The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

_ ESTABLISHED 1878 VOL. XIX. NO. 7. CLEVELAND, OHIO, FEBRUARY 13, 1896, $2 PER YEAR. 10c. SINGLE COPY THE SHIP MASTERS’ NEW PRESIDENT. CAPT. GEORGE MCCULLAGH. Capt. George McCullagh, who has just been chosen Grand President of the Ship Masters’ Association, has led an active life on the water, and gained hls know- lege of the trade, to which he isan ornament, by practi- cal experience. He has taken all the hard knocks that seem inevitable in that calling, but with no perceptible abatement of his youthful ardor and certainly with no denotement of advancing years. He ran away from home and went to sea at the age of eleven years. He remained two years on a Sailing vessel and then began his steamboat career. The American civil war inter- rupted it, however, and he served as a soldier on the Union side from June19, 1861, to August 5, 1865. In the autumn of 1865 he again took up steamboating and has continued in it uninterruptedly for thirty years. During that long and honorable service he has sailed the steamers Ivanhoe, Wissahickon, India, Winslow, Cumberland, George T. Hope, Colorado, Avon, Seneca, and others, besides serving four years as pilot of the United States revenue cutter Fessen- den. While stillin command of the Seneca he resigned and bought an interest in a new boat, which he sold out and bought the Rhoda Emily, of which he isnow master and one-half owner. Capt. McCuliagh organized Detroit Lodge No. 7, of the bcdy of which he is now the executive “head, and has passed through the principal chairs to his present post of distinction. He isalso a Knight Templar, a 32d degree Mason, a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and colorbearer of the fa- mous Detroit Commandery No. 1, Knights Tem- plar. He has been a resident of Detroit since 1858 and his family consists of his wife and one daughter, an engaging and intellectual young woman of 20. Wherever he is known Capt. McCul- lagh is held in the highest esteem, for he is made of materials that become brighter with use. > — PLANTS IMPROVED AND PRICES LOWER. Secretary Herbert, of the Navy Department, in his recent annual report, said that in five years the price per ton for building gunboats had gone down 26 per cent in this country, and the price per ton for building torpedo boats had gone down 20 per cent. It is also estimated that within the same time the price of building war ships has declined nearly 30 per cent. This compares more than favorably with similar work abroad. This means in fact that American ship builders are now in a position to compete with the best foreign shipbuilders in the construction of war vessels. And if they can do this in war vessels, why not in commercial vessels? It is certain that the time is near when they can doso. Every new war vessel built by them brings them greater facility. And were they to receive orders for commercial steamers, they would, beyond all doubt, quickly be able to place themselves on a par will, if not be superior to the foreign builder. This must in the end come to such a position, for events show that the United States are maritime in every sense. They may have strayed from their true course but circumstances will bring them back to it again. The maritime interest is destined to become again the most important in this country. It is to be a leader in international commerce, anc our shipbuilders are to be the great assistants in the work.—Maritime Register. —— rrr 0c j Tuis testimony in regard to the folly of state taxa- : | tion of shipping comes from Secretary Walthaun, of the Shipowners’ Association of San Francisco. He says: ) The taxation of ships is an injustice which should be done away with. Nearly all the American ships in the Atlantic hail from New York for the reason that there are no taxes to be paid there. Some time ago parties were negotiating for the building of a steel steamer here, to cost $100,000. They concluded that they could better afford to pay $120,000 in New York on account of the enormous charges in San Francisco. eee NEW SAILING DIRECTIONS. LAKES ERIE, ONTARIO, AND ST. CLAIR AND DETROIT AND ~ ST. CLAIR RIVERS. The Hydrographic Office has just issued the last of its series of sailing dixections for the Great Lakes, in Part IV, which embraces everything below Lake Huron. The CAPT. GEORGE McCULLAGH. book is in the same form and as complete as its prede- cessors,and especially valuable in the information it gives regarding the obstructions. in the lower lakes which have been developed by the low water. A few copies of this book have already been received: at the MARINE RECORD office, No. 144 Superior street, and will be sold at the price fixed by the government, $1 per volume. ee Chief Constructor Hichborn, of the Burcau of Con- struction and Repair, U.S. Navy, Washington, D. C., says of the Holland submarine torpedo boat building at the Columbian Iron Works, Baltimore, Md., that she may mean to future fighting ships and methods of war- fare what the much-doubted monitor proved to our pres- ent navy. THE NEW FUEL AGREEMENT. A large number of vessel men gathered in Cleveland Wednesday and discussed the fuel question. Both the hard and soft coal shippers were present during a part of the meeting, and as they seem disposed to meet owners half way, an agreement was adopted which gives the signers full liberty to fuel with the shipper if he so desires, provided that shippers show no disposi- tion to take advantage. ‘This applies to the soft coal as well as the hard coal ports, and will, itis thought, be signed by practically all the owners whose vessels carry coal. The form of the agreement follows: ‘We, the undersigned, owners, managers and agents of vessels on the Great Lakes, do hereby agree each for himself and each to and with every other signer as follows: ie : “That whereas great abuses crept into the business of fueling steamers whereby certain shippers and dock managers required a steamer to obtain fuel in some particular place as a condition of the charter or in connection with furnishing or handling of cargoes, and certain shippers discriminated against consorts, which do not require fuel, un- reasonable prices were charged and various ex- tortions were practiced upon vessels and their owners in the matter of fueling. ‘‘And whereas to meet these abuses in part many vessel owners last year refused to purchase fuel under any circumstances from the coal ship- per by reason of the abuses referred to; now, in order to prevent any unfairness or injustice on either side, we agree that during the season of 1896, our vessels, and every one of them, shall obtain fuel wherever it may seem to their best advantage, whether with the shipper of cargo or any other shipper, the manager of any dock, or from any fueling concern or elswhere, but this shall be upon the basis and condition that ship- pers of coal, whether at Buffalo or any other Lake Erie port, and whether of hard or soft coal, and every other shipper or manager of any dock shall leave the vessel, her owner and master free to purchase fuel at any place the owner and mas- ter shall deem best for the interest of the vessel and shall not make fueling a condition of charter- ing or handling the vessel’s cargo and shall not discriminate against consorts because of their not requiring fuel or charge more than the usual market price, taking into consideration the qual- ity of coal furnished. ‘‘And for the purpose only of securing absolute freecom of trade to all parties in the matter of fueling, the undersigned owners agree that they and each of them shall refuse to deal at allin the matter of fueling with any parties who shall at- tempt to abridge the right of the vessel to ob- tain fuel independently of any other consideration and forthat purpose we adopt as our committee the following, who were named at the Lake Carriers’ meeting, James W. Millen, chairman; William S. Mack, John Rice, B. L. Pennington, M. A. Bradley, James Corrigan, David Vance, Thomas Wilson, George G. Hadley, authorizing them to appoint a sub-committee of their own number if found more convenient, said committee being hereby invested with authority in our name and for us to adopt such proper measures as may be necessar} in such case from time to time, each agree- ing to report at once to the chairman of the committee any such instance and each of us agree to give direc- tions to our agents and masters to do nothing directly or indirectly to defeat the purpose and intention of this agreement.”’ EEE ee —e ee The annual meeting of the Inter-Lake Yachting As- sociation is in session at Detroit. The place of holding Inter-Lake Regatta will probably be decided at this meeting. It is hoped that the places fixed will be far enough down Lake Erie to secure the attendance of a goodly number of Canadian yachts. Perhaps the race between the Chicago challenging yacht and one of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club will be arranged for the same occasion.