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

MARINE : Cleveland Dry Docks. The Globe Iron Works Co. of Cleveland thas been figuring for more than a year past on'the purchase of the plant of the Ship Owners Dry Dock Co., which wa$'closed a few days ago. The circumstances were such, when the dry dock company, a short time ago, put in a $16,000 plant for the repair of steel ships, and the Cleveland Ship Building Co. began the construction of a large dock in connection with its new ship yard at Lorain, that the Globe company was forced to secure control of this dock plant or build a new dock. It was this condition that caused plans to be made recently for a floating dry dock. But with control of the Ship Owners' plant, the Globe company is now much better off than would be the case if they had attempted the building of a dock of any kind on their own property. ied i The sale completed on Tuesday conveys to the principal stockholders of the Globe company--Messrs. H. M. Hanna, L, C. Hanna, Luther Allen, Robert Ireland and others--2,256 shares out of a total of 3,600 shares making up the capital of the Ship Owners' company, which, at $100 a share, par value, would be $360,000. It is understood that the price paid by the Globe company for this large block of stock was $122.50 a share, or on a basis of $441,000 for the entire property. This would mean for the retiring stockholders of the Ship Owners' comipany a price of $245 for each share of stock costing them $100, as the company doubled its stock when a new dock was built some time ago from accumulated earnings. But it is not thought that the Globe company has paid an extravagant price for the property, in view of actual assets that have caused sales of the stock of late in open market at figures about equal to those noted above, and in view also of the advantages to be derived by the ship building REVIEW. amount of repair work. The largest vessels now afloat on the lakes can be docked at this plant, but in order to care for the two or three steamers of 50 feet beam now building, it may be necessary to increase the width of one of the docks later. This can, however, be done without difficulty, The larger dock is 45() feet over all, 430 feet on blocks, 50 feet width of gate and 16 feet over sill. The smaller dock is 320 feet over all, 300 feet on blocks, 55 feet width of gate and 13 feet over sill. The 6,o000-ton Ships. The increased capacity of lake ships is strikingly illustrated in the difference between the largest cargoes of 1896 and those of the season just closed. The largest cargo moved on the lakes in 1896 was a load of ore taken on at Gladstone by the Mutual line steamer Coralia and delivered at Ashtabula. The weight of this cargo was 5,088 gross tons, or 5,699 net tons. From Lake Superior, where draft was limited on account of Sault river channels, the largest load in 1896 was 4,637 gross, or 5,194 net, moved from Ashland to Conneaut by the steamer Sir Henry Bessemer. During the season just closed vessels trading to Lake Superior have been loaded about as deep as those trading to Lake Michigan, and there have been as many as fifty or sixty cargoes exceeding 6,000 net tons. The record is held by the steel barge Amazon, owned by James Corrigan of Cleveland, in which a cargo of 6,307 net tons (5,631 gross) was moved from Duluth to South Chicago, on a draft of 17 feet 1 inch. Following are the largest cargoes of 1897: : Iron Ore--Schooner Amazon, owned by James Corrigan of Cleveland, 5,631 tons gross, or 6,307 net, Duluth to South Chicago, draft of 17 feet 1 inch; steamer Empire City, A. B. Wolvin of Duluth, 5,622 tons gross, or company from control of the docks. Stockholders of the Globe company are also in charge of the management of the smaller Cleveland dock, that of the Cleveland Dry Dock Co. They do not own a control of stock in this company, but their holdings are 'so close to a control that they would have no difficulty in making their interests secure in this regard. Thus the managers of the Globe company now have within their direction all three of the Cleveland docks, and the new river front property, which they have purchased from the Ship Owners' company, and which adjoins their ship yard at the head of the old river bed, gives them the most ex- tensive plant on the whole chain of lakes. But it is not at all probable that this control of Cleveland dry docks will cause any change in the charges for docking or repairs. The Cleveland Ship Building Co.'s inter- ests will, of course, be almost entirely at Lorain in the future, especially as leading stockholders in that company were also largely interested in the Ship Owners' Dry Dock Co., and competition between the Lorain and Cleveland plants will be just as spirited as it was when both concerns were in Cleveland. Among leading stockholders of the Ship Owners' Dry Dock Co. who retire from that concern on account of this sale, are Capt. Thomas Wilson, J. H. Wade, Robert Wallace, James Wallace, Valentine Fries, Henry D. Coffinberry and George L. Quayle. These gentlemen, with the exception of Capt. Wilson and Mr. Quayle, are interested in the Cleveland Ship Building Co. As yet the new interest in the Ship Owners' Dry Dock Co has effected an organization that is to last for only a couple of weeks, but the officers elected will, in most cases, be permanent officers. They are: \President, Luther Allen; vice-president, Capt. Geo. Stone: treasurer, R. L. Ireland; secretary, O. J. Fish; assistant treasurer and assistant manager, Gustav 'Cold; directors, H. M. Hanna, L. C. Hanna Luther Allen, R. L. Ireland, O. J. Fish, Geo. Stone and R. L. Newman. There has been some talk of the two dry dock companies--Ship Owners' and Cleveland--being consolidated, but the plans of the principals of the different companies in this regard have not as yet been fully arranged. With this dock plant the Globe company is prepared to do an immense 5 Wa =o Bade ; GLOBE IRON WORKS C6O.'S COMBINED SHIP YARD AND DRY DOCK PLANT--STEAMER REPUBLIO ENTERING DOOK. 6,296 net, Two Harbors to Cleveland, draft of 17 feet 2 inches; schooner Polynesia, James Corrigan of Cleveland, 5,477 tons gross, 6,134 net, Du- luth to Fairport, draft of 16 feet 8 inches. Grain--Steamer Crescent City, A. B. Wolvin of Duluth, 225,000 bush- els of corn, equal to 6,300 net tons, South Chicago to Buffalo, draft of 17 feet; schooner Amazon, James Corrigan of Cleveland, 205,572 bushels of wheat, equal to 6,167 net tons, Fort William to Buffalo, 16 feet 8 inches draft; steamer Empire City, A. B. Wolvin of Duluth, 205,445 bushels of wheat, equal to 6,163 net tons, Duluth to Buffalo; steamer Geo. Stephen- son, Bessemer Steamship Co. of Cleveland, 323,250 bushels of clipped oats, equal to 5,172 net tons, South Chicago to Buffalo, draft of 16% feet. Coal--Schooner Polynesia, James Corrigan of Cleveland, 5,654 net tons of bituminous, Cleveland to Duluth, 16 feet draft; steamer Carnegie, pees ee Co. of Cleveland, 5,869 net tons of bitwminous, Cleveland to Duluth. The Big Ships Count. The effect of sending the Bessemer fleet of big steel steamers and tow barges to Lorain for the winter is shown in figures that have been pre- pared regarding the tonnage at Lorain and Cleveland. There is in winter quarters at Lorain two-thirds as much tonnage as is laid up in Cleveland. In fact, there is no port on the lakes that will compare with Lorain in tonnage, when the number of vessels is considered. Although only nine- teen steamers and iten barges are laid up there, the aggregate gross ton- nage is 61,502. In Cleveland there are fifty-seven steamers and thirty- seven barges and schooners, but their combined gross tonnage is only 97,631. In previous years Lorain secured but three or four schooners and a steamer or two of the winter fleet, but the arrangement of the Cleveland Ship Building Co. for repair work on tthe Rockefeller fleet has made things different this winter. All charts sold by the Marine Review are corrected to date of sale.