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ESTABLISHED 1878. Published peas Thursday by THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Incorporated. GEO. - “SMITH, President. _C. E, RUSKIN, - - - Manager. CAPT. JOHN SWAINSON, - - - Editor. THOS. WILLIAMS, Chicago, - - Associate, CLEVELAND, % CHICAGO. Western Reserve Building. Royal Insurance Building. SUBSCRIPTION, One Copy, one year, pee paid, - - £2.00. One Cosy, on2 yar, to foreign counteix, = - ~" §3.00. Tevastably in advencz, ADVERTISING: Rates given on application. All communications should be addressed to the Cleveland office. THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Western Reserve Building, Cleveland, Ohio. Entered at Cleveland Postoffice as second-class mail matter. CLEVELAND, O., MAY 27, 1897. ne The acting general superintendent of the U. S. Life- Saving Service, Washington, D. C., advertises in the cur- rent isstie of the Record for proposals on the construction of ten 34-foot self-righting and self-bailing centerboard lifeboats, six of which are to be delivered at Grand Haven ‘and four at a station in New Jersey. — or The crew of the Lackawanna Line steamer Florida, sunk by collision with the Roby, are discreetly keeping silent relative to the action of the steamer just prior to the collision. Usually some of the crew, after an accident or casualty of this sort, are too willing to talk, and con- sequently the case is prejudged through the columns of the daily papers long before it comes to trial. a Ol Ol - Congratulations are in order all around, because after jettisoning a few hundred tons of cargo it was found that the wooden sheathing on the bottom of the iron steamer E. M. Peck, ashore last week on Hyde Park Reef, near ‘Chicago, had protected the vessel to such an extent that she was not badly damaged. The question that others would like to find out, is, How did she land there at all? Of course, her propeller put her there, but for what reason, why for because? i oro Many owners of medium-sized tonnage, and Ar tonnage “at that, begin to see that all their hard fighting in the past for a 20-21 foot channel has not turned out quite the uni- versal blessing they anticipated, in point of fact it is rather acting as a boomerang in so far as returning evil actions _ for good intent may be construed, to recoil ever as the weapons of the Australian aborigines are made to do. This tall water in the connecting links of the lakes is all right enough; at least, it-gives a chance to the five and _ six thousand tonners, but how about those carrying only _ from two to three, not to mention anything smaller. or oo The idea that a vessel can hail from any port that her - owners may select is now about exploded and it has be- “come well known that the port of hail is actual evidence of the residence of the port of ownership, where the man- _aging owner or the majority of owners, does business. It has long been customary, however, to consider the hailing port the point where the annual meeting of the company of _owners takes place and although the business meeting may occupy but an hour and be quite informal, the fact _ of the so-called annual meeting being held there is. con- sidered sufficient to beat around the legal points. in- -volved. Any adjacent township where the tax assessment is low is usually picked out as a favorable port of hail . when wishing to avoid extortionate taxation. TORPEDO BOATS. Submarine navigation has always been a fascinating subject of experiment for scientists and seamen and more than the usual interest is now manifested as the time ap- proaches when Uncle Sam will be launching a submarine torpedo boat of his own. The vessel will be so con- structed that it can be propelled by steam on the surface of the water like an ordinary steamboat or when occasion demands can be propelled by electricity under the waves like the wonderful Nautilus, which Jules Verne created on paper. é The construction of submarine véssels has long baffled the wit of inventors. During the last five years some pro- gress has been made which clears away difficulties that existed before. In the month of October, 1894, a working “model of a torpedo boat was finished by Mr. Seymour Allan of Sydney, which proved to be the best yet made. The Naval Commander-in-Chief on the Australian Sta- tion, who witnessed the test, declared that “if the vessel would do what the model performed, naval warfare would be revolutionized.” No vessel, however, has ha been constructed on the lines of this model. The French, ever alive to the importance of securing a monopoly of improved craft, have given much attention ‘to the problem. Admiral Aube of the French Navy has always been a friend of inventors. One of his proteges, M. Goubet, in 1888 produced a submarine boat whose motive power was electricity. The boat hada speed of only five knots and was not regarded as a success. An- other boat constructed by the same maker was purchased by Brazil. By this time the French Government was the owner of three other submarine boats, the Gymnote, built in 1888, the Gustave Zede, in. 1893, and’the Morse, in 1895. Of all the submarine vessels yet. constructed the Gustave Zede is the largest, being 130 feet in: length. The dis- placement of this boat is 265 tons. The power is electric- ity, derived like that of the Goubet vessel from accumu- lators. Several times these accumulators have exploded without rhyme or reason, damaging the boat and necessi- tating an expenditure of large sums of money for repairs : and changes. Several times also, the crew has been over- powered by escaping fumes. This 130-foot boat has gone down as far as sixty-five feet below the surface, while maintaining a speed of eight knots. For several hours at a time, boat and crew have remained under. wtischarging torpedoes, i oor or RECORD OF SPEED AND CARGOES. It is ridiculously amusing to note how a few tons of bulk cargo or bushels of grain breaks the cargo carrying record ~ on the several lakes day by day. From a Pickwickian or Mark Twain standpoint, it smacks a good deal of the Polly Ann against the Susie Jane in speed trips up or down a canal or river, and the humorosity of the thing is that no two can be agreed relative to the respective merits of speed and dead weight capacity for two days together. One did not attempt to speed up on that’ particular trip, another is ordered not to, while a third could do if she wished. In loading cargoes, similar excuses or reasons prevail among the big fellows, as for instance, no more grain in the bin, loaded at a shoal water berth, ordered not to load deeper than a certain draft, etc., etc. As the Sault Ste. Marie canal records show, one allusion to the largest cargo of the season is amply sufficient, otherwise it is simply making a burlesque of the lake trade, and drag- ging it down to the level of a canal or mosquito fleet argument, of who washed the most sand off the banks in passing, or who rounded the barrel buoy with the key of the keelson lashed on to the jib truss first. The coak being a sea-faring man, we should of course defer to his opinion and ultimatum in the matter each day or week. Relative to speed records, there is something of maritime, national and international importance in recording a few hours’ gain in speed of any vessel or steamet on the Atlantic ferry route, and from this point we presume the daily newspaper reporters on: the lakes desire to draw ©- comparisons, but, to the practical mind, they go as com- parisons usually do. Whether the race is given to the tortoise or the hare, each have. their merits and for that matter their demerits too. Experienced masters do not consider that they are now or ever will set the lake.on fire; they usually give her all she went for as far as their judg- ment or orders carry them. The engineer, to hold up his end, generally gets all he can out of her, subject to conditions and orders. So that with so many ifs and probabilities in the way, who is to say relative to. the ques- ‘and substantial bonds for the actual damage. tion of speed that by throwing economy of fuel consump- “tion on one side, some of the flyers could not be let down a peg or two at any time, and thus make more records? As we have said, a season or quarterly return might be of some moment in ‘Sonwaetie certain classes of tonnage, their build, trade, equipment, fuel consumption, etc., etc. — Furthermore, each type of vessel would require to be class- ified, wood, composite, iron and steel, with their respec- — tive net register tonnage considered, so as to show aie ‘ordinary: efficiency or deficiency. or oe or E The United States representative at Havana, Cuba, will have his hands full in’ distributing that $50,000 appro- priated by Congress to aid distressed American subjects. Already the consulate has been besieged by a ravenous mob, who are willing to be American citizens pro tem for the temporary advantages to be derived therefrom. It appears to us that the more regular and ordinary method of placing one or more naval vessels on the spot to conserve the interests, protect the property, and if nec- essary to defend the lives of American citizens, would be more in consonance with international law and all prece- dents. If the island was'an American colony, or was under the protection and jurisdiction of the United States there would be every reason for donating a sum of money, a.cargo or cargoes of provisions, etc., to alleviate the suf- ferings of citizens, but to pour money or provisions into _a foreign country so that our citizens may. remain there still in.a state of destitution, smacks too much of loud spoken charity, pensioning, and a departure from all pre- cedents. It would be interesting to learn whether or not — another fifty is to be donated after the present grant is expended. If the guerilla war is kept along ou the same lines as at present it seems likely that several more $50,000 appropriations will be necessary if the present course and ideas of succoring the distressed are to be main- tained, ; : BRO SE aa 2a ‘Several launches are scheduled to take place within the next week or two, all large cargo boats. An owner, judg- ing from the present outlook, would certainly cogitate a while before contracting for new tonnage, and yet it is the private belief of some of the best-informed that the present conditions will soon change and business be brisk enough to suit even the chronic grumbler. Iti is a good idea to regard the present slack times as being tem- porary, for anyone who thinks otherwise would do. -him- self and the community a service by taking a rural vaca- tion. Times are sure to brighten. rr oo The scare which the recent Rockefeller-Carnegie com- bination seems to have given certain people will soon pass over. The lake commerce has become too important and diversified for any combine, syndicate or ccrporation to corral. It is well known that Mr. Rockefeller was rather forced into the iron mining property through the Merritt Bros. of Duluth, and having invested so much was obliged to go farther to protect cash advances. The building of new tonnage was a sequel to the ownership of the mines. With the new tariff settled business will again flow in its. “regular channels, confidence be restored and a fair living chance given to all interests. ee, Traffic has been resumed through the Welland Canal after the break the Steamer Outhwaite made a few days ago. Relative to that same casualty it seems a trifle arbi- trary that the canal authorities would not accept: good It has always been customary to give bonds and the question has sel- dom, if ever, been raised in any part of the world before. However, instead of bonds, the Welland Canal authorities figured that they wanted a deposit of $10,000 cash to cover a possible $2,000 outlay in repairing damages, and presumably to meet any other claims which might be brought before them on account of the overflow. AEN PE gS LS EET Sree mets A LAUNCHES. The new stéel steamer Niagara will be launched from the yards of F. W. Wheeler & Co. on Saturday. She has been built to the order of Crosthwaite et al., Buffalo. The Chicago Shipbuilding Co. will launch the Amazon in a few days. This is the largest schooner or consort on the lakes and is built to the order of Capt. James Corri- gan, Cleveland. Capt. James Davidson, W. Bay City, will launch the wooden steamer Athens, sister ship to the Crete, in a few edays.,