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- returns. CD McClure said the city could probably realize $2000 rental annually from this source. j * * * Capt. J. T. Reid of the Reid Wreck- ing Co., Port Huron, Mich., recently returned from Galveston, Tex., where he inspected the wreck of the oil barge DELAWARE which was lying on her beam ends in Sabine pass. The DELAWARE sank in December and it is understood that the Reids will get the contract to salvage the boat. bot Be Bids for improvement of Vidal Shoals channel, St. Marys river, were opened recently in the office of Col. F. W. Altstaetter, Detroit, district engineer. Specifications call for supplying equip- NUSUAL atmospheric conditions, | reducing the range of visibility, are cited as the cause for the mishap to the Pacific Steamship Co.'s Oriental liner Umatitia, which ground- ed off the Japanese coast about 100 miles from Yokohama, March 4. The vessel carried a full cargo of box shooks and general merchandise for Hongkong and Singapore and was_mak- ing her second voyage to the Straits Settlements in the company's new Oriental service. : ok K * Advices from Honolulu indicate that enemy agents were responsible for crip- pling the new commandeered steamship SACRAMENTO on her first voyage out of Seattle, where she was built. The vessel was disabled at sea and was towed into port, where an investigation disclosed several steel bolts in one of her cylinders. : * Ok While offshore lumber shippers are worrying about obtaining vessels to carry their product to the foreign mar- kets, owners of coastwise lumber ves- sels are reaping large profits. The going rate to San Francisco is $7 per thousand and $8 per thousand to south- ern California, as compared to normal freights of $3.25 and $4, respectively. Every. carrier that can be pressed into the California trade is being operated and owners are said to be making good Even in the local trades, ton- nage is extremely scarce, but there is not the probability of its being com- mandeered as is the case with offshore vessels. a ORS ak _ The American motorship WeERGELAND, built for Norwegian interests at Olympia, Wash., and laden with a cargo of Puget Sound lumber for Sydney, Australia, met with a serious mishap on her maiden voyage. She returned to port leaking, with part of the deckload - gone and with two masts broken off at the top of the deckload. The Werce- LAND is equipped with oil engines and it is claimed that she would likely have drifted ashore had she not been : me equipped with power. The ship is now 'repairing at Port Blakely, Wash. ee ce 7 = THE MARINE REVIEW © ment. The Great Lakes Dredge & lee Co., contractor on other Vidal Shoa work, and the only bidder, offered . supply a plant including dredge tug an scow at $45 an hour with derrick, driver and crew at about $12.75 an hour.. eR Ok efinite announcement was made_re- ee of a deal in which the Reid Wrecking Co. with its drydock and shipbuilding plant at Port Huron is merged with the Foundation Co., one of the largest construction concerns 1 the United States. The deal is said to involve a large amount of money and members of the Reid company will hold stock in the larger concern. It is proposed to lengthen the present dry- dock to 625 feet to accommodate the largest steel steamers on the lakes Co. More than six acres of adjoining property have been taken on a long time lease with the object of extending the yard, which is rapidly growing. Tt is understood that another 12,000-ton drydock is to be built, although an- nouncement of this improvement has not yet been made. The plant now has one 12,000-ton dock and one of 3000-ton capacity. Shipping conditions have ex- panded so rapidly on Puget sound that it is considered likely the third dock will be built shortly. Weak ae The steel steamship ErrHu THOMSON, built at Newcastle, Eng., in 1888, has been purchased by the Akutan Whaling Co., for service between Seattle and the whaling station at Akutan, Alaska peninsula. The Ertnu THomson has been on this coast for many years. For a time she was operated in the Idawaiian trade. In recent years she has plied between Puget sound and Nome, Alaska, carrying refrigerated ineats. * Ok Ok Norton, Lilly & Co., steamship agents, have opened a Seattle office and are planning an active part in the Oriental - trade. This company has just dis- charged the Danish motorship Avus- TRALIEN with 10,000 tons of cargo from India and Straits Settlements and other large vessels are soon to follow. xk ** * To attend launchings at his Seattle and Tacoma plants, William H. Todd, New York, recently made a visit to Puget sound. He witnessed the debut of the first steel steamship from the Tacoma yards, the Tacoma, and also the BREMERTON from the Seattle yards. William S. Doran, a New York capital- ist, and James Esplen, who is supervis- ing shipbuilding in Canada for the British government, are also in the Todd party. President Todd announced at Tacoma this week that he had signed a contract to build 10 additional ves- sels of 7500 deadweight tons, similar to the Tacoma, at the Tacoma yards. * k 3k Falling into financial difficulties, the Sandstrom Shipbuilding Co., Seatile, has been placed under a_ receivership. - This firm is building four wooden ships for Norwegian interests and two for and the dock will be rebuilt. In addition, keels will be laid steel steamers of an average of 150 feet, described as trawle will be ready for delivery at of navigation this year. Kee e The names of the steamers V Star and A. E. Stewart, whi merly were American vessels but hail from Canada, have been hang The WesTERN STAR has been rena Gientsia and the Stewart, GLenar ee eds aa The steamer Fayette Brown j. drydock having 10 plates on her h repaired. The plates «were damaged as a result of grounding and ice con- tact last spring. 2 eh tae italian owners. The liabilities are said to approximate $1,000,000, the Nor. wegians being the principal creditors, . One of the ships is about 40 per cent' complete. See ME SOR Bs Extreme shortage of cars is hamper- ing trade through Puget sound. The result has been an embargo placed on Oriental shipments which will stop west- bound freight but will not relieve the -- situation for the lumbermen who are clamoring for cars to take their product to the East. Loaded cars awaiting dis- charge at terminals are on the road for several hundred miles into the interior. Never before has the conges- tion been so acute. ane K XK ok Observers of the trend of Oriental trade anticipate a sharp falling off in business with Japan and China during the latter part of the year. The agree- ment between the United States and Japan, whereby the latter is to furnish 150,000 tons of steamships is expected to increase the shortage of tonnage in the Pacific, while partial embargoes on exports of products from Japan are expected to reduce the movement of freight materially. On the other hand, Japan is to get heavy shipments of steel which will likely move through Seattle and will help to maintain Puget sound's high level of trade with the Far East. K ok * a Late advices announce the loss in the war zone of the American steamship CHATTAHOOCHEE, by a submarine. This vessel was in command of Capt. R. C. Lawe, Seattle, a well known Pacific mariner. The CHATTAHOOCHEE was formerly the German steamship SAcH- SEN. She arrived here from the Orient in December and from here was dis- patched to European waters under of--- ders from the shipping board. oe Uncertainty of conditions, increasing government restrictions and continued scarcity of tonnage are making it ex- -- tremely difficult for charterers to opef- ate in the Oriental trade. Vessels can be fixed with no degree of certainty as they are subject to commandeering as the government's requirements in- crease. The Norwegian -- steamship STORVIKEN has lain idle a month on