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From the Old Log Book Stray Items About the Great Lakes, Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts and Inland Rivers from MARINE REVIEW Files of 10, 20, 30 and 42 Years Ago SEPTEMBER 1884 ORTY-TWO years ago the Ma- rine Record, then. the name of MarIng Review and a weekly noted in its Sept. 4, 1884 number that the new iron steamer, WILLIAM CHIs- HOLM, took on 2331 tons of coal at Axworthy’s dock, Cleveland and cleared for Chicago drawing 14% feet of water. The vessel arrived at Chi- cago on Tuesday, the account went on, after a run of 3% days, in time to meet the rise in grain freights. * Eg * HE little iron steamer drawing 14% feet loaded marked the be- ginning of the era that was to bring about the building of ever larger and larger iron and steel ships. x x O* N JULY 30, 1926, the Bradley Transportation Co., Rogers City, Mich. ordered from the American Shipbuilding Co. a_ self-unloading steamer for the stone trade, to be 637 feet in length overall, 615 feet length of keel, 65 feet in beam and 33 feet in depth. She will be the longest vessel ever constructed on the Great Lakes and the motive power will be of the most modern type. A steam turbine generator, delivering elec- tric power to a single large motor at- tached to the propeller will furnish motive power. This vessel will have a carrying capacity of 13,000 tons on a draft of 20 feet. x * OR N 1884 the schooner Homer, Captain ™ Barnes, took coal from Cleveland to Chicago at 65 cents; the schooner W. L. Peck, coal, Cleveland to Hough- ton at 70 cents; the schooner M. S. Bacon, ore, Escanaba to Cleveland at 75 cents. were still the chief reliance of the ore and coal carrying trade. SEPTEMBER 1896 —_—_=—_—_—_—_—_—_—— CURIOUS dry dock accident is recounted in the Sept. 3, 1896 number of Marine Review, then a weekly. The dry dock was referred to as the Simpson dock at the New York navy yard, evidently built under In those days schooners ‘ the Simpson patent of the old Boston dry dock firm. The dock in which the accident occurred was of wood 500 feet long with a top width of 130 feet 4 inches. After the dock had been pumped out the caisson which closes its mouth was lifted from its seat in some unknown manner, ad- mitting water. * k * HE more water admitted the fur- ther the caisson was lifted from its seat until finally the water rushed madly into the dock carrying with it the caisson which capsized and sank. The torpedo boat Ericsson was also carried along with the rush of water and had her bows stove in. The commandant’s launch was wrecked and several other vessels were torn from their moorings. The accident was a most unusual one and was attributed to the lightness of the caisson. * * * HE erroneous use of the word “knots” is pointed out in Ma- rine Review thirty years ago. It was very common at that time, the article stated, to use the expression “knots an hour” for speed and “knots” for distance in miles, in spite of the fact, that these expressions were nautical barbarisms. It quoted the writer on nautical subjects in an Eng- lish magazine to this effect: “The knot is the cosmopolitan unit of speed employed at sea by sailors of civilized nations. One knot is a speed of one nautical mile an hour. . .” SEPTEMBER 1906 N SEPTEMBER 1906 L. C. Sabin ° was appointed superintendent of Saint Mary’s Falls canals in place of Joseph Ripley who had been appointed by President Roosevelt to supervise the construction of the locks of the Panama canal. Nearly twenty years after this appointment Mr. Sabin was appointed vice president of the Lake Carriers association. a * a ITH reference to the growth in length of vessels on the Great Lakes, it is interesting to note that Henry Penton, while chief engineer of the Great Lakes Engineering 24 Works, had predicted when criticisms were heaped upon the builder of the first 400-footer, that he looked to see the 600 footer before long. In a list of vessels published in Marine Re- view, in its issue of Aug. 30, 1906, there were 13 of 600 feet in length or upward and, the account went on to say, that James C. Wallace, then president of the American Shipbuilding Co. had been quoted as saying that his company had plans under way for a ship 645 feet long. Now that a vessel of 637 feet in length is to be built by the same company, Mr. Wallace’s predictions may yet come true. SEPTEMBER 1916 ALPH D. WILLIAMS for 15 years editor of MARINE REVIEW died ten years ago on August 14. He became the editor of MARINE REVIEW in 1900 and continued in this posi- tion until June 1, 1915 when he re- tired on account of ill health. He was the author of the Honorable Peter White, a biographical sketch of the Lake Superior iron country, pub- lished in 1907. ae * HE effect of the war on shipbuild- ing is very clearly brought out in a table published in the September 1916 number of Marine Review. American yards as of July 1, 1916, compared with German yards as of December 31, 1913, had under con- struction 195 vessels of 1,037,108 gross tons whereas the German yards had under construction 104 vessels of 810,520 tons. There is in this same article a number of other interest- ing comparative tables having to do with world and American shipbuilding and commerce and trade. * *k BS Ae over ten years ago the steamships KoREA and _ SIBERIA were sold by the Pacific Mail Co. for slightly over $5,000,000 for the two. These vessels were sold to the Atlantic Transport Co. for service between Great Britain and New York. Hardly a year later they were sold by the new purchasers for, it was reported, $2,000,000 each to the Toyen Kisen Kaisha Co.