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(ESTABLISHED 1878.) PUBLISHED EvERY THURSDAY BY THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., (INCORPORATED. ] GEORGE L. SMITH, President, ——? C. E. RUSKIN, 3 : : . MANAGER. W. L. McCormick, . : f ‘ EDITOR. THOMAS WILLIAMS, Chicago, . F ASSOCIATE. CLEVELAND, CHICAGO, WESTERN RESERVE BUILDING, ROYAL INSURANCE BUILDING, FOURTH FLOOR. ROOM 308. é SUBSCRIPTION. One copy, one year, postage paid, ‘ a - $2.00. One copy, one year, to foreign countries, ; $3.00. Invariably in advance. ADVERTISING. Rates given on application. All communications should be addressed to the Cleveland office. THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING Co., FOURTH FLOOR, WESTERN RESERVE BUILDING, CLEVELAND. Entered at Cleveland Postoffice as Second-Class Mail Matter. i CLEVELAND, O., AUGUST 6, 1896. 2 HERE AND THERE. Two leading American shipbuilders—the Cramps and the Union Iron Works—have submitted tenders to the Japanese government, through that country’s legation at Washington, for the construction of two fast cruisers. The prices have not, of course, been made public, as the Japanese government will act finally upon the bids. Thetwo vessels called for are to be of the Yoshima type, but the builders have furnished their own specifi- cations, which without doubt contain many suggestions for improvement. ‘The cruisers are to be about 370 feet long by 48 feet beam, with a displacement of about 4,700 tons on a draft of 17% feet, with a speed of 20% knots under natural and 2244 knots under forced draft, the machinery to be of 15,000 horse-power. Good work and good results are to be considered before price, and while there is some competition from French yards, it is safe to say that for many considerations the contract will certainly be awarded in America. Representatives of the Japanese government have visited both the yards named and reported upon them most favorably. * * * Renewed fault-finding comes, this time from Detrvit, with the White law and the St. Mary’s River regula- tions, and once more the blame for alleged errors in these is laid upon the sturdy shoulders of Capt. Wm. S. Mack. The impression seems to have gotten out that Capt. Mack assembled himself in his cheery little den on the top floor of ‘‘The Anchorage,” his. beautiful home in Lakewood, and hammered and sawed until he had made laws and rules which, he claimed, could not be broken. Now, the truth is that so far as Capt. Mack’s energy in this direction is concerned, it was de- voted only to securing some laws which should cover the requirements, respectively, of the lake traffic and of navigation through the Sault, treating all the varied interests with strict equity, and securing proper protec- tion for each. As for the provisions contained in the White law and in the Sault regulations, Capt. Mack had much less to say in regard to what they should be than many others. He merely saw to it that the move- ments to secure them did not fall through because of anybody’s indifference or activity. Capt. Mack is not to be held responsible because, through violation of the White law, a collision occurs, or because some ship is fined for violating the very reasonable requirements contained in the new Sault regulations. 2 * * * A fresh error has in some manner gotten afloat, anda Detroit paper has heralded the statement, quoting that gentleman as authority, that Mr, H. D. Goulder, gen- THE MARINE RECORD. eral counsel of the Lake Carriers’ Association, had madeiarrangements with Mr. Eugene T. Chamberlain, Commissioner of Navigation, by which the payment of fines is to be suspended until the close of navigation. This, itis further stated, amounts to a flat ‘back-down on the part of Capt. Mack’s supporters, and an admis- sion that the rules contain serious.errors. As a matter of fact, both premises and deductions are wrong. Mr. Goulder has arranged with Mr, Chamberlain for a post- ponement of the hearing in the cases of several vessels whose owners are ordinary clients of Mr. Goulder, In these cases the questions involved are purely those of fact, and the merits of the rules do not come into discus- sion at all. The masters of certain vessels, in short, plead ‘‘not guilty,” and the amount of the fines have been deposited, under protest, as security that the ves- sel will abide by the result of such investigation as may be held later. This is, to be sure, a rather unusual course, but this is because the fines are usually imposed in ‘‘ground-hog cases;”’ if a vessel has not her tonnage cut on the beam, or if she has not her proper papers on board, the'cases are prima facie evidence, and to con- test would be equally useless and absurd. The cases postponed are, as we have tried to make plain before, purely individual cases, carrying no precedent with ‘them; and Commissioner Chamberlain has consented to delay the investigation purely asa matter of courtesy to Mr. Goulder, who wishes to enjoy a much-needed vacation. ‘The postponement, at any rate, is only until September: eo ak The announcement that a movement was on foot to change the rules stirred up nearly all owners of vessel property and underwriters as well, who haye fairly showered letters in upon Capt. Shoemaker, who is at the head of the revenue cutter service, and stationed at Washington. ‘They are also much pleased to learn that the rules will certainly not be amended this season, although they will be carefully looked over during the next winter, and posibilities for improvement discussed, according to the original programme arranged last spring. Copies of some of the letters to Capt. Shoe- maker have been forwarded to Capt. Mack, who is chairman of Lake Carriers’ Committee which formulat- ed the rules. Theletters show representation from every ~ principal port on the lakes, including Detroit, where the little opposition seems to center. The letters came from the owners of fast boats, and the rules were given unqualified approval, save that some managers urge still greater stringency on some points. The ships which have the greatest show of reason to complain of the reduced speed clause are the passenger steamers North West and North Land. Capt. Wesley Brown, the ““comomdore’’, according to lake phraselogy, of these steamships, declared himself, a few days since, in the hearing of the writer, as heartly in favor of the exist- ing rules and their rigid enforcement. * * * The aggregate distance of the two stretches for which the reduced speed and strict passing regulations were drawn up, is less than 21 miles. The first stretch on the way down, is only 6% miles, occupying, at seven miles per hour, 54 minutes. The center stretch is 14 miles, and requires two hours. The increase in speed to eleven miles an hour which has been talked of would result in'a saving of only one hour of time, while an accident that would throw a boat accross one of these narrow channels and sink her would prove a serious blow to traffic even in such-dull times as these. One thing is certain, and that is the almost entire absence of accidents, great and small, in the Sault this season, and when this is compared with the records made: last year and previously, the rules should be given at least some credit. PUD ES In view of the fact that comtemptuous reference has been made in some quarters to the condition of the lost barge Little) Wissahickon, it is due both to underwriters and owners that something be said in addition to that which has heretofore appeared in these columns. ‘The statement was that the underwriters had entirely lost sight of her and others of her:class, and) refered to her as anfold coffin. The underwriters are not in the habit of losing sight of these vessels, however apparantly insignificent, no matter wheher duly enrolled in the Inland Lloyds Register or not.: But the Little Wissahickon has never been left out of the regis- ter since she was first enrolled, and is duly entered in the edition of 1896 as rateing Bl, for coarse freight only. She has been regularly inspected, and manager Dan McLeod, of the Inland Lloyd’s Register, pronoun- ces that she was kept up unusally well for a lumber vessel. Capt. George McKay, who was lost on her, had an excellent reputation among underwriters for keeping up his boats and sailing them carefully. aie An episode which lately occurred in Belgium makes one long sometimes for a taste of a little European des- potism as opposed to the much vaunted freedom of speech and action which in this country is so liberally in- terpreted that if some repressive measures are not taken it will soon border on anarchy. ‘These labor agitators from England went over to Antwerp, and convened a. secret meeting of dock laborers, and sailors, and fire- men. These men had been working contentedly, and there were no points of difference between them and their employers. The three ‘‘champions of labor’s cause,’’ (one of them, by the way, is a British M. P.) made some inflammatory speeches, with a view to incit- ing a strike; but their speeches when translated to the workmen in their native Belgian, lost much of the orig- inal fire imparted by the eloquent agitators, and the meeting did not turn out a success. A second meeting was called, which was set for the July 10; but the mas- ter stevedores this time addressed a petition to the ‘ purgomaster, asking him to interfere for the sake of public order. He laid the petition before the Minister of Justice, and when the three arrived in Antwerp they were politely informed by the police authorities that Belgium could very well dispense with their services and manage its ownaffairs. They were given the option of crossing the frontier within twelve hours, with the assurance that should they decide to remain longer the government would insist upon their becoming its guests, and occupying the well-known hotel in the Rue des Beguines. The celebrated agitators decided not to extend their visit; and thereby what they had expected to be an ignominious campaign was brought to an in- glorious end. —— rr re A CLEVELAND DIVING APPARATUS. Mr. Carlos D. Myers has completed his diving appara- tus, and has taken it to Alpena for experimenting pur- poses. His idea is to go down in Lake Huron and to at- tempt to locate the steel steamer Norman, which lies on the bottom there. Unless the project looks very feasible after the wreck is found, it is not likely that any at- tempt will be made to raise her this fall. Mr Myers de- sires particularly to take a photograph of some wreck at the depth of 100 feet or more, and to show this, with affidavits as to the depth in which the wreck lies, in order to convince skeptics as to the merits of his appa- ratus. ‘This once accomplished, Mr. Myers’ fortune is made. The apparatus is not a bell, as it has been called in the daily press, but is a large chamber in which air is circulated by means of pumps, there being no compres- sion of air, asin a bell. The chamber is fitted with a telephone, electric search-light, ports all around its cir- cumference, and apparatus for moving the carina cir- cular direction on its base,and backward and forward as well, for a distance of several feet. It has an arm. fitted with grappling iron on the outside, but operated from within, and has means for casting off the base in case of accident, when the car will be sufficiently buoyant to go to the top, notwithstanding the great thickness of its walls, necessary to resist the pressure of the water. The present car was calculated to successfully resist pressure at a depth of 1,000 feet, and the large tube which encloses the air tubes, telephone wires, etc., is re- inforced with steel, and tested to the same pressure by means of hydraulic power, to insure it against closing. Mr. Myers has worked untiringly at this machine for several years and feels confident of success, as it is all worked out.on well-known mechanical principles, and its chief point is the carefully calculated strength neces- sary to insure sufficient resistance to water pressure at great depths. $$$ ict Two Excelsior hoists, which have been in use on the. < Minnesota dock, Ashtabula, for years have been remov- ed to Marquett.