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THE MARINE RECORD. nS SSSA SOLITARY CIRCUMNAVIGATION. One of the most daring feats in seamanship and navi- gation is now being carried out by an American ship- master named Joshua Slocum, a veritable down-EKaster - from his name. Capt: iSlocum sailed from Boston last year,.the.soli- tary occupant of a 15-ton sloop with the intention of sailing around the world, a feat which he has now nearly accomplished. After sailing from Boston he - safely crossed the ,Atlantic onthe Southern route to ~ Gibralter, from which port he proceeded to the Straits _ of Magellan, thence across the South Pacific Ocean to Sidney, N.S. W., Australia, arriving all well at the latter port this week. From: Sidney, Capt. Slocum will sail his small sloop rigged boat, named the Spray, to Melbourne, Victoria, and from thence to Adelaide, in the colony of South Australia, after which he will pro- ceed via the Cape of Good Hope on his return journey back to the United States, and thus be the first solitary - seaman to have circumnavigated the world. Capt. Joshua Slocum, during his forty years of seafaring life, has commanded the following vessels: Barks Constitution (wrecked in Samoa), B A. Mar, Amethyst Aquidneck (of which he was owner) - -and the ship Northern Light. He was also navigating officer of the war machine Destroyer when on her voy- “age to Brazil to annihilate, for and on account of ’ President Piexoto, the navy of the rebel Admiral Mello, and last but not the least of this enterprising man’s ad- “ventures was building a canoe 35 feet long from the wreck of the Aquidneck, and, with his familys sailing a distance of 5,000 miles to New York.: A Milwaukee seaman, named Capt. Adolph Frietsche, recently built and transported to the - Pacific coast a small vessel in which he purposes to emulate the example of Capt. Slocum, only that the Mil- waukee man, it appears, is making an advertising tour fora brewery firm of - national repute, while the down-EKaster ~is doing it for the pure love of seaman- ship and is proving to the world how men of his profession can be trained to successfully battle with the ,ele- -ments under the most trying circum- ~ stances. It is somewhat difficult to determine whether this sort of a “tempting Providence excursion’? is a brave, skillful and courageous act or a mere foolhardiness of notoriety-loving flat- footed nautical cranks. Many per- sons were very much disposed to be- lieve the latter assertion would about answer the query when a little overa year ago Capt. Freitsche started from Milwaukee in the small sail boat Nina to visit the British Isles and the north of Europe. However, the voyage across the Atlan- tic and a great deal of cruising on the coasts was suc- cessfully carried out by Frietsche and not until his tour was almost completed did the Nina meet with bad weather on the Scotch coast near Greenock, and the in- ‘trepid sailor left her bones there, returning home as passenger on asteamer. The very least that can be said of Slocum and Frietsche is that they are both skill- ful seamen and navigators, endowed with more than an ordinary. man’s share of physical endurance and a rugged determination to overcon.e all obstacles. ee ee NOTICE TO MARINERS. One of the gas buoys recently located at Point Pelee, ' Lake Erie, broke adrift from its anchorage during the gale of Tuesday night and has not yet been recovered. Any master sighting it is requested if at all practic- able and convenient to tow it to some safe harbor, or if stranded or beached anyone seeing it is requested to kindly notify George Gott, collector of customs at Am- herstburg, or Capt. George P. McKay, at Cleveland. rr oo oe THE GREAT LAKES STEAMSHIP COMPANY. Since Mr.John Gordon, of Buffalo, severed his connec- tion with the Great Northern Railroad Co., his name has been coupled with numerous lake projects, both with passenger and cargo carrying adventures. Up to date, however, the forming of the Great Lakes Steam ship Co., consisting of the large steel steamer Globe, built by the Globe Iron Works Co., of Cleveland, has perhaps been the chief feature of Mr. Gordon’s business in so far as lake interests were concerned. It is now learned that Mr. Gordon has formed an alliance with the Wisconsin Central Railway Company, which con- nects Manitowoc; Wis., with St Paul and Minneapolis. The Twin City jobbers objected to the rates charged by the railroad companies for carrying freight between those places and New York, Philadelphia and Balti- more. A reduction in rates to a 75c basis was requested and refused. Through Mr. Gordon’s assistance charges have been reduced to a 50c basis. The new schedule is: First class, 70c; second, 60c; third, 50c; fourth, 35c; fifth, 30c;. sixth, 25c. The Trunk Line Association eotanea. to join in this tariff, so the Great Lakes Steamship Co. has to pay the local rates to Buffalo, adding what they claim is a’ profitable rate from Buffalo to the Twin Cities.. Now the first-class rate quoted from Buffalo by the new line is 3lc, subtracting which from the first-class rate from New York, 70c, leaves 39c as the local steamship com- pany has to pay on the shipments from New York to Buffalo. The routes by which the above tariff is effec- tive are as follows: From New York, Lehigh Valley and Great Lakes Steamship Co.; from Philadelphia, Philadelphia & Reading and Lehigh Valley and Great Lakes Co.; from Baltimore, Northern Centraland Great Lakes Company. The new rates are: From Cleveland—Rates on iron articles, 10c. From Albany and common points—First-class, 65c; ‘second, 55c; third, 45c; fourth, 32c; fifth, 27c; sixth, 22c. From Rochester—First-class, 46c; second, 39c; third, THE GEORGIAN BAY STEAMER MAJESTIC. 209 feet keel, 35 feet beam, 1,578 tons, managed by the Northwestern Transportation Company. C. Cameron, Collingwood, Ont., Owner. 32c; fourth, 24c; fifth, 21c; sixth, 17c. From Buffalo—First-class, 3l1c; second, 27; third 22; fourth, 16; fifth, 14; sixth, 12. It is therefore to be seen that Mr. Gorden has not been altogether ‘‘laying on his oars’’ during the summer, asit must have taken considerable time and business tact to arrange so inclusive a tariff as the foregoing. rr 6 SCANT DRAFT IN THE WELLAND. Vessels have found but a scant draft of water in the Welland canal this week and for two or three days nav igation for the down-bound craft was nearly suspended. The steamer Glidden and consort Aberdeen lightened to a draft of thirteen feet two inches and could not get through the lock. The steamer Gov. Smith, drawing thirteen feet, was only able to get through with the aid of .two harbor tugs. Prevalent easterly winds lowered the water on the mitre sills to thirteen feet two inches and down bound vessels had to lighten to less than thirteen feet draft to get through until the wind changed and raised the water level. EDP OO —e 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 RECcORD Offices, Fourth Floor, Western Reserve Building. PATENTS PERTAINING TO MARINE. Otto Schnicke, Three Lakes, Wis., has patented a self feathering oar. Eugene Duerr, Be fialors: Wiss a siettiod for the pro- pulsion of peuaeli being a revoluble shaft, extending through the bow of a vessel, and one or more longitu- dinal spiral tubes open at both ends and secured to the shaft. ‘The inventor seems to have in view the turbine wheel or spiral principle at the forward end of the shaft, and exposed like a bow wheel, so as to assist the propeller wheel fixed on the after-end of the shaft in the usual manner, William E. Booraem, Brooklyn, N. Y., has invented a tidal wheel, described as follows: A horizontal trunk open at its ends and adapted for submergence in a tideway; a water-wheel within the trunk mounted upon a vertical shaft extending upward- y above the top of the trunk for transmitting the power due to the rotation of the wheel, and two deflecting- plates, one mounted upon a vertical rock-shaft midway between the sides of the trunk and in proximity to one side of the water-wheel, and extending from the rock- shaft outwardly toward one end of the trunk, and the other mounted in like manner upon a vertical rock- shaft midway between the sides of the trunk and in proximity to the other side of the wheel, and extending outwardly from the rock-shaft toward the other end of the trunk, further: A water-wheel mounted upon a vertical shaft; a hori- zontal trunk in which the water-wheel is contained; de- flecting plates swinging on vertical axis in proximity to the opposite sides of the wheel, the axis lying in the central vertical longitudinal plane of the trunk, two stops, the one on one side of one deflecting-plate, and the other on the other side of the other deflecting plate, for so limiting the range of movement of deflecting plates as to prevent either of their free extremi- ties from reaching the central longi- tudinal plane of the trunk, whereby the cross-area of the current deliy- ered to the wheel is approximately only one-half of the cross-area of the space afforded by the outflowing current from the wheel irrespectively of the direction of the current flowing through the trunk. Frank H. Lemon, Redondo Beach, Cal., a wave motor, forming asa struc- ture aseries of floats arranged one in advance of the other and in par- allel planes to each other and having one of their ends adjustably pivoted, a line-shaft supported by the struc- tures and means in connection with said floats for transmitting power to the line-shaft. William M. Spann, Doniphan, Mo.,a propeller for boats being a combination with a boat and the vertic- ally-disposed supports at the rear thereof, of the remoy- able plates on the rear end supports, and the supports and plates having oppositely disposed recesses to form bearings for the crank-shafts mounted in bearings in the same vertical plane, but in different horizontal planes, the stirrups mounted on the paddles for vertical adjustment, and the paddles secured to the crank-shafts and having bearings in the stirrups, each paddle being connected with the cranks of both shafts, and having their ends beveled and adapted to enter and leave the water substantially vertically. i oo ep A long-felt want of Upper Georgian Bay navigators has been met in the issuing by the Hydrographic Office, of a chart, in large detail, of this bay from French River to Little Current and Cabot Head. This includes the greater portion of the shores of Grand Manitoulin and the neighboring islands, and the new ranges, and the results of alllate soundings are carefully given. A scale of statute miles, extending the entire length of the chart from top to bottom, greatly facilitates calculations for those accustomed to compute distances by this standard of measurement. The price is $1.25. Furnished promptyl upon application at THE MARINE RECORD Offices, Fourth Floor, Western Reserve Bldg., Cleveland. EE ooo Besides being an exact and reliable vessel register, Beeson’s Inland Marine Directory this year has the added feature of the dimensions and latest insurance ratings of lake tonnage.—Toledo Evening Bee. PROT SPS er ARSE. SER Se ee ETE Sey Ne ELAS Tanai