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Z THE MARINE RECORD. ‘ DETROIT. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. The steamer V. H. Ketcham found a shoal spot this week in the St. Clair river, on the Canadian side, opposite the Oakland hotel. She fetched up on it and required the as- sistance of a tug to get her afloat. Carleton & Cole, of Port Huron, dealers in machinery - supplies, have closed their doors. Liabilities, $4,500. Many of their former marine patrons will be sorry to learn that this old established and generally well liked firm has met with business reverses at this late day, considering that business is on the boom, too. In order to ascertain the truth as to the reports of over- ‘loading, Deputy Collector of Customs Andrew Smith de- tailed on Sunday two men to check off the number of pas- sengers who went to the Flats on the Star line steamers. When all had embarked on the Greyhound on the return trip they numbered just 1,206, 344 less than the number that she is licensed by the government to carry. Samuel H. Cramp, the famous Philadelphia shipbuilder, stopped in Detroit this week, on his way east from Duluth. There was a possibility that he was here to consult with Frank . Kirby regarding the erection of a steel plant on the lakes: Mr. Cramp, however, denied that there were any such plans contemplated, and declined to discuss the rumor that there was such a deal on foot. He was in De- troit on a little personal business, he said. Through a misunderstanding of signals the Canadian pas- senger steamer Carmona collided with the tow barge Granada, near Port Huron, on Sunday morning. The weather was quite foggy and the Carmona was crowded on to the shore. Excitement prevailed among the passengers until they reali- zed that they were in no danger. Tugs released the boat and she was brought to Detroit, and placed in drydock. A sur- / vey fixes her damage at $1,000, all above the water line. She will be laid up for four or five days. Lieut. Byron lL. Reed, of the United States revenue cutter service, has been again assigned to this district, after an ab- sence of eight years. The Fessenden, to which vessel he _has been detailed, is again in command of Capt. D. B. Hodgsdon, who took the dispatch boat McCulloch to Hong Kong previous to the outbreak of the war, and was with Dewey at the battle of Manila. Lieut. Reed has whirled around considerably also since he left Detroit. He first served on the old Andy Johnson on Lake Michigan for two years, thence going to Washington, where he spent three years in _ the Life-saving Service Department, and the last three years he has been attached to the Pacific coast station, patrolling in the vicinity of Seattle, St. Michael’s and other ports in _the Bering Straits district. Work on the Star line passenger steamer at Wyandotte has about started.. The keel plates at least are laid, and each car load of metal reaching the yard is pounced on in short order, but the work is not steady, and there is no tell- ing when material will come regularly or in such quantities as to make work continuous. It is now understood that Mr. Kirby, superintendent of the Wyandotte shipyard, will leave the employ of the consolidated shipyards company, at an early date, but nothing is yet known regarding his future _ business intentions, although it is considered very probable that he will take a similar position with some one of the many coast shipyards. Wyandotte stands to lose a highly respected and much yalued citizen when ‘‘Joe’’ Kirby changes his place of residence. Mr. Frank EH. Kirby will probably not sever his connec- tion with the Detroit Ship Building Co. inside of a year, at least, it will not be until all the contracts it now has on hand are finished. After that he has made no settled plans, but it is probable he will have no connection with any shipbuild- ing plant. He has a number of private matters that can with profit to himself be given all his attention. Mr. Kirby thought last spring that his work for the Government was ended, but Uncle Sam recalled him to arrange several trans- ports for carrying troops to Manila. Three of these—the Grant, Sherman and Sheridan—are finished, and of late he has been at work on the Thomas and Logan. He expects -October at least. When the new Star line steamer is com- pleted it will mark the one hundredth boat that Mr. Kirby has built. ‘“Several years ago,’ says Mr. Kirby, ‘‘I promised my wife that I would stop building boats when the boats numbered 100,’’ This of course is a very nice dutiful little anecdote. Of the plan for opening a consulting office in New York he is rather reticent. He says that the chance of his doing such athingis rather slim. ‘‘It is certain that Frank Kirby will not be idle long unless by preference,”’ said a vesselman to-day. ‘‘His reputation spreads to the Atlantic and the Pacific. If the lake shipyard trust doesn’t want to pay his price, there are ocean shipbuilding concerns that will.’’ to run back and forth between Detroit and New York until’ BUFFALO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. The receipts of grain by lake on Tuesday mounted up to 950,000 bushels. Capt. George C. Burnham has been appointed master of the Russell Sage, to succeed Capt. T. C. Herrick, who re- signed to accept a position in another line, — Capt. Coleman Hinckley died at Cape Vincent, N. Y., on Saturday last. He was one of the oldest vessel masters on Lake Ontario, and the father of Capt. Hinckley of the R. & O. Nav. Co.’s steamer Columbian. The superintendent of the life-saving service for the dis- trict opened bids this week for 12 tons of coal to be de- livered to the Cleveland station. The contract was duly advertised and sealed proposals asked for. Capt. Welcome, recently appointed manager of the Erie & Buffalo passenger line, has resigned. He will take charge of the steamer Tampa for Mr. Carter, who recently pur- chased the wreck from the underwriters, and is now having it rebuilt. Capt. Welcome will-go to Detroit to look over the wreck of the Aurora, which will be a consort to the Tampa. The freight handlers declared the strike off on Tuesday night, and resumed work on Wednesday. They return to work at the old rate of wages, 15 cents per hour, except the Erie men, who were the originators of the strike. They were receiving 14 cents per hour regularly, and 21 cents for overtime. They will now receive 15 cents per hour for regu- lar and overtime work. In reporting arrivals and clearances the Courier calls the C. & B. side-wheel steamers, propellers, and, under the same list as screw boats. Of course the City of Erie and the City of Buffalo are propelled by steam applied to side-wheels, or paddles, the other propellers are propelled much in the same way by a ‘‘ wave churner’’ placed at their stern and known as a screw, therefore, some are moved by screw pro- pulsion and others are propelled by paddle or side-wheels. The only difference is in the way the power of propulsion is applied, and sidewheelers are not screw boats. Following the precedent of Capt. Dennett at Chicago, fishermen and others are forbidden to use the government piers at Oswego, N.Y. Commander Hanford, U. S. N., stationed at this port as inspector of the tenth light-house district, found the pier around the light-house in an unsightly condition, owing to fish being cleaned there and other dirt-creating nuisances, besides, there is always the danger of fire during the warm summer months. Capt. Graham D. Fitch, Corps of Engineers, U.S. A., in charge of government work in the conservancy and improvement of rivers and harbors within the Oswego district is fully in accord with the recent action taken by Commander Han- ford, U.S. N. Mr. Nelson Holland has disposed of his lumber-carrying fleet, the steamer C. F. Curtis and her tow barges’ N. C. Holland, T. S. Fassett and Isabel Reed. The barges were built in 1881 and the steamer ayear later. The fleet has been well kept up, and as they are small vessels, all under 1,000 tons, and nearer 500 tons net, they will likely be able to carry iron ore for some years yet, as this is the trade they will be put in by their new owners, the Tonawanda Iron & Steel Co., Tonawanda, N. Y.~ Lumber is about as easy a cargo as hulls can carry, and iron ore one of the hardest, the heaviest, too, for that matter, so that they will need to be handled and kept in trim more carefully than at any time since they were built. The same masters stay in the boats. H. C. French, general manager of the Union Transit Co., has been connected with the lake business for 35 years, and has therefore witnessed the growth of this now enormous traffic almost from its inception. He was asked if he thought the 500-foot vessels that are to be built by the American Ship Building Co. will be the maximum length for lake vessels. ‘‘ That is a hard question,’’ answered Mr. French with a smile. ‘‘I recall that when the steamer Avon came out in 1877 some of the best. known lake men were astonished, and predicted that she would be a failure, owing to her size. Yet the Avon to-day is a small vessel. She is 251 feet long, and 1,702 gross tons. Boats have in- creased in size since then to what is known as the 4oo- footers, and I believe 475 feet is about the largest now in commission. Now we are to have boats on the lakes 500 feet long, but I have not the temerity to prophecy what will be the limit of the size of lake vessels.”’ Robert H. Hebard was found dead in bed last Saturday morning at his country home at Derby, N. Y., where he went Friday evening after spending the day as usual at his office, No. go2 Ellicott Square. Mr. Hebard was one of Buffalo’s most widely known transportation managers. He was general manager of the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Buffalo Steamship Co., was agent for the Lake Erie Transportation Co., and had other large interests. For 20 years, from 1870 to 1890, he was assistant general manager of the Union Steamboat Co., under Washington T. Bullard. In 1887 he became connected with the Lake Erie Transportation Co., which is the Wabash Railroad Co.’s lake line, and in 1892 he also became agent for the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Buf- falo Steamship Co. Mr. Hebard enjoyed a reputation for capacity and integrity above that of most business men. He was a member of the Buffalo Merchants’ Exchange, of Washington Lodge No. 240, F. & A. M.; Buffalo Chapter No. 71, R. A. M.; Hugh de Payens Commandery No. 30, Knights of Templars, and Ismailia Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. CHICAGO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. Grain freights are firm this week at 2 cents on corn to Buffalo. 5 ‘i Judge Thos. Bradwell has sold the small steamer Bradwell to New Orleans parties for $5,500. ie The old sidewheel steamer Chief Justice Waite is now running, and is receiving a large patronage. J. J. Rardon & Co. chartered the steamers R. P. Ranney and Brittanic for corn to Buffalo at 2 cents. Capt. Prindiville chartered the steamer Ralph and consort Harold for corn to Port Huron at 134 cents, the steamer Santa Maria and consorts Wayne and Marvin for corn to- Buffalo at 2 cents. ae The steamer Petoskey, which was sold by the Northern ~ Michigan Trans. Co. to Hart Bros., will leave the service of the N. M. Trans. Co. in a few days, and go to Green Bay to join the Hart Line ot steamers. Bee At the yards of the Chicago Ship Building Co., the Good-— rich Trans. Co’s. sidewheel steamer Chicago is receiving a new walking beam, the sloop yacht Prairie was in dock and had a portion of her lead keel taken off. s The tug Satisfaction, from this port to Buffalo, towing the - barge Tracy J. Bronson, was destroyed by fire about 12 miles — southeast of Manitowoc, on Sunday last. The crew boarded © the barge and made sail afterward, being towed to port. A small sail yacht capsized off this port on Wednesday and Thurman Malone, of Cincinnati, was lost, his ship-— mates, Seth Warren and Lou Biederman were picked up by the steamer City of Chicago. The yacht was on a trip from here to Waukegan and her occupants lost their bearings besides not being able to handle the yacht properly. It was quitea sight on Tuesday to see the many fine pas senger steamers wending their way down the river. T Manitou started at 9 a.m. for Mackinaw, and was shortly afterwards followed by the H. W. Williams for South Have the Christopher Columbus for Milwaukee, the City of Chi- cago for St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, the America f Michigan City, and the C. W. Moore for Waukegan. The excursion steamer Cylone, which came to Chicago get part of the good things of World’s Fair times, has be sold to go to the Thousand Islands inthe St. Lawrence. The purchaser is George B, Massey, a banker of Watertown, N.Y, who pays Herman Dahlke $5,500 for the boat. The Cylone will cary 300 people, andis in good shape. ‘The price is con- sidered low. She is now being fitted out for the run down the lakes. The sale of the Cyclone removes one of the ac tive elements in the lake front wars between the excursion boat owners. : The executive committee of the River Improvement Com- pany met at the office of the Lumbermen’s Association, i1 the Owings Building, this week, and decided to submit a list of 25 marine men to Mayor Harrison, with a recom- mendation for their appointment on the committee, to be named by him, to agitate local river and harbor improve-— ments. Secretary Tunell was instructed to compile the list. The North Side subway question was also discussed, but no definite action was taken, although the sentiment of the ma- jority present favored the proposition. The vessel men are pleased at the action of the under- writers here in advancing the class of a large number of lake vessels. They say that this is about the same as the insurance companies giving them advance freights on cargoes of all kinds. There are those, however, who s that it was not so much magnanimity on the part of th insurance companies as might appear on the face. They say that the companies saw that too many of the ves- sels were going this year without insurance, and decided to get down to a basis where they could do business with the owners There was no loophole for them to get out other than the one through which they crawled. They had sworn, when the high rates of insurance were made, th these would not be shaded in any particular, and they have not been. Elevating the class, however, had the same effect, and it is said to have been prompted by the in- surance men, Ordinarily the underwriter would have but little effect upon the classification society. but it is said that even while the underwriters could not force the class — down, there is nothing to prevent them writing insuran at the higher class rate. Anyway, about forty vessels ha’ been told to come up to the higher rating. OO ———————— Out of 800 men employed in the Marine Department of the Maryland Steel Co., at Sparrows Point, only roo met at a call for a mass meeting held last Sunday to begin a strik President James B. Armesworthy, of Oriole Lodge, No. 193, Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders of America, was among the first to speak, and he called upon his auditors to consistent with their action of a week ago, and go ou strike. ‘If you don’t,” he declared, ‘‘you are not worth of thé name of men. If the managers say they can’t give you a nine-hour day, they lie. All of their contracts y made on the basis of a nine-hour day.’’? Out of that 100 twenty-three voted to go on strike at once. The others pr served a non-committal attitude, and declined to vote eith way. Then the wrathful twenty-three lifted up their voic and called their brethren cowards and ‘“‘stiffs’? and oth names, Finally, the meeting dismissed itself out into t rain, the chairman leading the way, and the strike question had, for the time being, answered itself. BS