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THE MARINE RECORD. FLOTSAM, JETSAM AND LAGAN. The Goodrich liner Indiana is wintering at Chicago, The Clyde Iron Works, Duluth, has libeled the Inman tug Buffalo for repairs for $122.06. B. B. Inman of Duluth has made an assignment to A, R. Macfarlane for the benefit of his creditors. The car ferry steamer Pore Marquette was launched at Bay City on Wednesday and is booked to go on her route _ Saturday. The steamer City of Genoa left Toledo December 27 for Buffalo with a cargo of corn and the steamer Aurora on the 20th also bound to Buffalo. There is a fleet of fifty-one vessels in winter quarters at Tonawanda, fifteen of which are steamers, thirty-five barges and one schooner. The following vessels are in winter quarters at Lorain: Steamers Vega, Vulcan and Robert Wallace, schooners David Wallace, Three Brothers, Kate Winslow, Selkirk and General Franz Sigel. A steamer to cost $80,000 will be built by the Galvin company at Garden Island, Ont. The boat will be a modern steamer, 218 ft. over all, and will be owned by the company. She will be employed in the lumber and grain trade. Capt. John Johnston died at Clayton, N. Y. this week, aged eighty years. Deceased established the first regular line of steamers upon the St. Lawrence river between Cape Vincent and Clayton for the benefit of tourists travel to the Thousand Islands, before the days of railroad com- munication with Clayton. The steamer E. C. Pope is in drydock at Chicago and it will cost about $7,000: to repair her. She struck in St. Mary’s river last fall; but as no leak develoned her damage was supposed to be light. To the surprise of everyone, upon being docked it was found that eighteen bottom plates required rerolling, and some to be renewed. Capt.. John V. Tuttle has accepted a lucrative position with the British & Foreign and North American syndi- cate of underwriters and will give up his residence in Mil- waukee about the 1st of May next. Capt. Tuttle is at present in Buffalo in the interest of the syndicate, but is said to be undecided whether to locate there or at Oswego. Manitowoc’s winter fleet consists of 32 steam and sail crafts as follows: Steamers, Virginia, Chicago, Sheboy- gan, City of Green Bay, Liberty, Francis Hinton, T. S. Christie, Noormandie, Simon J. Murphy, George D. Nau (tug). Schooners, Nellie Church, F. Miner, Glen Cuyler, Lizzie Metzner, James H. Hall, Charley J. Smith, Isolda Bock, Emma L. Neilson, Linerla, Lydia, Burt Barnes, Oscar Newhouse, Naiad, Active, L. B. Coates, Little Georgy, Jessie Martin, Merchant, Libbie Carter, Agnes, Actor and Felicitous. At Chicago vessels are in fair demand for grain cargoes to be held’ on board and delivered in the spring. The rates paid are three cents on wheat, 2 3-4 cents on corn and 21-2 cents on barley to Buffalo. Charters reported vinclude the steamer Madagascar and her consorts, S. M. Stephenson and Fanny Neil, for about 130,000 bushels of barley, and the schooner Emma C. Hutchinson for 50,000: bushels of wheat. Carriers manifest no particular desire to accept corn cargoes, as the cereal is not in proper con- dition to keep well. Buffalo marine underwriters do not change their views: in regard to the propriety of sailing on lake Erie after December. They point to the Conneaut car ferry, built for winter sailing, and yet was lost in the ice for several weeks last winter. At the same time there has been noth- ing to hinder vessels from sailing on lake Erie the last few days, and there:is no ice save for the little that has formed in the inner harbor and along the north and south shores. Manager Newman of the C. & B. Line is quoted as say- ing that he thought it would not be long untill many of _ the lake boats would be kept running until Jan. 1. During the past two weeks, he said, we have had better sailing weather than we had in November, and there is no reason why good, staunch boats are not kept in commiss- ion as long as business is offered. NEW YORK STATE CANALS. Supt. Aldridge’s report of the operations of the cauat system of the state of New York shows that boatmen have had a comparatively prosperous business during the past season. Supt. Aldridge says that the average price _ received by the boatmen for transportation of wheat be- tween Buffalo and New York has béen about 3% cents per bushel. This is the highest average since 1890, except in the year of 1893. The total number of tons of freight carried upon the canals during the season of 1896. was 3,714,804, of which the Erie canal carried 2,742,438, the Champlain 802,510, the Oswego 57,245, the Black River 57,953, the Cayuga and Seneca 54,739. Of the total ton- nage, 852,467 tons were products of the forest, 1,126,665 of agriculture, 152,322 of manufactures, 270,603 of mer- chandise, and of other articles not classified: there were 1,032,837 tons carried, GRAIN IN STORE AT CHICAGO. Stocks of grain in public elevators at Chicago are: Wheat, 13,340,000 bushels; corn, 5,568,000 bushels; oats, 4,756,000 bushels; rye, 1,077,000 bushels; barley, 94,000 bushels. Stocks afloat are, 50,000 bushels wheat, 132,000 bushels corn, 32,000 bushels oats. Private elevator stocks of wheat decreased 44,000 bushels, and oats 165,000 bushels but corn increased 138,000 bushels. The stocks are: Wheat, 2,161,000 bushels; corn, 1,641,000 bushels; oats, 2,251,000 bushels. The aggregate stocks of wheat in public and private elevators and afloat is 16,012,000 bushels. LAUNCH OF THE PERE MARQUETTE. The car ferry Pere Marquette, built at the yards of F. W. Wheeler & Co., West Bay City, for the Flint & Pere Marquette railroad, was successfully launched on Wed- nesday. The new craft is believed to be the largést and strongest car ferry afloat and is intended to ply across Lake Michigan the year around. She is 350 feet long, 56 feet beam and will carry thirty loaded cars. The ferry will leave fof Ludington Saturday and go into commis- sion between that port and Manitowoc, Wis., at once. The route thus opened up will be the shortest rail line between the northwest and the Atlantic seaboard. AN INDUSTRIAL EDIUION. A special industrial edition of the Detroit Free Press was issued on Dec. 30, and THE RECORD numbering among the Michigan and especially Detroit industries many of its patrons is pleased to reproduce a portion at least of some of the good words spoken in behalf of some of the prominent firms of the “City of the Straits.” y="a DETROIT DRY-DOCK COMPANY. The advantages of large, well-equipped drydocks to a city located as Detroit, on the most navigable river in the world, are incalculable. The dry-docks of the Detroit Dry-Dock Company are so extensive in size and so thor- oughly equipped for the building and repair of vessels of every class that hundreds of thousands of dollars are here spent in wages and material that, were it not for these docks, would go to more favored localities. The first important vessel built by this company was a composite steamer for the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co.’s passenger line: this, with others in the same class, has reflected great credit on the drydock people, who are the only successful builders of composite vessels on the lakes. The S. R. Kirby, built by this company, is a steamer, the dimensions of which are worth noting as going to show the capacity of the docks and yards of this company. This vessel is 311.6 feet in length, and has a 42-foot beam, a depth of 23 feet, a gross tonnage of 2,338.66 and a net tonnage of 1828 tons. The Norden, also built by the Dry- dock Company, a passenger and freight steamer, has a length of 209.10 feet, is 35.10 beam, a depth of 15.15 feet, a gross tonnage of 1,122.92, and a net tonnage of 708.15, and carries two triple expansion engines 20x33 and 42x54 inches, with two cylindrical boilers 11x12 feet 6 inches. The steel ship building plant of this company at Wyan- dotte is one of the.most complete in the world. Here, with other vessels of like rating, was built the Storm King, whose length is 268 feet, beam 38.4 feet,-a gross tonnage of 1,702.96 tons, a net of 1,223.94 tons and a depth of 22 feet. Organized in 1892, with a capital of $300,000, the busi- ness of the Detroit Dry-dock Company has been success- fully conducted by Hugh J. McMillan, as president; Alex- ander McVittie, vice-president and manager; Frank Kirby, engineer, and Gilbert H. McMillan, treasurer. FRONTIERZIRON WORKS. t One of the most important, progressive, prosperous and industrial corporations in Michigan is the Frontier Iron Works, of Detroit. These works are located at the corner of Atwater and Chene streets, and the business is con- ducted under the management of a board of officers, of which Wm. V. Moore is president, H. W. Rood, vice- president, and Thos. S. Christy, treasurer and general founder and machin- the reliable and mer- and machinery. s make Weber's. Gate ains and Frontier Feed ialties, it is the perfection d of triple expansion en- of their works into every large steam vessels are ad- manager, who as an expert engineer, ist, has-made these works noted for itorious character of their engines While the Frontier Iron Work Valves, Lubricators, Lawn Fount Water Heater and Purifier,as spec and economy found in their buil gines that has carried the fame port of the world, to which mitted. Among the many large lake and ocean steamers that ply the salted and unsalted seas of the world, propelled by the Triple Expansion Engines, built at the Frontier Iron Works, may be named the lake steamers T. W. Palmer, Livingstone, Majestic, Uganda, Nyanza, Fedora, Geo. F. Williams, W. H. Gilbert, John Harper, John Mitchell, Tampa, Tosco, C. F, Beilman, F. & P. M. No. 5, W. F. Sauber, Merida, Capt. Jas. Davidson’s boats, Nos. 60, 61, 64 and 77, Rappahannock, Shenandoah, Madagas- car, Appomatox, Nicaragua and Sacramento. The ocean steamers, Mackinaw and Keweenaw ; whaleback steamers, Samuel Mather, Pathfinder and Everett. Quadruple ex- pansion for McElroy’s new boat, Unique SUPERIOR GRAPHITE PLANT. It may not be generally know the hardest of all known subst flames of the blow-pipe, the ashes resulting is graphit, pre- cisely the same as that found in the mines discovered some years ago on the upper peninsula of Michigan. This graphite is the most indestructible of all pigments when made into paint; ; is not affected by heat, cold, salt, air, or chemicals. Careful experiments conducted in the laboratory of the Detroit Graphite Manufacturing Company have produced results which were given in a paper entitled “Rustless Coatings for Iron and Steel,” by Prof. M. P. Wood, read at the Detroit meetings of the American Society of Me- chanical Engineers, held in June, 1895, and which paper froms part of volume XVI. of the transactions of that meeting. “The resistance of these brands of paint to the corrosive action o facids or alkalis is very remarkable, as the fol- n that when a diamond— ances—is consumed by the _ lowing severe tests will show: “Pieces of iron painted with them have been dipped in muriatic acid, sulphuric and oxalic acids and then allowed to dry with the acids upon them for nineteen days without showing a trace of any damage to the paint. “These paints have been immersed in ammonia and sal- soda for nineteen days, in coal oil for several weeks; and in strong brine for six years without showing any injury. Pieces of iron have been coated with Lake Superior graphite and submitted to twenty-four tests in alcohol, boiling beer, boiling brine, boiling sugar and water, with- out the paint showing any injury. “Smokestacks painted with graphite paint have been heated to redness without blistering. Sheet tin, coated with these paints can be twisted and bent in all directions without scaling or cracking the paint.” These exhaustive tests referred to by Prof. Wood led to the adoption of Superior Graphite Paint on the steel decks of the Michigan Central R. R. transfer boats, as a protection against the salt brine from refrigerator cars. Graphite pigment when pulverized to an impalpable powder is very light in comparison with other pigments, has very great covering powers when made into paint, forming an entirely air-tight covering to the metal, and is an absolutely rustless coating for iron or steel when prop- erly applied. ‘ The Superior Graphite Paints of the Detroit Graphite Manufacturing Company, are conceded to be the best product of the kind produced, and are fast crowding out of the market inferior goods. The plant and other offices of the company are located at 542 River street. It was incorporated in 1891 and is officered by Ralzemond A. Parker, president; Jas. T. Ster- ling, vice-president; Wilbur F. Monroe, secretary; Alex- ander A. Boutell, treasurer and manager. The steamer Periwinkle sold at United States marshal sale last week in Toledo, has quit a history connected with her. She was built at Buffalo in 1864 for the United States revenue marine service, and bore the name of Commodore Perry. She has a gross tonnage of 412, and a net tonnage of 267 tons. Captain Hodgen, of the Fessenden, was the first captain of the Commodore Perry, and later went to the boat he now commands. When the Periwinkle was in the revenue service the fleet was composed of the Fess- enden, Perry, Andrew Jackson, Commodore Perry, and the Michigan.