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be only six steamers on the Pacific coast flying the American flag. There are three times as many American warships in Pacific waters now than there are Ameri- can merchant ships, and if this patriotic nation can derive any comfort from that it is welcome to it, NOVEL TYPE OF BULK CARGO SHIP. The Michigan Alkali Co., of De- troit, has contracted with the Great Lakes' Engineering Works of. Detroit for the construction. of a novel type of bulk cargo ship to be employed in the transportation of coarse crushed limestone of which the alkali company use large quantities in the manufacture of soda ash, from the company's quarries at Alpena, Mich., to their works just below Detroit. The designs have been worked out _ by Messrs. Babcock & Penton, Cleve- land, and the ship will be 286. 4. keel, 306 ft. over all, 45 ft. beam and 24 ft. molded depth. A continuous double hopper extends all fore and -vaft through the cargo space, the cross section of the hopper having the shape of a flattened W with an extreme width of 39 ft., the extremi- ties being carried vertically to the spar deck, thus forming high side tanks. Under the hoppers and above the double bottom, continuous steel belt conveyers are fitted, discharging at the forward end onto a central inclined belt conveyor which extends aft and upward through the spar, deck and delivers to a third belt conveyor car- ried on a steel boom 'and arranged to swing to any angle with the ship and through a vertical angle of about 30 degrees. The two bottom convey- ors and the central inclined conveyor lare all driven by a 100 H. P. motor and the boom conveyor by a separate 30 HH. PP. motor. "Ourrent 16 7c plied by a direct- connected generator in the engine room. Gates are spaced every 8 ft. in the bottom of hoppers to control delivery of material. The depth of water available at quarry" restricts the load depth to 15 ft. and on this draught the ship will carry about 3,400 tons of cargo. There are 13 hatches' spaced: 12 feet. centers and the loading arrangements worked out provide for a pocket trestle ashore 'with .2 <spout = to. every hatch. It is figured to load the ship in about one hour without shifting. The unloading is caluculated at the rateof 750 tons pen hour with a safe margin. The propelling machinery consists "TRAE. MARINE. REVIEV/ of a triple engine 18 in., 29 in., 50 in., cylinder diameter by '36 'in. Stroke with two boilers 11% ft. by 11% ft. fitted with positive heated draft and for-a working pressure of 180 lbs. The usual equipment of auxiliaries including ballast pumps, electric light, Steam steerer, steam windlass and winches is provided. It is expected to make a round trip between the quarries .and the works every 48 bours with' a safe. marein. . Alto: gether the new ship marks another step in the rapid handling of bulk cargoes which has been' so_ highly developed on the Great Lakes. De- livery is promised for July. Two ships are, in fact, contemplated by the company, but the second will not be laid down until the first has under- fone het trial -[he cst boat? will be named. Wyandotte tnd the sec- ond Alpena in honor of the two ports between which the boats will trade. They will be operated by the Wyan- dotte Transportation Co. FREIGHT SITUATION. There is practically no change in the situation relating to lake trade. -No ore has been sold for 1908 de- livery and no charters have been made for moving it. This. affords a striking contrast to the conditions which obtained at the beginning of 1906 and 1907 when practically ev- ery shipper had sold all the ore that he cared to deliver and every vessel owner had-contracted for all the ore that he cared to carry.' The -years 1906 and 1907 were the years of maximum record on the lakes, the 1907 ore movement reaching the enormous total of over 42,000,000 tons. Of this 42,000,000 tons practically half of it was carried in ships owned by the company that had the ore to move. Practically 20,000,000 tons were moved in chartered vessels. If there is to be a greatly reduced movement of ore during 1908 the hope of the in- dependent vessel owner lies in the lateness of opening the active season. This is likely to be the course that will be pursued as there is an abund- lance of ore on Lake Erie docks which is moving to tthe furnaces very slow- ly. The storage capacity of the docks was practically exhausted when the season of navigation ended, and the movement from dock to furnace is perceptibly less this year than it has been for several years past. The necessity therefore does not exist for an early opening of navigation. On the contrary a late opening has a decided advantage. 46 pik 'of Catonsville, 'company. 23 CLARK WIRELESS. The @Clark» Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Co. of Detroit will do a general 'business both by wireless tele- graph and wireless telephone on the great lakes during the coming season. Francis B. Clark, vice president of the company, madé a trip to Pitts- burg last week for the purpose of se- lecting a site for a wireless station in that city. It appears that the com- pany thas demonstrated its ability to communicate over land. by wireless and will make a bid for the consider- able business that is now being trans- acted between Cleveland and Pittsburg in the iron trade. Mr. Clark, who was in Cleveland during the early part of the week, said that the station at Sault Ste. Marie would be ready for service by the opening of navigation. It is the intention of the company to also establish stations at Marquette and Duluth. 'Last season messages were transmitted from Port Huron and Detroit by Clark wireless with an efficiency of service which has never hitherto been reached on the lakes. The service was practically instanta- neous. The company has established its Cleveland office at 410 Rockefeller building. The company makes an an- nouncement elsewhere in this issue of its plans. It will be seen that during the winter the wireless telephone has been developed, Mr. Clark claiming that messages can be 'transmitted by his installation for a distance of over 15 miles. Overtures have been made the installation aboard the Corey and Cole of the Pittsburg Steamship Co.'s fleet. The sphere of influence of the wireless telephone, however, is secondary to that of the wireless telegraph, vessel owners be- | ing especially eager that the latter ser- vice shall be perfected first of all. There is an undoubted field, however, for the telephone and the lakes are likely to see before 'the year is out decided improvements in the means of communication between the shore and the steamer. M. Mitchell Davis & Son, Solo- mion's Island, Md. have another order for a tug, this one being from Capt. Vivian Philips, of Baltimore, Md., the tug to be 66 ft. 6 in. long, 16 ft. 8 in. beam and 7 ft. 6 in. deep. 'This firm also has on the stocks a 50 ft. yacht for Edward M. Fulton, Md., and a. tue for Angus Cameron, of Baltimore, which is 55. ft. in length, 14 ft. beam and 5% ft. deep. Several other tugs have also been ordered from this enterprising