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12 MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. Published every Thursday at No. 409 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohlo, by John M. Mulrooney and F. M. Barton. SupscripTion--$#2.00 per year inadvance. Single copies10centseach. Convenient binders seut, 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 numes of 3,333 vessels, of 1,324,067.58 gross tous register iu the lake trade. 'Lhe 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 711,031.28; the number of vesseis of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 3léand 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 Tonnage. LGA MEV. CSSCSeccscsccctcscsestcsteccscccecsersotiescscedsesescacaccoses 1,792 924,630.51 Sailing vessels and barges : 354,327.60 ORM RISD ORES es cerrcoecetastccttsdccel dec dcerdeceedcctsacesscasscceeses 416 y 45,109.47 MNO GA eet cece Sens peccteucs ctseceses cosossseenscesseos 3,333 1,324,067.58 The gross registered tonnage of the vessels built on the lakes during the past six years, according to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation. is as follows: Year ending Jume 30. 1891 .............0sssseeecccsesseceecce essen 204 111,856 45 se SS ee SOD See eee ee es cseeisastsney 169 45,968.98 es " te TSO ae ee NaR nee ee oe occas 175 99,271.24 t fe i 1894...... De ARCO LY cue oui cect eaonena 106 41,984.61 ad ey * BOR ere eee ee) was genta casasiseeas 93 36,352.70 oe i iy OGG ee acc naccctesnCsb es cecpassectese 117 108,782.38 BD OG DLs ES IOI a SF eh i sea 864 414.216.36 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. (From Official Reports of Canal Officers.) St.Mary's Falls Canals. Suez Canal. 1896" | 1895+ 1894 1896 | 1895 1894 Number of vessel passages 18,615 17,956 14,401 3,409 3,434 3,352 - 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 23 365 365 365 / *1895 and 1896 figures include traffic of Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie. "As the foundation of the colossal structure of England's ocean com- merce is the English ship yard," says Louis Nixon in the North American Review, "so also upon the foundation of the American ship yard will rise a powerful American merchant marine. At best, our attitude towards sea power, both naval and commercial, is that of aspiration. England's attitude is that of possession. It must be admitted, however, that even this aspiration, up to date, is sentimental rather than practical, so far as the general American public is concerned. Almost every American who travels abroad regrets, or is ashamed of, the absence of our flag from the commercial ports he visits, But he only misses the flag, which his in- - stinct of patriotism impels him to wish he could see. He does not, as a _ rule, reflect that the absence of that flag means in money a yearly tribute of $300,000,000 to England! It does not occur to him that if he could see _ that flag everywhere he goes, it would mean that $300,000,000 every year _is staying in American pockets instead of being, as it is, drained every year from ours into English pockets. He does not even realize that his own _ travel involves the transfer of American money to English pockets. He has not studied the economics of the matter enough to realize that the most _ portentious fact of our time is that the moment the gang-plank is cleared away, he, an American citizen, becomes a British taxpayer; that, the moment the ship in which he is a passenger crosses the limit of the marine league from any shore, he becomes a British subject, living on British soil and amenable to British laws." James J. Hill of Great Northern Railway fame was introduced to a party of Buffalo business men at a dinner tendered him by a few friends in that city on Monday last. Mr. Hill was inspecting the new Great Nor- thern elevator at Buffalo and was undoubtedly pleased with the opportunity to meet representative men of the city, as his appearance frequently at meet- ings of commercial organizations throughout the northwest would indicate a policy of keeping in touch with the people wherever he may acquire business interests. He told the Buffalo businessmen that transportation facilities make geography very rapidly these days, and it will not do for any locality to rely entirely upon its natural advantages or relax its efforts to keep ahead of all competitors. He referred to the great facilities which the Chesapeake & Ohio rail route had put at the service of the grain ex- port trade at Newport News and compared them with the charge of 3 cents per 100 for the transfer of grain to vessels at New York, a charge, as he pointed out, 50 per cent. greater than the average charge for carrying the grain from Duluth to Buffalo. "The business of transportation in these times,' said Mr. Hill, "must be done in a most economical and efficacious manner. The times will not admit of the carrying of any dead wood. It is for the interest of all citizens of Buffalo that the current of commerce setting in this direction should not in any way be impeded." It would seem strange that any objection should be made in Canada to bringing an old vessel like the Yantic to the lakes when modern ships like the two new revenue cutters, to be launched shortly at the Globe Works, Cleveland, are being built by both countries. These vessels are much the same as the Gresham, already built, and when they are in com- . mission the United States government will have on the lakes, whatever may be said to the contrary, three ships that could be readily fitted up for effective service in case of trouble. These cutters are fitted with ram bows, which make them far more formidable than was any one of the fleet of the immortal Perry on the lakes in that interesting brush with Great Britain, about 100 years ago. In addition to ramming bows the new vessels will be equipped in time of danger with torpedo tubes. At present, on account of the treaty in regard to arming on the lakes, the cutters will be equipped with only one rapid fire rifle gun, six-pounder, but in time of necessity they will be able to take on four more of such guns. These are breech-loading, cartridge-ejecting guns, and would be very destructive against ordinary shipping or against a land defense. Each vessel will carry forty modern magazine rifles and accouterments, twenty revolvers of navy pattern, and the required equipment of cutlasses and other small arms. Gen. Spaulding, one of the officials of the treasury department who has to do with the remission or modification of fines imposed upon vessels for violation of navigation rules, is said to favor changes in speed rules for navigation of the St. Mary's river. He has found cases in which he says vessel masters who were fined for running the river at a rate of speed in excess of the rules were forced to do so in order to maintain steerage- way, etc. However this may be, Gen. Spaulding, as well as other treasury department officials, who may be concerned in these rules, will probably find it to their advantage to proceed cautiously in criticism of the rules or in proposing changes of them. It is admitted that the speed limit is probably low for steamers running without tows, and there are some vessel owners and vessel masters who object to the rules on this account, but the vessel interests in general meeting have given the subject consid- eration and have declared positively, two or three times, that it is impossi- ble to satisfy everybody, and that it is therefore best to leave the rules as they have been from the beginning. The numerous interviews with Gen. Spaulding that have been sent out from Washington of late will certainly not tend to increase respect for these rules or for the navigation laws of the lakes as a whole. The stern frame of the 700-foot Atlantic liner Oceanic, building at the works of Harland & Wolff, Belfast, is probably the biggest thing of its kind ever constructed. It was made by the Darlington Forge Co., and as a rough casting it weighed forty-three tons. 'When machined and in place it weighed thirty-eight tons, the section being 21 inches by 11 inches and the height 53 feet from the lower part. The propeller brackets, for twin screws, have been worked securely into the structure, the distance between the bosses being 23 feet, the bosses themselves being 51 inches in diameter and their fore and aft length 67 inches. As machined and erected, this part of the frame weighed thirty-six tons. The 'Oceanic will be launched in January. Her cost is estimated at $3,750,000. It is said that the object of Mr. Pirrie, managing director of the firm of Harland & Wolff, in coming to this country recently was to study American social customs and preferences in connéction with the fitting up of the Oceanic. Chief Constructor Hichborn of the navy shows how closely the weight of a ponderous battleship can be estimated trom designs by the naval experts. In a paper prepared for the recent meeting of naval architects and marine engineers in New York he presented a tabie giving a com- parison betwen the weights of the battleship Lowa, as estimated at the time of her design in lsyz, and the actual finished weights obtained by weighing every object which went into the ship. The net finished weight of the ship, with her designed coal, at normal displacement, was within twenty tons of the original estimate--the total finished weight being 11,127% tons, the estimate ori the same quantity being 11,108 tons. It is again reported that the ship building plant at Newport News, Va., is to be sold out to Lord Armstrong of Newcastle-on-lyne. Some time ago, Sir Edward J. Reed, the London shipping expert, visited New- port News and subsequently arranged a meeting between Lord Armstrong and Mr. C. P. Huntington. Rumors of a sale of the ship yard to En- glishmen have been heard off and on since that time. lt would seem strange, however, that such a sale should be even thought of, as the New- port News concern, now engaged on three battleships, could certainly expect no patronage from the United States government if controlled by foreigners. There seems to be no occasion for surprise expressed in English trade journals upon learning that the crank and propeller shafts of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse are made of nickel steel. The Bethlehem Iron Co. made the single-throw built-up crank shafts of the St. Louis and St. Paul of this metal and also two line shafts for the battleships Iowa and Brook- lyn. Even the owners of course freight carriers on the lakes are consid- ering the use of nickel steel for shafts. The Bessemer Steamship Co. has been figuring with the Bethlehem company for this material in shafts of their latest 6,000-ton freight steamers. The question of regulating lake levels by means of dams, and especially one at Niagara, will undoubtedly be quite fully considered by the com- mission of engineers recently appointed by President McKinley to make surveys and investigations pertaining to a deep-water outlet from the lakes to Atlantic tidewater. Major Raymond of Philadelphia, Geo. Y. Wisner of Detroit and Alfred Noble of Chicago, constituting this commis- sion, spent a couple of days last week inspecting parts of the Detroit and St. Clair rivers that are involved in the problems which they have in hand. Pig iron production throughout the country is now close to the maxi- mum record of 1895. On Nov. 1 the production in 183 furnaces was at the rate of 213,159 tons weekly. The decline in stocks, however, is such as to indicate that even this heavy production is not in excess of the con- sumption. Just now the market is a little easier than it has been for two or three months past, but there is little, if any, reserve capacity leit in the furnace line. German steel castings of the largest and most difficult type have lately been produced in a manner and at a price which British manufacturers have been unable to touch, and it is now no secret that British builders have, much against their will, been compelled to go to Germany for such material--Nautical Magazine (English).