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Ay winter: THE MARINE RECORD 5 W. Peterson, of the English firm mentioned, has been in Canada for two weeks, in consultation with the Dominion Government on the matter. It is said the annual subsidy to be paid by the Dominion is $500,000, to which the imperial government will add $250,000, It is stated that the Dominion Government, in addition to entering into an arrangement for a fast Atlantic steam- ship service, intends deepening the St. Lawrence Canals fo a uniform depth of 14 feet, the work to be completed within two years. oo oo MODERN PORTERAGE. _A few years ago the idea of loading a vessel with 2,500 ‘tons of flour in twenty-four hours by means of two small _ motors would have been looked upon as absurd. This was done recently in Tacoma. Two thousand tons of ‘cargo has frequently been loaded or discharged in a day by steam power, but the important factor in the record- breaking achievement at Tacoma was that the conveyor was worked by electricity. With the apparatus which has been designed for this purpose, flour and grain can be loaded at any stage of the tide, and independently of the weather. If it should rain a canvas is quickly spread from the door of the warehouse to the ship’s hatch. With the system of loading ordinarily used eighteen men are re- quired to do the work of one electric conveyor, with which the bags are delivered into a ship’s hold at the rate of 2,500 to 2,700 pounds a minute, or 75 tons an hour. When _ extra speed is desired, two conveyors are employed. This ~ ‘was done when the record of 2,500 tons in twenty-four hours. was made. The electric conveyor is 40 feet long. It is moved at will on two wheels in the center. A two- horse power motor supplies the power, the current being taken from the nearest electric wires. The sacks are ; placed on a revolving belt of rubber, which passes over _twelve rollers. The belt is propelled by a driving wheel, attached to the side of the apparatus. The rollers are placed close enough together, and the belt revolves at sufficient speed to carry all the weight in flour or grain that can be placed upon it. ‘The-conveyor works as well when placed at an angle of 45 degrees as when on a level. g OOO OO The excellent and conservative letter of Mr. Frank J. Firth, published in our issue of Match 18th, is worthy of the most careful perusal and conisderation of those interested. in the upbuilding and ultimate supremacy of the United States Merchant Marine. There may be vari- ous methods of arriving at the desired point, and Mr. Firth conforms with other citizens’ wishes to arrive at the best and most practical form of. reaching what we all desire. Hence, his letter in our recent issue is of more than ordinary weight, and carries with it the true ring of American independence from the foreign car- rying trade which has usurped our commerce and is en- deavoring to drag us down to the level of an insular power. SS Oe RIVER AND HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS. ~° Contracts have been awarded for harbor improvements as follows: Michigan City, St. Joseph, Benton Harbor, South Ha- ven and Saugatuck, to William A. Starkey, of Milwaukee, at 13 cents per cubic yard for dredging, and $2 per load for towing. Holland, Grand Haven, Waukegan and White Lake, to the Green Dredging Co., of Chicago, at the same price. Pentwater, Ludington, Manistee, Portage Lake, Frank- fort and Charlevoix, to the Green Bay Dredging & Pile Driving Co., of Green Bay, at 13% cents for dredging and $2 a load for towing. ‘Repairs to piers at Ludington to William Brownrigg, of “f Manistee, $8,851.31. The dredging of Grand River will be done on govern- ment account under Capt. Townsend’s direction, the bids submitted for the dredge is now at Grand Haven, and work will be commenced April 1 at the Grand Haven end. A bill which passed Congress this week, contains the appropriation of $470,000 for the improvement of the Keweenaw Point harbor, and the $150,000 for surveys on the deep waterways canal from the lakes to the sea, as recommended by the committee appointed to consider the matter. The committee, it will be remembered, met in ‘Detroit and recommended the appropriation of $600,000 ‘' in four separate bills. REVENUE CUTTERS. The only bidders on the two revenue cutters, to be built for lake service, was the Globe Iron Works Co., Cleve- land. ‘The bid has not yet ben passed upon by the Treasury officials, but probably will be this week. It is likely that some modifications will be made in the specifications in order that the expense of construction may be reduced. Mr. Ireland, for the Globe Iron Works, discussed this point with Captain Shoemaker, and they reached an agree- ment as to modifications of the specifications which will enable the company to build the vessels for about $193,000 each. This will leave the Treasury Department a suffi- cient amount out of the appropriation of $400,000 to pay for the expense of inspection. It cost the Globe Iron Works over $200,000 to build the Gresham, and the com- pany claims to have lost about $60,000 on that vessel. Treasury officials are of the opinion, however, that the company’s bid on the new vessels will enable it to clear some money. The proposed cutters are almost exact du- -plicates of the Gresham’ and on models alone a large amount of money will be saved.” The new vessels will be all steel steamers, modeled after the cruiser Yorktown, one of the handsomest ves- sels of the United States navy. Their general dimen- sions will be: Length over all, 205 feet 6 inches; length betwen perpendiculars, 188 feet; beam, molded, 32 feet; depth of hold, 17 feet; displacement, 927 tons. They will be single screw boats, and propellers will be ten feet in oes ae \\ a8 NY N iN °e Sy pattiny | = \ protect the machinery and magazines if fired upon. There will also be an armory-on each boat, fitted out with a full complement of small arms, stich as rifles, cut- lasses and pistols. a Lon Ae ae The cutters will also be so constructed that in case of need ‘a battery, which may be kept at some convenient port, may be shipped aboard and prepared. for action with little delay, and they have been designed of a con- venient size to pass readily through the canals by the Niagara and St. Lawrence falls, so that they can be sent to sea on short notice. In every respect, they will be thorough sea-going vessels, and could be transformed into armed commerce destroyers of a very formidable type. SDR aI ee LLOYDS. Buffalo, N. Y., March 23, 1807. Editor Marine Record: I write to ask what do you mean by Lloyd’s in connec- tion with marine insurance btisiness. Theré seems to me to be Lloyd’s and Lloyd’s, fire, house, life, stationary and other kinds, includimg casualty. Will you givé’us an ex- pression of opinion through the columns of the excellent old Record. ea. a : €s, ; Yours truly, an old subscriber, ~~ »« : D; N. S. In reply, we. may say that Lloyd’s, an establishment which, from a small London coffee ‘house, wherein mer- chants met, has now grown to a society which has_trans- acted the bulk of marine insurance business for nearly four hundred years. The present. underwriters have a sae Ty EIS ES MODEL OF THE NEW REVENUE CUTTERS FOR THE LAKES. diameter of the four-blade type, made of maganese of bronze. They will be required to develop a speed of seventeen knots in deep water. The power for each will be de- rived from a single engine of the vertical, inverted cylin- der, direct acting triple expansion type, having one high pressure cylinder twenty-five inches in diameter, a medi- um pressure cylinder thirty-seven and one-half inches in diameter, and a low pressure cylinder fifty-six and one- half inches in diameter. Steam will be supplied from four steel water tube boilers, each fired at both ends, and with 160 pounds working pressure. Two thousand four hun- dred horse power is expected to be developed. The new cutters will be schooner rigged, as shown in our illustration, with two masts of Oregon pine, each eighty-nine feet high and eighteen inches in diameter. The masts will be in one piece, and will be about as large as any single spars ever seen on the lakes. The hulls will be painted white, and there will be ornamental carv- ings at the bows and sterns. They will carry six boats and a steam launch. : Each vessel will be armed with a six-pound rapid fire gun mounted amidships. In addition to this, they will be provided with torpedo tubes projecting through the stem below the water line. This is a feature that has not been seen on fresh water in the United States, and may prove of value in the event of war. A magazine, provided with mechanism for flooding it in case of danger of ex- plosion, will occupy a large part of the interior of each cutter, while the coal bunkers will be so arranged as to record of each ship, her construction, equipment, where built, under whose command, nationality, state of repair, general character, etc. The name, or title of Lloyd’s, has been somewhat misused in the United States lately, or during the past few years, possibly on account of the rep- utation of. the ancient firm; but we are not aware that the underwriters at Lloyd’s, England, will not insure or indemnify an assured against losses, such as you mention, although marine insurance is the principal line taken-up’ at Lloyd’s, as you may have noticed time and again in the Record columns. on ror oo OBITUARY. (CAPT. MARTIN.) The death is announced at. Milwaukee of Capt. James W. Martin, late superintendent of the Flint & Pere Mar- quette R. R, steamers on Lake Michigan, which runs be- tween Milwaukee, Manitowoc, South Chicago and Luding- ton. His passing away was sudden, due to an attack ofpneu- monia, the result of a cold brought on through exposure. Capt. Martin was a native of Milwaukee, and but 41 years of age at his death. When quite young he entered the ser- vice and was known at every port on Lake Michigan. He bought an interest in the steamer Roanoke and sailed her a number of years, and at one time was interested in a Chicago tug line. He is survived. by a widow and two sons. Capt. Martin stood high in the estimation of the railroad people, and his ideas on the matter of manage- ment of the steamboat line were always. followed, for they proved fruitful of economy and effective service. e