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held--why not extend the benefit of the idea to each individual ship? Mates. "One matter that is always import- ant is the selection of the mates. I have explained to you before my thought that a mate should not. re- main too long with one particular master, but should be shifted about, so that when there comes to be a se- lection of a mate for a master's po- sition there will be the judgment of more than one master regarding his qualifications. "Especially is it fair that the mates on the smaller boats should have pref- erment and be given place on the larger boats when the master of one of the large boats desires a mate. It is not fair if one of the smaller boats has a particularly good man' that he be held on that boat while the master of one of the larger boats goes out and secures a mate elsewhere. It: is not in the line of promotion, and this feature is one that I wish to specially direct to your 'attention. "Last year a committee was appoint- ed on the subject of prizes for mates. While it is not practicable to adopt, at this time, the full report, yet I feel the time has come for some start in this direction. [I have therefore de- cided on a plan of prizes, the boats to be divided into two classes, 'A' and 'B.' "The particular items upon which the awarding of these prizes are to be 'based to be as follows: "General appearance of ship outside during running season. "General order and condition of equipment. ' "Degree of absence of rust in every part of the ship. "General discipline. "Changes on crew during season. "Amount of scraping and painting to be done when ship comes in at the end of the season. "The prizes shall be: - $75, 2nd $45; $30. "In order to stimulate the mates to Class 'A,' 1st Crass By 'ist S50. 2nd further interest in their work, I de-. 'sire that each mate prepare himself during the season to write a com- munication, setting forth his ideas re- _ garding the various items pertaining to the operation of a ship, in which he will dwell upon any items of nav- igation that may occur to him, his notions and thoughts in regard to the selection of men, the performing of work, in fact anything that may come ~ _to his mind, especially those items pertaining to the economical manner THE MaRINE REVIEW of doing work and the purchasing of supplies. -- "Every mate who remains during the season will. be asked to write such a letter; the communications will be submitted to competent judges at 'the end of the season who will pass upon them as to their merit. A first prize of $50 will be awarded, a second prize of $35 and a third of $20. I will personally give these prizes." Pittsburgh Steamship Co. Buys the Mills Boats The Pittsburgh Steamship Co. pur- chased the three steamers L. S. De- Graff, William M. Mills and W. B. Kerr from the Weston Transit Co. of Tonawanda, N. Y., of which W: H. Mills is manager. These three ves- sels, which came out in 1907, are the largest on the lakes, 'being 605 ft. over all,;-585. ft. keel, 60 ft. beam and 32 it. deep. In consonance with the policy of naming the vessels of the Pitts- burgh Steamship Co.'s fleet after men prominent in the Steel Corporation or its subsidiary companies, Mr. Coulby, president and general mana- ger of the company, has renamed the yessels. The William B. Kerr has been renamed in honor of Francis E. House of Duluth, president of the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad; the L. S. DeGraff has been renamed in honor of George G. Crawford of Bir- mingham, Ala., president of the Ten- nessee Coal & tron Railroad Co,, and the W. M.: Mills has been re- named in honor of William J. Filbert of New York, comptroller of the United States Steel Corporation. Much satisfaction is expressed in the trade over this purchase. The inde- pendent vessel owners are extremely glad to have the vessels thus elimin- ated from the wild market. The pur- chase of the vessels is in effect a subtraction from the independent ton- nage and strengthens the independent interest to that extent. The Pitts- burgh Steamship Co. had intended to build two vessels, having been author- ized by the Steel Corporation to do 'so early in the winter, but the pur- chase will of course delay the build- ing program for the time being. Improving Dock Equipment The present winter has been marked by considerable activity on the part of the railways in improving dock equipment and extending their water front facilities. During the past year the Pennsylvania system has been auietly filling in the west breakwater to the harbor line at Cleveland and March, 1911 while as yet there is little to show for what they have done, an enormoys quantity of material nevertheless has been dumped into the water. It js expected that the work will be sy. ficiently advanced 'by 'spring to begin the construction of a concrete ore dock to be equipped with unloading machinery of the most modern type, The Erie railway too, has greatly enlarged its ore handling facilities during the year, including the erection at Randall of a storage yard covering an area of about 15 acres and provid- ing practically unlimited storage ca- pacity. It has erected at Randal = modern movable car dump of the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan type with an unloading capacity of 15,000 tons per day and a 10-ton ore bridge, electric ally operated. It has also increased its coal loading facilities by the erection of an im- proved coal dump of the Wellman- Seaver-Morgan type on the west bank of the Cuyahoga river near the Center street bridge. This dump will be op- ' erated by the Pittsburg Coal Co. and has a capacity of 15,000 tons per day. Concerning these improvements H. E. Gilpin, general agent, has sent a cir- cular to the trade saying: "Viewing the past with the present and with an eye to the future growth of Cleveland and the city's commercial importance as a Lake Erie port, es- pecially in the movement of the vast iron ore and coal tonnage to and from the Lake Superior ore beds and the coal mines of Pennsylvania and Ohio, the Erie Railroad Co. has, during the past year, greatly improved and en- larged its ore handling facilities, and has under construction the most mod- ern and complete coal dumping ma- chine on the great lakes. "The ore docks of the Erie Railroad Co. are operated by the N. Y¥. Bow O. Dock Co., for whom Pickands Mather & Co., of Cleveland, are the agents, are located on what is known as the old river bed, practically at the harbor entrance, the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, have a dock frontage of 2,700 ft. and are equipped with four Brown electrically operated 5-ton, and with five Hoover & Mason steam operated 5-ton fast unloaders, having a maximum total unloading capacity of 30,000 tons per day. "The rail and yard facilities are stf- ficient to afford the most prompt Um- loading from vessels, and the move- ment of ore by the shortest and most direct route from Cleveland to the great iron and steel centers at Pitts- burg, Youngstown, Sharon and other