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THE FREIGHT SITUATION. What has for many weeks been looked forward to with dread as apparently inevitable has at last come, and there will probably be a hundred boats in ordinary by the end of the week. These include some of the largest and most modern ships, with every advantage in the coal and ore trades, which is clear assurance that ship- pers have done their very best to get the cargoes for- ward, but that loads are practically exhausted. The worst feature of the situation is that there is no pros- pects of improvement for at least three months. To be sure grain will soon begin to go forward in larger quan- tities, but even this will provide for only a part of the tonnage, and it will not be surprising to see some of the larger ships which have been turned out this year tied up to the dock very soon. The dullness extends even to the package freight liners, this being undoubtedly due to the practical cessation of shipments of manufactured iron. Rates are no longer a subject of controversy, some of the boats seeming satisfied with anything a shipper might want to pay, so long as the cargo is furnished. A charter of coal to Milwaukee at 25c is ample proof of this. ‘There has beenno change in ore rates, owing to the almost entire absence of mill cargoes. —$—$—$— ree ee VESSEL TRANSFERS. Capt. Peter Blake and others, who formerly owned the schooner R. Kanters, have bought her again from the Leathem & Smith Towing & Wrecking Co., for $900. The latter had paid the owners $100 for a quit claim on the vessel, and the wrecking and repair bills were $325. Capt. Blake had sold the Kanters’ outfit to Joys Bros., of Milwaukee, and had to buy that back, too. % Capt. Anton Nelson, of Sheboygan, Wis., has sold the schooner Pride to Capt. C. Klingenberg, of Washington Island, for $600. Augustine & Nelson, of Sturgeon Bay, have sold the steam yacht Bijou to Alex. Richards, a traveling veter- inary surgeon, who will cruise her down the Mississippi to the Gulf. The price was $500. —$—$—<—<$—<————— rr ee NOTICE TO MARINERS. PORTAGE RIVER RANGE LIGHT STATION. Notice is given that, on July 3, 1896, a fixed white lantern light was established on each of the two struc- tures recently erected on the southerly prolongation of the axis of the dredged channel from Portage Lake into the head of Portage River, Keweenaw Peninsula. Front Light.—The front light is shown 18 feet above mean lake level, suspended from a bracket on a mast in front of a small lamp.house on a square crib, in about 6 feet of water, on the EK. bank of the channel. ‘The mast carries an oval day mark of slats. ‘The entire structure, excepting the crib, is white. Rear Light.—The rear light is shown, 25 feet above mean lake level, suspended from a bracket on a mast in front of a small lamp-house on the easterly bank of the ‘river, 600 feet S. 16° 05’ EK. (S. by EH. 36 K.), true, from the front light. The mast carries an oval day mark of slats. The entire structure is white. CHANGES IN SAULT BOUYS, ETC. The following changes were made July 15,in the buoyage at Sault Harbor, St Mary’s river: A red nun- buoy placed on the southern edge of Bayfield Rock; the the red spar on Buyfield Rock has been removed ; the black can buoy abreast the crib light has been replaced by ablack spar buoy ; the redcan buoy in the lower part of the harbor near the upper end of Hay Lake channel, has been removed. (‘The upper end of Hay Lake cut is marked by a black can buoy on the westera side, and a red nun buoy on the eastern side. SHOALS REMOVED. Daily Bros., contractors, of Ogdensburg, have fur- nished the Hydrographic Office with the following in- formation relative to the removal of shoals, near Blind Bay, head of the St. Lawrence River: ‘All shoals abreast of Blind Bay, as shown on the chart, have been removed. There is still another shoal not shown on the chart, situate just a little above Blind Bay, but as there was only about one cubic yard above the required depth (19 feet), it was not touched. The John Pridgeon shoal was removed in 1892 toa depth of 18 feet, but as the water has lowered a great deal, it is at the present state- ment, above grade. We understand it will be removed under the present appropriation. We also removed this THE MARINE RECORD. year, the shoal between Whaleback and Bay State shoals.’’ NOTES FOR NAVIGATORS. The middle ground in St. Mary’s River, just below the lock, opposite Spry’s dock, has been removed to a depth of 20 feet. The buoys formerly marking this shoal have been removed. The Canadian buoys on the east side of the dredged channel at the mouth of Lake Erie, Detroit River, have this year been rearranged and increased in number. The Canadian buoys marking the east edge of this dredged cut are now seven red wooden spars. After a careful examination of Erie, Pa., harbor, it is reported by the engineers that no evidence of shoal- ing was found in the locality 100 yards EK. 1 S.(S. 85° E.) of can buoy No. 2, as had been reported. The government of St. Domingo, by the middle of August, will light the harbor and mouth of the Ozama River by electricity for the benefit of shipping. To maintain the lights, a tax of 2% cents per ton net will be levied on all vessels entering the harbor, and 1% cents on all vessels remaining in the roadstead. Ce es WRECKS AND WRECKING. The damage to shipping reported during the week is all of a minor character, and includes the stranding at Porte des Morts, entrance to Green Bay, of the steamer Waverly, in a heavy fog Monday night. She was ore- laden from Escanaba to South Chicago. ‘The schooner Algeria damaged the Henry Johnson’s stern slightly by striking her at the Sault. The steamer Unique stranded a week ago in St. Clair River, and lost her shoe and rudder. 3% The wreck of the Mark Hopkins, in’dry-dock at South Chicago, is reported in very bad shape, and will proba- bly be turned over to Capt. Henry McMorran as his re- ward for wrecking her. a ABIGSHOVEL: © It may not be generally known that the largest and most powerful steam shovel ever built in this or any other country is now at work loading iron ore in the Oliver mines. This giant was built by the Vulcan Iron Works Co., of Toledo, O., upon a guarantee to load 4,000 tons of ore in ten hours with proper car service, and to dig it with- out being blasted. - This shovel weighs 90 tons, has engines of 190 horse- power, carries a dipper holding 2% cubic yards, or five tons of ore and is mounted on extra heavy railroad car trucks of standard gauge. This shovel is now loadiug 25-ton ore cars at the rate of one car in two minutes, or 20 cars an hour. Owing to delays in shifting cars much time is lost, but with proper car service this shovel will easily load 200 cars in ten hours, or more than 5,000 tons. Capt. Carlin, of the Oliver Mining Co., expects to establish this record in a short time.—Virginian. OBITUARY. : CAPTAIN WILLIAM STONER. oe ee Captain William Stoner, one of the most prominent citizens of Monroe, Michigan, died there Monday even- ing, the 27th inst., at the age of 72 years. He was born in 1824, at Big Cave, Pa. His father removed with his family in a prairie schooner when his. son was nine years old, settling in Monroe in 1833, The’ deceased took to the lakes at an early age, and soon became mas- ter of a vessel. He sailed the lakes for 38 years, during which time he was master and part owner of the Rush, Snowdrop, Rebecca and St. Joseph. He enjoyed the distinction of never having had a serious mishap during his long sailing career. Mrs. Stoner died early last winter, shortly after the pair had celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, and the Captain had failed” rapidly since. ' CAPTAIN JOHN P. REDDY. Captain John P. Reddy died at his home, No. 133 Chicago street, Milwaukee, Wednesday afternoon of last week. Captain Reddy was born in Newfoundland in 1832, but removed to Milwaukee when about 15 years old. He has sailed the lakes, as seaman or officer, nearly ever since. His wife, two sons and a daughter sur- vive him. rr 1 + Arthur Sewall, candidate for Vice President of th United States on the Democratic ticket, is a protec- tionist of the Sam Randall school, and has always been outspoken against free ships. Within the year heac- cepted the presidency of an organization having for its : object the better protection of American shipping by the differential duty plan.—Marine Journal. nem cette ieee INCREASE IN THE SIZE OF SHIPS. We have just received, through the courtesy of Mr, Eugene F. Chamberlin, Commissioner of Navigation, the shipbuilding statistics of the year ended June 30, 1896, also for purposes of comparison a table showing the corresponding statistics for the previous fiscal year. These figures include the tonnage which has been ad- measured by the local customs officers at the various shipbuilding ports for the periods named, and this is usually done about the time of launching. on The most interesting feature about the figures con- tained in the tables given herewith is the showing of the large size of lake vessels as compared with those built on the coast. Thus, while during the fiscal year lately ended, the lakes built only 15 per cent of the number of vessels built in the United States during the year, in tonnage the percentage is in excess of 45. The average size of the vessels has increased from 408.76 tons in 1895 to 885.59 tons in 1896, or more than 100 per cent, while on the Atlantic coast the vessels averaged 179.91 in 1895 and 196. tons for the year just ended, an increase of only about 10 per cent. ‘The figures given below are worthy of careful study for other reasons, showing the grow- ing tendency toward the use of steel in all classes of tonnage. P YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1896. WOOD. IRON. STEEL. TOTAL a SAIL. STEAM STEAM, SAIL. STEAM. © S Sue No.| Gross. |No.| Gross. No.| Gross No.| Gross. |No.|. Gross. No.| Gross. |No. Average a! Gross Tons — Atlantic and Gulf........ 295 | 39,237.89 |101 | 13,523.68 4 562.57 1 59.84 31 | 31,220.92 3 Biaoiior es. «iia a a Ee Ca a a es eo | ie th 9 | 4,551.34 “38 Te orete _ ye Great Lakes ........5..5+- 25 | 8,374.31 | 49 | 10,739,59 || 1 | 1,938.12 || 5 | 15,008.66 | 24 | 66,020.10 ||104 | 92/080.78 | 15 885.39 Western Rivers..........: 1 20 97 fo a ee (2 ett oe emcee all Par ey | aera, ne Cope c ml. | Ber Banca a reat 85 12/814.96 12 150 76 el da 381 | 53,961.27 |260 | 40,753.93 || 5 | 2,600.79 || 6 | 15,068,50 | 57 | 91,792.36 || 709 | 204,070.85 |100| oe7 es YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1895. WOOD. TRON. STEEL. TOTAL SAIL STEAM 7 : | st ' é STEAM. SAIL. STEAM. | So | ene No.| Gross. |No.| Gross. ||No.| Gross. |/No.| Gross. |No.| Gross. ||No.| Gross. |No.| Average ieee ites tae Gross Tons Atlantic and Gulf......... 307-| 45,765 77 |109 9,613 57 7 3,300.73 1 62.09 | PadlGst te uscccis cc Oh | 20058 ML ROMA licence hoe eee otis TebLey Y gt Great Lakes ..........0065 || 26 | 3,013,90 | 54] 10,918.60 || 1 365-15 || 4 | 6,062.60 | -8 | 17,654.54 || 93 | ygio14's9 | 1 08.76 Western Rivers........... Neate lee 60]. 6,980.07 [ils lees. ecb a eas 4} ‘oe2i76 || 64 | Teates | 9 117.83 Heth 304] 60,859.25 |244| 30,497.96 || 8 | 3,665.88 || 5 | 6,131.62 | 81 | 41,563.81 | 682 |132,71865 |\100 |. 19460 Bacay eas e 3 LSOm = Total sail ps Betas Total sail Ro on Total Sails... s6sees eevee revere reece nsec ee ce eees 9,029, otal sails $35 Gaeta Besos Sia ‘ ft Motals StHAIN \icandovelin GiuG ORAS cele ece aik 322 135,047.08 Mopel shealigns acu. ato eee ea 283 76.1368. = —_—___ we , i. te Grand total.......c...eses srpebereaededienes tees 709 204,076,85 GRADO TOGA ecsarccc accuse oe seen epee tena eee eee 682 182,718 55 —