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THE MARINE RECORD GRAIN SHOVELING CHARGES REDUCED. The following report has been submitted to President Millen of the Lake Carriers’ Association by a special com- mittee composed of Capt. J. J. H. Brown, P. P. Miller and John Kelderhouse: Dear Sir—The undersigned committee appointed by you at the last annual meeting of the Lake Carriers’ Associa- tion to endeavor to secure a reduction in the grain shovel- ing charges at this port, beg to report as follows: The said committee have this day made an agreement by which the shoveling charges are reduced from $3.50 per thousand bushels to $3.35, the reduction to take effect today, and to continue in effect all of this year. Your committee would have been pleased to have had the power to report a greater reduction in the charge, but the reduction effected is the result of a great deal of pa- tient application to the business in hand, and when you consider that any reduction effected in these charges is at the expense of some other interest, we trust you, and vessel owners generally, will be satisfied with what has been accomplished. , On the basis of last season’s total receipts of grain, in- cluding flaxseed, at. this port at all elevators, in and out of the association amounting to about 173,000,000 bushels, the saving in this instance to the vessel interests would ‘amount to $25,950. By the arrangement effected by the Lake Carriers’ Committee two years ago, a saving of fifty cents per thousand was effected, which would amount to $86,500. Three years ago another committee secured a reduction of twenty-five cents per thousand in shovelin charges, which, on the basis of last. season’s receipts, ‘she will leave there on April 20. has. to be--filled. at full figures. Some unsatisfied de- mand for prompt tonnage for the berth of China and A DOUBLE LAUNCH. A double launch will take place at the yards of the Chi- Japan is still on the market, but charterers appear ae camo Shipbuilding Company on the Calumet, Saturday, willing yet to meet owner’s demands. rr NEW TONNAGE. Official numbers were assigned by the Bureau of Navi- gation this week to the Constitution, 3,231 tons, built at Superior, Wis., and owned at Cleveland. The Andrew Carnegie, 4,107 tons, built at Cleveland, and the Venezu- ela, 2,125 tons, built at West Bay City, and hailing from Port Huron. a LIFE SAVING SERVICE. ee Life saving service promotions recently made are those of Surfman Gibb, of Marquette station,.to be keeper of Crisp’s station, on Lake Superior, and of Surfman Daniel Gnesser, of Point Marblehead, to be keeper of the same, to succeed Keeper Clemens, resigned. OO OD A NEW STEAMER LINE. The first steamer of the new Baltimore & Ohio lake line between Milwaukee and Chicago and Fairport is scheduled to start from Milwaukee. It is expected that After that date two steamers will leave that port every week over the new line. aay. |} OO Oe OPENING OF NAVIGATION. ‘A Canadian exchange says that the average date of the pening of navigation for the past twenty years is: Port Arthur, April 26; Sault Ste. Marie, April 27; Sarnia, April } April 24. The two boats are the twin steamers Minneap- olis and St. Paul, named after the twin cities of the north- west. The Minneapolis will be the first to go into the water, her launch taking place at 2:30 o’clock in the after- noon, and the St. Paul will follow an hour later. They do not belong tosthe largest class of freight steamers on ~ the lakes, but are built to be able to pass through the 3 Welland canal into Lake Ontario, They are just the size of the locks. They are owned by R. R. Rhodes, a Cleve- land vesselman, and will enter the service of the Soo line, running between Gladstone and Buffalo in the flour and general merchandise trade. Sa De NOTICE TO MARINERS. Treasury Department, Office of the Lighthouse Board, _ Washington, D. C., April 17, 1897. DETROIT RIVER. Ses Ballard Reef Channel Gas Buoys. Notice is hereby given that, on April 8, 18907, gas buoys, as follows, were established on the westerly side of the Ballard Reef Channel, Detroit River, in lieu of the float lights heretofore maintained by the Lake Carriers’ Asso- ciation. The buoys are on a line parallel with and about 350 feet to westward of the Grosse Isle’ south channel range line. : South Gas Buoy, No. 1.—A black, third-class buoy, showing a fixed white light, in 22 feet of water, about 5,000 feet (15-16 mile) N. by W. % W. from Limekiln Crossing light vessel (North), No. 65. Head of Bois Blanc Island range front (Canadian) lighthouse, S. 3-10 Building by the Globe Iron Works Co., Cleveland, to the order of George Tenor, Pittsburgh. would amount to $43,275, or a total of $156,725 saved per annum on the basis of last year’s receipts at this port. All of which has been accomplished by committees ap- pointed by the Lake Carriers’ Association from time to = time and that without one dollar of expense,.to the asso- ciation. The gain does not end with the saving at the port of Buffalo, for heretofore the price, at Erie, and Fairport has been the same as the price at Buffalo, and it is to be ex- pected they will be the same this year. : EASTERN FREIGHT REPORT. Funch, Edye & Co., of New York, report to the Record as follows: In view of approaching Easter, business of the week under review will be somewhat cur- tailed, but, apart from this consideration, our freight ee ket is inactive, and transactions continue to show a ayes y shrinkage in volume: The most untoward feature is the absolute dearth of new business; all transactions, without hardly any exception, continue to cover old contracts. Freights to Cork f. o. b., for prompt loading and for May have settled down to 2s od, and, whilst this figure has still been paid for some berth vessels, freights for May obtainable by larger vessels to direct port cannot be quoted over 2s 4%2d@2s 6d. A feeble inquiry has still sprung up for cotton from Atlantic ports, resulting in a couple of fixtures; from present appearance it looks, how- ever, as if pig iron might form, if not the main, certainly an important part of these cargoes. The demand for prompt boats for sugar cargoes up from the West Indies has not subsided, but vessels will have to be very close to loading port to command attention. Chartering for timber from the Gulf equally continues, and the inquiry Messrs. THE STEEL BARGE ANTRIM. Her dimensions are in about two weeks. 5; Port Colborne, April 25; Burlington Bay, April 11; Toronto, March 28; Kingston, April 5; Montreal, April 21. Earliest date—Port Arthur, March 18; Sault Ste. Marie, April 8; Sarnia, March 7; Port Colborne, April 15; Burlington Bay, March 1; Toronto, February 13; Kingston, March 6; Montreal, March 30. Latest date— Port Arthur, May 22; Sault Ste. Marie, May 12; Sarnia, May 3; Port Colborne, May 9; Burlington Bay, April 28; Toronto, April 25; Kingston, April 24; Montreal, May 5. The Record formerly printed a table of the opening and closing of navigation, but we have now given it up. A NEW LIGHTHOUSE. Congressman Southard, of Toledo, has received a letter from the lighthouse board to the effect that the board had decided to act upon the recommendation of the Lake Shipmasters’ Association and would support the proposi- tion to build a lighthouse at the outer end of the straight channel into the Toledo harbor. This is a victory for the shipmasters, as the board did not favor the proposition when it was advanced during the convention of the mas- ters at Washington last winter. FREIGHT SITUATION. At Chicago this week grain rates to Buffalo dropped to 1% cents on corn, but no vessels were even taken at this reduction. At Buffalo no coal is offering for shipment, and at Cleveland the coal freight market is in a slow state. Boats are plentiful and cargoes very scarce. The steamer John Eddy was chartered to load at Ashtabula for Sheboygan at. 25 cents. No ore charters were re- ported worth considering, although single or trip charters were made from Escanaba to Lake Erie ports at 40 cents. From Marquette to Tonawanda 65 cents. 378 feet over all, 366 feet keel, 44 feet beam, and 26 feet depth of hold. She will be launched E.; west end of railroad bridge between Grosse Isle and Stony Island, SW. by W. % W.; Grosse Isle north chan- nel front lighthouse, N. by W. 15-16 W. Middle Gas Buoy, No. 3.—A black, third-class gas buoy, showing a fixed white light, in 22 feet of water, about 1,200 feet N. by W. % W. from South Gas Buoy, No. 1. Head of Bois Blanc Island range front (Canadian) light- house, S. % E.; west end of railroad bridge between Grosse Isle and Stony Island, SW. % W., westerly; Grosse Isle North channel range front lighthouse, NNW. ; North Gas Buoy, No. 5.—A black, third-class gas buoy, showing a fixed white light, in 22% feet of water, about 1,200 feet N. by W. % W. from Middle Gas Buoy, No. 3. Head of Bois Blanc Island range front (Canadian) light- house, S. 7-16 E.; west end of railroad bridge between Grosse Isle and Stony island, SW. % S.; Grosse Isie north channel range front lighthouse, NNW., westerly. Mariners are requested to exercise great care to keep clear of these buoys, as there is a natural set of the cur- rent to the westward in this part of the channel. Tows and rafts should be handled with especial care. These buoys are difficult to reset when once removed, By order of the Lighthouse Board. W. S. SCHLEY, Captain, U. S. Navy, Chairman. re or or The much-talked-of Bazin roller boat has proved a fail- ure. She has had a trial on the Seine, and instead of steaming at the rate of sixty miles an hour, in accordance with the calculations of her inventor, she made barely twelve miles. Mr. Bazin made a mistake in underestimat- ing the power that would be necessary in operating the huge disks or rollers upon which the ship proper rests. He expected that when the screw wheel which furnishes the initial power started the peculiar ship, the huge rollers would carry her along with express-train speed by re- volving under the impulse of fifty horse-power applied to each axle. The power was increased, but this increased the weight also, and added to the immersion of the disks or rollers, and thus magnified the difficulties in propor- tion.