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« JULY 6, 1899. THE MARINE RECORD. MI 'Taat international boundary line is bothering our Lake Erie fishermen a good deal these times. The Canadian patrol steamer Petrel is waltzing around in the vicinity of the line of demarkation, and, altogether different to the fisher- ‘men from this side of the border, she seems to know exactly where it is all the time. It is fortunate that’the officers of _ the Petrel act in a sensible, sailor-like way (so different to the officials on shore, who are generally loaded down with a sense of their own importance and the insignificance of that of others, and so cheerily give one or two warnings before _ confiscating twine. We would suggest that the tug compan- ies send a man out with a sextant occasionally and have him shoot the angles of the sun’s altitude against the sky gazers on the Petrel. A few altitudes would keep the Petrel off all right and euchre that craft at her own game. or or oe LAKE FREIGHTS. The advance to $1 on iron ore from the head of Lake Superior to Ohio ports, which set in on Friday last, has not been maintained, chartering has been done within the last few days at 90 cents, Marquette, 80 cents and 85 cents asked; 75 cents from Escanaba. The June shipments of ore, two and a half million tons, exceeding all former records and about 300,000 tons over that of the corresponding month a _ year ago, the total shipments for the season being 43 - millions tons and 100,000 tons more than was carried last _ year. It is thought that the mines can’t ship such large quantities in the future, as stock piles are being well cleaned up. The 23% cent grain rate from Duluth to Buffalo, equal to = _ $1.02 on ore, is firm, and there has been talk of a 3 cent rate sinee Monday. The Chicago rate is holding steady at 2 cents on corn to Buffalo, with brisk chartering. The all-rail - competition is declining. Toledo to Buffalo 1% cents on _~ wheat. Coal cargoes are plentiful at the long looked for rates of 50 cents Lake Michigan, and 4o cents to the head of Lake o Superior from Ohio ports. Minor ports at increasing rates. - The Buffalo rates on anthracite are the same as above. ‘umber carrying vessels are in good demand in all trades. Rates have been $2 from Duluth since the opening of navi- gation. Some charters were made early in the season whereby a certain fleet was to take 40,000,000 feet Duluth to Lake Erie at $1.87%. A charter Duluth to Cleveland was made a few days ago at $2.25, but this load is said to consist of about two-thirds lath and one-third lumber. $l LAKE FOG REPORT. (By Norman B. Conger, Local Forecast Official and Marine ; Agent. ) Since date of last report, 813 reports of the prevalence of _ fog on the Great Lakes have been received. There was much fog on Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan, but very little on Erie and Ontario. On Lake Superior fog was gen- erally reported on twenty-four out of the thirty-one days under consideration; no fog was reported from May 19 to 23 inclusive, and on June 9 and 10. On Lake Michigan no tog was reported May 18 to 23 and June I, 2, 8, 9 and 10; and on Huron on May 19, 20, 23 and 24, and on June 2, 3, 8, 9 and io. In comparing these reports with the same period last _ year it appears that there was more fog reported on Lake _ Superior last season than this, about the same amount on _ Lake Michigan, less on Huron and about the same on Lakes Erie and Ontario. As has been before stated the heavy fog banks appear on the lake in the fairway of vessels, and do not extend, except in few cases, to the shore. The reports show that during general fog conditions heavy banks exist in most portions of the lake, with frequent intervals of clear weather. The records do not extend over a sufficient period, at the present time, to locate these banks accurately. No serious disasters to vessels were reported from fog condi- tions. ——$—< er LAUNCH AT THE DAVIDSON YARD. 2 The large “wooden schooner Matanzas will be launched - from the yard of Capt. James Davidson, W. Bay City, Mich., on Saturday next, July 8, and it is expected that one week ‘later, or, on July 15th, she will be ready to load her first cargo. Her dimensions are as follows: 355 feet long, 45% feet beam, and 26 feet deep. _ The Matanzas isa sister ship to the recently launched ‘Santiago, is 2,600 gross tons and is classed A1* with a valua- n of $95,000, She has steel keelsons, arches; cords and gonal strapped, equipped with steam windlass, deck ting engines, pumps and all the latest and most modern improvements for this‘class of tonnage: ‘These large, well built wooden vessels although carrying quite a good show- ing of canvas are designed in the main as tow barges, and while able to take care of themselves if cast adrift from the towing steamer, or when desiring to change ports to dis- charge or load part cargo, they are, as we have said, classed as lake barges, whether the name is exactly applicable or otherwise is another question. There are several large repair and rebuilding jobs on hand at the Davidson yard, as well as the new lake tug now well in frame. The steamer Tampa ashore last fall on Lake Superior will be rebuilt as soon as work on the George B. Owen is completed. CF SMP MCE PINE PEERS I aoe con aR eT IE ETE ES ABSTRACT OF BIDS. Abstract of proposals received at Duluth, Minn., for re- vetment work, Portage Lake ship canals, Mich., opened by Major Clinton B. Sears, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, July 1, 1899: Name and address of Bidder. Total. Hugo & Tims, Duluth, Minn. 3. 3...005. 02: $132,273.50 Powell & Mitchell, Marquette, Mich............ 147,622.40 Collier-Weeks Co., New York, N. Y............. 155,113.80 Porter: Bros.,-Duluth, Minn is os ee Ce 144,201.20 ButlersRyan. Co, St: Paul. Minn.» oc eyo y ee 169,629.00 James B: Donnelly, Buffalo, Ni Y..22 0. ech eas. 173,228.60 The firm of Hugo & Tims being the lowest responsible bidders, their proposals will probably be recommended to the Chief of Engineers, U.S. A., by.Major C. B. Sears, for acceptance. rs USONIAN. Of course, we expect logic from a college professor, no one is waiting to hear wisdom drop from the lips of ordi- nary citizens, such as nine-tenths of us are. Henee, a St. Louis professor at the Washington University has discovered or just given to the public, a fact which heimagines may not have dawned upon the intelligence of the common herd up to this time. It appears that we have been waiting to be discovered and properly labeled in consonance with the views and rules of the laws of the universe, this mundane sphere, (or is it spherial) or oblate spheroid. We now require a distinguish- ing signal among the world’s families. It is said that old Chris. Columbus discovered the land, and we have just got through testing a few of our senses in heralding the anni- versary day of our independence, and now, even at this late date, Professor Waterhouse wants to re-discover us. Well, having found the land, it isa good thing to discover the people who inhabit the same, and if there is one thing nicer than another, it is to be properly discovered. However, we must now let the professor speak for himself as follows: ‘At present there is no proper name that distinctively describes this country. Columbia and America apply to the whole western hemisphere. The people of Canada and Mexico, of Central and South America, are all Americans, and might justly resent the pretension which claims that title exclusively forthe inhabitants of the United States of North America. : “The United States is anawkward expression. It is plural in form and singular in sense. It does not afford personal or adjective derivatives. United Statesmen and United Statesian are inadmissibly harsh. ‘United States of North America’ is an exact designation of this country. The first letters of these words form the word ‘Usona.’ This term is agreeable to the ear, singular in number and precise in defi- nition. Its introduction would substitute for the incomplete United States an address so full and exact that no foreigner could misunderstand it. ‘“Rormerly the press indicated that its general information was gathered from the four quarters of the globe by placing at the heads of its columns ‘north, east, west, south.’ From the initials of these words some assert that the term ‘news’ was derived. “Tt is facetiously said that United States stands for ‘Uncle Sam,’ and this burlesque personification has found a perma- nent place in our language. The baptismal names of Gen- ‘erals Grant and Jackson have been supplanted by the uni- yersally used names which accident or valor gave. “Tn fine, use can create and popularize new terms. Do not the words ‘Usona’ and ‘Usonian’ so fully subserve the needs of exact address and grammatical convenience as to deserve a place in our language? The press can, if it will, effect the adoption of these new words.” ro er Tas steamer Kaiser Friedrich, which was built for the North German Lloyds Company, not having fulfilled the conditions of the contract, has been rejected by the com- pany, and was returned to the builders on her arrival at Bre- men from New York. There is a report that a new firm are ready to take over the discarded steamer. o————__-~COwr—C:— On'-—02-——0-0"7070"-"68OAnM0nM@MnmnoMomc@€@H€é@€@€¢@™—”—-—mnjrrv_Pvr—rwrwrwrr CORRESPONDENCE. | Agr We do not hold ourselves responsiblein any way for the views or opinions expressed by our correspondents. It is our desire that all sides of any question affecting the interests or welfare of the lake ma- rine should be fairly represented in THE MARIN® RECORD. MUST A FOREIGNER SERVE ? DETROIT, June 21, 1899. To the Editor of the Marine Record: DEAR Sir: Please inform me if I, being a foreigner, am liable to be called on to serve on a coroner’s jury without pay. In all cases where remuneration is given, employ- ment on juries, municipal work, etc., is barred to me, but in the case of a coroner’s jury, where there is no pay, it is held by some authorities that a benighted foreigner is quite as capable as the free and enlightened citizen. If this be true, I ought to also have a chance at shoveling snow next — winter. What does the RECORD say? COUSIN JACK. Pw Se RESCUING (?) CASTAWAYS. TOLEDO, OHIO, July 5, 1899. To the Editor of The Marine Record: I have been a subscriber to the MARINE RECORD for several years, and I hold that it is the only publication that gives us the lake marine news all the year round. I would not miss an issue for anything, in fact, I look to keep posted on general current events through its columns. In your issue of June 22d an excellent article is printed on the subject of a ‘‘Great Lakes Shipwreck and Humane Society,” an institution which I think should have been in existence years ago, so that men who take risks in saving life and property would know and feel assured that their efforts would be appreciated by their fellow-men on shore. I have talked to a number of marine men here about the recent loss of the Margaret Olwill on Lake Erie, and the opinions, while being various, yet in general they condemn the master of the steamer State of Ohio in his action at the time of finding wreckage and castaways floating around, and we would like to know how the REcorD regards the life-saving proclivities of Capt. Willoughby of the passenger steamer State of Ohio. Throwing a line to an exhausted and partly drowned castaway looks to me a good deal like fishing for sharks. Why couldn’t some life buoys or a life raft have been drifted within his reach, if-no one volunteered to mann a boat? The steamer could easily have dropped her anchor in Io or 12 fathoms of water and picked the man up — at leisure, instead of throwing him a line and then seeing him drown alongside through sheer exhaustion. paper reports seem to award credit for such action but I can’t see where it comes in. Of course a more vigorous or less worn out man was picked up later, but even then the steamer left the other three or four hollering their lungs out to attract attention, only to be picked up an hour or two afterwards by a ship’s boat manned by an engineer and two deck officers. A proper inquiry should be made about this loss of life and credit given only where credit is due; ‘one thing is certain, it would have been better for George Heffron if the passenger steamer had never sighted him, nor anyone but the man she picked up, and then Heffron would have been rescued an hour or two later by the boat from the Sacramento. Capt. Mansfield, the same as the others were. The RxecorD should deal with this matter in as out- spoken a manner as it frequently does with other subjects and we know that you won’t advocate only a common sense and shipshape way of rescuing castaways. J ais i Oe LOSS OF THE MARGARET OLWILL. The wooden steamer Margaret Olwill, Capt. Brown, with stone from Kelly’s Island to Cleveland, owned by L. P. & J. A. Smith, Cleveland, foundered off Lorain, O., in a north- © east gale on Thursday last, with the loss of nine lives. The four survivors were picked up after being exposed on wreckage for several hours. The Olwill, 554 gross tons, was built at Cleveland in 1887, and was a staunch, well equipped vessel. that of the schooner Nelson which foundered May 13 on Lake Superior with the loss of eight lives. oro A society has been formed in Berlin with the name of “Schiffbautechnische Gesallschaft’’, and its oject is to bring together shipbuilders, marine engineers, shipowners, officers of the navy and mercantile marine, etc., for the dis- cussion of practical questions connected with the science of shipbuilding. Our news- — The loss recalls ~