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RAPID SHIPBUILDING ON THE LAKES. If the exigency should ever arise requiring the rapid turning out of a fleet, we need have no fear of our capa- bilities in that direction. While we are deploring the low ebb of the shipbuilder’s occupation in the United States, we have still before us an object lesson of what wecan do if we have a chance. Never before in the history of American shipbuilding has such work been seen as has been done in the construction of the Besse- mer Steamship Company’s fleet of lake freight ships. The company was formed in the first week of December of last year and contracts were at once made with lake shipyards, then fairly busy with other work, for the ‘building of twelve great ships, each larger than any others on the lakes, except one afloat and two under contract for another company. As we write, eight of these ships are in commission, and the remaining four will be finished in October. Four other ships have been bought, and in ten months from the decision to build, the company will have a carrying capacity of 65,000 tons on present draft and 95,000 tons on the deeper draft soon to be avilable. ‘This fleet will be able to handle about 2,000,000 tons of ore in one season of navi- gation. The cost of the fleet will be about $3,400,000. _ The vessels of the Bessemer fleet have been appropri- ately named for men famous for their connection with the mining, engineering and metallurgical world. ‘The flagship of the fleet is the ‘“‘Sir Henry Bessemer,’’ while among the others are such names as ‘‘Nasmyth,’’ *‘Eiricsson,”’ ‘‘Corliss,”’ ‘‘Krupp,’’ ‘‘Fulton,”’ ‘‘Watts,’’ “Siemens,” “Ball,” ‘“‘Fairbairn,” and ‘‘Holley.”” Amid all the development of the lake marine and steel in- terests in the last few years, it has strangely remained ‘for this new company to honor the memories of the greatest men these industries have had. The vessels are built on a guarantee to carry, on 14 feet draft, 4,000 gross tons, and those that have been tried have slightly exceeded these figures. ‘The evolution of lake shipping from the craft of a dozen years ago, when 1,500 tons was the maximum, has been wonderful. Asdeeper and deeper channels have been provided by the government, the enlarged vessels have been ready in advance of the completion of each improvement, and the government has been contin- -uously pushed bythe shipowners. Stilllarger ships are already being planned, up to 500 feet in length, and a carrying capacity approaching 9,000 tons. Within ten years, freight rates were tenfold greater than now, the Gogebic shippers at one time paying nearly $6 per ton to get their ores to Cleveland. Now the big ships can carry at a cost of 50 cents a ton, and a steady rate of 80 cents would He a ob ete enough thing for any owner. These steamers since they have been put in service, show excellent speed for freight boats. The ‘‘Bessemer”’ ‘and the “Siemens,” built by the Globe Company, Cleve- ‘land, make 15 miles light and 1334 miles loaded. ‘The - cylinders of the ‘‘Bessemer’’ are 25, 41 and 66 inches by 42-inch stroke.—American Machinist. rrr NEW CANADIAN TONNAGE. It is now reported from Montreal that the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Co. will add two large side-wheel steamers to their present fleet. The new vessels are to be at least 275 feetin length, and it is promised that they will be the finest and most spacious passenger steamers ever seen on Canadian waters. It is expected to operate them between Toronto and Prescott, and upon the completion of the Soulanges canal to extend the trips to Montreal, The plans for the new boats are now said to bein the hands of an expert draughtsman and consulting engineer of Detroit. ——_EEED ss —e THE LAW OF STORMS. The Hydrographic Office has issued a special ‘‘Notice to Mariners’’ for the current month entitled the ‘‘Law of Storms with some Practical Hints to Navigators on the Great Lakes.’? The pamphlet contains the follow- ing contents: ‘The Occurence of Storms on the Great Lakes,’’ ‘‘Nature and Cause of Storms, and Barometric -Changes Attending Them,” ‘‘Storm Center,” ‘‘Average Storm Track,”’ ‘‘Barometric Depression,” ‘‘Shape of the Area at Low Pressure.’’ ‘‘Barometric Defination of a Storm,” ‘‘Wind and Weather of the various parts of the Depression,” “Bearing of the Storm Center from the Observer,” ‘Storm of October 3, 1894, on the North THE MARINE RECORD. Atlantic, supplemented with a chart showing storm track and isobars,’”’ ‘‘Management of the Vessels and Rules for Heaving To, ‘with diagram representing a storm, whether on the ocean or Great Lakes,’’ “Further differences between the front and rear of the storm.’’ ‘The storm of May 27-30, 1896, on the Great Lakes,’’ supplemented with charts showing storm track, isobars, wind and weather symbols giving the direction and force of the wind and kind of »weather for 42 positions of different vessels on the lakes, together with the number of each vessel upon whose observation the charts are based.’’ This special issue of the ‘*Notice’’ on the subject of ‘‘The Law of Storms’’ is the first compilation ot the kind ever issued for lake ser- vice. eee AT DAVIDSON'S SHIPYARD. No attempt will be made to launch any of the wooden vessels that Capt. James Davidson has on the stocks at West Bay City, Mich., until November 1, as it is not intended to have any of them go into commission this season. ‘There are three boats—a steamer and two large tugs—constructed on builders’ account. Another tug built for B. B. Inman of Duluth, and which was launched a few days ago, will zo into commission as soon as possible. Captain Davidson has a large amount of timber on hand, but he says now that the great change in business conditions is causing him to hesitate about putting down any more keels. The steamer that is to hold over until next season is 280 feet over all, 43% feet beam and 26 feet molded depth. The wreck of the schooner W. S. Crosthwaite will go into Capt. Davidson’s dry-dock for a general over- hauling and repairs. The steamer Walter Veail, owned by‘H. J. Pauley, of Milwaukee, is at the shipyard to be converted into a double decker. - It is expected that after the rebuild she will carry 10,000 more bushels of grain than at present. ST "A NAUTICAL WANDERING WILLIE. A dispatch from Colon, U.S. C., says an exchange, contains the following: The steamer Soledale, at this port, reports that the schooner Alma Cummings. which was abandoned at sea on February 26, 1895, and since then has been drifting about the ocean, was seen ashore on one of the Islands off the San Blas coast on Aug. 18, 1896, and that the Indians were stripping the wreck. During the eighteen months of her wandering, the Cummings has traveled further than any derelict, with one exception. She was abandoned by Capt. Cummings and his crew February 11, 1895, about 120 miles off the Delaware capes, as she had met with a severe storm and had become so waterlogged that it was though unsafe to remain on her longer. She was sighted two days later 60 miles to the southeast of where she was aban- doned. Early in March she was seen again, having drifted 550 miles east across the Gulf Stream. Then _she shot off to the northeast on the last day of March in the steamship track and in the midst of icebergs. She escaped them, though, and when next heard from it was the last of the following April, 100 miles further south. Between then and May 6 she traveled 160 miles east and was seen May 24 about 3000 miles east of her for- mer position, and wis then in mid-Atlantic, between Hatteras and Gibralter. For nine months thereafter she completely disap- peared, until Capt. Whitby of the British steamship Ormston saw her on March 19, 1896, 1,140 miles south of the place where she had last been seen, in the latitude of the Windward Islands. She had probably been drifting about in the Sorgasso Sea, noted for the meet- ing of many ocean currents there. She drifted during her travels about 6,500 miles, and was seen only eight times. The derelict that holds the record for distance traveled is the schooner Fanny Woolston, which drifted about 8,000 miles in three years, before she finally van- ished, in 1894, EEE ee 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. 7 —aeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee i A en nineeeneeeneneneneeeeisenninn FLOTSAM AND JETSAM. Capt. G. W. Flood has resigned his position as master of the steamer Shenandoah. Toledo Harbor, No. 43, American Association of M as- ters and Pilots, held its first nreeting of the season, Wednesday evening. Capt. J. W. Flood has resigned command of the steamer Shenandoah, and Capt George Stevenson has been appointed to the vessel. It is not perhaps as generally known as it should be that no libel for wages can be taken in any of the United States courts against canal boats that are without masts or steam power, and duly licensed or enrolled. “a The steamer Corona, of the Niagara Navigation Com- pany’s line, will continue making daily trips between Lewiston and Toronto until Saturday, October 3, after. which date she will be laid off. The steamer Chicora will run as usual a week longer, discontinuing her trips for the season on Saturday, October 10 next, Low water in the harbor has prevented “several ves- sels from reaching their docks in Buffalo this week. The steamer Simon Langell and barge Arenac, lumber- laden and bound for Tonawanda, the H. A. Tuttle and the John Mitchell, were all detained on account of the low water. Tuesday’s gale sent a large number of vessels into port for shelter at various points on the lake. Freights are now low and scarce enough, so that when deteution through bad weather occurs, as it always does more or less at this season of the year, there is mighty little clear money left for the vessel to meet her current ex- penses with. Last month Sir Raylton Dixon & Co. launched from the Cleveland Dockyards, Middlesborough, Eng., three steel barges fitted for ocean towing. These vessels have a deadweight capacity of 350 tons at 8 feet, and are fitted with water ballast and other appliances to make them thoroughly seaworthy. The same builders have also on the stocks an ocean barge of 1,000 tons deadweight. The vessels are all of very similar con- struction to those which they built for a Dutch com- pany in the early part of the year, the working of which has proved highly satisfactory. - The schooner John Schuette, of Toledo, has an inter- esting history. She is a 600-ton craft, 140 feet over all, 26-foot beam and 11-foot hold. ‘The Schuette was built in 1875 at Two Rivers, Wis., and her maiden trip was a long one. Her builder ran away with thecraft. The owners made every effort to recover their property and the schooner was finally captured in the Baltic Sea. John Schuette, a Manitowoc banker, who owned the vessel, put her in the trade between New Orleans and Holland, and she made many trips across the Atlantic. Four years ago lL. S. Sullivan, of Toledo, purchased the schooner and since that time her present master, John O. Johnson, has been sailing her in the lake trade. Evidently through inattention to the camber of the vessel when dry-docking, the old Goodrich Liner Mus- kegon is now considered about a total loss and vessel- men are discussing the liability of the Milwaukee Ship- yard Co. for the damage done to the craft. The case is a novel one on the lakes, but the general opinion is that there are good grounds for litigation over the loss. It - will be a most difficult matter to get the steamer out of the dock if such a proceeding is undertaken, In any case the wreck must be raised on jacks and a canvas jacket must be placed from one end to the other if she is to be floated out. The wreck is said to be the most complete ever seen by the surveyors who have looked her over. The New York Marine Journal says the only English establishment of the nature of a sailors’ snug harbor is the Royal Alfred Aged Merchaut’s Seamen’s Institu- tion, which was established in 1867 to ‘‘give a home or a pension to the merchant seamen when old, destitute and helpless.’’ It has admitted to its home, situated on a beautiful Kentish hill at Belvedere, 467 inmates, and has given a pension of £12 a year to 786 others at their own homes throughout the United Kingdom. ‘These benefits are enjoyed, onan average, seven years, and so eagerly are they sought after that there are now 260 approved applicants on the books, men who are between 65 and 85 years of age, and who have weathered the storms and dangers of the sea for periods of from 21 to ‘64 years. The Journal has apparently forgotten or overlooked the splendid institution on the banks of the Mersey and the beneficent Mercantile Marine Service Association, of Liverpool.