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PACIFIC COAST NOTES. Office of the Marine Review, 302 Pioneer Bldg., Seattle, Wash., Jan. 15, The Moran Go. Seattle, has been awarded the contract for the construc- tion of three light draught stern wheel "wooden steamers to be built for ser- vice on the Copper river and Chitina river, Alaska, carrying supplies and ma- terial for the new Copper river rail- road. The boats are being built for the Katalla Co., Seattle. The price was "snot. made public. Work on the new 'steamers will commence at. once and will be completed without delay; it is expected that the vessels will be com- 'pleted ready for shipment north by May 1, so as to be in the rivers when navi- gation opens. The contract calls for the vessels complete with hulls, cabins, machinery and equipment. One of the two boats will be 120 ft. in length and the other two 90 ft. each. The vessels will draw from 20 in. to 2 ft. of water. They will be shipped knocked down and erected on the ground. The new steamers will be named after rivers in the Copper river country. The Moran Co. has received further advices re- garding the submarine torpedo -boats which it is to build for the Electric Boat. Co. While it is probable that four of the submarines will be constructed by the Moran Co. this has not been settled definitely; it is certain however that this company will construct two of the boats. The Moran Co. has also under way a steel coasting steam schooner which will probably be com- - pleted in April. . A definite decision has been reached regarding the overhauling of the six old sailing ships recently purchased by, the Coastwise Steamship & Barge Co. for freighting rock from Port Orchard, Pu- get Sound to Grays harbor, where it will be used in the new government jetty. The ships which were purchased are: Palmyra, Big Bonanza, Charger, James Drummond, St. James and Caron-. dolet. The work of dismantling and converting into towing hulks of the St. James, James Drummond and _ Caron- dolet has been given to Philip D. Sloan. The price of the work is about $10,000 and it will be finished by April 1. The ships are 217 ft. long and have an av- erage 'capacity "of 1,500 'tons, The barges will be finished with two decks and three working hatches. The hatches Wil be aio 4t.10 in: by 18 ft. 10 in, and the combings, built from 16 x 18 in. timbers, will extend on either side of the hatches for the full length of the 'decks. The other three vessels, Palmyra, Big Bonanza and Charger, will be con- verted by the Coastwise Steamship & has -couver, Wash., TAE Marine REVIEW Barge Co., at its own yards at Smith Cove. On account of the. unseasonably cold weather shipping on the Columbia river practically ceased. Above Van- the river is frozen solid at points, while between Portland and the sea the amount of floating ice is so great as to make navigation extreme- ly difficult and unsafe. The steamship Alliance bound from Portland to Coos Bay was unable to proceed beyond St. Helens. Delays experienced by other vessels have been numerous and exas- perating. When the ice breaks in the upper river it is feared that naviga- tion on the lower river will be in worse condition than it is at present on account of the unusual amount of floating ice that will be then set free. The schooner William Bowden four days making the trip from Astoria to Portland (100 miles) on account of the floating ice and when she arrived at her destination her hull was so badly damaged that the underwriters ordered a survey. Extensive repairs will be made on the: dry dock and yard at -Esquimalt, near. Victoria, B. .C., by: the: British government. The naval wharves and boatslips will be virtually rebuilt. The repairs will be carried out under the direction ot Capt. J; H. Parry, -of HH: M, S. --Egeria. It is now regarded as certain that the imperial government has abandoned the idea of turning the dock- yard over to the Dominion authorities and that the departed glory of Esqui- malt as the bhse of, a strong British squadron will be restored. On account of the ice in Columbia river the steamer Majestic was unable to enter the Portland dry dock and so came to Puget Sound for minor repairs Jen; 12; The Majestic is having a piece put in her bow where she was struck by the Yosemite at Astoria re- cently. It is understood that the Ma- jestic and the Carlos which left San Francisco together Jan. 5 had a test of speed coming up the coast and that the advantage lay with the Majestic. Reports from Prince Rupert, B. C., have been received indicating that ship- ping in that vicinity has been damaged and badly handicapped by ice recently. The tug Lottie N. while moored at her anchorage opposite Port Essington wharf was caught in the ice floes and driven ashore on the rocky point above the town. A hole was stove in her side and she sank but her owners have Was. hopes of raising her. The tug Topaz was also driven ashore and turned on, her beam ends but being built of steel sustained little damage. The steamer Skeena which has been running up the river from Port Essington for two months has been hauled out- of the water, for the winter. The British courts have decided that the British bark Clan Buchanan' must pay $10,000 as salvage to the tugs Rose, White Rose and Eagle which saved her from being wrecked in a gale in Barry Roads... The new Canadian Pacific steamer Princess Charlotte has com- menced regular service between Vic- toria and Vancouver, B. C. The 'Sser- vice began Jan. 13. As a result the Princess Victoria will run between Se- -- attle and Victoria and the Princess Roy- al between Seattle and Vancouver here- . aiter. The Norwegian ship Hovding, Capt. H. J. Hansen, which finished loading 1,500,000 ft. of lumber at the Weyer- hauser mill, Everett, Jan. 8, and bound out for Delagoa bay, South Africa, was seized .by the sheriff on a writ of at- tachment issued by the superior court of Jefferson county. The amount in- volved is about $400 and it is alleged to be due to-Sims & Levy, shipping agents, Port Townsend. Capt. Hansen is alleged to have violated a contract of three years duration to take sailors at $35 each. The .U. S. cable ship Burnside left Seattle Jan. 13, fully equipped to pick up and repair the Alaskan cable which broke at 2:05 pm. Jan. 11. T. Ishada, representing Mitsui & Co., Tokyo, has Seattle- for the purpose of arranging for an_ irregular steamship service between Seattle and the orient to be inaugurated by his com- pany. Mr. Ishada also represents the Japanese government and is making ar- rangements for coaling the four Japan- ese warships that are to arrive on the Pacific coast in April. The squadron will be composed of two armored cruis- ers and two training and will leave Japan in March, visiting Seattle, San Francisco, Panama and Honolulu. arrived in ships The bid of the American Ship Windlass Co., Providence, R. I., of $800 for furnishing a for the lighthouse was the only one received by the lighthouse inspector at Baltimore. This company has been awarded the contract. steam windlass tender Jassamine,