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docks and ferries show that the gain in wharfage room in New York hare bor has been over 30 per cent during the past two years--embracing the ac- tive administration John A. Rensel. of Commissioner There is no improvement in 'the ice conditions of the Delaware River and Bay. While steam craft are still able to work their way through, it is with considerable difficulty. The ice is soft and coming from 'the upper Delaware in such quantities as to keep the city ice boats busy breaking it up. down While bound from -Frontera, Mex- ico, to Galveston, tthe Norwegian steamship Livingstone picked up a raft in the Gulf of Mexico upon which was a large dog held fast by a rope 'and. half "starved, Ihe ratte wae 3 crudely. constructed affair with a spar spiked in the center to which was lashed a barrel that had been whipped almost to shreds, and from tthe spar hung a piece of the blouse of a sailor. It ts believed that the raft had held one or two men when set adrift. At the request of Lieut. J. H. Wil- liard, U. S. engineer corps, in charge of the Newport district, Capt. Amos P. Tefft, of the Point Judith life sav- ing station, has furnished thhim with the number of vessels that have passed the station during the day for the past year. The figures state that in all 22,680 vessels of all sorts pissed the station, and this number would probably be doubled if an account of the boats that passed in the night could have been kept. Through a printer's error a daily paper is responsible for a news item in which a vessel is described as "standing inshore in a leaking cond:- tion and signaling for a tub." Possi- bly the crew intended bailing her out. The three submarine boats, Viper, Cuttlefish and Tarantula, have left the Brooklyn navy yard. for Annapolis under their own gasoline power. The naval tender Hist will accompany the submarines the entire distance. The flotilla is under the command of Lieut. C. E. Courtney on board the Hist. ae The flotilla returned with propellers damaged by ice on its first attempt. Among the passengers who arrived at New York Saturday on the Ward Line steamship Monterey were the chief engineer and 33 of the crew of "TAE Marine. REVIEW the German steamship Baker, which was wrecked on Colorado Reef, about 140 miles west of Havana, on Jan. 31. The Baker was bound from Phila- delphia to Port Barrios with a cargo of coal, her owners being M. J. Elsen & Co., and her agents in this country the United Fruit Co. Copenhagen in 1904 and was of 900 tons. Only . 11,122 vessels of all classes entered the harbor of New York last year. The former lake steamer Lucy Neff arrived at New York by way of the sound on Her 'way from "Detroit, Mich., to San Francisco. She left De- troit early in June and was _ over- hauled at Bath; Me Her. course around to the Pacific will be through the Stratts of Magellan, this being probably one of the longest ever taken by a steamer from port to port in the United States. Reports from Washington, D. C.,, show that the Gulf, Mexican and Canadian border ports are making a much more rapid growth in their ex- port trade than those of the Atlan- tic coast, In imports the relative loss' on the part of the Atlantic ports is not so great as in exports. Figures of imports and exports during the calendar year 1907 have just 'been completed by the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Commerce and Labor. They show that exports from. the Atlantic coast ports which in 1897 formed 70 per cent of the exports formed in 1907, but 60 per cent of the total, while all the other ports of the United States increased their share from 30 per cent in 1897 to 40 per cent in 1907. About 5,000 bales of cotton are floating about Trepassey Bay from the wrecked British steamer Tolesby. The fishermen in the vicinity are earning considerable money recover- ing this cotton at $5 per bale, thus far about 500 bales having been re- covered. The Tolesby went on the rocks near Seal Cove Pont on Jan. 13, while on her way from Galveston, Tex., to Havre, the crew being saved and the ship becoming a total. loss. Six coal barges belonging to the New: England Transportation Co. and in tow of the tug Frederick E. Ives, while attempting to make New Haven harbor in the storm early Saturday struck the breakwater in the fog and She was bu lt at - tt ps 31 sank. They contained about 600 tons of coal." The tbange hands were saved by the tug: Capt. P-erre Verlynde, of the French liner La Bretagne, was found drowned in thé water alomgside his vessel a few moments before sailing on the last. trip of the vessel from Havre. It is thought that some time during the night before sailing he started to go ashore, slipped on the gangway, and fell into the dock. Capt. Verlynde commanded the Bretagne for eight years. The new Italian steamship Duca Degli Abruzzi arrived on Monday at New York, and will take up her reg- ular sailing in the fast service be- tween Italy and this city. The Duca Degli Abruzzi is 553 ft. in length and of 7,792 'tons, propelled by twin screws. of 8000 H. PP °She fae accommodation for 100 first class and .1,800 steerage passengers, and aver- aged 1714 knots on her voyage over. STEAMER FOR CAPT. SULLIVAN. Capt. D. Sullivan of Chicago will add a modern freighter to his fleet at the opening of navigation. This ves- sel is now building at Lorain and will be ready for delivery when the navi- gation season opens. Contract for the steamer was originally placed by the Jenkins Steamship Co. of Cleveland but was later taken over by Capt. Sulli- van and a new company formed to operate it. The steamer is 524 ft. over all, 504 ft. keel, 54 ft. beam and 31 ft. deep, having 30 hatches spaced 12 ft. centers. She will carry 9,000 tons of ore. She will be named the W. H. Wolff. Capt. Sullivan will also man- age the B, F. Berry building for H. K. Oakes of Detroit, Mich. The Fre- mont Steamship Co. of Detroit has been incorporated to operate this steamer. Bids for effecting repairs 'to the lighthouse tender Holly, received re- cently by the inspector of the fifth lighthouse district, were as follows: Booz Bros., Baltimore, Md., $1,995; Marine Railway, Machine & Boiler. Works, Baltimore, Md., $2,034.55; Mc- Intyre & Henderson, Baltimore, Md., $2,007.50; Spedden Ship Building Co., Baltimore, Md.,° $1,958.75; Skinner ~ Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., Bal- -- timore, Md., $2,065; William E. Wood- | all & Co., Baltimore, Md, $2,833; Chesapeake Marine Railway Co., Bal- timore, Md., $1,933. The contract will probably go to the last named as that bid is the lowest one submitted. _