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THE MARINE RECORD. 7 Sf) SET UE SES SE ERLE TESS TITS DSSS SSE SS TE a TESS rn eR SHIP BUILDING AND REPAIRS. — : NEW WORK. , The award of more lake contracts. during the past week has not closed operations in this line for the win- ter. . Itis almost certain that the Graham & Morton Co., whose fleet has suffered the loss of another steamer, will be‘on the market in a short time for a new passen- ger boat of moderate dimensions, but of high speed and finish. John Craig.& Sons, of Toledo, have been given a con- tract by the Lake Michigan Car Transportation Co., for two.more barges of the style built by Capt. James David- son, last season. The Craig yard will also turn out a powerful tug during the winter, to tow these barges. The latter will be equipped with the American. Ship Windlass Co.’s, automatic towing machines, and will carry about thirty loaded cars each. THE FE. & P.M. CAR FERRY. FE. W. Wheeler & Co., of Biy City, were the successful bidders on the steel car transport which is to be built by the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway Co. ‘This steamer will operate between Ludington, Mich., and Me- nominee, Wis., and will be constructed with a special view to operating through the thick ice which forms on Green Bay. She will be built according to designs pre- pared by Mr. Robert Logan, of Cleveland, who will also stiperiutend her construction. . She is intended to carry about 28 cars, and is to be 350 feet long over all, 331 feet . keel, 56 feet beam and 19% feet molded depth, with depth, from upperdeck to floors of 37 feet. She will have three fore-and-aft compound engines, of equal power, with cylinders 24 and 48 inches by 36 inch stroke. Two of these will operate the iron screws at the stern, and the third will operate the ice breaking screw at the bow. Steam will be generated by four boilers, each 13% feet in diameter and 12 feet long. The wheels aft will be 11 feet in diameter and that forward 9% feet in diameter. The main shafts will be housedin as on the Norihern Line passenger steamcrs and the new Cunarders, mak- ‘ing them accessible at all times. Especial attention is ‘paid to giving the greatest strength possible in con- struction, and 2.500 tons of steel will.be used in hull. construction. ‘The bottom will be built on the cellular system, with frames and plating extending from bilge to upper deck. The bow will be double-plated for 30 feet abaft the stem with 3-inch plating, to extend 3 feet above the load line. Toprevent the bows being crushed in by contact with the heaviest ice channel beams, thor-. oughly secured both vertically and horizontally, will span the hull at close intervals about midway between. the floors and the main deck The boat will have no water bottom, but below the main deck the hull will be - divided into six water-tight compartments, answering the same purpose. on : The upper and main decks will be of steel. The upper works will be of wood, and include a cabin with accom- modations for twenty-five passengers, in connection with the pilot house, texas, etc., and another house aft for crew’s quarters. ‘The smokestacks will be set fore- and-aft. The boat will carry 30 loaded cars, besides 200 tons of fuel and wi!l then draw not over 13 feet. THIRTEEN STEEL CANAL BOATS. The directors of the Cleveland Steel Barge Co. closed a contract Friday with Mr. Lewis Nixon, man- ager of the Crescent Ship Building Co., of Elizabeth, N. J., as was predicted in last week’s issue, for the construction of three steel steamers and ten steel barges, all to be 100 feet long with 18 feet beam and 12 feet molded depth, much after the same general design of the steamer Alpha and barges 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, which form the company’s initial fleet. It is stated that the price which the seaboard builders will get for these boats is a figure at which no lake builder cared for the ‘contract under any circumstances. The contract for the first six boats of the line fell far short of being a bonanza to the Globe Iron Works Co., and its bid on the second contract was considerably higher in propor- tion than on the first. The coast company had an ad- ditional advantage, also, in that it will be enabled to deliver some of the boats at New York during the win- ter and they will have ample time to load freight ac- ‘cording to the very leisurely Gotham idea before the Erie Canal is opened in the spring. The plan, as before stated, is to place more power in the new steamer than the Alpha had, and to tow only three consorts instead of five. ‘Three barges will lie at New York, discharging and loading cargoes,,and when one of the steamers arrives with three barges in tow she will discharge and reload as rapidly as possible, and will then start on her return trip with the three loaded barges, leaving the three she had taken down, which will be picked up several days later by the next steamer. ‘This will enable the company to live up toa schedule, something which is absolutely necessary in the general merchandise trade. The company do not ‘expect to require the services of a tug between Cleve- land and Buffalo, except for a few trips in early spring and late autumn. The steamers will have 220 h: p. and the additional draft allowed by two feet added depth to the hulls will increase the carrying capacity of the boats as soon as the improvements on the Erie Canal allow them to take advantage of it. The Union Dry-dock Co., Buffalo, has begun work on a $60,000 side-wheel passenger steamer for Lake Chau- tauqua, to be 215 feet long, 32 feet beam, and 9% feet deep. D. W. Runnels, of Port Huron, has laid the keel for a new tug of the dimensions of the tug Kittie Haight, re- cently seized from her Canadian owners, and which has a gross tonnage of 70. The new tug will be fitted with the Haight’s machinery. The steel steamer building at South Chicago for Ar- thur Orr, C. W. Elphicke and others will be named the George Orr. very rapidly. Manager Babcock complains that it s impossible to obtain material as fast as it is needed. \ GENERAL REPAIR WORK.,. The work on the steel boats in Cleveland is pretty well finished. The steamer Victory is in the north basin at the Ship Owners’ dry-dock, having her bottom painted and getting new fender strakes. Two of her top- side plates will be taken off and re-rolled while she is in the dock. The Wallula is receiving her extensive re- pairs in the south basin. : : At the Cleveland dry-dock the Castalia completed _ repairs and left the dock this week, her place. being taken by the Roman, which has one plate to be repaired. The Parks Foster will then be docked. Cuicaco,—At the Chicago Ship Building Co.’s ship- yard the steamer Fedora went out of dry-dock and the steamer Fy, M. Peck went in to receive a new wheel and some general repairs, At Miller Bros.’ shipyard the schooner Michigan, in dry-dock, will receive all new keel, new garboards, new cants aft and new stern post and rudder; nearly all new bottom on the starboard side and about half new bottom on the port side, and some new bilge plank; all new stanchions, stringers and rail as far forward as the foremast on the port side, also around the stern and as far forward as. the mizzenmast on the starboard side; some new deck; considerable repairs to cabin; new fore and main booms; and recalking all over. The steam canal boat Pallas is in dock for a general re- build; the steamer Charlemagne Tower is receiving some repairs; and the steamer C.S,. Parnell had her three masts taken out. SHEBOYGAN, Wis.—The schooner Minnie Mueller will be partially rebuilt at a cost of $4,000. In her rebuilt and enlarged shape, the schooner Quickstep represents an investment of $7,500. REPAIR NOTES. The tug Surprise (Br.) will receive a new boiler at Massey, Ont. The Wolverine Dry Dock at Port Huron, has shipped the second,life-boat on its government order to Sea- bright, N.J. The boat is 50 feet long by 8 feet beam. The underwriters will probably turn the Britannic ‘over to McMorran of Port Huron, in payment for rais- ing her. — é The Ira H. Owen will receive large repairs at Craig’s yard, Toledo, during the winter. ‘The steamer St. Joe is inthe Wolverine dry-dock, Port Huron, for a general overhauling after her seige in the ice. A contract for putting six.steel furnaces in the steamer Charles A. Kddy at Chicago has been let to the National Boiler Works of Bay City, Mich. The Joe Milton (Br.), recently secured in trade by Mr. Crawford, of Wiarton, Ont., has already been taken to that port, and will be cut down to a tug this winter. The work on the ship does not progress. THE WEEK’S LITIGATION, The assignment. of adimirality: cases in the United States District court sitting at Detroit is as follows: * “JANUARY 2. 3,875—Thomas Murphy vs. tugs Sea Gull and Waldo Avery. 3,908—S. B. Grummond vs: schooner Mineral State. 3,909—S. B. Grummond vs. schooner B R. Williams. _ 3,915—Charles Frazer vs. schooner Emma C. Hutch- inson, JANUARY 3. 4,028—Samuel F. Hodge & Co., vs. steamer Samuel Marshall. 4,132— Byron Whitakeret al. vs. the Wheeling & Lake Erie Coal Co. 4,197--Luther L. Slyfield vs. 98 cords No. 1 limestone. 4,224—-William Garlarus vs. schooner S. P. Ames. JANUARY 4, 4 237—Star Line of steamers ys. steamer Riverside. 4,249—John E\lsey, Jr., vs. steamer State of Michigan. 4,343—Hans Krause and Mark H. Hanlon vs steamer F, & P. M. No. 2. JANUARY 6. 4,366—James Knaggs vs. tug Dan Runnels. 4,372—Abram & Angus M. Smith vs. steamer Maud Preston. 4,438—_U. Grant Grummond vs. Abram Smith et al. 4,465—C. A. Hddy et al. vs. the Northern S. S. Co., libel and cross libel. 4,396—Joseph Kinsel vs. steamer Maud Preston. JANUARY 8. 4,443—Allen C. McLean et al. vs. steamer Northern Wave. s JANUARY 9. 4.457—U. Grant Grummond and others intervening vs. steamer Burlington. 4,458—A, F. Bartlett & Co., vs. steam dredge No 6. 4,476—Albert Waller and others interveniug vs. steambarge S. Neff. ED TESTIMONIALS FOR THE CASE WHEEL, Mr. A. Wells Case, patentee of the Case outward thrust propeller wheels, is sending out a new circular full of testimonials from firms and individuals who have given this wheelatrial. Among these are good words from Messrs. Hd. R. Ladew and W. Frank West, of New York; Bell Bros., of Alton, Ill.; L. L. Moses, Syracuse, N. Y.; W. H. Russell, Woburn, Mass.; P. T. Buckley, treasurer of the I. J. O.C. A., Hartford, Conn.;. C. K. Mead, president Des Moines River Boat Co., Des Moines, Ia.; Clay & Tobensen, Gloucéster City, N. J. Mr. Case put a wheel on the lake steam: yacht Bonita, owned by Mr. Mark Hopkins, increasing the speed more than 5 per cent. In the wheels which Mr. Case has substituted for those of other makes, accord- ing to this circular, the average increase has been over 6% per cent, which is equal to several times that per- centage in gain of power. ‘This wheel is manufactured by the patentee, at Highland Park, Conn.; by the Har- lan & Hollingsworth Co., Wilmington, Del.; the Globe Iron Works Co., Cleveland; S. F. Hodge & Co., Detroit and the Bertram Engine Works, Toronto, Ont. SES a VESSEL TRANSFERS. Papers have been filed in the custom house at Detroit transferring the steamer George W. Roby from the Roby Transportation Co., to F. W. Wheeler for $75,000. The price is to apply on the 400 footer building at the Wheeler yard for the Roby Transportation Co, F. W. Wheeler & Co. have since transferred the Roby to W. S. Mack and others of Cleveland, the consideration be- ing $90,000. uSPnditet ae Mineneeegenlg Be kenneth ee ae eh The following Saginaw Valley firms are getting ou logs in Georgian Bay this winter, which will be taken over in rafts next season: Saginaw Lumber & Salt Co., Bay City, about 25.000,000 feet of timber; Central Lum- ber Co., Bay City; 15,000,000; Fisher & Turner, Bay City, 35,000,000; Spanish River Lumber Co., of which K. T. Carrington, of Bay City, is manager, 28,000,000 feet; Holland & Emery Lumber Co., Kast Tawas, 50,000,000; Edmund Hall, Bay City, 12,000,000 feet; S. G. M. Gates, Bay City, 10,000,000; J. W. Harvey & Son, Bay City, expect to put in about 40,000,000 feet for their mill at Fenelon Falls, Ont. : ce —_—_————eEDP e —e A fine quality of iron ore has been discovered within the limits of Marinette, Wis., only a few feet below the surface of the ground, on land owned by the North Ludington Co. Investigation will be started at once, and if the vein is a good one a shaft will be sunk. A good quality of copper has also been found in the vicinity, and Marinette’s prosperity may not die out with the forests.