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THE MARINE RECORD. ie TAB LAKE FISHERIES. LEGISLATION FOR OHIO DEALERS. Hon. H. B. Vincent, president of the Ohio Fish and Game Commission, with Messrs, L. K. Buntain, of Day- ton, O.,and W. R. Huntington,of Cleveland,deputy game wardens, met at Sandusky last Thursday with a num- ber of the representative pound and gill net fishermen of Northern Ohio, for the discussion of the best manner of regulating the fisheries by laws to be passed by the Ohio General Assembly, now in session. Most of the - day was devoted to discussion, as the interests of the ‘pount-net and gill-net men are often opposed. It was finally agreed, however, that the law should provide for a closed season extending from December 15 to March 15 of each winter. Fifty feet was fixed upon as the least depth of water in which gill-nets should be placed. This was at first made sixty feet, but a reconsideration was secured, as, owing to the shallow depth of Lake Erie, this would shut the gill-net fish men entirely out of certain localities. It was also agreed that the law should require that no - fisherman shall have in his possession saugers less than ten inches in length; pickerel, blue pike and black bass, 12 inches; grass pike, 18 inches; whitefish, 17 inches; and sturgeon, 3% feet. All fish smaller than these specified. lengths shall be released alive immediately when the nets are lifted, and returned to the water. If any dealer is found to have in his possession fish of the prohibited sizes in a quantity in excess of 5 per cent of the day’s catch, he shall be held a violator of the law, and shall be subject to penalties to be prescribed in the law, which will probably provide for placing an inspec- tor at each port. A committee consisting of Capt. Post, of Fairport, John Monson, of Cleveland, L. A. Ranney, of Lorain, K. D. Nichols, of Vermillion, C. Scott, of Huron, A. J. Stoll, of Sandusky, W. KE. Bense, of Port Clinton, and John Kelting, of Toledo, was ap- pointed to assist the fish and game commission in the preparation of a bill in the lines indicated at the meet- ing. The new bill will be prepared as soon as possible and presented to the legislature for early enactment, as it is desired to make the law effective April 10. PROPOSED LEGISLATION IN MICHIGAN. A meeting of the Michigan Fish and Gime Protective League was held at Lansing, Wednesday, Jodge S. W. Vance, of Port Huron, president of the League, was tunable to be present, but sent his annual address, which was read. After paying considerable attention to deer hunting the society formally expressed its re- gret at the failure of the last legislature to enact the fish and game bills prepared by theleague. It was also recommended that prosecutions under the fish and game laws should be made in circuit court, to remove them from local influences. Messrs. A. R. Avery, of Port Huron; W. S. Humphrey, of Saginaw; J. H. Bissell and R. J. Cram, of Detroit; and H. A. Wyckoff, of Pontiac, were appointed a committee to frame legislation restric- tive of fishing, and it was recommended that they draft bills providing a closed season for black bass, and pro- hibiting net fishing of every kind in the Detroit, St. Clair and St. Mary’s rivers, Lake St. Clair, the chan- nels of Les Cheneaux Islands, and for a reasonable dis- tance fromthe head and foot of each of the rivers named. President Vance was elected for another year. Oe Marine Recorp Life Savers’ Series. CAPT. GEORGE F. BABCOCK.,. (SEE OPPOSITE PAGE). The subject of this sketch is nota venerable looking man, yet he has been with the United States Life-Saving Service since its establishment on the Great Lakes. Capt. Babcock was born on a farm, but early in life took to water from a natural love of it. His first aquatic ex- ploit was at the age of eleven, when he rescued a play- mate from drowning, the rescue being, to his sober and more mature years, little short of miracilous. He soon afterwards started out for himself, and sailed for sev- eral years, working his way up to positions on the larg- est class of vessels then sailing. At the age of 15% years he helped to man a life-boat and rescue a crew from a stranded vessel near the harbor at Fairport. On July 10, 1871, he was appointed light-keeper at Fairport, which position he held for seven years. In 1876, when the first life-saving stations were established “on the Great Lakes, an equipment was stationed at Fairport, and he wasappointed keeper with instructions to organize a volunteer crew. He continued for two years on this double duty, and in 1878, when a paid crew was stationed at Fairport, he gave up his light house work and confined himself to the life-saving service. Capt. Babcock is a little over fifty years of age, and has spent nearly twenty-five years in the service of the United States Government. PUSHING A GOOD THING ALONG. Mr. A. Osier, lake representative of DeGraw, Aymar & Co., 34 and 35 South street, New York, was in Cleve- land late last week on his first trip of the year. Mr. Osier and his firm are large participants in the era of prosperity which has returned to the Great Lakes. In addition to an increased trade in cordage, etc., they have sold nearly sixty of Tyzack’s Vulcan (stockless) anchors for new boats, including a few which were launched last summer, and most of those now building in lake shipyards. Including these there are about ninety of Tyzack’s an- chors, weighing from 3,000 to 4,000 pounds each, in use on the large lake craft, and this number will probably soon be increased to 100 by the closing of orders still pending. Beside these large anchors, Mr. Osier has sold LEWIS J.-N'!IXON. Manager Crescent Shiyyard, Elizabeth, N. J. nearly a hundred little fellows, the smaller sizes of this anchor being peculiarly adapted to yachts and other small craft. rrr 0 i 0 IT’S THE HAPPY COMBINATION. Mr. A. Wells Case, patentee of the Case Outward Thrust Propeller Wheel in writing to the RECORD in. reference to his recently inserted advertisement, says: “T am having a good many calls for wheels now, and expect a rush this spring. Is it advertising in your journal that brings the business, or is it the merit of the wheel?” Both, Mr. Case, both. A good thing is very slowly introduced without advertising, and while adver. tising sometimes sells a poor device for a time, the re-- sults are more telling and permanent if the article ad vertized accomplishes just what is claimed in the adver- tisement. ; EDD + a **HOME STUDY.” This is the title of the opening number of an extreme- ly bright and instructive journal published by the Cor- respondence School of Technology of Scranton, Pa. Its articles are thoroughly written and well illustrated, It contains departments on Architecture, Heating and Ventilating, Geometry, Popular Science, Civil Engi. neering, and Mechanical Drawing, paying especial attention to instructions in this latter department. Correspondents sending in queries are answeredin a careful, painstaking manner. replies being illustrated with diagrams where necessary. Electricity and me- chanics are also given considerable attention. ‘Home Study” is a monthly, and is well worth $1.50 per year to any young man. vessel. rs A DOWN-EAST SHIPBUILDER, Mr. Lewis Nixon, who has already reached a place in the front rank of United States shipbuilders, is not yet 35 years old, but is not only at the head of his profes- sion as a naval architect, but is managing the Crescent shipyard, Elizabeth; N. J., and has nowa high standing with the Navy Department as the designer of the new United States battleships Indiana and Massachusetts and the armored cruiser Columbia. He was superin- tending:constructor at Cramps for four years while these vessels were laid down and put in frame. Mr. Nixon was graduated at the head of his class. from the Naval Academy in 1882, and was selected by the Navy Department to be sent to the Royal Naval. College at Greenwich, Eng., for a course in naval: architecture and marine engineering. He was gradu- ated there in 1885, having been appointed.a naval ‘con- structor in the United States Navy in 1884. The Royal Naval College, which has the highest standard in the world, has declined to accept any more American students, Three months after Mr. Nixon had been assigned to the New York Navy Yard under Constructor Wilson, he produced a design, which, on the basis of two-thirds the size of English first-class battleships, was pro- nounced to be the most efficient fighting machine afloat. The successful trials of the Indiana speak ido ied eg for the plans. Mr. Nixon leased the Crescent Shipyard early last year from Samuel L, Moore & Sons, and has associated with him J. J. Conway, an ex-naval officer; Arthur L. Busch, superintending instructor; Charles Cramp _ Bowers, superintending engineer; and Mr. Mather, late of the United States Navy. Mr. Bowers is a nephew of Mr. Charles H.'Cramp. Mr. Nixon enjoys the distinction of being the first coast shipbuilder to successfully bid lake work away from lake builders. It will be remembered that he was awarded the contract for the construction of ten barges and three steamers.for the Cleveland Steel Canalboat Co. THE RECORD is reliably informed that Mr. Nixon’s figures were far below those of any lake bidder; but lake builders are all in a position to be pretty inde- pendent just now, so it is possible that this episode may not be repeated for a long time to come, Mr. Nixon was invited to address the Philadelphia ‘naval militia recently, and reviewed the history of the battleship plans which has won him so much fame. He told how the Secretary of the Navy sent him back twice with the plans, so as to secure a ship that would beat anything in the world, regardless of the size of the Speaking of the Texas, Mr. Nixon said that the weaknesses which had been developed conld be remedied, and she would then be a most efficient vessel. He regarded the dynamite cruiser as one ot the most formidable vessels in the navy from a moral point of view, and deprecated the suggestion that she be altered into a torpedo chaser. If there should be any trouble he thought the Vesuvius would probably play an im- portant part. Touching on the matter of trial trips, Mr. Nixon said that in England dependence was placed on patent logs and spurts of one or two miles. ‘here can be no ‘jockeying over an 80-mile course, such as our vessels have to go over on their trials,’’ he said. He told how Admiral Hopkins, after going with him over the New York, declined to test the speed of the Blake with her on a race from New York harbor to Halifax.- One trouble with English vessels, which so seldom develop their calculated speed, is that they are not given the boiler power ours are. If American vessels were run under the draught that is allowed on English ships ‘they would develop speed as yet unheard of. As pictures of the Machais and Castine. were thrown on the screen, Mr. Nixon referred to their lengthening, which was done in preference to reducing the weight of their batteries, and said: ‘‘We have had no failures. Our ships our be‘ter, class for class, than any others in the world.’’ EEE BOD Cassier’s Magazine for February contains several very interesting illustrated articles, among them a bio- © graphical sketch of John J. Thornycroft, the widely known torpedo boat builder, by C. J. Cornish, with eight illustrations of some of Mr. Thornycroft’s engines and boilers; Modern Ship Building tools, by J. Arthur Gray, with 12 illustrations of some representative machines. re