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THE MARINE RECORD. . a BUILDING AND REPAIRS A.NEW GREEN BAY TUG. Wau Bros., of Green Bay, have laid down the keel for their new tug, and a force of men is busy getting out the frames. She is to take the place of the Charnley, which they sold to Chicago parties in the autumn, but will be larger, in fact the largest and most powerful boat of the kind on Green Bay, excepting the Escanaba tug Monarch, and is to be provided with all modern ap- pliances. She is intended not only for harbor work, but for anything in the line of heavy towing and pull- ing, which will include wrecking. The boat will be ready for next season’s work. ACTIVITY AT WYANDOTTE. ‘The Detroit Dry-dock Co., has awarded to Vinton & Co., of Detroit, a contract to build a new shop at its Wy- andotte yard. The building will be 300 feet long and 120 feet wide, and will be located adjacent to the slips. Both slips are being lengthened to 465 feet. Supt. F. A. Kirby has been spending some little time at eastern - shipyards, and the new machine shop and its tools will ‘ be of the most mordern and improved patterns. The shop will be equipped with a 200 horse power engine, and three large boilers. The shop is one that can be tapidly constructed, and spring will find the Wyandotte yard second to none in the matter of equipment. ~ One of the new tools isa punch that will take in a plate eight feet wide, and will punch holes varying from : 1-16 of an inch to six inches in through a plate of any thickness uptoaninch. The weight of this tool is 20 tons. _ Another of the tools is a plate-joygling machine, an illustrated description of which was printed in the Rxc- ORD in its issue of August 1. This joggles or flanges the plates in a way to fit them closer together, and ef- fects a saving in riveting and other work, and in the additional packing made necessary by the old system when plates overlapped. _ Five hundred men are pushing work on the steel ‘steamer for C. R. Jones and others, of Cleveland, and on the 420-footef for E. M. Peck and others. being placed i in the yards for the two huge Rockefeller more men will be given work. The Wyandotte yard is beginning tosee a season the busiest in its ni: AT THE WHALEBACK YARD. AES whaleback steamer and barge are now under way at _ West Superior for the fleet of the American. Steel Barge Co., and the keel blocks for the huge Rockefeller pair are in position. As has been the case at other e shipbuilding points on the lakes, vexatious and expen- _ sive delays?result from the slow delivery of material : required for immediate use. The Illinois Steel Co. has _the contract for the material for the vessels now under - way, and the Carnegie Steel Works will furnish mater- - ial for the second pair. It is expected to have the first pair ready about August 1. The two steamers will cost $475,000, one $230,000, and the other $245,000. Each of the pigs will cost $145,000, and the total investment in _the four vessels will therefore be about $765,060. Km- or ployment i is given to about 500 persons, and as soon as _ work is fairly begun upon the Rockefeller contract the force will be increased to 1,000. _ IMPROVEMENTS AT THE WHEELER YARD. The steel shipbuilding plant of F, W. Wheeler & Co., -at West Bay City, is receiving improvements which will cost $100,000 and make it one of the most extensive plants on the lakes. ‘Two more slips will be dredged with a length of 500 feet. Six electric motors have been or- . —-—s dered,and much big machinery, including two ten-ton ae hoisting derricks, a ten-ton traveling crane, a ten-ton locomotive crane, etc. About 1,200 men are now emi- ployed regularly. STEAM LAUNCHES FOR MEXICO, The first of several steam launches of special design for Southern Mexico, has just been shipped by the Mar- ine Iron Works, Clybourn and Southport Ave., Chicago, the destination being 3,200 miles from that city. Ship- ments of this character are safely made by rail for the small and medium-sized launches, but for the larger Materialis steamships and as soon as construction begins 1,200 work the same company builds only the ‘‘complete out- fits’’ of marine machinery and equipment, for the native boat builders. GENERAL REPAIR WORK, CLEVELAND—The Curry and Wallula:still occupy the Ship Owners’ dry-dock. The Cambria finished her re- pairs at the Cleveland dry-dock last week, and the Gre- cian went in Saturday and still occupies the dock. Six or seven plates had to be removed. CHICAGO.—At Miller Bros.’ shipyard the steamer Niko was in dock and received five new planks on her bottom on the starboard side, which was damaged by striking a rock on her last trip up last season. The steamer City of London is in dock for some new bottom planking and other necessary repairs; the schooner Maria Martin is receiving 22 new stanchions and some new stringers, covering board and rail.. The extensive repairs on the barge Nicholson are about completed, and she will go out of dock this week. At the Chicago Shipbuildiug Co.’s shipyard the Ann Arbor Car Ferry Steamer No. 2 wasin dock and had her shaft straightened and received a new wheel and considerable repairs to her sides and upper works. The steamer Josephine is in dock receiving two new planks on her bottom and some calking. Sault STE. Marigx.—During 1895 Joseph Pullar did a business of more than $10,000 in repairing and re- building boats, dredges, etc. Among these were the following: Rebuilding dredge No. land tug Bues and repairing dredge No. 2 and tug Andrew Gale, for C. H. Mitchell & Co.; repairing dredge No. 3 for H. W. Hubble & Co.; repairing of Arnold line boats and many others from up and down the Great Lakes. Mr. Pullar is now building a new dredge for Carkin, Stickney & Co. It will be completed by the opening of navigation. Among the vessels now in the yard to be overhauled and repaired this winter are, Capt. W. P. Stirling’s side-wheel steamer Northern Belle; R. H. Luckes’ tug Gazette; the Lake Superior Power Co.’s tug Jessie; Hingston & Wood’s tug Campbell; P. M. Church & Co.’s tug Pioneer, and C. H. Mitchell & Co.’s two dump scows. Drrrort.—The steamer Fayette Brown is in the De- troit dry-dock to be lengthened fifty féet. ern Wave will occupy the dock until March, when the: Selnyn Eddy will take her place. Capt. Win. Murch is : Superintending the repairs on the Wave. me : REPAIR NOTES. Underwriters want a purchaser for the barge A. C. Maxwell, which dragged ashore in Green Bay last November. Only one bidand that for a few hundred dollars only has been received. Timber is being hauled to Morley’s shipyard at Ma- rine City for the new vessel now building there. The new barge now on the stocks at Kingston for the Montreal Transportation Co. will be named Melrose. The fishing tug JuliajHammel, owned by Luebke & Luebke, of Two Rivers, Wis., is BereiyIBE a new boiler at Sheboygan. ‘Repairs on the George Presley have begun Mil- waukee, The repairs to the steamer Ira H. Owen, in Craig’s dry-dock, were completed sufficiently to float her Saturday. The Nipigon and Schenck were docked Monday. OE ee PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE. The Standard Oil Co.’s lake oil barges carry electric lights that are vapor proof, so that there is no danger of an explosion or fire from them even when naphtha is being carried. Two large pumps in the forward part of the boat are used to discharge the cargo, and when these are run at full capacity the cargo of 10,000 barrels can be discharged in six hours. A double bulkhead be- tween the boiler room and the oil tanks is kept full of water all the time asa protection against fire. Two powerful steam pumps also supply a protection from fire. rE ee TOTAL LOSSES, As compared with previous years, the total losses during 1895, were as follows: 1895. 1894, 1893. Number of vessels......-.. 63 54 65 Capacity, net tons....:.-. 48,975 31,415 41,625 Value of vessels.......... $1,300,000 $522,750 $1,172,200 THE PINTSCH GAS BUOYS. The system of lighted buoyage now coming into vogue has made itself so popular that a number will probably be seen on the great lakes within a few years, in addi- tion to those already provided for. So far New York is the only harbor that has been given a perfected system of lighted buoys, but Boston, San Francisco and some of the lake cities are partly supplied, and the Light- house Board confidently expects a large appropriation from congress to enable them to complete their syetem. A large Pintsch gas buoy has been placed on Harding’s ledge, off the entrance of Boston harbor, and an old fisherman recently said that this dangerous spot had never been so satisfactorily marked. There is also one in operation at Erie, Pa., which has proved very satis- factory. One isto be placed at Lansing Shoal, Lake Michigan, and one in Poverty Passage, Green Bay, an the Lake Carriers’ Association has asked for several more. ; The buoys at New York are electrically lighted and several in number. They are placed along Gedney’s Channel, the main ship channel, three red on the star- board hand and three white on the port hand in enter- ing the harbor. They are lighted by wires running from the power house on shore at Sandy Hook and so far have given satisfaction, although the expense of running them is very great and they are liable to get out of order on account of accident to the wires or to the machinery on shore. By the Pintsch system if an . accident should happen to one light the others are not affected. The Suez canal was first lighted by electric- ity, but it was found to be too costly and unreliable. A change ‘was made to the Pintsch system with forty Quoys and about the same number of beacons. There are no other electric buoys in use in this coun- try, and there is but one other system of lighted buoys; this is the Pintsch light buoy, the illuminating power of | which is gas stored in the hollow body of the buoy un- der a pressure of twelve atmospheres and feeding the burners by the power of expansion. The light is pro- tected from the weather by glass sides and an iron cage and is clear and steady, being visible at from six to <$even miles in an atmosphere of average clearness. - The economy in gas is a great feature, the cost of - The North- = ee e : 2 aes sumption being only seven certs a day of twenty-four hours. Class A, the largest of the Pintsch buoys, is capable of burning for a year without refilling, but its great weight of eleven thousand pounds makes it difficult of handling by the tenders and a small size of six months light capacity will probably be more generally used. On the score of durability, simplicity, steadiness and economy it is likely that this buoy will be used in prefer- ence to others and preparations are being made. to ex- tend the system as fast as BOnSY. can be obtained for the purpose. It is proposed to place the buoys at the entrance and along the sides of ship channels, red to starboard and white to port on entering, and others will doubtless be used as danger signals marking obstructions at points where lighthouses are not erected. é The lighthouse officials are generally delighted with the results so-far obtained. The Naval Secretary of the board, on being questioned relative to the value of the lighted buoys, said that they were undoubtedly of the greatest permanent aid to navigation, and that although most of the old merchantmen were dubious at first in regard to their success, there would be a ‘‘wild howl of rage and expostulation’”’ should it be proposed to give them up. This buoy is manufactured by the Safety Car Heating and Lighting Co., 160 Broadway, New York. qe ee —e NOTICE TO MARINERS. Notice is given by the Lighthouse Board, that, on the opening of navigation, 1896, there will be established at this station, on the W. pier at the entrance to Port- age Lake Ship Canal, NW. side Keweenaw Peninsula, _ S. side of Lake Superior, a 10-inch steam whistle to sound, during thick or foggy weather, blasts of three seconds, separated by silent intervals of 17 -sceonds’ duration. The fog-signal building is a brown. corru- gated iron structure, and stands immediately in rear of the light tower on the pierhead. On the same date the fog bell heretofore sounded at this station during thick or foggy weather will be discontinued.