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296 at Rio de Janeiro and both were towed out by the same tug. RutH E. MurRELL was reported at Cape Henry June 19 with loss of sails. ee The Riter-Conley Co., Pittsburgh, a subsidiary of the McClintic Marshall Construction Co., one of the largest structural steel fabricators in the United States, has leased the ship yard of the Ellicott Machine Corporation, located at Fairfield on the south branch of the . Patapsco river, just across from Balti- more. It is understood that the Riter- Conley Co. will start to construct sev- eral steel, oil and cargo carrying barges at Fairfield. The plant contains about 16 acres and 700 feet of waterfront. This lease does not cover the machine shops of the Ellicott company at the foot of Bush street, Baltimore. * * * The death of Captain Frederick Wil- liam Hamilton Murrell recently brings to a close one of the most interesting uget Tonna: THE MARINE REVIEW chapters in the annals of the merchant marine. Captain Murrell first gained prominence in 1889 as captain of MrIs- souRI, when he effected the transfer of 733 passengets in a heavy sea from the sinking DANMARK, a Danish boat bound for New York. To make room, he jettisoned the greater part of his cargo. Captain Murrell ran for the Azores and landed 363 of the rescued in St. Michaels and brought the re- mainder to this country. At the time of the rescue, Captain Murrell was but 27 years of age and was the youngest captain in the employ of the Atlantic Transport line. Following his return to kngland, Captain Murrell was decorated by the King of Denmark, Prince Bismark, the King of Sweden and the King of Rumania. ~ Captain Murrell was born in 1862 at Colchester, Essex, England. During his association with the Atlantic Transport line he commanded the steamships Surrey, Missourl, SwANSEA, MARYLAND, MAINE and Mississtprt. re Searce By F. K. Haskell HE charter market on the Pacific coast is very slack. The main rea- son for this inactivity is the scarcity of tonnage. The vessels availa- ble for freighting lumber from _ the coast are much in demand and are as difficult to obtain as heretofore, with the result that lumber freights are firm and the market for lumber carriers steady. Everything afloat that will carry lumber is under charter for at least two or three off-shore voyages in ad- vance. Many relics of ancient marine days on this coast have been brought from oblivion and pressed into the lum- ber trade again. All these old boats have found business without difficulty. Among the charters announced during Two smaller steamers have been taken from San Francisco to Japan and Manila at $20 and $18, respectively. A sailing ship has been engaged to carry case. oll from San Prancisco to Australia, private terms, this being a very unusual fixture. The increasing number of Japanese steamers in trade out of Sound ports is noticeable. oy abe” Although overlooked in the adjust- ment of the wage scale between the longshoremen and. the dock owners, the transcontinental railways have: not ac- ceded to the increased terminal charges August, 1916 for handling freight consigned to the orient and Alaska, and railroad officials are holding conferences for the purpose of placing a maximum on what they will absorb. Freight traffic men declare that the practice of the land carriers of absorbing these charges has been permitted by neglect to develop a situa- tion that makes the haul unprofitable. There are many difficult angles to the problem, and no settled plan has yet been devised for meeting them. Where a terminal line is compelled to employ a competitive carrier to switch a car, the originating line must pay a charge of 40 cents per ton. As far as the situation has been outlined, the railways will consider the publication of the maximum handling charges they will absorb, and put the balance up to the vessel. Should the vessel owners re- fuse, the situation will be further com- plicated. All Pacific coast ports are working under similar conditions, except Vancouver, B. C. ae cee 3 Export and import agents of Seattle and Tacoma, who have powerful con- nections at Vladivostok, have been look- ing around Vancouver for quarters and dock facilities. In traffic circles it has been reported that the British govern- ment may declare an open shop policy and enforce the order, thereby taking advantage of the closed conditions on Puget Sound. Should such action be taken, the deep sea vessels, it is ‘be- lieved, would change their calling place to the British Columbia port. ae icode e The new cannery tender DIEHLEssS recently ran from Astoria to Portland in 12 hours and burned less than four gallons of oil an hour. The new boat is equipped with a 45-horsepower semi- diesel engine. She was built at Astoria for the Columbia River Packers’ Asso- ciation. the past week was that of the brig Harriet G., 88 net tons. She is of a type now almost obsolete on the Pacific. She was built at: Norfolk,’ Va., in 1878, RAY By Kenneth McAlpine fess oe = i=) Co © fess) = and for the past three years has been idle. Her last service was in the Alaska fishing trade. She is being re- paired preparatory to loading a_ full cargo of lumber at Bellingham, Wash., for Callao, Peru. Harriet G. is only 130 feet in length and can carry less than 300,000 feet,’ but the freight to be received is $30 per thousand. Other © charter$s show an American schooner taken for Australia at private terms, and another carrier fixed for Shanghai at $30 per 1,000 feet. The lumber market, however, has been quiet in off-shore chartering. Off-shore freights remained firm, but unchanged from last month, and there seems to be no tendency towards a break. The coast- wise charter market is very firm, recent figures showing that 50 cents above the asking rate has been paid for two prompt steamers, Grays Harbor to San Pedro. The rate from Puget Sound and Grays Harbor to San Francisco remains at $5.50 and $6.50 to southern California. Other features of the coast charter market during the month have been the charter of three Japanese steamers at private terms to load gen- eral cargo on Puget Sound for Vladi- vostok, and two Japanese tramps to carry general freight from San Fran- cisco to Japanese ports. All this busi- ness has been done at private terms. HE two. principal developments | around Columbia river points re- cently have been the waterfront strike and the loss of the San Francisco & Portland Steamship Co.’s passenger steamer Bear, sister ship of BEAVER. Bear went ashore, in a dense fog, off the northern Californian coast at a point just north of Sugar Loaf Rock, which forms the outer end of Cape Mendocino. She is probably a_ total loss, as one attempt to salvage her by the steamer Iagua, of San Francisco, was unsuccessful. A bad storm later piled the vessel higher up on the beach. A dredge is now attempting to dig a channel around her, which will permit another trial to salvage her. Brar was a_vessel ‘of 5,000 tons, 380 feet long, 47-foot beam and 26-foot molded depth. eer The waterfront strike was called June 1. the river steamboat men and _long- shoremen going out together. A week later, most of the firms had reached an agreement with the longshoremen and were able to get their vessels load- ed. The failure of a general agreement caused another mix-up, as firms which were able to get their vessels’ loaded could not get them unloaded at the other end. A score of mills have neces_ sarily shut down, forcing the logging .camps to discontinue operations. Boats are not running freely, passenger boats operating irregularly and carrying little or no freight. The river boats have been running on schedule under police protection. During the last walkout, the Portland Chamber of Commerce put itself on record against the closed shop. a ee Exportations of wheat were larger in May of this year than last by nearly 300,000 bushels. Shipments are far be- hind those of the corresponding 11- month period ending May, 1915, the decline this year being nearly 1,000,000 bushels. Only one more cereal ship is expected here this year, she being the British steamer Barartic, now on her way to San Francisco from Calcutta, bringing a load of gunnies. BaRravic will load here for England. Poe eee One shipment from the Columbia this month was 5,000 feet of clear spruce lumber, which went to Philadelphia for use as sounding boards for pianos. A large quantity of this lumber has been shipped to the eastern market and regular shipments will be continued. Se The cruiser MARBLEHEAD has been assigned to the just Oregon naval