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What's Doing and Who's Doing It eee ee NN HE Manitowoc Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., Manitowoc, Wis., has been given a contract to build two steel motor vessels for the Berg-Han- sen Co., Christiania, Norway. The ves- sels will be twin screw and of canal size, being 261 feet over all, 42 feet 6 inches beam and 23 feet deep; single deck with forecastle, bridge and poop decks, four large cargo hatches, two masts; six cargo booms and six hoisting engines; double bottom all fore and aft for oil fuel. The vessels will be designed by Babcock & Penton, of New York and Cleveland, and will be built under Lloyds’ classification. They will be pro- pelled by two Bolinder motors of 320 brake horsepower each, which are ex- pected to give a speed of about nine knots at 18% feet draft. x ok Ox The Association of Lake Lines, organ- ized in 1895, will be dissolved on March $1, a8 a result of. the order of the interstate commerce commission divorc- ing railroads from package freight lines under the Panama canal act. The recent announcement issued by vessel owners to the effect that $1,000 per day as demurrage charges will be made on all their boats not unloaded by April 1, has caused considerable commo- tion in grain circles at Buffalo. On March 6, there were at Buffalo, 32 ves- sels containing 9,000,000 bushels of grain still to be unloaded, and as there is little demand for American grain at this time and considerable difficulty is experienced in securing ocean tonnage, elevator men fear that all the vessels will not be un- loaded in contract time. ele: a Considerable repair work has lined up at the yard of the Buffalo Dry Dock Co., Buffalo. The steamers T. H. WickwirE, J. J. Botanp and A. E. CorNELIUS are among the vessels which will be docked and repaired before the opening of navigation. These three ves- sels were damaged last fall. * OK OX The steamer Henry B. Hatt has been sold by the George Hall Coal Co., Ogdensburg, to Adolph H. Lonov, Montreal. Hatt was formerly the Iron DuKE and was built in 1881. The wooden steamer RouMANIA of the Richardson fleet was recently sold to the Cuyahoga Transit Co., Cleveland. * ok Ox Local inspectors in the steamboat in- spection service in the Cleveland dis- trict continue to work long hours in an endeavor to minimize the delay which is likely to occur at the opening of naviga- tion, as a result of the operation of the seamen’s act. Additional inspectors are HE CE been . By A. A. Eiben assisting the regular staff, but only slow progress is reported. The examination of applicants for certificates 1s »ccupy- ing a large part of the inspectors’ time and is preventing rapid work on the ves- sels. Vessel men fear that a part of the fleet moored at Cleveland will be de- layed a week or more after the opening of navigation. * * It is likely that the practice of carry- ing passengers on lake freighters: will be terminated through the order recently issued by the department of commerce under the provisions of the seamen’s law. The new law provides that any vessel carrying passengers for hire or other- wise must have a certain number of watertight bulkheads and must in other respects comply with the rules laid down for regular passenger vessels, and it is announced that the rule will be strictly enforced by local inspectors. The rule is also interpreted to prohibit masters from carrying their wives aboard ship. Protest against such an_ interpretation will doubtless be made by the Ship Masters’ Association. The vessel opera- tors consider this latter phase to be one governing the master personally, and will let the matter rest with the captain, claiming that if any penalty for viola- tion of the law be enforced, it will be against the master himself and not ‘the vessel. 4 * *K Rules land 5, governing the navigation of the Detroit river, were recently modi- fied and now read as follows: “1—No vessel of 100 gross tons or over shall navigate the Livingstone Channel at a rate of speed greater than 12 statute miles per hour between its junction with the Amherstburg channel at Hefaies reef and the Bar Point light vessel. “5.—No vessel shall pass another ves- sel bound in the same direction in that portion of Livingstone channel between its junction with the Amherstburg chan- ~nel at Ballards reef and Bar Point light vessel; nor at’ any other portion either channel where the width of ie channel is restricted by improvements in Progress. Between any two downbound vessels entering or navigating that por- tion of Livingstone channel between its junction with the Amherstburg channel at Ballards reef and Bar Point light vessel there shall be a time interval of not less than five minutes. Tugs with- out tows and vessels under 100 gross tons are exempt from this rule.” : * OK The steel steamer MARYLAN ‘ D, only re- cently acquired by W. C. Sik ince & Co., Cleveland, has been sold by that company to eastern parties and the 154 wUwCt[tt_Acccccecc ee I steamer will be use in‘coast service. Sh will be cut in two ships and the vessel is in good shape for - salt water service. ( x OK x The American Ship Building Co, Cleveland, recently closed contract with the Standard Oil Co. for a barge, to come out next November, for service on the coast. The barge will be of Welland canal size and will be built at the Cleve- land yard. On the Delaware River By Dr. C. S. Street HE Philadelphia Bourse has pre- pared a protest against the ad- ministration’s shipping bill, which will be placed before the congressional committee on merchant marine and fish- — eries. This action was taken in Tre sponse to a letter from Congressman George W. Edmonds. While condemn- ing the principles underlying the Dill, the Bourse indorses certain details of sections, such as the chartering to pri- vate parties, in times of peace, of gov- ernment vessels suitable for commer- cial use; the right of the government to commandeer in times of war any vessel flying the American flag, and the enrollment of officers and crews of American vessels as members of 4a — United States naval reserve. * * x The steamer ANTHonNy H. Groves JR. of the Ericsson line, became unman- ageable recently at the mouth of the Delaware and Chesapeake canal, Dela- ware City when she lost her propeller. The steamer remained stranded until help was obtained from Philadelphia. oK * * Two vessels costing $1,700,000 each. to be built by the William Cramp Sons Ship & Engine Building Co. Philadelphia, for W. R. Grace & Co. will not be begun until the latter part of this year. The ships will be dupli- cates of Santa Barsara, recently com- pleted by the Cramps. Santa Rosa and SANTA PAuLA are now under con- struction at the Cramp yard for the Grace line. x ok Ox The steamer Cretan of the Mer- chants & Miners Transportation Co. which left Philadelphia recently with a large cargo for Savannah, Ga. and Jacksonville, Fla, collided with 2 schooner off Cape Hatteras. The steamship DorotHy stood by and trans- ferred all passengers, after which both vessels steamed for Norfolk. ONON-