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

1901.) MARINE REVIEW. | 25 FIRST IRON CARGO VESSEL ON THE LAKES. The. Buffalo Express recently contained a sketch of David Bell, ship builder, which was interesting because it contained an account of the first merchant vessel of iron built on the great lakes. This was the propeller Merchant of 720 tons, the first cargo boat to burn coal under her boilers. The Merchant was begun by 'Mr. Bell in 1861 for J. C. & J. T. Evans and was completed in 1862. She was a success from the start. When built she was valued at $90,000. She was lengthened in 1872 and her value thereby increased to $120,000. In 1875 she struck on Racine reef and sank, becoming a total loss because the season was so far advanced that it was useless to try and raise her. From 1862 to 1875 she made 2,041% trips, Iron screw steamer Merchant, built in 1861. and during that time she paid the underwriters for insurance on hull and eastbound freight $154,535.80. The total amount on account of insurance during that period was $143,913.25, leaving a profit to. the underwriters of $10,622.55. During the career of the Merchant she sank twice in Detroit river and once in a fog on. Lake Michigan through striking on rocks and shoals. 'The Merchant during her life was a great money-maker, the freight.on wheat from Chicago to Buffalo at that time. being as high as 25 cents a bushel. SHIP MASTER IN LAKE AND OCEAN TRAFFIG.* Probably I can not do better in writing something for the Ship Masters' directory than to call the attention of members of the associa- tion to the fact that a radical change is now coming upon the character of their business, a change that will have an important influence upon the lives of many of them, and upon the world's opinion of the character and ability of men of the organization. I refer to the inauguration of lake and ocean traffic, which, starting in a tentative way with the despatch of four vessels to the Atlantic coasting trade this winter, may be said to have been fully inaugurated with the establishment of eight lake and ocean vessels during the present season. There is much discussion going on in shipping circles as to how the lake captains will take hold of the new duties they will necessarily have to assume in the 'fresh and salt water trade. It is generally admitted that they have few equals on sdlt water in the actual handling of vessels; in seamanship, pilotage and steam- boating they are admittedly superior; but how about the other duties of a salt water captain? Navigation they can readily learn; in fact, masters are coming to me in increasing numbers every day to take up the study of this science and, with few exceptions, they find it surprisingly easy. I presume it is because I have had occasion to find the extent of their knowledge that so many have asked me the questions indicated above. _ 3 4 In the early days of lake navigation a captain represented his owner. He had complete authority over the vessel, went from port to port as his judgment dictated, made her charters, incurred and paid her 'bills, and acted as manager ashore as well as captain afloat. At the end of the season he was generally able to show a profit that depended almost en- tirely upon his business ability and skill in his profession. With the rapid increase in civilization, telegraph and mail facilities, and the divi- sion of labor, shore work was taken more and more out of the captain's hands; all business was transacted for him by owners and their agents and he was simply required to report the arrival of his vessel, take their instructions as to unloading, and as soon as he was unloaded he found a cargo waiting for him. He was still an important man, however, as the safety and speed of the voyages depended entirely upon his seaman- ship and knowledge of the shores and bottoms of the various bodies of water he traversed. With the adoption of steam, the close survey of the lakes and the rapid establishment of beacons, buoys, marks and ranges," his duties have been gradually reduced to pilotage and the government of his crews. He has become the most skillful pilot in the world, but the remainder of his profession was rapidly becoming a lost art. Now he is suddenly called upon to practice his profession in its entirety, to retain all his old time skill upon the lakes and also compete with his salt water brethren in skill, in finesse, in knowledge of ports and customs and in daring, and people are asking me how he will manage his new re- sponsibility. They do not question his courage, or his ability to find his way safely from port to port; but how about his business sense? Has he the acumen and judgment to take charge of two or three hundred thousand dollars worth of tramp steamer and make a dividend on her? Let me give an instance: Two tramps arrived at a South American port, they *An article by W. J. Wilson, principal of the Chicago Nautical School, in the Ship Masters' directory. found a cargo to one port at a handsome freight; one of them took it and after discharging laid in harbor two weeks and then had to go 1,000 miles light before he could get another cargo. The other refused the proffered cargo and loaded for another port at a much lower freight; at the second port he readily got a cargo to New York, and from there to England, so that his vessel was earning all the time. Which was the best judgment? Then as to port charges and supplies; will he keep his bills down? These are questions that are in the minds of the average owner and capitalist today, and they are scrutinizing the membership of the Ship Masters' Association very closely on these lines, and questioning all who come intimately in contact with them. For my part I believe the answer must, in the main, be favorable to the lake ship master. The question is one of education and men, chiefly of men. As to education, some of that must be acquired by the captain at his own expense and some at the expense of his owner, and that is why the owner is guessing. How much of this education has the owner got to pay for in the shape of experience for his captain, and how far will the captain's education and natural ability offset his lack of business experience if his owner puts the ship in the lake and Atlantic trade? He will have to meet chiefly the British and German tramps. They are captained very largely by men of inferior education and ability, who have grown up in the trade. Many of them started as boys before the mast and had little schooling and practically no shore life, The brightest and best educated are constantly called out for better positions in the line steamships, so that the average is kept rather low. The lake captains will be distinctly at a disadvantage in competition with the men of the liners, for they have the pick of the world to choose from. I am inclined, though, to think that they have not much to fear from the personnel of the smaller tramps. The lake captains are distinctly better educated than the men of the smaller tramps; their winters ashore have given them better business knowledge, and they are naturally acute and mentally vigorous. Many of them will fit themselves to hold their own from the beginning, so that the owner will have little to pay for if he selects his captain carefully. NO SALVAGE FOR SEAMEN. It would seem from a decree just entered in the case of the steamer C. F. Bielman by Judge Seaman of the United States district court, Mil- waukee, that seamen are not entitled to become salvors, whatever may have been the peril or hardship or gallantry of their services in saving the ship or cargo. The suit is one in which vessel men have betrayed considerable interest and the decision is regarded as a very important one. The Bielman stranded last fall with a cargo of coal on Lake Michigan. Orders were sent ashore for a tug, lighter and men to unload part of the coal cargo and release the vessel. In the meantime bad weather came up and the crew was put to work throwing the cargo overboard, on the understanding with the master and mate, they claimed, that it was an insurance job and that they were to be paid 75 cents an hour. They worked night and day and at great peril. They were afterward refused special compensation! _ In his decision Judge Seaman says it is important in the event of distress or shipwreck for seamen to exert themselves to the utmost of the ship, cargo and stores. Salvage service, says the court, can only be per- formed by persons not bound by legal duty to render them, and seamen are not entitled to become salvors no matter how great the peril or hard- ship. The situation was one that called for the utmost exertion on the part of the master and crew. If the master of the Bielman, under the stress of circumstances, promised the seamen better pay at the expense of the insurers the promise, Judge Seaman says, was unwarranted, as it merely called for the performance of an existing obligation, and at best was without consideration. "Therefore," continues the court, "while the proof preponderates in favor of the alleged promise of better pay, I am satisfied it can receive no judicial sanction as a binding agreement or as a discharge in any sense from the service of the ship." SHIP BUILDING NOTES FROM THE PACIFIC. The Tacoma. Ship Building Co., Tacoma, Wash., was incorporated recently for the purpose of building and repairing ships. The city of Tacoma donated a site on the Puyallup river 400 ft. deep and with a water frontage of 975 ft. The site is less than a mile from the deep water an- chorage of the harbor and is hard level ground that will require but little filling. The company has already secured a contract from the Charles Nelson Co., San Francisco, for.a four-masted barkentine, 235 ft. over all, 41 ft. beam and 16% ft. deep. In order to start upon the vessel at once it will be built upon land adjoining John B. Hardy's machine shop. The trustees of the new company are A. T. Stream, Joseph A. Sloan and John B. Hardy. At Hoaquiam, Wash., Geo. H. Hitchings is building at a cost of about $90,000 a wooden steamer 206 ft. long, 38 ft. beam and 14% ft. depth of hold for the Elkwood Lumber Co. of San Francisco. She is to have triple expansion engines with cylinders of 13%, 23 and 40 in. diameter, with a common stroke of 30 in., and two Scotch boilers of 10% by 10% ft. Furnaces are to be fitted for the use of oil as fuel. The steamer will en- gage in the Pacific coast lumber trade, carrying about 800,000 ft. Her owners expect to operate her very economically on account of the use of oil, which will be taken on in the lower part of California... Enough oil can be stored for fourteen days' run. It is estimated that the vessel will burn 2,000 gallons per day. (Mr. Hitchings is also building a' four-masted schooner that is ex- pected to carry about 700,000 ft. of lumber and which is to cost $42,500. The B. F. Sturtevant Co. of Boston, Mass., is rapidly recovering from the effects of the fire of April 14, which affected only the engine and elec- trical departments. With only a day's delay, incident to the renewal of belts, the remainder of the plant has been running as usual. Already a complete new equipment of improved machine tools is nearly installed in other buildings. As the Sturtevant company employs electric transmission for the driving of a considerable portion of its tools this work of installa- tion has been a comparatively simple matter. Further delay in shipment of engine and electrical work is unlikely for no patterns or drawings were destroyed and the foundry, with a large stock of castings, is intact.