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' has been taken across Lake 196 dent of the United Fruit Co., with head- quarters at New Orleans. : ok The fourth 9500-ton steel steamer built by the Doullut & Williams Shipbuild- ing Co., Inc., at its New Orleans yard, Pontchar- train and thence across the gulf to the mouth of the Mississippi river and up that stream to New Orlears for cargo ECAUSE of unfavorable condi- tions, practically no whaling is to be done in north Pacific waters this season. The various companies state that owing to the low price of oil they can not operate at a profit and for this reason the fleets will remain idle unless the market improves immediately. This decision means much less work than usual for the ship repair plants. Inasmuch as a majority of the salmon canneries in Washington and Alaska will not operate during the coming sea- son a quiet summer is in prospect. * * & Todd Dry Dock, Inc., Seattle, have just lifted the Japanese liner MANILA Maru, this being one of the heaviest vessels ever handled on the Seattle docks. The ManitA Marv during her voyage from Yokohama encountered. unusually heavy seas which caused her to leak and an underwater survey in dock was necessary. * * After an absence of three years, the 12,000-ton American steamer WALTER A. LUCKENBACH has returned to Puget sound for cargo.. This vessel was built there by the old Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Co. for the Luckenbach Steam- ship Co., being the largest freighter con- structed on Puget sound. Before being launched, the vessel was commandeered by the government and she sailed on her maiden voyage under sealed orders. This is her first visit to Puget waters since. * * * The American wooden steamer ANyYox, owned by James Griffiths & Sons, Seattle, has been transferred to British registry. This vessel has had an unusually suc- cessful career since she was built at the Griffiths yards at Winslow, Wash. She is engaged in freighting ore and copper to and from the Granby plant in British Columbia. eo' With the advent of the United States Transport Co. in the intercoastal service, 10 lines are now on this route. The first vessel of this new line is now enroute from New York, Philadelphia and Bal- timore. A. M. Gillespie, Inc. has been appointed Washington and Oregon agent. A semimonthly service is announced. * * * Unusual interest attaches to the elec- tion of Yonejiro Ito as president of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha succeeeding the late Baron Kondo. The new president is widely known along. the Pacific coast and especially in Seattle where the Nippon Yusen Kaisha has north Pacific MARINE REVIEW She was christened City OF ELwoop. The other three so far completed are the New ORLEANS, Potter .and WICHI- TA. oe Ss Capt. John Klein, Pittsburgh, who holds a 3-year contract with the Stand- ard and Associated oil companies for bringing iron pipe from the Pennsyl- vania port to New Orleans for trans- Activities Along the Pacific Coast headquarters. President Ito joined the company as a clerk in 1896 and _ since then has risen rapidly. He served in the company's headquarters in Yokohama and also saw service in Shanghai and London while he has spent some time in Seattle. ee os The steamer KurLANnp, a_ 16,000-ton freighter purchased by the Robert Dollar Co. in Great Britain, is to be renamed Ropert Dotiar after the -- venerable head of the firm. Several other large carriers have borne the same name but they have all been sold. The new Ros- ERT DOLLAR is enroute to the west coast from London. j ( * * * Delayed at the Panama canal because of machinery repairs the Norwegian steamer HERMION lost her charter for a cargo of grain, at. Portland, Oreg., by a margin of 72 hours. Negotiations are now under way for a recharter. * * * On Feb. 24, Portland's new port dredge COLUMBIA was successfully launched. This craft will be used in keeping the channel clear in the vicinity of Portland and will be operated by the port. The tank steamer Swirtstar, also built at Portland, has undergone her trials and has been accepted. The wooden schoon- er NortH BeEnp, built by Kruse & Banks, North Bend, Oreg., has been completed and is now loading lumber at Coos Bay for Callao. * * * As the result of a court decision, W. F. Hodges, trustee appointed by credi- tors when the Prince Rupert Drydock Co., Ltd, went into bankruptcy, will be required to return nearly $100,000 worth of material which he removed from the yards to a private warehouse in Prince Rupert, B. C. This decision is based on a clause in the contract between the company and the department of marine which has been interpreted as a lien em- bracing not only the two vessels now in process of construction but also the yard's plant and equipment. The ruling is of considerable interest. * * * Importers of Oriental products through Pacific gateways have recently begun to divert their shipments over a new route because of the refusal of the rail- roads east of Chicago to establish im- port and export rates. Under the new arrangement, cargo received at Seattle by water from the Orient is shipped by rail to gulf ports and thence carried by water to New York or other Atlantic April, 1921 shipment to the oil fields 6 ' is assembling a fleet of bates jilerico in freighting the pipe down the Me sissippi to shipside at New Orleans i expects to make delivery of 6000 'tons of pipe every 30 days, and has a chased nine barges, six of which ha : been taken to Pittsburgh by the oe ernment towboat Nokomis. Freight ot fered will be carried on the return trip up river. . destination. By this plan, it is claimed the shipper is able to deliver his freight in New York for the same amount that it costs to lay it down in Chicago under present tariffs. Ki *- & Vessels of the Canadian government mercantile marine will shortly make Seattle a port of call, heretofore. only British Columbia ports having been in- cluded in the itinerary. The first vis- tor of this fleet will be the Cawnapian ProsPector which is bringing 4000 tons of wool from Australia for discharge at Seattle. oe |e The transpacific conference has just cut the rate on wood pulp from north Pacific ports, including British Columbia, to the Orient from $12.50 to $10. * * * Establishing an assembling and dis- tributing yard in Baltimore with a ¢a- pacity of 100,000,000 feet of lumber, the Weyerhauser Forest Products Co. is planning to invade Atlantic coast markets by water. Because of the high freights by rail, the Weyerhauser company, one of the largest manufacturers of lumber in the northwest, intends to ship entire- ly by water and is planning an active campaign this spring. Heretofore this lumber moved overland. * * * All claims of shipyard firms in the northwest Pacific district against the government arising out of canceled con- tracts have been thrown into the court of claims by a decision of the federal court at Portland. The case was brought by the Astoria Marine Iron Works against the Emergency Fleet corporation in which damages were: asked because of cancelled contracts. Judge Wol- verton held .that as the Fleet com poration is a government agency it .cafl not be sued for damages exceeding $10,000 in local federal courts. Suits filed and in preparation aggregating 99," 000,000 are affected by this decision. + * & H. H. Hammer, president of the Unt versal Shipping & Trading Co., Seattle, is working on a plan for pressing some of the government's wooden hulls into service. Mr. Hammer is a strong ad vocate of converting the Ferris type hulls into sailing vessels as he knows that this plan has already proved a suc cess. In Seattle are more than 40 such hulls and they are said by experts to be admirably. suited for conversion into schooners or barkentines. Seattle capita is being interested in the enterprise.