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a THE MARINE RECORD. it is quite possible that a considerable bulk of char- tering has been already fixed. _ Mr. Burrows, of Michigan, submitted to the Senate on Saturday last the following resolution; which was consid- ered by unanimous consent, and agreed to: Resolved, ‘That the Secretary of the Treasury be requested to organ- ize a board of not less than three competent persons, whose duty it shall be to inquire into and determine how much the hull, machinery, and appurtenances of the United States revenue cutter Walter Q. Gresham, contracted for by the department in the year 1895, cost the contractors over and above the contract price, if anything, and report the same to the Senate. So many alterations and additions to the original specifications had been made at the request of the department, that the Globe Iron Works Co., build- ers of he Gresham, found that the contract price had been exceeded and the foregoing is a step towards getting re-. imbursed for their extra outlay. oe or oo PORT HURON. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. The steamer City of Bangor is discharging a cargo of grain at Botsford’s elevator. Capt. Chris Smith has returned from Chicago, having thoroughly rebuilt the steamer L. R. Doty, and leaving her loaded and ready for the opening of navigation. Capt. and Mrs. George Tebo of Chicago are guests at the residence of Mr. Nelson Roberts. They have just re- turned from a visit to Washington and other eastern cities. . : Sherman Mills, shipkeeper on the ateamer City of Ban- gor, was severely hurt by being hit on the head with a block through a rope carrying away. He is on the im- prove and will soon be all right again. Trial of the suit of Capt. Harvey McQueen, of Algonac, against the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway Co., for $10,000 damages, has commenced in the Circuit Court. The plaintiff claims to have sustained secrious injuries in a collision near the junction, three miles west of this city, while he was a passenger on one of the company’s trains bound for Saginaw in the summer of 1804. The annual meeting of the shareholders of the North- west Transportation Co. was held in the company’s office, Sarnia, last Wednesday. There was a full representation of the shareholders present. The annual report and state- ment of the company’s business for the preceding year was read, after which took place the election of the board of directors for the following year. The following gentle- men were appointed as the board for 1897: Jas. H. Beatty, Wm. McCleary and Samuel Campbell, Thorold; Geo. A. Graham, Fort William; J. D. Beatty, Sarnia. _ The Windsor city council has pased a by-law prohibit- ing the employing by any contractor on public works of any workman who has not resided in Windsor for six months continuously, previous to his employment. Any violation of this act is to be followed by a penalty of a fine of $100. It is a measure retailiatory to the Corliss bill. Another method of retaliation in regard to the Corliss bill that will be suggested to the Dominion Parliament will be an order requiring the ferry company to register half of its boats in Canada and to employ on such boats only Canadian crews. At present nearly every man employed on the ferries is an American citizen. Byron Buckeridge took a large party of young people out into the country Tuesday night for a sleigh ride. On the way back they passed the residence of E. J. Kendall at 3:30 o’clock in the morning. Several of the young men stopped at the Kendall residence and turned the horse and cow into the street. The party then commenced to cry “Fire!” In less than 30 seconds Mr. Kendall bounded out of the front door with only his night clothes on. As he stood in the early morning air, and not in much else, look- ing for the fire, he could just distinguish the crowd of young people driving into the city. Ed. says he will give $10 if someone will tell him where the joke came in. The continued hard times have compelled F. W. Wheel- er & Co., the well+known West Bay City shipbuilders, to take steps for the funding of their floating debt by the issue of bonds. Mr. Wheeler has been building ships for lake use since 1882. He began in a small way, but has added to his plant until he has made of it one of the largest and best-equipped on the lakes. It is certain that he has the facilities for accepting any contract that may be offered him for many years to come. He has put afloat some of the best-built and largest carriers on the lakes to-day, and even now he has contracts on hand for several. The Union Trust Co., of Detroit, will be trustee of the issue of bonds. re or or FLOTSAM, JETSAM AND LAGAN. - New electric lights are to be put on the steamer Blanch- ard, of the Clover Leaf Line. The first steamer to run on Grand River above Grand Rapids, Mich., was the Paragon in 1830. Capt. Jere Coleman has been transferred from _ the steamer Selwyn Eddy to the Penobscot of the same fleet. A new dry dock, 450 feet in length, will be commenced this spring by the American Steel Barge Co. at West Superior, Wis. William Barrett, of Red River, Wis., has sold to Pascal De Grandgaguage, of Little Red River, Wis., the schooner Dollie M. for $450. Capt. Thomas McCambridge is temporarily in com- mand of the steamer Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan, Capt. - Thomas Honner being off on a vacation. The Lakeside Iron Works Company, at Muskegon, has been given the contract to repair the machinery of three government tugs now at Grand Haven. It is reported from Mackinac that ice has begun movy- ing at the straits. On Sunday some of it was driven out by a southwest gale and a number of fishermen’s huts were carried out with it. George McCullagh, grand president of the Lake Ship- masters’ Association, has written Congressman Samuel Stephenson thanking him, in behalf of 853 shipmasters, for his action looking to the continuance of the present mar- ine postal delivery at Detroit. “When you stepped on that gentleman’s foot, Tommie, I hope you apologized?” ‘Oh, yes,:indeed I did,” said Tommie, ‘‘and he gave me ten cents for being such a good boy.” “Did he? And what did you do then?” “Stepped on the other and apologized again, but it didn’t work.”’— Harper’s Round Table. That part of the shipping laws of the United States which authorizes the arrest of sailors who refuse to ob- serve the terms of their contracts to serve on board ves- sels, has been declared by the supreme court to be consti- tutional, and within the jurisdiction of the state courts to enforce. The Baldt Anchor Company of Chester, Pa., will send to any address, free of charge, a printed table of anchors and cables required for steam vessels according to the tonnage, also number of anchors required. The size of the anchors run from vessels of 100 tons with 165 fathoms Se to steamships of 10,000 tons with 360 fathoms of cable. The coal trade is only moderately satisfactory at the head of the lakes, continued mild weather throughout the Northwest reducing sales. The receipts of coal at the head of the lakes’ docks for the year as near as they can be gotten at equalled 498,000 tons of hard and 1,280,000 tons of soft. The receipts in 1895 were: Hard, 488,000 tons; soft, 1,180,000 tons. A stockholder in the shipyard of Wheeler & Co. says ‘that about March 1 the yard will be running to its full capacity. He says that a number of new contracts are expected. He said further that it was a little early to talk about a second ferry for the Flint & Pere Marquette Rail- road, but intimated that a contract for a car ferry might soon be closed, not mentioning the railroad that is to order it. The freight handlers at the Flint & Pere Marquette docks at Ludington struck Monday night for a restora- tion of their pay to 20 cents per hour. Those opposed to working longer at he old rate of 15 cents compelled all others to join their ranks, and four steamers remained at the dock until a force of men brought from Saginaw by special train began the discharge of their cargoes under the protection of the sheriff and a force of deputies. The strikers number about 400. The Lucania has arrived after her annual overhauling at New York, and for the first time since the death, at Anamosa, Ia., in January, of Mrs. Elijah Carson, who spent the most of her time at sea and had crossed the Atlantic 250 times in thirty years. Capt. McKay laughed at the story sent out that Mrs. Carson had left him $50,000 by the terms of her will and proportionate sums to his officers. ‘‘She didn’t leave me a farthing,’ said he, “or anyone else on the Lucania. She was with us most of the time, but we are not beneficiaries under her will.” This spoils an otherwise good story, but Capt. McKay ought to know and his word is beyond cavil. A rat was recently caught alive on board a British naval vessel in a trap and was thrown from the trap into the water without being killed. A large gull that was follow- ing in the wake of the ship to pick up scraps of food thrown overboard by the steward stopped several times endeavoring to pick the rat up. Once the bird got too close to the rat’s jaws and the beast grabbed it by the neck. After a short fight, the rat succeeded in killing the bird. When the gull was dead the rat scrambled upon the bird’s body, and, hoisting one wing as a sail and using the other as a rudder, succeeded in steering for the shore. Whether the rat reached shore or not is a question, since the ship soon got out of sight of the skipper and its raft—Weekly Telegraph. °° Patrick F. Cooney, late proprietor of the Crawford House, Windsor, Ont., died on Saturday, at the age of 74 years. Deceased was born in Ireland and went to Can- ada when a boy. His first service was in the English navy, which at that time had several warships in Canadian wa- ters. He then began to serve on steamers in the capacity of steward. He sailed on the Cataract, between Ogdens- burg and Lewiston; the Mayflower, between Detroit and Buffalo; the Illinois, City of Cleveland, Iron City, the Montgomery of the Pridgeon line, and the Jacob Bertschy of the Detroit and Sault Ste. Marie line. Ten years ago he retired from the lakes and assumed the proprietorship of the Belchamber house at Sarnia, Ont., in company with a son. Four years ago he quite the Belchamber and took the Crawford House at Windsor. Death result- ed from a stroke of paralysis. TT OOo A DOUBLE LAUNCH. About the middle of next month the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, will launch on the same day two small gunboats to be named the Wheeling and Marietta. A delegation of citizens from Wheeling, W. Va., and the Ohio town will attend to witness the launch. The two additions to the United States navy are what are known as twin screw, light draught composite gun- boats. Their cost is $219,000 and $223,000 respectively, and they are virtually sister ships. The boats, while per- fectly seaworthy for ocean cruising, are peculiarly adapted for service on the inland waters of the United States and other countries, and by reason of their comparatively moderate draught may be expected to visit localities where war ships are not frequently met with. Both vessels are of the same dimensions. They are 174 feet long on the load water line, the beam extreme at load water line is 34 feet, and the draught normal is 12 feet. The vessels are of 1,000 tons displacement. The indicated horse power is 800 and the estimated speed 12 knots an hour. The coal supply bunker capacity is 250 tons. The crew complement is 144. The armament consists of six four-inch rapid fire guns, one forward and one aft on the main deck and two in each broadside of the gun deck. There are also four six-pounders and four one-pounders, all rapid fire. oor IMPROVEMENTS AT CONNEAUT, O. Large improvements are to be made on the Conneaut terminus of the Pittsburg, Bessemer & Lake Erie Rail- road. The new equipment will reduce the cost of shipping ore to the Carnegie furnaces to a minimum and will per- mit the Carnegie Steel Co. to undersell the world in iron and steel. These improvements will be made simply to se- cure modern shipping facilities at Conneaut Harbor, and the total amount spent on that end of the road will reach almost $400,000. This expenditure will make the new line one of the finest and most modern in the country. A new coal hoisting apparatus will be erected at Conne- aut harbor to cost $40,000. By means of this immense hoist a coal car can be emptied every two minutes and this speed maintained for a day or week. The new lift will be built over the tracks on the docks and the car will be lifted up bodily, turned right side down and the coal emptied into a chute leading into the hold of a‘steamer. It can then be replaced quickly on the track and the opera- tion repeated. The machinery is the most improved of its kind. It will be necessitated by the immense traffic the company expects to have. Already 1,000,000 tons of coal from the Pittsburg district alone are practically as- sured to the road for the year 1898. The largest Pittsburg shipper is expected to be the New York & Cleveland Gas Coal Co., of which Andrew Carnegie and Mrs. Thomas Carnegie are the principal owners. The coal of this com- pany is now sent to the lakes by way of Cleveland. The Bessemer line will run directly through this property, and will have the additional advantage of using the Conneaut fleet of boats to the Grand Trunk line of Canada at Port Dover. As the capacity of the road increases this freight is expected to grow. The finest machinery: at the command of the company will also be placed on the Conneaut docks for the handling of ore. In addition to the 18 unloaders now in operation on the docks 12 new ore conveyors will be erected at 2 cost of $40,000. The company has 12 large conveyors that carry, the ore from the vessel’s hold to the stock pile 300 feet distant. There are also six whirligigs for the trans- ferring of ore directly to the cars for immediate shipment. The new conveyors will be of the most improved pattern, and will be used for the immediate shipment of the ore. They will load cars on five tracks and will be the speediest on the docks. , The company has arranged for a mammoth stock pile yard holding 1,000,000 tons of ore, but most of that re- ceived will be hauled directly to Pittsburg. Ample pro- vision has been made for the storing of ore at the new Duquesne furnaces, where stock yards to hold 1,000,000 tons have been built. This is the annual consumption of the furnaces. Carnegie does not intend to pay even the Conneaut Dock Co. for dockage, and most of the iron ore received will be loaded at once. All this machinery will be operated by electricity. The contracts for the new slip and docks have already been awarded. These will be built along the banks of Conneaut Creek and will extend 330 feet back from them. A freight yard will be built around them and seven miles of new track laid. Three miles of track are now in opera- tion in the yard and the total mileage when completed will reach 10 miles. Work on dredging the slip is now going on and will be completed before the opening of naviga- tion. $$ Col. John M. Wilson, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., who has lately been appointed chief of army engineers, was for many years associated with river and harbor im- provements on Lake Erie