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THE MARINE RECORD. ried in foreign vessels. "matter. sels engaged in the foreign trade. _ or for the year preceding up to that date, the entries at - London numbered 8,435,676, and clearances 6,110,325 tons, _ that of London. ESTABLISHED 1878. Published very y Vhuesday by THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Incorporated. GEO. L. 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, postage paid, - - $2.00 One Copy, one year, to foreign countries, = - - $3.00 dnwariably: in a aaa ADVERTISING. Rates Soles on application. - All communications should be davoued to the Cleveland office, THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Western Reserve Building, Cleveland, O. sate at Cleveland Postoffice as second-class mail matter. CLEVELAND, "On JULY 1, 1897. Harbor improvement is now the order of the day at all of the principal lake ports. Duluth, Superior, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, and Buffalo, as well as a number of other ports have a season’s work in hand and much good will result from the well-advised changes now being car- . ried out and in contemplation. or We ought to be able to build ships and carry our own foreign commerce quite as protfiably as we can hire it car- From every American point of view it is economy to do so and this should decide the At the same time Americans ought to have some pride and sentiment about them in contemplating this im- portant question, and feel that it is the duty of our gov- ernment to be as much in evidence on the ocean as is any other nation. The nation should be a unit in favor of the upbuilding of our merchant marine and the reappearance of the American flag on the high seas. i oO Oo A correspondent of the Record’s, who by the way is one of the best known and most prominent ship masters on the lakes, and now sailing a large steel steamer, says: “In the serial published in the columns of the Marine Record on “Pracical Methods for finding compass errors,” I have not yet seen anything said about the effect on the compass of an iron or steel boat with or without cargo. This feature acts as a heeling error and will no doubt make a considerable difference in the deviation of most compasses.” It is to be regretted that no data is at hand relative to this very important subject as in the short trade on the lakes, making continual varying changes, the deviation must certainly change throughout the sea- son and to a certain extent perhaps on each trip. , Neen cc eo Relative to tonnage statistics the Treasury Department places New York next to London in the tonnage of ves- On January 1, 1896, or a total of 14,546,001 tons, while New York showed 6,- 911,782 entries, and 6,552,614 clearances, or a total of 13,- 464,396 tons for the year, being only 1,081,605 tons less than Antwerp ranks third, with Liverpool a close fourth, and Cardiff fifth. In this connection we may ~ state that it is not always the port that enters and clears the largest number of vessels that handles the greatest volume of tonnage as in the matter of a custom house entry the smallest schooner counts one with the five to ten thou- ~ sand-ton steamer, hence, relative to numbers, the smallest fishing port would outclass many pretentious seaports if each entry and departure were to be counted irrespective of trade and tonnage. CHICAGO COMMERCE AND HER RIVER. In a comparative statement printed in our issue of June 24th, it was shown that the aggregate entrances and clear- ances of vessels at the port of Chicago during the year ending June 30, 1896, exceeded those of New York by 4,725 and closely approximated the combined totals of all en- trances and clearances at the large ports of Boston, Balti- more, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New Orleans. These figures are stupendous in their significance, but we have every reason to believe that they are strictly re- liable, because official, Other equally astonishing figures might be quoted rela- tive to the commerce of Chicago, but for the point we wish to elucidate the entries and clearances may be con- sidered sufficient at this time. Here we have a port lead- ing the country in the number of its vessel arrivals and departures, but almost totally neglected in regard to urgent facilities required to carry on the general com- merce of the West and South-west. Someone said some- where at some time something to the effect of not letting it be told in Gath or even whispered in Babylon. Be the foregoing as it may, a mighty shout should go forth so that maritime and commercial interests could waken up to the fact that only sixteen feet of water can be carried in or out of the most frequented port in the United States. We have time and again pointed out that Chicago was permitting her vast commerce to slip through her fingers as it were, through shoal water, bridges at almost every ship’s length, heavy port charges and a general or some- what popular feeling that it would be just as well if the creek was filled in solid so that pedestrian and vehicular traffic might not be delayed through the swinging or re- pairing of bridges, etc., and this, too, although millions of dollars has been expended in building grain elevators, piers, etc., etc., also that commercial prosperity was forc- ‘ing itself on the city through its dirty, narrow and tortuous creek, which at times shows very little more than fourteen instead of the ordinary stage of sixteen feet. However, the city of Chicago very properly and adroitly secured an ap- propriation of nearly three-fourths of a million dollars from the last Congress, for widening and dredging the river, also to maintain a depth of sixteen feet, while other lake cities were issuing bonds for the same purpose. Well done the “I Will” of Chicago, she has accomplished more in all ways than any port in the world in the same length of time and is highly deserving of extraordinary consider- ation. The feature now in the way of Chicago holaic her supremacy in water transportation is chiefly on account of the several tunnels crossing the river and over the crowns of which the shoalest draft is experienced, and inasmuch as the entire course of the river is to be deepened and also widened in places by the government in order to accommo- date vessels of modern size, the lowering of the crowns of tunnels have become a necessity, In this connection, Capt. J. S. Dunham, one of the most prominent and ener- getic vessel owners of Chicago, says: “When the tunnels were built lake vessels drew only twelve feet of water. As the depth over them is sixteen feet at the ordinary stage, it was then thought they would be good for all time in that respect. If the Creator had only equipped all his children with the gift of looking into the future what a heap of worry and inconvenience it would save. These tunnels must be used all the time the lower- ing of the crowns of the tunnels is in progress. Through them there pass every day 500,000 people, and it would be simply impossible to close them. Engineers say the foundations can be first sunk, the cars being run through ona trestle, then a new roof put on; all that could be used of the present tunnel would be the sides. This would bea slow process, but it is the only one.” It is furthermore understood that the war department will not order the tunnels lowered for the reason that the stream has been recognized by Congress as navigable to vessels drawing 16 feet or less, and the duty of the de- partment ends when it maintains that depth of water. Off- cially it has no knowledge of the tunnels. They were placed there by consent of the city without notifying the government or asking its leave, and the government has assumed that it has no authority over them. In order to secure the lowering of the tunnels Congress must declare Chicago River navigable to a depth of 20 feet or more. When this has been done it will devolve upon the war department to maintain that depth of water, and the de- partment can lower the tunnels or order their owners to lower them, on the ground that they constitute obstruc- branch hydrographic offices the Department of Agriculture tions to navigation. Furthermore, Col. Mackenzie, 0 Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, in charge of the trict, says that the war department cannot chang project outlined in a river appropriation in the slig detail, and that therefore the present appropriation $-00,000 for the Chicago River must be spent in dred to a depth of 16 feet. If the city should order the moval of the tunnels nothing would be accomplished, af without action by Congress the war department could n deepen the river beyond 16 feet. It would therefore ap pear that either Congressional action is necessary or the 4 municipality itself could take the question in hand as think it really ought to do and correct the error of jud ment of which it was guilty in the past, but out of whicl it has reaped untold benefits nearly up to date. That Chicago will have her river widened and deepen is a foregone conclusion now that she has awakened the facts of the case and whether private, municipal 9 federal funds will be used for this purpose is but a sligh consideration once the necessity of the improvement: comes to be recognized, as it now appears to be. OO or ne PILOT AND CURRENT CHARTS. The pilot chart of the N. Pacific Ocean for June, issued by the Hydrographic Office, Bureau of Navigation, Depart- ment of the Navy, Washington, D. C., by J. E. Craig, Commander, U. S. N., hydrographer, is one of the most — valuable delineations ever published by the bureau. Ordinarily we have been contented to learn the proba- ble location of fog banks, drifting derelicts, paths of cur rents, limit of trade winds, etc., etc., but Commander Craig _ now goes somewhat further and gives us composite as well as great circle sailing routes. In addition, we find the average storm tracks in the N. Pacific deduced from ten years’ observations and a forecast of wind and weather in the North Pacific Ocean for next month. 5 With the establishment of branch hydrographic offices — at lake ports, coupled with the compilation and publica- tion of lake charts, special surveys and the regular issu- ance of “Notice to Mariners,’ it would appear as if the Navy Department would soon begin to hold its own on its own ground—viz., afloat. S It is but a short time ago when the coast and geodetic — survey branch received credit for work done by naval | officers, but this feature has been altered somewhat of late and credit is now being given where it is more pertinently — due. So far as the lakes are concerned the Department of | Agriculture through its Weather Bureau branch entered upon valuable lake work and besides issuing a wrecl chart, published a wind and current chart of the lakes,. with prospects looking favorably towards the future pub- lication of a chart showing the density and formation o fog banks through the several months of the navigation period on each lake. However, with the advent of the ceased its efforts in this direction, since which time littl else regarding the physical geography of the lakes ha been found out, although it should be stated in all cando: that a new departure in the form of a lake pilot chart was issued by the hydrographic office some time ago. ; As the department which initiated the movement to as certain and develop the natural laws governing the lak region has retired from this field of its operations, we now look to its successor, the Hydrographic Office, to continue the good work and undertake to produce, what. ’er the good work and undertake to produce what ’ere this would have been done by the Weather Bureau branch o! the Department of Agriculture, viz., a delineation showin the prevalence of fogs with their special and general char acteristics during the season of navigation. We are not aware of how the funds appropriated by Con gress for carrying on this class of work stands at the present time, but we do know that the period has abou been reached when a new pilot chart, showing the prevail ing weather conditions, winds and currents, including th set and drift of the latter, as well as the formation of fog banks, etce., ought to be published for the direct benefit ° the maritime and commercial communities interested in the lake trade. In furtherance of the duties of his office the late hydee grapher made a tour of the lakes and the advantages de rived therefrom was evidenced in his more intelligen grasp of the special conditions existing on these waters and the works which were afterwards published. From this standpoint, we may be excused for suggesting that Commander Craig, U. S. N., the present hydrographer