantages would be added a sub- sidy, nothing could be left our own maritime traders with the south coast except to do business at a loss, to go out of it altogether or to in- ------------ Te, duce congress to put,them on a fighting equality -with their rivals by providing subsidies also. 'hes Whatever may be the abstract opinion about the Subsidies for the merchant navy we shall have to come to them or let what little foreign carrying trade we have left go to the dogs with what we used to Possess, It needs but little argument to prove this. When rebates were giyen by the railroads the merchant who could not get one was unable to compete with the other who could. The same is true of shippers, Jj is a familiar principle of trade, and needs no special elucidation, We all know that the man who can do business at least expense is the one who gets the most of it to do, all other things being equal. ~ New Rules of the Road, By proclamation of the Cleveland administration made Dee, 31, last year the new international rules of the road at sea went into effect July 1. The new code covers all vessels on the high seas and in waters connected therewith which are navigable by sea-going vessels. The most important is the provision permitting vessels to carry an additional white light beside the one required. On a dark night there is no way of telling whether a vessel flashing one white light is 100 feet long or 500. The new law places these lights in line with the keel so that one shall be at least 15 feet higher than the other, and in such a position with reference to each other that the lower light shall be forward of the upper. The vertical distance be- tween these lights shall be less than the horizontal. In this way other vessels can tell the course of the lighted ship. _ . Under the new rules a vessel is "under way" when she is not at anchor, or made fast to shore, or aground, and for a vessel whose engines are stopped, so that she is not moving, but whose anchor is up, there is a rule providing that in fog instead of-ringing her bell and oe- casionally tooting her whistle she shall whistle every two minutes with two blasts. ; Another new rule says that a vessel when towing, a vessel em- ployed in laying or in picking up a telegraph cable, and a vessel un- der way, which is unable to get out of the way of an approaching yes- sel through being not under command, or unable to manoeuver as required by the rules, shall, at intervals of not more than two minutes, sound one prolonged blast followed by two short blasts. A vessel towed may give this signal and she shall not give any other. Sailing vesels and boats of less than 20 tons gross tonnage shall not be obliged to give these signals, but if they do not they shall make some other efficient sound signal at intervals of not more than one minute. The rules have been under discussion for nearly eight years. The International Marine Conference met in Washington in 1889 and agreed upon new regulations which were to be put in effect by a proc- lamation of the president when the action of the conference had been ratified by the leading maritime nations of the world. The British board of trade, however, objected to the sound signals contained in the amended regulations, and after much discussion another session of the American delegates to the international confer- ence was held last year in Washington, at which the recommenda- tions of the British board of trade were agreed to. : The only countries having a merchant marine which have not agreed to the new rules are Turkey, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Zanzibar, and it is expected that Venezuela will come in when the authority of the congress is assured. Ninety-five per cent. of the world's shipping is affected by the agreement. _. A comparison between the pay of men in the United States Navy and the pay of men in the British naval service shows the marked financial advantage which accrues to the American sailor. We pay a midshipman $1,200 a year, while Hngland pays him $160. We pay a naval cadet $500 a year, while England pays him $90. We pay amate $1,200, while England pays him $600. Uncle Sam pays his gunners and boatswains from $1,200 to $1,800 a year, while Johnny Bull pays only from $500 to $750. Subordinate officers we pay from $426 to $840, while England pays from $160 to $900. Higher officers of our navy, however, receive. much smaller salaries than British officers of equal rank. A rear admiral in our navy draws $6,000 a year, while the British officer receives $13,685. An American CcOlr modore gets $5,000, while an English commodore receives $6, 600. An American captain gets $4,500 a year, a British captain $4,650. ~ Am American commander gets $3,500 against $2,530 for his British cousi2. For all officers ranking the last the Englishman draws far the larger salary. cls