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ESTABLISHED 1878. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., ‘ oer i { INCORPORATED. ] GEORGE LL. SMITH, President. .¢. E. Ruskin, - - - - Manager. Capt. John Swainson, - . - - Editor, Thomas: Williams, Chicago, - - Associate. : ‘CLEVELAND, CHICAGO, WESTERN RESERVE BUILDING. ROYAL INSURANCE BUILDING. fu SUBSCRIPTION. ; One copy, one year, postage paid, $2.00. » One copy, one year, to foreign countries, + $3.00. INVARIABLY IN ADVANCH. ADVERTISING. ' Rates given on application. . All. communications should be addressed to the Cleveland office. ee ‘THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Western Reserve Building, = = CLEVELAND. Entered ‘at Cleveland Postoffice as Second-Class Mail Matter. ———————— CLEVELAND, ©., NOVEMBER 26, 1896. Capt. M. J. Galvin, Supervising Inspector of the Ninth District, is one of the best supervisors that the United States Inspection Service has ever seen installed into office. It is noticeable that few complaints have been heard from Buffalo since the captain was ap- pointed, and this fact alone shows the fitaess of having marine men conduct affairs maritime. rr 2 a Ar interesting scheme ts belug dd vocated by Reubcu _H. Plass, an inventor, of Brooklyn, to establish a line of buoys across the Atlantic, moored at intervals of a mile apart and lighted‘and equipped with automatic fog signals, etc. Kach buoy would be large enough to prove a refuge for a shipwrecked crew, and all would be con- nected by telephone with life-saving crews equipped every few miles. Tur thanks of THe RECORD are due to the present “Commissioner of Navigation, I, C. Chamberlain, for advanced proofs of his annual report relating to the marine progress of the United States. Commissioner Chamberlain certainly has advanced ideas relative to the upbuilding of the merchant marine of thiscountry, and, perhaps they are right; but, we are pleased to differ .with his notions, toa certain extent. AT the several ports where supervising and local in- spectors of steamboats were formerly appointed at each change of the administration, we now find new and old candidates springing up for re-appointment. It should, however, be.known that the local offices are under the civil service rules, aud should therefore be competed for. In this connection we feel certain that no changes are desirable at this time. Otherwise, we would be pleased “to so state. ie one ee on <> ° ae 6 ra . 2 ~ Tae revised international rules to prevent collisions at sea, drafted by the Washington International Marine Conference, will probably go into effect on the first of next July. ‘The officers of the State and Treasury De- ‘partments have been working earnestly to thisend since the adjournment of Congress, and Great Britain is co- operating with the United States in securing the assent of the few remaining nations which have not yet accept- -ed the new rules. The following nations have agreed to adopt the rules and enforce them after July 1: Great Britain, Germany, France, Detimark, Russia, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Hawaii, Japan, _ Mexico, Guatemala, Chiliand Hondtiras. These nations, _ with the United States, control 22,000,000 tons, or more than five-sixths of the world’s shipping. The important nations whose assents have not yet been received are Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Brazil and Turkey, controling about 3,000,000 tons of shipping. THE MARINE RECORD. THE WAY TO FIGURE. : It is simply charming the way the Toledo Blade likes to figure on improbabilities, as for instance the fol lowing: ‘'The old dream of recovering the gold held in solution iw the waters of the sea is again re- vived. The gold is there without doubt; it ranges from a half to a grain per ton of sea-water. basis, and the results are startling. A cubic mile of ocean has from 130 to 260 tons of pure gold in it—that is to say, $65,000,000,000 to $130,000,C00,000 worth. As there are from 300 to 400 million cubic miles of water in the seas; there is, at the lowest estimate of a half grain per ton, $35,000,000,000,000,000 of goldin the sea! This is a million times the wealth of the entire United States, and in fact the wealth of the world is insignifi- cant beside it. But how to gather these riches of the sea—that is the question! The problem is a grand one, but who shall say it is too great for modern Science, to grapple with?” _— rr eon; BUILDING CONTRACTS. The lake dailies, copying from a local marine journal this week, give space to an article on demurrage, iguor- antly assuming that the saving and binding. clauses in a shipbuilding contract or an exception relative to when the amount charged for building should be paid the builder may be classed under the head of demurrage. We have had occasion to point out several discrep- ancies of a similar nature within the past few weeks, yet it has been with some degree of reluctance on our part to do so. However, — these misapplications of nautical terms grate harshly on those who happen to know what they are reading about, or even on the make- up of those who may have only a superficial knowledge of the subject. ; A penalty attached toa shipbuilding contract made between an owner and builder, is not, nor can it, by any stretch of the imagination, be classed as a demur- rage claim. Demurrage, pure and simple, is the com- pensation due to the shipowner from a charterer for unduly delaying his vessel in port ‘beyond the time spe- cified in the charter party or bill of lading. It is, in fact, an extended freight. A ship unjustly detained as a prize is entitled to demurrage. So also is a vessel chartered by any government. If not discharged at the time appointed, her owners collect demurrage per diem according to detention, and Sunday’s delay is, or always, should be, collected on Saturday. The foregoing shows that the bottom must be in actual service before there is any claim such as demur- rage and a mass of metal, or timber on the stocks can- not enter into the claims of demurrage. Let us hold terms nearly as they should be applied and not appropriate or misplace words that are strictly understood among the marine fraternity. $+ rn WEATHER REPORTS. The anuual report of the chiefof the Weather Bureau just to hand sets forth the value of the forecast service to commerce and navigation. Chief Moore shows where lives and property were saved on the Great Lakes by forecasts of approaching storms; and makes the grati- fying assertion that as a result of the display of danger signals warning navigators and others of the approach of the West India hurricane on the Atlantic coast, no lives were lost along the coast, and the loss to property was largely minimized. j The Weather Bureau’s average percentage of verifica- tion during the year was 82.4,a gain of 2.4 per cent over the average of the year previous. This, evident improvement in the service will serve to increase con- fidence in the forecasts of the observers, and in that way still further increase the efficiency of the weather service. When the weather service was first estab- lished skeptics were far more numerous than they are at present, owing to the incredulity developed by the more frequent failures of prognostications. It was natural for a captain who had lost a run through fear aroused by a weather prediction to have less regard for the next warning signal, and to take the chances of his own weather wisdom, or lackjof wisdom. As the per- centage of verifications has increased there has been less scoffing at the forecasts, and now navigators as well as agriculturists look to the weather report more eagerly than formerly. The review of the tornado record for the year, which “That is a very minute quantity, but figure on that ‘so ve the mystery of the development and progress those who are sailing as well as shore people. notes the sad as well as interesting fact that the torna does of the past year swept through populous . sections and caused unusually large loss of life, has some rela-~ tion to the part of the report which deals with the k experiments. Adyanced weather scientists are of th opinion that an increase in knowledge of the tempera tures and other conditions of the upper atmosphere will the tornado. The idea of carrying meteorological in: struments to great heights by means of kites has bee acted.on with great success, and the chief states that on one occasion an altitude of 7,000 feet was attained. O the whole, however, the Weather Bureau does not re-— quire or deserve too much credit for its mistakes, nor should false prognostications become a by-word among reno ee Pe AS FREQUENTLY pointed out in THE RECORD the absence of a distress signal is verified again this week by the ignorant or reckless use of signals of distress by the whaleback barge 127 when only a tug was wanted. This gave the life-saving crew a hard and perilous trip of four miles in the southwest gale allto no purpose. The barge was dropped by her steamer off the harbor, but tugs did not go out on account of the storm. Then the barge’s crew began firing rockets. When the life- savers reached her she was riding comfortably at anchor, where she remained until morning. Nor do we yet know what a danger or distress signal means, but. the employes of the life-saving service ought to know something about it and not pull miles for a false alarm. rr ee a ‘ Tue Union Dry-dock Co. has plans for a new 500-foot dry-dock, to be built alongside the other two dry-docks this winter. The company will also build another — steamer for the Union Line, as a sister ship to the . Ramapo. The Standard Oil Co.’s barge will be launched about Christmas. This, with the changes in the Che- mung and Owego, and rebuilding of the New York and — Rochester, will make business active at the company’s — yard during the winter and early spring months. : ‘ ——<—<— ee a Anp now Erastus Wiman, of the mercantile agency firm and fame, is about taking a hand in Erie canal — affairs, and will, possibly later, endeavor to work the lake business. i + <a ea AN IDEA OF OUR FOREIGN TRADE. The total exports of manufactures for September, as then announced, were $21,684,784, as compared with like exports in September, 1895, amounting to only $16,356, - 346. The totals for the nine months ending with Sep- tember were $184,972,443 for 1896, against $145,793,834 for 1895. ‘The manufacturing exports for July, 1896, were $21,553,500, and for August, $21,147,206. The ag-- gregate, therefore, for the first three months of the. present fiscal year was more than $64,000,000. If this rate of exportation should be continued through the. remaining three-quarters of the year, the total for the fiscal year 1897 would be moré than $256,000,000. How — these figures would compare with those for previous years is indicated by the following table, prepared by the Mercantile and Financial Times, New York, giving ~ the exports of manufactures for representative fiscal years since 1859: : Total — Exports of Manufactures Year. Value. Exports. $860: TS. FRR RON. RT 07345 008 $ 316,242,423 AS70is scisemsaan ss saeuga 68,279,764 455,208,341 TSOG ssi cases seagu-een cee ea 823,949,353. Se ae SY Vs eV: 726,682,946 5 (0 | ye HNO RP cers le all Cog wen LO Aaa) 845,293,828 FBO... ti LescsabtidsiedOG,0ee, 319 872,270,283 1899 isi. due Kaidiee suidad- 90 dace LO8;S205 984 1,015,832,011 VB03 oo scet Metta de encuassina le ea LLe 831,030,785 1604-3. o Gasca. oss duass ccs LOOMS 793,392,599 IB05ecahiccac ccc ee 183,595,743 793,392,599 1806 CREP Raat a teeatr esis 228,489,893 882,519,229 The figures for nine months ending with Septembe show an increase in the exports of copper ingots ‘ about $10,326,000 for 1896 over 1895. The increase for the same period in refined mineral oil is about $7,000 000. ‘The entire increase in manufacturing exports fo: nine months is $39,000,000. It appears, therefore, tha these two items represent considerably less than half o the increase during the present year. j Baer re re Sg : Receipts of ore at South Chicago to Noy. 1 footed 1,193,687 gross tons, against 1,634,238: gross tons on same date in 1895. i