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THE MARINE RECORD. DETROIT. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. : Capt. Wallace King, of Toledo, died at his home on Tues- day. He was about forty-five years of age and left a widow and one child. The plant of the Excelsior Foundry, at Bay City, burned on Monday morning. Loss, $12,000. The plant was included in the property recently purchased by the American Ship Building Co., but was still being operated by the former owners, Thomas O’Day, a deck hand on the steamer Commodore, committed suicide by jumping overboard on Friday last. He had shown signs of insanity and had been confined be- tween decks, but managed to escape and throw himself into the lake. His home was said to be in Buffalo. Capt. Quinn, submarine diver, intends leaving for Toledo this week to see if the sunken dredge Champion, owned by Capt. James Rooney, is worth raising or not. Capt. Quinn is one of the most expert submarine workers in the business, and his judgment is seldom at fault in giving advice or un- dertaking work. The citizens of Meaford, Ont., held a meeting June 20, to consider the agreement with the Botsford-Jenks Com- pany, of Port Huron, for the erection of an elevator of 1,000,000 bushels capacity. The matter was favorably re- ceived, and the town council propose submitting a by-law for a bonus of $25,000 for the elevator. - The wrecked steamer Harlem, ashore on Isle Royale, has been taken over by the Great Lakes Towing Co. as part of the assets of the Thompson Towing Co., who recently pur- chased her from the London underwriters for $30,000. The expedition to float the Harlem is still at work on her with good hopes of releasing the craft. The little Canadian ferry steamer Comfort, of Sombra, Ont., was the first boat caught evading the coasting laws this season. It appears that on July 4 she took an excur- sion from Marine City to Stag Island and then to Port Huron, which was in direct violation of the coastal naviga- tion laws. The fines against the boat amount to $3,200. The steamer was towed to Belle river and is in charge of a deputy collector of customs. There are no tug lines here to be taken into the Great Lakes Towing Co., but options on the Port Huron, Boynton and Thompson lines have been secured this week by the valuation committee, consisting of Capts. James Davidson, Collier and Mr. Newman. The Thompson property is as good as purchased, but Mr. Thompson will continue to act as manager for this season. $160,000 is mentioned as his figure for the fleet and accessories. While the wooden steamer St. Paul was loading coal at Toledo on Tuesday, a leak was discovered in her bows. It is stated that after being laid up for three seasons she was fitted out again without being thoroughly calked. The St. Paul was formerly owned by Capt. Homer Durand, of To- ledo, and a great deal of money has been spent on her for repairs, etc., but there is no making a new boat out of an old one. The St. Paul, 760 gross tons, was built in Marine City in 1868, and has outlived her class. Dry dock work is booming these times. The Superior Ship Building Co., Superior, Wis., are pushing the con- tract on excavation work on their large, new dock. Capt. James E. Davidson has arranged all the preliminaries for a five hundred foot ‘‘hole in the ground.’”’ The Craig Ship Building Co., Toledo, are also ready to build one of the largest and best dry docks on the lakes, and this port will soon be in it for something to accommodate the fleet of 500-footers now under construction. Ashland, Wis., adver- tises for capitalists to take hold of a similar industry at that port, and offers a free site with other facilities to responsi- ble parties, and there are two or three more ports to hear from relative to dry dock facilities and enlargement of ex- isting plants.. PS Se or THE Secretary of the Treasury has reversed the decision of the United States Local Inspectors of Steam Vessels at Puget Sound, by which they revoked the license of J. H. Brandow, for carelessnes in navigating the American steamer City of Kingston when she collided with the British steamer Glenogie, in Commencement Bay. The Secretary of the Treasury decides that the law applies to such coastwise go- ing vessels, and vessels navigating the Great Lakes as are “not under register.’? The vessel piloted by Brandow was sailing under register, and the Inspectors had no jurisdic- tion.—Coast Seamen’s Journal, San Francisco. Who in the name of wonder is to take cognizance of infractions of the “rules of the road,’ if not the local inspectors? Whether the tonnage is registered or not, the officers hold licenses, the local inspectors furnish the licenses, and they alone, as the issuing power, can render their own acts null, void, de- funct, pending an appeal. BUFFALO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. The International Longshoremen’s annual convention is being held here this week. Duluth sent forward over two million bushels of grain last week, but receipts here have since fallen off. Hingston & Son have nearly finished a new tug for Hingston & Wood. She will probably be launched next week. The new steel steamer building at the Union Dry Dock tothe order of the Western Transit Co. is now nearly all plated and work has begun on her decks. Capt. Geo. McLeod, representing the underwriters, left here on Monday to release the Canadian steamer Sequin, ashore near Ashtabula. He towed her to Cleveland for repairs. Capt. J. S. Dunham, of Chicago, visited here this week. He does not seem to ‘“‘cotton’’ very much to the tug trust idea. Just the same, if his hand is forced, he will be obliged to go out of business, although it may be hard on the old pioneer. A million bushels of grain is becoming quite the average receipts by lake at this port and it is all speedily taken care of since the strike has been settled. After all, the strike - settled a good many old sores that were continually being prodded afresh and kept smarting. President McMahon, of the International Longshoremen’s Union, states that the Buffalo longshoremen have decided to co-operate with strikers at Waukegan, IIl., to the extent of refusing to load.or unload boats sent to or from that port. Notice to that effect has. been served on the Lake Carriers’ Association committee, It has been known that the Lehigh Valley Line would dispose of their small wooden steamers at a moderate figure. It is now reported that after selling out their interests in the tug company, the Barry Bros., Chicago, will take over the Oceanica, Clyde, Mercur and A. EK. Packer. The R. A. Packer they already have. A deflector has been placed over the fog horn at this port so that the sound will not be heard so distinctly shorewards. There has been many complaints made about the noise and apparently people don’t care what danger life is exposed to while trying to make the port in thick weather. It is the same old Pharasaical sentiment, touched with ‘‘B—— you, Jack, I’m all right.” The past week has been a brisk one for the excursion steamers and they have had. a chance to rake in a few doubloons. The season is short at the best and the several boats can’t be a bit too rapid if they are to clear all ex- penses for the year. It’sa pity that they can’t be turned to club house uses or some other such a scheme during the long winter months, to help pay the interest on their cost and upkeep. The Insurance Company of North America has been awarded $15,000 by the National Board of Marine Under- writers of New York for services rendered by the Com- pany’s wrecking tug North America and lighter Lottie, in floating the steamer Rhynland when ashore in the Delaware early this-year on the voyage from Liverpool. Repairs to the Rhynland at Philadelphia cost $75,000, and additional improvements $55,000. ; ‘ Some railroad iron which had been under water near the breakwater for nearly fifty years, was recovered this week. The rails were intended to be used in the construction of the Erie Railroad, and were thrown overboard to lighten a vessel in distress outside of the harbor in 1850 or 1851. They are but slightly rusted, and will readily sell for old iron. ‘This shows what little effect the waters of Lake Erie have upon bare iron, excluded from the air. Albert Smith, of Marine City, Mich., chief engineer on the whaleback Thomas Wilson, is under arrest, and Henry Manion, his second engineer, whom he assaulted, is in the hospital with a fractured skull which may result in his death. Manion joined the vessel on Tuesday, and when he appeared in the engine room he was visibly under the in- fluence of liquor, and Smith directed him to leave the boat and sober up. This angered Manion and he attacked Smith. The latter seized a heavy wrench and dealt Manion a blow on the head, fracturing his skull. Mr. J. A. Fairlee, Secretary of the Committee on Canals, has prepared a statement of the business of the New York canals, thus far this season, which shows that, in spite of the shovelers’ strike at this port, the year’s tonnage is larger than any year since 1896, and if the July record is fully maintained the total forthe year should about equal 1894. The record for the present season to Juue 30 is 1,023,349 tons, against 753,641 for 1898; 971,859 for 1897; 1,101,861 for 1896; 897,904 for 1895, and 1,129,672 for 1894, with the latter tonnage about the average for several years previous. The Local Inspectors of Steamboats at New York are pre- paring to hold an investigation into the causes leading up to the stranding of the American Line steamer Paris. The loss did not take place within their district and it would appear that the-court should consist of the best talent at the command of the Supervising Inspector-General, viz., the Board, or a committee of the Supervising Inspectors of the Steamboat Inspection Service. Much interest will be taken in the findings of the court, and in the best interests of the mercantile marine it is to be hoped that this inquiry is but the precursor of others and that a regular system of wreck inquiries will be established in the near future. CHICAGO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. The car ferry steamer Ann Arbor is receiving extensive repairs at Burger & Burger’s shipyard, at Manitowoc. ‘The Graham & Morton Transportation Co.’s steamer City — of Milwaukee has been equipped with a new, powerful searchlight. : : The schooner H. C. Winslow, 239 tons net, built at Lorain in 1853 and hailing from this port, will be offered at m shal’s sale, on a libel for a supply bill, Tuesday next, where she now lies at 23d street, SPE Lieutenant W. J. Wilson of the hydrographic office has an opportunity to make a trip around the world on the Hartford with Commander Hawley, but may be compe by official duties here to forego that experience. aa Capt. Cochrane has been transferred from the Goodrich Transportation Co.’s steamer Atlanta to the Georgia, Capt. Joseph Munger from the steamer Sheboygan to the Atlanta, and Capt. T. C. Bronson from the Chicago to the Sheboygan. The new steel steamer Clarence Black, lately ashore on Round Island, Straits of Mackinac, was placed in ay dock at South Chicago for survey on Saturday. The bot damage was found to be very light, and a few’ hours wor put her in shape to carry cargo again. The Chicago, Saugatuck & Douglas Transportation have established a double daily service between Chics Saugatuck and Douglas. It is the intention of Chic capitalists to build a large hotel at Saugatuck. The back to Saugatuck is the shoal water. This should remedied at an early date. Ri General Passenger Agent Cory, of the Graham & Mo: Line, who is noted for his thoughtful consideration Cupid’s interests, is now endeavoring to secure police pro- tection for elopers to St. Joseph, the new Gretna Green. It is his idea not to allow parental interference or intimidation ~ in the ceremony which consolidates two souls into one heart beat. is ; The Christopher Columbus now has a speed of twenty-one miles an hour, and averages nineteen and one-half miles per hour in her daily run between Chicago and Milwaukee. The Manitou’s new engines have greatly increased the speed of that ‘“‘greyhound of the lakes,’’ and it looks as though the present season will be characterized by some record- making trips. ; The schooner Lotus, Capt: Seator, reports being inac clone off the Foxes this week, The little craft was throw on her beam ends and lost some light spars and her jib, but the cyclone part of it smacks too much of the Indian Oc or snake storyettes to go on Lake Michigan. A waterspout or tornado yarn would have spun better, although all th daily papers swallowed it all right. The Northern Michigan Trans. Co’s. splendid new st passenger and freight steamer Illinois, built by the ¢ cago Ship Building Co., at South Chicago, has’ put in service. She was built at an approxim cost of $250,000. Her dimensions are 240 feet oy all, 40 feet beam, 16 feet molded depth. Her e gines are triple-expansion with cylinders 20 and and 54 inches by 36 inches stroke, supplied with steam from — two Scotch type boilers 12 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 6 inches, allowed_a working pressure of 175 pounds. The engines are of 1,800 horse-power and are guaranteed to drive the ste at a speed of 17 miles an hour. Two dynamos each provi with its own engine supply 500 electric lights and also powerful searchlight. She has six watertight compartmen Her cabin is furnished in curly beech, with mahogany t f mings, which has a very handsome effect, her state-rooms are finished in cherry, and hot and cold water is supplie all of them; their fittings and furnishings are the mo modern obtainable, and she is a fine addition to the passen- ger service out of this port. She will run between Chicag and Mackinaw, on the Northern Michigan Co’s. regul: route. Capt. Wm. Finucan, until recently master of t steamer City of Charlevoix, is in charge of the Illin Thomas Collins chief engineer, E. A. Wilson purser, Richarc Donnelly steward. She averaged 19 miles an hour on h maiden trip. : With the boom of business in excursion business this son, two of the largest Chicago lake transportation comp ies have decided to increase their fleets next season, building new steamers. The Lake Michigan and Lake $ perior Line has decided to build a sister ship to the Manito: which will, in all probability, be built by the Chicago Sh Building Co., at South Chicago. The new steamer wil put in the Mackinac Island service. The company will be able to give the public a daily service between Chi Mackinac Island, Charlevoix and Harbor Springs. Ge: Passenger Agent Berolzheim admitted that the rumor of thi contemplated movement was well founded. The Good: ic Transportation Co. is also seriousiy considering the necessi of building another steamer to go into the day excursion between Chicago and Milwaukee, and if the plans materializ there will be a double daily excursion service between cago and Milwaukee next season. The plan is to have whaleback continue her present schedule and have the 1 boat duplicate the latter at Milwaukee, thus giving Milw kee people an opportunity to spend the day in Chicago’ return home in the evening at popular $1 fare. In event the Virginia may be transferred next season to Mackinac Island run. ‘This, together with the Grahan Morton Line’s prospective increase of its fleet, will incre: lake tonnage with three of the fastest and best equipped : senger boats. : m