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tees ‘CHICAGO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. The body of David Cogswell, of Manistee, was recovered oy. He was drowned from the steamer Joys last - fall. __ Capt. H. N. Jex, of the schooner E. D. Judd, who has _ been superintending the removal of the wreck of the steamer _ City of Duluth from the harbor of St. Joseph, Mich., has re- ceived a serious injury to his spine. He was struck in the back by a heavy timber and knocked overboard onto the _ deck of the tug Payne. Silas Swailes was thrown overboard, but was rescued without difficulty. The lumber season opens with charters fixed for the year at $2 a thousand feet to Lake Erie and $2.25 to Chicago from Lake Superior, which is higher than shippers have known an opening in modern times. It is nearly double the rate of a year ago. Several million feet have already been char- tered at this rate, and it is supposed that tonnage for 100,- 000,000 feet will be placed in the next few weeks. The improvement of St. Joe harbor under the new $380,000 appropriation will be begun as soon as the work can be started. The United States steamer Gilmore has been despatched to St. Joseph with inspector C. W. H. Smith and Assistant A. P. Brokans, and they are now holding a survey preparatory to immediate work. It is believed that the new south pier will go in early this season, The U.S. Naval recruiting station, [in charge of Lieut. B. W. Wells, U. S. N., is making enlistments for the navy. Shipping officer Lieut. Wells, U.S. N., would like to get some good shipwrights, $25 per month; seamen $24 per month, and ordinary seamen at $19; also machinists who have had a year’s experience, running marine engines, pay $55 per month. In addition to the monthly payment each man receives his rations. For further information write - Lieut. B. W. Wells, U. S. N., Branch Hydrographic Office, Masonic Temple, Chicago, Il. - At the launch, on Saturday last, of the new steel passen- _ ger steamer Illinois, built by the Chicago Ship Building Co. to the order of the Northern Michigan Transportation Co., the christening ceremony was gracefully performed by Miss Jean M. Kremer, daughter of C. E. Kremer, Esq., proctor in admiralty and who is legal adviser for the transportation company. The Illinois will run between this city and Mackinac Island. She was built ata cost of $250,000, and her commander will be Capt. W. M. Finucan. The keel of the boat was laid last September. Her length is 240 feet, with 40-foot beam and a tonnage of 1,600, with machinery capable of developing 2,000 horse-power. The interior equipment will be especially fine, and every convenience will he supplied for the passenger service. Sleeping accom- modations for 200 passengers will be provided. When finished the Illinoes will be one of the best passenger steamers on the lakes. Charles H. Thorne, secretary of the Chicago Yacht Club, has received the first official information of the date of the international races between Canada and America. The let- ter finally settling this matter, which has interested yachts- men throughout the country for the past few months, reads as follows: ‘‘Charles H. Thorne, Secretary of Chicago Yacht Club—Dear Sir: In reply to your favor of the 3rd inst., re- garding settlement of date for Canadian cup races, Iam requested to inform you that our committee this day fixed the date of the first race of the series for Monday, August 21st, and the course to be sailed, south of Toronto Island. We understand this decision will be favorable to you, and may now be inserted in our respective agreements governing the race. The committee begs to apologize for the delay in - naming the date, for which, however, they are not wholly responsible. Richard Leaver. Honorable Secretary Royal Canadian Yacht Club.’’ Although the Canadians have de’ cided that the races shall begin August 21st, before the date is ratified a meeting of the Chicago Yacht Club will be held to see if it is agreeable to all those interested in the contest. It is almost certain, however, that there will be no change in the date, as the local men have always desired the race held the last part of August. - Jndon Lloyds policies for this season are not so inclu- _ sive and liberal as formerly. ‘The collision clause especially has been revised. There are some of the larger lines that took out insurance for a period of years and these, of course, will come under the old policies. The old line companies issued their rates here this week and they show an advance on all classes of boats and on the lower grades the rates are prohibitory. The season of navigation, which extended until December 12, for the two years past, is made to end December 1, and the excess charge on vessels out after that time is so high that practically everything will be in port by the end of November. The new tariff is the direct result of the low rates and heavy losses which brought chaos into Jake insurance last season. Three months’ credit is given on premiums. Charges for insurance after the close of navigation are: Two percent. of premium paid per day on steamers and 4 per cent. for sail and tow. Vessels must be at sea December 1 to get extensions. There are several restrictions regarding losses, amount of valuation in policies and general terms of the policies, which makes insurance much less valuable to vessel owners than it has been, and there is a great discrimination made on wooden bottoms, ‘the rate being almost doubled. Thus far the Prime-Mc- Curdy syndicate, which controlled so large a part of the business last year, has not yet made public its policy terms THE MARINE RECORD. The secrecy surrounding the construction of yachts for the trial races of the Chicago Yacht Club has been partially broken, and the first authentic points on the lines of the Veva, in plank at South Chicago for the Peare-Smith-Lytton syndicate, can now be given. In a sense she will be an ex- periment that gives her an almost sure classification as a “freak,’’ but known lines have been used in the design, and she may show her stern to other boats in the trial races. The Veva will be forty feet over all and have a water-line length of about thirty-three feet. The peculiar part of her construction will be the hull, which is given a foot and a half depth. Her beam will be eighteen feet. In model the new boat is nearly an approach to the out and out fin-keel, and a wetted surface cut to the last possible inch. A rounded body with all the sail that can be put on is what the designer is working for on.the Veva, and if he succeeds she will carry more sailin proportion to her water-line di- mensions than any of the other boats that enter the trial races. Designer A. C, Cuthbert has the Veva well along, and will be ready to launch about the middle of May. Something of his plan for the keel of the Veva is known from the new design he has given the keel of the Siren. The 500 feet of sail that the Veva carries is calculated to give her speed, and quickness of turn is expected from the keel shape. The Whitely and Morgan boats are still un- known quantities so far as their lines are concerned, and it is unlikely anything will be known of them before their launchings. OO a ee CLEVELAND. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. Last year the passenger steamer City of Buffalo made her first trip to Buffalo April 3d. The steamer Samuel Mitchell, Capt. Thomas Wilford, traveled 47,200 miles last season, the longest distance got out of any lake steamer. The steamers Sitka, Olympia and W. D. Rees and the schooner D. Z. Norton of the Wilson fleet, left for Lake Michigan on Wednesday night with coal. The freight situation has about settled down to 50 cents Escanaba and 60 cents Lake Superior on iron ore, and 30 cents on coal Lakes Michigan and Superior. The fine summer weather experienced during the past sev- eral days has knocked ice in the lakes galley west, and navigation has been resummed by the opening of the Straits of Mackinac with the passage of the Ferdinand ‘Schlesinger with coal to Milwaukee, on Wednesday, closely followed by the Neosho and other large steamers. Dredging should be started at once, especially just below the Lake Shore bridge and near the river custom house. Great difficulty was experience in getting the first cargo of ore to a discharging dock on Wednesday, and cargoes will not be consigned to this port if it is reported as being unsafe or not navigable for vessels of the larger class. Quite a large fleet cleared from this port during the week.. As early as Tuesday morning a dozen was bunched in a fog in the vicinity of Pelee passage, slowly feeling their way and in no hurry to get over the ground. The intention of the masters was to proceed slowly from point to point as the ice cleared and to be ready at the Straits of Mackinac when a passage could be forced. A meeting of the executive committee of the Lake Carriers’ Association was held at the office of Capt. James Corrigan on Wednesday. Messrs. Ll. C. Waldo, of Detroit, and A. B. Wolvin, of Duluth, were also present. The grain shoveling committee reported that a contract was closed with W. J. Connors, of Buffalo, for shoveling all the grain at that port at the rate of $3.10 per 1,000 bushels. The con- tract is practically the same as last year. The committee adopted the coal and grain bill of lading agreed upon at the general meeting held a few weeks ago. A report from Duluth states that the board of health met on Monday to consider the matter of presenting to the com- mon council Health Officer Webster’s statement of smallpox conditions at Cleveland, and the matter of quarantining all boats from that port. It was decided to present the matter to the council. The-board of health authorities claim that the matter is much more serious than most people think it. The government health report shows that in Cleveland be- tween Dec. 25 and April 1, there were 102 cases of smallpox and one death. In Cincinnati between Jan. 23 and March 31, there were 198 cases and four deaths. Mr. J. C. Wallace, general manager of the American Ship Building Company, returned from New York Wednes- day morning. Mr. Wallace said that the officers of the Cleveland Ship Building Co., on the viaduct, will be the headquarters of the new company. A meeting of the direc- tors will be held here next Wednesday, when superintend- ents for the different yards will be appointed and other de- tails arranged. It is now stated that Mr. W. I. Babcock of Chicago will be chief designer and assistant general man- ager, and that W. E. Fitzgerald, of Milwaukee, will have charge of the yards at Chicago, Milwaukee and West Su- erior, 3 Col. Jared A. Smith, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., in charge of the conservancy and improvement of rivers and harbors in this district, is an exceedingly busy man these times, besides the work to be done at this port, including pier and breakwater building, large repair work, dredging, etc., similar work at almost every port in the district has been planned and will be carried out as promptly as possible though at several ports the work will be continued all sum- mer. All marine interests are at one in awarding Col. Smith the palm for being the most energetic and well-ad- vised engineer that has ever been detailed to duty in this district. The following data, covering a period of 28 years, have been compiled from the Weather Bureau records at Cleve- land, Ohio: Month May for 28 years. Temperature—Mean or normal temperature, 57°; the warmest month was that of 1896, with an average of 66°; the coldest month was that of 1882, with an average of 52°; the highest temperature was 93° on May 30, 1879; the lowest temperature was 28° on May 1, 1876. Average date on which the first ‘‘killing”’ frost occurred in autumn, Oct. 11; average date on which last “‘killing”’ frost occurred in spring, May 1. Clouds and weather—Average number of clear days, 10; partly cloudy * days, 13; cloudy days, 8. Wind—The prevailing winds have been from the southeast; the highest velocity of wind was 60 miles from the southwest on May 23, 1892. * JAS. KENEALY, Local Forecast Official, Weather Bureau, Mr. Waite, a colleague of Capt. John Millbank, whom > many Cleveland vessel men will remember visiting this port several times as the representative of underwriters at Lloyds, London, made a contract with Capt. James Davidson, of West Bay City, on Tuesday, to release the Harlem ashore on Isle Royale, Lake Superior. The terms are on the old favorite principle of Lloyds, ‘‘no cure, no pay.’’ The last heard of the Harlem is that the hull was completely embedded in ice and it is the view of an experienced ship. builder that if there is any heavy weather existing when the ice begins to thaw and break away that the hull will be so shattered as to render it worthless; however, a total loss amounting to $190,000 was promptly paid the late owners of the Harlem by Lloyds’ underwriters, and if there is any- thing to be saved out of this sum, they will save it, or at least Capt. Davidson will make a strong effort to do so. A report this week to the effect that Health Officer Web- ster, of Duluth, intended to quarantine the port of Duluth against Cleveland because of smallpox, stirred Health Off- cer Leick up considerably. He at once wrote to the Duluth health guardian and stated in plain language that the small- pox had not reached an epidemic in this city, and that such an action would be entirely unnecessary and even dis- courteous to this port. Vessel owners would suffer the chief loss on account of the uncalled for detention if quar- antine were enforced, though in cases where a clean bill of health could be shown the detention to cargo steamers need not amount to more than thirty minutes, or the time occu- pied by the examining officers in glancing over the crew, who would be already mustered for the occasion. In the case of passenger steamers touching at this port en-route to the head of the lakes, the detention would be more serious; as also it would be should any type of sickness be found among the crew of a cargo boat. It is not likely that Duluth - will so discriminate against this port nor is there any reason for so doing. re At ee AMHERSTBURG, ONT. Special Correspondence to the Marine Record. © The schooner Typo with coal for Mullen Coal Co. is dis- charging cargo here. Whaleback 202 and car-ferry Tycoon were taken by the tug Chamberlain to Fairport and Cleveland respectively on: Saturday. U. S. sounding crew, testing bottom just below here, found 15% spot near Canadian or east side of proposed cut on Monday. Steam barge Alaska broke her cross-head opposite here Sunday. Repairs were made here. She had a cargo of cedar from Alpena and reported no ice. Capt. Hackett and his steam scow are doing a land office business picking up anchors and tow lines lost last fall by the ice-imprisoned fleet at the mouth of the river. The tug lL. Birckhead came over Thursday and took the wrecked schooner H. H., Badger and John Schulte to Toledo. A lighter will be made of the Badger. Capt. John Hutton, who sails the A. A. Parker, lost his» 18-year-old son on Wednesday last of typhoid fever. A. A. Parker and others chartered the steamer Douglas and came down to the funeral. The U. S. light-house tender Haze has been engaged during the week placing light ships, gas buoys, stakes, etc. — Grosse Point, Bar Point, Lime Kiln Crossing, Ballard’s Reef, are now all in place. box Contractor Sullivan has two derricks with divers remov- ing boulders from the crossing. About 90 tons a day are being removed in this way and some 500 to 7oo yards of rock with the dredges. The tug Home Rule left Tuesday with a crew to repair the - break in the cable between Pelee Island and the mainland. Vessel men wonder why the Canadian government are so slow in placing the gas buoys at Middle Ground and South — East Shoal. The Haze filled them 10 days ago and they are lying here yet. OO oO oO The Great Northern R. R. Co. has awarded the contract for the steel superstructure of its West Superior 2,000,000 bushel grain elevator to the Riter-Conley Manufacturing Co. of Pittsburg, Pa. The contract amounts to about $800,000, “The foundation of this elevator, which is to be the largest steel elevator in the world, will not be ready before August. and it will be impossible to get the steel so as to finish the structure before next year,