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THE MARINE RECORD. BUILT BY A BACKWOODSMAN. It is usually only after a long apprenticeship and con- siderable experience as a journeyman in yard and draughting room that one feels capable of constructing a vessel; but Capt. Daniel McLeod, manager of Inland Lloyds, tells a funny story of a ship built by a man who had never previously seen but one cargo boat. “T was sailing a little schooner of only 120 tons,’’ said Capt. McLeod, ‘‘and had a cargo for the Gulf of St. Lawrence. To reach my port of discharge I had to go up a river about as crooked as the Cuyahoga, and we lay there several days. There came down to the vessel one day a backwoodsman who proved to be a sort of carpenter. He was much interested in the boat, as he had never seen one before. He looked her over care- fully and asked any number of questions as to how she was built. Finally he asked about the laying down of a ship, andItold him as well as I could, making some rough sketches by way of illustration. “J had occasion to take another cargo to the same place early the following summer, and was much sur- prised to see a vessel in frame. Upon inquiring I found that my friend of the year before had made his ques- tions and their answers count for something in the con- struction of a ship of about the same tonnage of the one which he looked over so carefully. It was a good sized ship in those days, too, when a 400-ton boat was considered a monster. “But the builder had reached a point where he could go no further, He had made first-rate progress with his boat amidships, but did not know how to get the level on his frames at the ends, and could not plank her up. I showed him how to do this, but he had not allowed enough timber for cutting away, and some of his frames were no thicker at one edge than an ordinary desk ruler. He got her planked up and finished, however, and finally sold her toa man who came along, getting a good price for his-year’s work. The man who bought her took her to England, where he also sold her at a good profit. The builder named the boat the Venture. He built another, but she turned out utterly worthless.” f 2+ 0 oe —__ THE BROOKLYN’S TRIAL TRIP The experts who predicted that our new armored cruiser Brooklyn would make 22 knots have been more than justified. As she made her run on the 27th there are no official figures yet, but the speed as reckoned by observers on board was 21 92-100 knots per hour for the run of 83 knots. She maintained an average of 22 9-10 knots during the run back between the third and fourth buoys, a distance of about seven knots, and between the first and second buoys on the return, the average of 22 48-100. In her run of 83 knots she had a boiler pressure of 160 pounds, and an average of 138 revolutions a ‘minute, with a maximum of 140 revolutions. The run outward, 41.5 knots, was made at 21.71 knots, and the return at 22.13 knots. In the preliminary or practice trial the day before, her speed was about 20.97 knots. The contract requirement is 21 knots. The course over which the Brooklyn ran lies between Cape Ann and Cape Porpoise. As laid out it was 41.5 knots long. It was marked by seven vessels—the naval dispatch boat Dolphin; tug Leyden, from Portsmouth; tug Iwanna, from Boston; tug Nina, from New York ; tug Fortune, from Newport; and the revenue cutters Woodbury and Dallas. As the old Brooklyn, of war fame, was an advanced type of the ship of her day, so is the Brooklyn of to-day the leader in her type. She was built at the Cramps’ shipyard in Philadelphia and has been under construc- tion for about three years, and is somewhat like the cruiser New York, but is heavier, has a more powerful armament and better protection for her men and guns. On account of these advantages she has been tacetiously called the ‘‘ Greater New York.’? The New York is of 8,150 tons displacement. The displacement of the ous trip of eleven miles. Brooklyn is 9,150 tons. —The New York has a battery composed in part of six 8-inch guns. The Brooklyn’s main battery consists in part of eight 8-inch guns. ELECTRICITY ALONG SHORE. The Huron and Ontario Electric Railway Company are slowly but steadily completing arrangements for the construction of the road. According to the act of incorporation, the capital stock of the company is to be two million dollars. Mr. N. McNamara, of Walkerton, is president; Dr. Rollston, of Shelburne, vice-president; and Mr. A. McK. Cameron, of Meaford, secretary. ‘The road will extend from Port Perry to Kincardine, with two branches, one running north from Priceville, through Meaford, Owen Sound, Tiverton, etc., around to Kincardine, and the other extending from Walkerton through Mildmay, Teeswater, and Lucknow to Goderich, with a connection between Lucknow and Kincardine through Ripley. The entire length of the road will be something over 300 miles, and motive power for its operation will be supplied from stations at Kugenia, Glen Roden, Southampton and Thompsonville. ‘The company is authorized to issue bonds to the extent of $10,000 per mile for construction purposes, and $6,000 additional for each mile double-tracked, Ata meeting of the shareholders held in Toronto recently an offer of construction was received from a New York firm. It was stated that most of the municipalities interested had passed resolutions adopting the by-laws and agree- = THE NEW HAY LAKE CHANNEL. The above is a view of the Hay Lake Channel, which was opened up by the United States, at enormous expense which is already well repaid by the advantages it gives to Lake Superior commerce, saving a tortuous and danger- This channel isin places cut through islands, and here has a width of but 300 feet, which must be doubled in time to accommodate the rapid growth of the lake traffic. through solid rock. The channel is one of the most picturesque localities in the Sault. ments with the company. A survey of the routeis now being made by engineers. ‘This will occupy about two months, after which track-laying will be proceeded with.— Canadian Manufacturer. (RE 0 ne 6 OBITUARY. E. M. HARRINGTON. Capt. KE. M. Harrington died on Monday evening, August 24, at his home in Alpena, aged sixty-nine years. Capt. Harrington had not enjoyed the best of health for some time, but had been as well as usual until Monday morning, when he was suddenly seized with heart trouble. He lived until 7 o’clock in the evening. Capt. Harrington had lived in Alpena since 1868. He was for a long time in the vessel and tug business, and even to the time of his death was well-known among the elders of the marine fraternity. For seven years past he had been in the grocery business with his son- in-law under the firm name of Harrington & Pratt. His wife and two children survive him, Mrs. B. F, Pratt, of Alpena, and Mr, Alex. A. Harrington, of Cleveland. rr Oe We are just in receipt of first copies of a new Hydro- graphic Office chart of the St. Mary’s River, covering the distance between Shifting Point, at the head of Little Mud Lake, and the Turning Buoy, in Mud Lake proper, with a part of the Winter Point Range. The price of this chart is only 25c, although made from the latest surveys. For sale at MARINE RECORD offices, Fourth Floor, Western Reserve Building. Much of the cutting was NOT\CE TO MARINERS. SAULT STH. MARIE RANGE LIGHTS, The range lights to mark the upper and lower ap- . proaches to the Canadian canal at the Sault Ste. Marie, in the River St. Marie, Ont., are now in operation. The front range light of the pair marking the ap- proach to the canal from the: eastward is an electric red light elevated 37 feet above the level of the river and visible 3 miles from all points of approach by water. The lantern is elevated on a pole standing near the outer end of the Lake Superior Power Co.’s jetty, the pole rendered more conspicious by a target. Lat. N. 46° 30’ 47”; Long. W. 84° 20’. The rear light is a similar light elevated 59 ft. above the water and stand- ing 1,300 feet N. W. % N. from the front light, The two lights in one lead from the American chan- nel up the middle of the dredged approach between red and black buoys as the piers at the east end of the canal, The front range light of the pair marking the approach to the canal from the westward consists of a group of incandescent electric white lights placed in a wooden lantern erected on top of the cribwork beacon at the turn in the west approach to the canal, described jn the above notice. The light is elevated 39 feet above the level of the river and should be visible up the river to Point aux Pins as well as into the canal. Lat. N. 46° 30’ 39’; Long. W. 84° 217 43”. The back light of this range is a fixed white incan- descent electric light elevated 61 feet above the river, and visible to the south shore in the line of range. It is shown from a wooden lantern surmounting a square open framed wooden tower, the whole painted whi'e and 65 feet high, erected on the east extremity of Davignon Point, 2,100 feet N. K. % E. from the frontlight. Thetwo lights in one N. EK. % EB. (N. 46° 25’ B. true) lead in from the American channel past Vidal Shoal, between the red and black buoys, to the turn at the front light. ———> The declaration of the Republi- can platform in favor of the up- building of our merchant marine has my hearty approval. The policy of discriminating duties in favor of our shipping which prevailed in the early years of our. history, should again be promptly adopted by Congress and vigorously sup- ported until our prestige and supre- macy on the seas is fully attained. We should no longer contribute directly or indirectly to the mainte- nance of the colossal marine of foreign countries, but provide an efficient and complete marine of our own. Now that the American navy is assuming a position commensurate with our importance as a nation, a policy Iam glad to observe the Republican platform strongly endorses, we must supplement it with a merchant ma- rine that will give us the advantages in both our coast- wise and foreign trade that we ought naturally and properly to enjoy. It should be at once a matter of pub- lic policy and national pride to repossess this immense and prosperous trade.—Major McKinley’s Letter. rr 0 re 0 i ALL SHIPPED VIA THE LAKES. Yo the Editor af The Marine Record: We wish you would state whether flour and grain can be shipped by water from St. Paul or Minneapolis with- out change to New Orleans, and to name the rates on corn and flour and wheat from and to the above places. Also capacity of boats. Kirkwoop & MCKINNON. Sudbury, Ont., Aug. 21. Mississippi River commerce is, as a rule, divided into two parts, St. Louis being the terminal. Few, if any, New Orleans boats go above St. Louis, and none trade to the Twin Cities. There isa movement to make New Orleans more of an ocean port than it has been, but there can hardly be any competition between the lake route to the seaboard and the river and Gulf route, as the former route has such an advantage, in point both of distance and transportation and handling facilities, The rail rate on flour from St. Paul to New Orleans is 30c per cwt. No rates are made on wheat or corn.