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8 THE MARINE RECORD. THE MARINE RECORD ESTABLISHED 1878. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY, AT 144 SuPERIOR ST., (LHADER BUILDING); CLEVELAND, O. IRVING B. SMITH, ) CAPT. JOHN SWAINSON, § BRANCH OFFICE: PROPRIETORS CHICAGO, ILL, : 238 Lake Street. THOMAS WILLIAMS, Associate Editor. SUBSCRIPTION. One copy, one year, postage paid, One copy, one year, to foreign countries, . Invariably in advance. $2 00 $3 00 _ ADVERTISING. - Rates given on application. ‘Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. ——————————————— CLEVELAND, O., JUNE 20, 1895. a Tue report of the Dominion fisheries department for the last year, just issued, places the total value of the product of the fisheries at $20,719,573, an increase of $32,- 912 over last year. This is the highest mark reached by the fisheries since confederation. The value of the ves- sels, boats, seines and other material used in the fisheries amount to $9,430,116, the highest ever known. ‘he total number of fishermen is placed at 70,719, an increase of 2,966 over last year. ——— or a Or CHARLES H. Kner, Esq., Secretary of the Lake Car- riers’ Association, has submitted to Major E. H. Ruffner, United States Engineer, at tue request of the latter, a report on the estimated decrease in the carrying capacity of the lake fleet under a three, six or nine inch fall iv the mean level of the lakes by drainage through the Chicago eanal. He figures that a lowering of the lake levels by phew 57 three inches would diminish the carrying capacity of the jake fleet 1,142,370 tons and reduce its earnings $571,185. A lowering of six inches would cut the capacity 2,284,740 tons and diminish earnings $1,142,370. A lowering of nine inches would affect the capacity to the extent of 3,427,110 tons and wipe out $1,713,555 in earnings. ‘The earnings of lake vessels are estimated at 50 cents per ton of cargo carried over and above cost of loading and un- loading. as is _ Tue Hydrographic Office, U. 8. N., always endeavors, as far as possible, to give credit where credit is due, and in all its publications it cites all the authorities from which information is drawn for compilation and con- struction. On charts, however, which are made up from many authorities, it is customary to state no more than that the chart was compiled from the latest authorities. This usage has been followed in the new charts of the Great Lakes just issued from the Hydrographic Office, - among which are the charts of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, and Lakes ‘Erie and Ontario. It is stated: First, that they are com- - piled; second, that they are compiled from the latest in- formation. The Hydrographic Office desires to give the following list of authorities from which the information for the above named charts has been taken. First comes the admiralty charts resulting from the surveys made under direction of the government of the Dominion of Canada, by Commander Boulton, R. N., and in due order the following : Surveys in the Province of Ontario by the '.. Department of Crown Lands, published in 1887; various surveys by the Department of Public Works of Canada; the charts resulting from the survey of the United States waters of the Great Lakes, by the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army; the Pablication of the Light-House Es- tablishments of the United States and Canada; the U.S. Land Office maps of the State of Michigan, published in 1886 and the U.S. Geological Survey maps. The above ‘mentioned charts may be obtained from any of the agents. of the Hydrographic Office on the Great Lakes. ‘The U. 8. Navy Hydrographic Office seems now to be - inereasing its work, so as to become the chief source of information from which we may obtain the principal factors in lake marine service. A QUEER SHIP, Lying at a wharf in Alexandria, Va., is a very remarkE- able ship. She is the first of anew type of vessel in- tended to revolutionize the ocean-earrying trade. If the hopes of Mr. Fryer, the designer and builder of the ship are realized, passengers will cross the Atlantic. in three- fifths of the time now occupied by the “ocean grey- hounds” of commerce. Mr. Fryer has sought:to apply the palace car idea to ocean travel. He has built a shiv which while 222 feet long is only 16 feet beam. Her equilibrium is to be main- tained by a heavy keel and by the 80,000 pounds of ma- chinery below the water line. The narrow entrance of such a vessel will cut the water like a knife. Resistance will be reduced to a minimum. The heavy compact ma- chinery will furnish ample power for the single screw, and the little vessel will cleave through the water at a rate of speed which will seem incredible at first. All of this, of course, if Mr. Fryer’s hopes are realized. The vessel is to have a practical test in the lower Potomac River in ashort time. Then the Howard Cassard, as the new ship is called, will be taken to New York. She is expected to reach there in June. The ship now approaching completion at Alexandria is built to four-tenths the scale of the full-sized ship. The transatlantic liner of this model is 555 feet long, and 40 feet beam. Of course, with such a vessel as the foregoing, the carry- ing of freight would be out of the question. There is a main deck, a cabin deck and the hold. And the hold is quite filled with machinery. The upper deck is only a prom- enade, and the cabin deck is so narrow that. there is not space between the sides of the ship for even so luxurious a cabin as some private yachts contain. Such a thing as a general cabin would be out of the question. This nar- row space has been utilizad in part by the construction of single staterooms on each side, a narrow aisle running down the middle of the ship. The remaining space is to be divided up like a sleeping car. Adjustable barths, up- per and lower, will be concealed during the day, and each “section ” will be supplied with handsomely upholstered seats. In these sections meals will be served from a gal- lery in the hold, on small tables, just as they are served in a buffet car. There will be a toilet room for men at one end of the ship, and a toilet room for women at the other. When night comes the seats in the sections will ba transformed into beds, the upper berths will be let down if they are needed, and each section will be screened from the aisles by portieres. .In running to tropical countries the new vessels will carry a certain quantity of fine fruit, and two of the section spaces will be given up to refrigerators. ; This is the old project that excited the shipping world several years ago, when the vessel was said to be a com- plete failure and we must now wait to learn how the latest attempt will come out. THE MATE IN FAULT. The English Board of Trade after examining thor- oughly all the reports regarding the sinking of the North German Lloyd steamship Elbe, early during the morning of January 31, which resulted in the loss of about 370 lives, has ruled that the mate of the Craithie, the British steamer which ran into and sunk the German steamship, was responsible for the disaster. Consequently, the mate’s certificate was duly suspended. The court added that the collision might have been avoided and the danger passed if the Elbe had stopped immediately after the oflicer of the watch sighted the danger. Now, we wonder why the United States. can not intro- duce a system whereby some responsibility can be placed in the event of collisions. All collision cases are easily demonstrable and faults located. The findings of the English Board of Trade include the following details: It has been made clear that the tele- graphic communication with the engine room was not in working order at the time of the collision, and it has also been made plain that the watch on deck was inadequate to the requirements of safe navigation. It was further found that there were net a sufficient number of men on deck. The vessels were what are designated as “crossing ships ” within the meaning of article 16 of the regulations for preventing collisions at sea, but the Elbe failed to comply with article 18 of these regulations, inasmuch as she did not slacken her speed when the danger of collis- ion became apparent. Nevertheless a proper lookout was not kept on board | 4 the Craithie. The Elbe kept a proper lookout, and the officer in charge of the Elbe acted properly in keeping his course at full speed until there was danger of collision, but as soon as that was apparent he should have blown his whistle and stopped the engines. The Craithie, the Board finds, was primarily to blame in not keeping a proper lookout, but the catastrophe might have been averted if the officer on duty on the Elbe had stopped his. 3 vessel as soon as the danger of collision. became immi- | nent. The Craithie was not navigated with seamanlike care, but the Board finds that her master was not to blame, as he was justified under the circumstances shown in being in the cabin instead of on deck. The Board — 4 finds that. Craig, the mate of the Craithie, was alone at | fault, and his commission is, accordingly, cancelled. rr ee Axpovr eighty-four lifts were made with the hydraulic jacks before the steel steamer Alva was floated off North Manitou Island, where she had stranded recently during afog. This process of lifting a stranded boat a few inches and then moving her as far as the lift will permit by pulling with a tug—the operation being repeated over and over again—is tedious and difficult, but in the case of the Alva the wreckers were successful after about forty-eight hours of favorable weather The increased weight of water, which could not be pumped from the damaged compartments of the boat, made the work more difficult than it would have been if the water bottom could have been entirely freed of its contents. The wrecking steamer Favorite, which was engaged on this job, is equipped with one of the most complete outfits on the lakes. She has ten hydraulic jacks of about 80 tons lifting capacity each, and it is understood that her equip- ment in this line is to be increased for future emergencies. Do THE past week has developed orders for the construc- tion of three large steel steamers, F. W. Wheeler & Co., of ‘West Bay City, being credited with two, and the Globe Iron Works: Co., Cleveland, with one. The Globe con- tract is to replace the lost steamer Norman, of the Me- nominee fleet, and according ’to the views held for several years past by Capt. George P. McKay, manager of the. line, she is to be one of the largest carriers afloat. Four hundred feet keel and 4,000 tons capacity will be about the particulars of the new ore carrier. tracts are to be of similar dimensions, one of which is now reported as placed by D. C. Whitney, of Detroit, and the other one on builders’ account, though the latter item requires confirmation. With the continual building of these immense stee] freight carriers the query will have to be met, “what to do with the older and smaller ton- nage.” There will be no special trade for them on the lakes, nor can large numbers reach the coast through the present canals, while the property is too valuable to break up or totally condemn. The future outlook for owners of even medium sized vessels is by no means flattering, as they can’t be run ata loss, and competition with the larger craft will soon be out of the question. EEE a THE TWENTY-FOOT CHANNEL. Col. O. M. Poein his report for May says that the work onthe ship canal connecting the waters of the Great Lakes has progressed as follows: Section 2 (channel in Little Mud Lake, St. Mary’s River, between the lower end of “Dark Hole’”’ and end of Sugar Island,) excavated 23,367 cubic yards of ma- terial scow measure. ; Section 3 (channel through a shoal in Mud.Ljake, one andahalf miles below Sailors’ Encampment Island,) excavated 13,574 cubic yards of material; 610 holes were drilled and 2,369 pounds of explosives used. Section 5(channel at foot of Lake Huron). Contrac- tors resumed work on May 2, and removed 61.680 cubic yards of clay. : Section 7 (channel through Grosse Island flats, Lake St. Clair,) continued work with from five to seven dredges and removed 299,517 cubic yards of clay. Section 8 (channel through bar at the mouth of Detroit river.) Contractors continued work with from two to four dredges and removed 62,200 cubic yards of heavy®) clay. Alsocommenced work with one dredge on the rock shoal and removed 666 cubic yards of loose rock from the east side of Hackett range line. Open waters are asin St. Mary’s River, necessarily omitted by the ice survey, have been sounded by the cutter crew; also The Wheeler con- - j : y