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THE MARINE RECORD. ESTABLISHED 1878. Published Roa TGenday. by THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Incorporated. GEO. L. SMITH, President. C. E, RUSKIN, - - - - Manager. CAPT. JOHN SWAINSON, vY = or Editor. THOS. WILLIAMS, Chicago, - - Associate. CLEVELAND, Rie CHICAGO. Western Reserve Building. Royal Insurance Building. SUBSCRIPTION. One Copy, one year, postage paid, - - $2.00. One Copy, one year, to foreign countries, - - $3.00. Invariably in advance. ADVERTISING. Rates given on application. Aff communications should be addressed to the Cleveland office. THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Western Reserve Building, Cleveland, Ohio. Entered at Cleveland Post-office as Second Class Mail Matter, CLEVELAND, O.,; MARCH 18, 1897. We have received this week a copy of the Weekly Com- mercial News and Insurance Record of San Francisco, Cal., which in the future will be a most welcome visitor. Anyone desirous of keeping posted on Pacific Slope af- fairs, a la maratime, should subscribe for this excellent journal. oo oO or Mr. W. A. Prime (of C. E. & W. F. Peck, insurance brokers, New York), who is the head and fount of the new insurance and classification company -beginning this year on the lakes, is perhaps somewhat of an enthusiast in underwriting circles. It would perhaps be advisable to go somewhat slow on his representations, as he appears to desire to walk all over creation in his efforts to get lake business. Mr. Prime, or rather the companies and inter- ests he represents, may of course be all right, but we may, or rather will, be in a better position to express further opinions of his methods of doing business after the close of this season. ooo The Hon. Eugene T. Chamberlain, U. S. Commissioner of Navigation, ought to be continued in office, although the change of administration will, we fear, hardly admit of Mr. Chamberlain holding down the seat which he has: so worthily filled. We can not even surmise a more worthy successor to the present Commissioner of Navigation; however, President McKinley, or rather his advisers, ‘may possibly suggest a man equally as good to fill the ‘position from a Republican standpoint, but to say the ‘least it will be difficult to discount E. T. Chamberlain, and in the event of a change, which is almost certain to fol- low, this office, or the candidate for it, ought to be more than rigidly scrutinized. —_—$ 5S Sara ee Dr. Nansen’s social success in London is said to exceed ‘even that of Stanley. He is lionized and overwhelmed with invitations, He is to deliver forty-seven lectures in England and will then visit Germany and be present in March at a reception given in his honor by the Geo- graphical Society of Berlin. The Nansens will rest dur- ing the summer in Norway, where they are building a new villa, and in October the explorer, accompanied by his wife, will sail for this country, where a course of lec- tures has been arranged for. Dr. Nansen will receive for his American lectures $500 a night and his expenses, In cynical allusion to his money-making abilities, some of the European newspapers refer to the explorer as “Fi- nansen.” BETHEL WORK. Superintendent McFarland, now. of the Bethel Home, Bay City, Mich., is doing noble work among the sailing fraternity and we wish him much success in his com- mendable efforts to at least palliate the existence of “noor Jack.” In this connection, we can not but speak of the recent address of Commander Dawson, R. N., of the Mission to Seamen, delivered at London a few days ago. He said in part: “An American sailor has written two standard works, studied by statesmen, on “The Sea-Power of Nations,’ “The Influence of Sea-Power on History.”’ Would that some historian would write of the “Sea-Power of the Church,” the influence of sailors on the extension of Christ’s kingdom over the world. Our blessed Lord, in His brief personal ministry on earth, recognized the -in- fluence of sailors. On the sea of Galilee “Jesus sat down and taught the people out of the ship.” . Amongst sea- faring men He spent much of His time. Several of His greatest miracles were performed on the sea, or amongst sailors. Seven of His Holy Apostles were seafarers; the three special select Apostles were sailors; “the Disciple whom Jesus loved” was a seafaring man. Seven of the Books of the New Testament were written by sailors. Eight of its Books were addressed to seaport towns. Sailors and seaports are mentioned all through the Acts of the Apostles, for “The sea is His and He made its The Lord commanded Simon to “launch out into the deep,” and that is still the command to His church. Even St. Paul, a landsman, knew what it was to be “in perils of waters, in perils in the sea; thrice he suffered shipwreck, a night and a day he had been in the deep.” Seaport towns were often St. Paul’s missionary centres, e. g., Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Salonica, Cyprus, Crete, Rome, etc. In succeeding ages, Christ's kingdom was extended or hindered as sailors were: spiritually cared for or neglected. Alas, the evil one knew this. Sailors, carrying the corn of Egypt to the ends of the then known world, were taught by Arius, the Archheretic, songs en- shrining® his Arian heresies. Pelagius, the Welshman’s, real name, was Morgan, which means “Seaman.” © In the days of Queen Elizabeth, British sailors were offered by Spain the choice of the stake or the denial of their re- ligion, and,:as-noble witnesses for. Christ, they chose the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition and the death of the auto da fe; and their comrades in return, despite the con- cert of Europe, “singed the King of Spain’s beard.” In our day, sailors have founded missions to the heathen now presided over by Bishops, in South America, in North- west America. on the Niger, and in the South Seas; whilst it is chiefly the captains, officers, and foremast seamen who conduct the worship of God on the high seas to- day. On the coasts of China and Japan Christian mis- sionaries to the heathen found their message as helped by the object-lesson of Christ-like sailors, or hindered by the impure and godless lives of others. So they founded Missions to Seamen at several trading ports in those seas, which they subsequently invited the Missions to Seamen Society to help to maintain. So that at Hong Kong, Shanghai, Yokohama, and Kobe, steam mission vessels and row-boats now carry Mission to Seamen as chaplains and readers to the crews afloat, whilst Seamen’s Institutes welcome them on shore. ———————— eee Our thanks are due to T. S. & J. D. Negus for a recent copy of their nautical almanac in its 58th year of publi- cation. Readers of the Record are of course well aware of the contents of this valuable brochure and its im- portance to shipmasters, yachtsmen and others who float for a living or pleasure. The old optician house at 140 Water street, New York, is still to the’ fore, and, as ever, always ready to do a fair business with its patrons. eo AIDS TO NAVIGATION. (Communicated.) I. The reckless changing and discontinuance of buoys and stakes on the water of the lakes and rivers, during the sailing season, is a source of danger to navigation. II. Buoys and stakes when placed in the spring should be maintained in the same position during the whole sea- son of navigation, no matter if their continuance is of importance or not. III. Should the necessity arise of shifting a buoy, stake or other mark of guidance, the old mark should be we in position, making proper allowance for the dis- ance. ; IV. Of course, on shifting a buoy or stake small dis- tances, say less than 500 feet, there would be no necessi for this, but on greater distances the above should be ad- hered to. V. The officer in charge of a steamer looks for all 3 marks that are mentioned in the publications of the U. S. Light House Board, and expects to see them, wher they have been previously, and he is sorely puzzled ; n¢ anxious, if they are not sighted. He is compelled to b more catitious and lose time, by either slowing down or making a detour on his course until the actual o1 former danger is passed, many instances of such being cited. at og hte ele VI. It is respectfully suggested, that the U, S. Ligl House Board would pay some attention and consider thi communication as being worthy of consideration, FRANK HENRICK., a oO er GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS. | Es Abstract of proposals received and opened at Duluth Minn., March 15th, 1897, for pier extension at Grand Marais, Mich., by Major Clinton B. Sears, Corps of En gineers, U. S. A.: : ah Amount proposed to be expended on this work, $14,000.00. Se: a abou: 2218 | aut | = pate oO oy Vv & gues | Fy 3 m - ah 5 n ges Ke . : eS Besos) bY g . NAME AND ADDRESS OF BIDDER. FA 2 Oem! OB ; io) a us bys) 28 6 V™gEAaT| of re bl ao.2 o| Bo Vv v Ba ° 2 Boss BE a | we Om] Ha 5 OREM, OF A & & 1 |Eslow & Munroe, Charlevoix, Mich..... rete ...| $59 67 | $12 50 2 |\Joseph A. Beauvais, Charlevoix, Mich............ 78 50 16 00 | 3 |Heldmaier & Neu, Chicago, Ill....-........--. 05. 54 77 7 80 4 |Green & Anderson, Green Bay, Wis........-...- 67. 80 I2 00 Alex. McCurdy, Duluth, Minn. 6 5 |wm. McCurdy, Houghton, Mich. fo*777"* 93: S0- 5° 6 |A. J. Dupuis & Wm. M. Blay, Detroit, Mich...... 63, 90 39 25 7 \Lapset & Gregg, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.)....... 85 50 13 75 8 |Powell & Mitchell, Marquette, Mich ..... 4 ea. sl 5e yeas |= bea 9 |George Cooper, Manitowoc, Wis......-.-.-...++- 57 00 g 00 to |A. & D. Sang, Duluth, Minn ............. Ba eeceisrahs 49 98 | 800 CLINTON B. SEARS, Major, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. Be ee EASTERN FREIGHT REPORT. According to the report furnished the Marine Record by Messrs. Funch, Edye & Co., steamship agents and ship brokers of New York, the following freight report rules: Full grain cargoes by medium-sized boats have very much narrowed down; and the tonnage offering very largely exceeds the demand, which, lacking all inquiry for new business based on war possibilities, remains practical- ly dead for recently developed prompt shipments. We quote for medium-sized boats to Cork f. 0. 3s@3s 14d as highest obtainable figures, the latter rate applicable to a few boats that can still be placed for March loading. Large boats with part general cargo are in very moderate demand at the moment, and best figure for April and later months is 2s 744d for picked ports in the U. K. or on the Continent, %4d@1%d more:for Hamburg option. Some further charters have been effected for timber from the Gulf ports, where, in default: of competitive cargo, freights have slightly declined under’ freer offering of tonnage. There is some demand for steam tonnage for the far East, but, so far, shippers’ and owners’ views con- tinues to be too wide apart to make early fixtures a prob- able contingency. iat: Sr this Freights for sailing vessels continue firm, aS the offer- ings of tonnage still are below the requirements of ship pers. In some instances better rates have been paid, par ticularly for case oil to the East, and we expect to see a still more decided advance in this line in the near future. There is a good demand for tonnage from the Provinces for deals and from the southern ports for timber to Eu- rope, but the inquiry for lumber to South America re- mains limited, though rates are firm. Naval stores show but little improvement in rates, but there is a steady de- mand for vessels at from 2s 3d@2s od for rosin, with 1s 3d extra for turpentine, rates varying in view of. size and ‘class ‘of vessels and loading port. Petroleum in barrels to’ Europe remains very dull, and ships have to accep those: low rates or wait, with small prospects of improve ment. - rea