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THE MARINE RECORD. Aucust 10, 1899. 6 Oe " —“—*™s=*C DETROIT. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. The Jenks Ship Building Co. has libeled the schooner D. P. Dobbins for the sum of 4260for towing. The owners have been ordered to appear in court. A circular issued from the office of the general superin- tendent of the Flint & Pere Marquette R. R. Co. announces that Mr. W. L. Mercereau has been appointed superintendent of the company’s line of steamers. Quite a number of strandings and other casualties have occured around here this week, among them the Minnesota and City of Naples. And the car ferry Lansdowne and cargo boat N. B. Morley sunk through collision. The barge Leader in tow, and the barge Dunmore in tow of the Canadian steamer Bannockburn, disputed tthe right of way. The Leader is sunk just above Belle Isle. The Dunmore received temporary repairs and proceeded on in tow to Kingston. The collision that occurred this weeek between the ferry Lansdowne and the Morley is likely to prove quite an ex- pensive casualty. The Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Co. hold the insurance on the Morley, and London Lloyds on the ferry boat. Probably about $30,000 is involved in the accident. The Wyandotte yards of the Detroit Ship Building Co. are again more active and material for construction is arriv- ing in fairly good consignments from the Carbon Steel Co., Pittsburg. Detroit has always been famous for the good metal put into its ships and the three vessels now in course of construction will have Az metal all through. The new Star line boat will be ready on the opening of the passenger service next season. Through a misunderstanding of signals the Bessemer steamer Sir William Siemens, collided with the wall of the Poe dock at the ‘‘Soo”’ Friday last and cut a big chunk out of it. The gate was also injured to some extent, though the steamer was not apparently damaged. There always has been this element of danger at the ‘“‘Soo’’ canal, but now that there are three locks at that point the danger of a stoppage at Lake Superior has been minimized to a great extent, just as Col. Lydecker, Corps of Engineers, U.S. A., has pointed out. There is far more danger of the whole ’ lower lake traffic being paralyzed through a collision in St. Clair Flats canal than at any other point. The St. Clair canal is a narrow cut, confining a channel between two old spile-driven wooden piers and used by all lake tonnage except the few vessels trading on only one lake. The St. Clair canal should be enlarged anda second or even a third channel made. The superstructure of the piers confining the channels ought also to be of stone or concrete and made a permanent, as well as a sightly government construction. There is quite a discussion going on here this week among vesselmen on the possible effect of the opening of the drain- age canal at Chicago, and the consequent probable lowering of the level of the lakes. Some of the more practical sort of men say that the difference will show anywhere between three inches and a foot, while those who are half scientific think it will perhaps keep about the same, and talk wisely about the supply, submarine rivers, rainfall,damp and dry sea- sons,etc. One man tells me that every extra fraction of an inch drained from one lake has an effect over the whole, another says that the loss over the Niagara is all that the lakes can stand without being lowered, still another maintains that the lakes are basins and can’t be drained, etc., and so it goes, until a fellow is half inclined to hope that Canada, as well as the United States, will open all possible avenues for the water to escape, just to see who is right and who is wrong in their calculations. Whichever way this question is fixed we don’t want to see still water in the river here, and we don’t want to have the supply robbed from above Detroit whatever they may do with it below or eastward from here. This is one feature against that Canadian Lake St. Clair and Erie canal project. ——— THE Milwaukee customs office records show several recent changes in shipmasters. J.D. Campbell succeeds Gilbert Anderson on the schooner Evaline, John Hammell super- sedes H. W. Hart on the Champion, of Green Bay, and W. C. Phelps takes the place of Oscar Parke on the steamer H. W. Root. Also the following transfers of vessel property: Tug Stone City, C. Metzner, of Kewaunee, to C. W. Strech- enback, of Green Bay,for $1,000; schooner Burt Barnes, Oberg & Co., to T. E. Torrison, of Manitowoc, for $1,500; tug Emma Bloecker, Sophia Smith and others, to C.M. Hittell, of Racine; Anthony Bolster and others, to Peter Hanson, Wash- ington Island, for $3,700; Lucia A. Simpson to T. Clawson for m 200, and the schooner J. G. Boyce to parties not named for 900. CHICAGO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. Mr. Charles M. Cottrill, well-known as local agent of the Union line, died at his summer home in Oconomowoc last week, aged 55 years. The chartered steamer German broke up a dredging firm’s scow at South Chicago on Tuesday and.damaged her- self so that she will have to dry dock in Milwaukee. The German was working into No. 2 slip and the dredge scow blocked her way. : The Crosby Transportation Co., on the route between Sheboygan, Manitowoc and Muskegon, has been discon- tinued for lack of patronage. These minor ports ought to maintain a regular steamboat service and when it is again started next season perhaps they will. Next season a new side-wheeler will be built for the Chicago Saugatuck & Douglas Transportation Co. The contract will demand a speed of 22 miles for the new steamer, whose cabins will be finished in the finest mahogany. Assoon as the new boat goes into service the present fleet will be placed on the night route. An official number has been assigned to the steamer Two Myrtles, 96 gross, 65 net tons, built in Manitowoc, Wis., and hailing from Milwaukee. The Two Myrtles was built to the order of John and Andrew Johnson, of Green Bay, Wis. Her principal dimensions are, 94 feet over all, 80 feet keel, 22 feet beam and 7 feet depth of hold. She is steel sheathed to work in light ice. Engines have cylinders 144 by 16 inches in diameter, one boiler 6 feet in diameter by 11 feet in length. I can see the shipping trade drifting away each season to South Chicago. Now, our highly esteemed friend and late patron, Mr. O. S. Richardson, w. o handles the product of the W. L. Scott Coal Co., Erie, Pa., is thinking of moving his fine large river business unless the port is made acces- sible to modern tonnage.. The river and port will lose one of its most active industries if Mr. Richardson throws up the sponge, but what with shoal water and the tunnels, or the tunnels alone, for their crown rules the depth of the river, I am mighty dubious of facilities being offered the firm be- fore next season, and if not, it’s all off. A Cincinnati firm has the contract for a portion of the Hennepin canal, while, working at asection in Henry and Bureau counties, the bottom caved in. It was found that the ground for one hnndred feet around where stood the big shovel, had sunk ten feet. Subsequent borings brought to light the fact that no, solid bottom existed for a depth of 42 feet below the level of the hardpan. Inasmuch as the canal has to be cut, according to the accepted surveys, through about four miles of ground apparently of the same consis- tency, the case presents some engineering features that are quite out of the ordinary, and it is puzzling the contractors to know how to accomplish the feat. C. J. Smith, general manager of the Canada-Atlantic Tran- sit Co., states that the package freight business this season is away ahead of last year, and he also announced that two freighters of large size will be added to the company’s fleet next season. ‘‘We consider that boats of 4,500 to 5,000-ton class are to be about the maximum size for merchandise and grain business of the lakes,’’ said Mr. Smith. ‘‘This class is about 1,000 tons greater than the boats in our fleet at pres- ent, but we contemplate a couple of additional boats of some- what larger size than any that we now have. One of these will probable be put in the Chicago, and the other in the Duluth trade. We also expect to run a boat to Ft. William next season.”’ A dispatch from Washington says: Proposals will be opened at the Treasury Department on Aug. 16, for the work of erecting a new life-saving station at Charlevoix, on Lake Michigan. Supt. Kimball has issued authority for adver- tisement calling for bids. It is estimated that the new sta- tion will cost about $8,000. The plans provide for a frame structure with an extensive boat shed under the same roof. The station is expected to be completed during the present season. Lieut. Reinberg, of the revenue cutter service, has been assigned to duty as inspector of the life-saving service on Lake Michigan, vice Capt. Moore, deceased. It is under- stood that Lieut. Reinberg’s assignment is but a temporary one, and that he will remain on duty in the Lake Michigan district only during the summer. The steamer City of Grand Rapids, which sprunga leak while carrying 200 passengers to Milwaukee, was built at Grand Haven in 1879, and was rebuilt two years ago, when she was changed from an excursion to a regular passenger steamer. She was owned at the ‘‘Soo,’”? and ran on Lake Superior until three years ago, when she was purchased by the South Haven & Chicago Transportation Co., and ran two seasons between South Haven and Chicago. She was inspected July 29 by Honner and Blocker, of Grand Haven. Her passenger certificate was raised 88, allowing 588 passengers. There was a northwest sea and it was noticed she was. making water forward. One siphon was clogged, but was soon cleaned and working. As water was making quite fast, she was headed for South Haven. It is now said that she is perfectly seaworthy, no rotten timber being found in the hull. With 4,000 persons cheering him on, last Thursday surf- man William H. Batchelor, of the Jackson Park life-saving crew, plunged into the lake, swam out to a drowning man and brought him safely toshore. Just beyond, Capt. St. Peter, with a life-boat and crew, went to the- rescue of another man who was clinging to an upturned boat, while the third man of the fishing party, Walter Carr, had gone down and was drowned. His body was recovered an hour later. The individual bravery of surfman Batchelor should be duly recognized by the Treasury Department. Similar rescues are being frequently made throughout the season of navigation on the lakes, but the circumstance is allowed to drift past, with, perhaps, a brief allusion in the annual re- port of the chief of the life-saving service. The studied neglect of recognition for acts of personal bravery is getting monotonous. It is also liable to make would be life-savers rather careless, moreover, it is ignorantly culpable from a government standpoint, and quite as bad froma local or municipal point of view. or or oo BUFFALO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. Capt. G. D. Fitch, Corps of Engineers, U.S. A., stationed at Oswego, N. Y., will remove the spars of the sunken schooner St. Peter. Who will be the tug manager at this port is not yet given out for publication. Duluth and Chicago interests are also guessing, and wires are being pulled all around. The Maytham as well as the Hand & Johnson Tug Co., will be operated under the management of the Great Lakes Towing Co. ‘This will reduce expenses and therefore give cheaper towing with equal facilities at this port. The head of the lakes can use about 2% million tons of coal next winter, and it is now thought that about one-fourth of that amount will be shipped by rail, it certainly can’t all be carried on vessels, as there is a lack of tonnage even with the increased rates of freight. Mr. James Boyle, U. S. consul at Liverpool, England, is a naturalized citizen, also a newspaper man, and was at one time ‘‘devil’’ at Dudley & Burns printing establishment in Toronto. Mr. Boyle is a close friend of President McKinley, and while on a vacation from his post is visiting friends in Canada. Those who are likely to know, say that the RECORD photographs of Capts. Davidson, Collier and Mr. Newman, printed all in line a couple of issues ago, showed the presi- dent, general manager and secretary and treasurer of the Great Lakes Towing Co., in the sequence and order named. Next week though will probably tell the tale. It is now reported that the Lake Carriers’ Association will advance wages on lake vessels 4o per cent. to take effect on the 15th. As thisis evidently a lie, it would be in order for the Lake Carriers’ Association to find out who is playing fast and loose with reports of their meetings and intended action. It ought not to be very difficult to ferret out this skunk and see the reason of the animus to vessel owners, also the fraud upon news vendors. Robert Taylor, late of Alpena, Mich., was arrested by a United States deputy marshal this week, on a charge of assault on the high seas, preferred by Erich Ott, a deckhand on the schooner Belle Hanscomb, of which Taylor was mate. Taylor was committed to jail pending a hearing before Com- missioner Silver. The master of the schooner, Capt. Leonard, thought that he could order the marshal off his boat, but in that he was mistaken, and he cooled down when his empty bluff was called. The new Canadian steamer Toronto made her trial trip last week to the Thousand Islands, and Frank E. Kirby, of De- troit, who was consulting engineer during her construction, is highly pleased over the result. The contract called for 17 miles per hour with a coal supply of two pounds per h. p. an hour. The steamer showed 17.3 miles an hour and did it on only 1.72 pounds of coal per h. p. per hour. The Toronto is owned by the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Co., and will ply between Toronto and Prescott. For the past two years Capt. Edward E. Chapman, who is in charge of the U. S. Life-Saving Service, ninth district, has been striving to secure for Buffalo larger and more com- modious quarters for the men who risk their lives on the river and lake. While Buffalo hasa station the equal, so far as the boats and men is concerned, of any station on the Great Lakes, it is conceded on all sides that it is not ade- quate for the requirements of a city of its size and commer- cial importance. The efforts of Capt. Chapman to bring about a better condition here promise to bear fruit. Capt. C. A. Abbey, of the United States Revenue Marine, and superintendent of construction of the United States Ljife- Saving Service, has looked over the ground and consulted with Capt. Chapman as to the needs of this station. Havy- ing secured all the data he desired he will report favorably to oe department at Washington for the required improve- ments. ; ee ee THE eight historic cannon which have recently been mountedin the park at Put-in-Bay Island, Lake Erie have been named. They are arranged about the historic ‘‘Perry willow,’’ which has heretofore been the only monument to the brave American and British seamen buried under it. Seven of these cannon are named after Lieut. Garland, Capt. Fannis, Lieut. Stokes and Commodore Barclay, of the Brit- ish Navy, and Lieut. Brooks, Midshipman Tunt and Midship- man Clark, Americans, who died in the battle of Lake Erie. The eighth cannon is named after Commodore Perry. step