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JOVEMBER 95 1899. THE MARINE RECORD. CLEVELAND. — Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. “Coal shipments have been very slow this week on account of the railroads being short of cars to bring the coal forward. The steel steamer Porto Rico, built and fitted out at the Craig Ship Building Co., Toledo, was cleared for New York ‘via the Welland and St. Lawrence system of canals. A prominent and well known local vesselowner narrowly escaped a severe accident a few mornings ago when stepping off a street car while it was in motion, another warning for all hands to be more careful. With a fleet of 57 vessels the Bessemer Steamship Co. will carry an enormous amount of cargo next season, I5 large steamers, 12 tow barges and the entire fleet of whalebacks is quite a raft of tonnage to handle. The little steamer Pease, Capt. Moore, is in trouble again, this time she is on the bottom in the Minnesota slip at Ashtabula where she fetched up on Sunday. As she blocked the slip every assistance has been given to float her for dry docking and repairs. The shipments of iron ore for October amounted to 2,543,- 859 tons. During the same month last year it was 1,551,000 tons. An increase of a million tons in one month is no small feature, and yet there is not enough ore in sight to fill orders or satisfy demands. Capt. James Corrigan has purchased the steamer Robert Wallace from Robert Wallace, of Lorain, and others, for $40,000. Mr. Wallace has now disposed of his vessel prop- _erty. He sold the steamers Vega and Vulcan to’ Drake _& Maytham, of Buffalo, and the schooner David Wallace is on the coast. _._ The small schooner Rival, with coal from this port to Detroit, foundered off Monroe, Mich., and her crew was picked up by a fishing tug. The Rival was owned by Charles Hernes, of Cleveland, and was in charge of Capt. J. Hernes. The vessel is in shoal water and will be easily floated again. __ The D. & C. line have an excellent paying route. They have worked it up and know all about it. This fact does not prevent, but rather courts the attention of capitalists and again is heard the rumor of competition between this port and Detroit next season. It is said that the D. & C. might compromise on carrying cargo if a new line would agree not to enter into competition in the passenger trade. Col. Jared A. Smith, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., in charge of the waterways in this district, is anxious to! get three wrecked schooners out of the way before the end of the season of navigation. One of them is the H. G. Cleve- land, sunk off Rocky river; another is the Laura Miller, in the straight channel to the entrance of Maumee Bay; and the third is the Onward, abandoned in the harbor of Port Clinton. The story going the rounds of the lakes that Capt. John Moore is ready to dispose of his interests is a good deal of a fabrication. Capt. John has floated too long to let go now, or perhaps, for a few years hence. After the Carnegie and Rockefeller interests rule supreme and control every timber head of floating property on the lakes, also the stuff they carry, Capt. Moore may retire, if not shortly before that time, but he is strictly in it under ruling conditions and the future outlook. Capt. William Wilkes, one of Cleveland’s oldest citizens, died om Monday, aged 76 years. He was born at Sackett’s Harbor, N. Y., Feb. 12, 1820, and spent most of his life as captain on the lakes. He was a deseendant of Commodore Wilkes, of the English Navy. Capt. Wilkes came to this city in 1852, when Cleveland was in its pioneer days. He leaves two sons and a daughter. The funeral was held on - Wednesday afternoon from the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Dodge, No. 11 Hower avenue, Capt. C. E. Benham, deputy collector of customs at this port, says that the scow Mary Amelia, which was sunk at the head of Lake Erie, and had been found an obstruction to navigation, has been towed around Bar Point into shallow water, where she is no longer a menace to navigation. Capt. Benham sent out the above notice in advance of the Hydro- graphic Office, the Light-House Board or the district officer of the Corps of Engineers, U.S. A., and is consequently entitled to credit for the promptness of his information to all concerned in the navigation of that locality. The two barges which the Bessemer Steamship Co. will convert into steamers this winter are to be given the very best equipment. Regarding the machinery I learn this week that the forgings to be used in the engines will be made by the Bethlehem Steel Co., of hollow forged, high grade steel, oil tempered and annealed. The work of trans- forming the vessels will, of course, be done by the American Ship Building Co., thus giving the Bessemer Co, three new steamers next season instead of one. The barges are under construction at South Chicago and West Superior, and it is likely that the work of construction is not too far ahead to - make any radical changesin the plans. The steamer con- tract was placed here and the hull is now well under way. oro THE light-house keeper at Menominee has received orders to keep the lights exhibited all winter on account of the Ann Arbor car ferries. The ice crusher Algomah will keep - the channel through the bay open. The month of October shows a record at Menominee of the arrival of 117 vessels, carrying away 40,000,000 feet of lumber. DULUTH—SUPERIOR. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. Reports from the Sault give assurance that the business of the canals will reach the 15,000,000 tons mark for this year. Contractors King & Steele are taking advantage of the fine weather to push work on the construction of the sub-struct- ure of the southerly pier of the Duluth ship canal. The work of constructing the last crib is in progress and 13 cribs have been sunk in position. Although the war in the Transvaal is remote, yet its effect on lake commerce is felt on the Montreal route. If it had not been for the war in the Transvaal, the steamer Ar- thur Orr would not have loaded ore in Duluth on her last trip, but would have taken grain to Parry Sound. It is said that the British government has chartered so many of the regular boats running between Montreal and Liverpool, on account of the war, that the shippers of grain via Montreal are booking their stuff by other routes, and business has fallen off. It is said that the cost of releasing the steamer Harlem was about $30,000. The Thompson Wrecking Company paid the underwriters $30,000 for the boat just as she lay on the rocks at Isle Royale, so that she represents an outlay, if the report concerning the cost of releasing the boat is correct, of $60,000. As vessel property is now selling at fancy prices vesselmen say that it is plain the purchase of the Harlem will prove a good speculation. Itis said that the profit of the Harlem will not be less then $50,000, and perhaps a great deal more. One of the notable features of the opening of the Canadian waterway with its 14 feet of water from Duluth and Superior to Montrealis that American vesselmen are getting in on the ground floor to share in their newly deepened highway of commerce. Capt. A. B. Wolvin is interested in a syndi- cate that is building boats for this route and Captain Alex- ander McDougall, also of this city, will be a big factor in a new company that will builda line of steel boats at Col- ingwood, Ont., which will operate in close business rela- tionship with one of the ocean lines at Montreal. While some authorities express the opinion that 20,000,000 tons of iron ore will not be sent forward from Lake Supe- rior next season, some of the leading Duluth authorities rather expect that the amount is not far from the actual figures to be realized. Joseph Sellwood, who is regarded as one of the best posted ore men in the mining region, says that he will not be surprised if the 20,000,000 tons notch is touched next year. He estimates the output for next year by ranges as follows: Mesaba, 7,750,000 tons; Vermilion, 2,000,000 tons; Gogebic, 2,750,000 tons; Menominee, 3,750,- ooo tons; Marquette, 3,750,000 tons. The steamer Republic narrowly escaped the fate of the Western Reserve in the gale last week off Keweenaw Point. Like the Western Reserve the Republic was bound up Lake Superior, light. The pounding of the heavy seas strained her amidships, and her shear strake and decks began to crack. She reached Duluth and went into drydock, where it was ascertained that four plates would have to be removed amidships, as they are all badly cracked. It willtake several days to make repairs. Not half of these casualties are re- ported, though I don’t know for what reason. Only about a month agoa new steel steamer buckled up her decks, cracked beams and hatch coamings, and showed a horrible condition of structural weakness throughout. The RECORD should report more of these cases, as they occur from time to time, if only for the sake of humanity. $$ rr DETROIT. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. Owing to afresh southwest wind the water shoaled eigh- teen inches at the Limekiln Crossing last Saturday and de- tained a number of boats. The schooner Mongaugon reached here on Sunday, with the loss of her bowsprit, also her fore and main masts, the spars-were carried away in a squall on Lake Erie. Messrs. A. A. & B. W. Parker purchased the handsome steam yacht Lily, this week, and will use her next season be- tween their summer residence at Grande Pointe and this city. The story that the steamer State of Michigan was libeled here this week for labor pay in handling freight was all wrong. Some of the men wanted more money than was due them, or rather to be paid in advance, however, Capt. Mc- Cullagh soon straightened the matter up. Mr. Frank E. Kirby has the plans well in hand for a new fire boat. The new fire fighter is to be larger than the pres- ent one, and to be built of steel. She will also be given more powerful pumps and in every respect is to be far ahead of the Detroiter. It is said that the Detroit Ship Building Co. will be awarded the contract, on the other hand it is safe to say that the city will advertise for bids on construction and equipment. There was quitea little excitement at Port Huron when the steel. steamer Harlem reached there on Monday, she will be dry-docked at Dunford & Alverson’s, instead of com- ing here, as was reported last week. Capt. Washington Har- row, who had charge of the wrecking operations, is receiv- ing a great deal of credit for his work in floating the large hull and bringing her down from Lake Superior with only one g-inch pump working. FLOTSAM, JETSAM AND LAGAN. The longest dry dock in the world, which will accommo- date two of the largest warships in the world at onetime and have room to spare, will soon be News, Va. : ; The old steamer Maine, recently rebuilt and now owned by William Avery and others of Detroit, is givena valuation of $18,000 and A2 rating inthe November supplement to the Iuland Lloyds Register, : a The stage of the water for October at the head of the lakes averages 1.86 feet above low water datum, as compared with 1.94 feet for September. The waters have begun to recede as is customary at this time of the year. a Capt. Charles Maytham, of Buffalo, has an option on the tug Mason, of Port Huron, and it is expected thatshe will leave to join her new tug line at any time. options on the tugs George D. Naw and Parkhurst. completed at Newport It is said he also has — The report that Carnegie-Oliver interests had an option : on all the berths of the American Ship Building Co. that may become vacant up to May 1, is denied. “If it were true, a million of dollars could be raised in two days.” is declared, ‘‘for the establishment of a competing yard.”’ It Now it is the Minnesota Steamship Co.'s new steel barge — Manila that holds the record for the largest cargo ever mov- ed onthe Great Lakes. She has just delivered at South Chicago from Two Harbors on even eighteen-feet draught a cargo of 7,479 gross tons or 8,376 net tons. tual weights which are 1 percent. above bill of lading figures. Buffalo coal shipments last week aggregated 76,860 tons, distributed as follows: Milwaukee, 25,100 tons; Chicago, 22,500 tons; Duluth-Superior, 17,300 tons; Toledo, 3,200 tons ; Manistique, 2,010 tons; Hancock, 2,000 tons; Depot Harbor, 1,100 tons; Gladstone, 1,000 tons; Cheboygan, 1,000 tons; Lake Linden, 750 tons; Houghton, 600 tons, and Bay City, 300 tons. These are ac- — By the apparatus of d’Asar, an Italian, the movement of a steamboat’s propeller is detected at a distance of six miles. Two sets of several telephone transmitters are sunk to a~ depth of two or three fathoms, the instruments pointing in different directions and being connected to receivers on board. ‘The direction from which the sound comes loudest — indicates the position of the vessel. An electric foghorn is about being completed which is operated by a naphtha engine that furnishes the electrical ~ current to operate three pairs of electro magnets, which in turn operate half a dozen clappers, that strike against a large gong, 36,000 strokes per minute. sound from this horn was distinctly heard two miles and the machine is being built to warn maritiers of danger at a dis- tance of 15 miles. Prof. W. H. M. Christie, director of the royal observatory at Greenwich, says that the new century begins-on January I, IgoI, for it has been generally agreed to call the first year of the Christian era Anno Domini 1, not A. D. 0, and con- sequently the second century begins with A. D. 101, 100 years after the beginning of the first year, and so on for the succeeding centuries. The question was fully discussed at the century dinner at Glasgow on April 15, 1870, when the lord dean of the guild, after quoting various authorities, gave his decision as arbiter that the nineteenth century did not commence till January 1, 1801. The man who deserts old friends when the tide seems to be setting against them, forgets that tides in the affairs of men are almost as certain to turn as the tides of the sea. -Many a one has sacrificed his best friend for the sake of what he regarded as policy, only to find in later years that he -has given up something which he can never replace, and in- flicted an injury upon himself which he can never. repair. A true, loyal, helpful friend is a treasure whose value cannot be expressed in words or measured in gold. He who aban- dons such a friend in what he regards as his hour of need possesses all the characteristics of a hypocrite, traitor and coward.—Bangor, Me., Industrial Journal. Capt. J. H. Rogers, inspector of the life-saving. service, has just completed a month’s tour among the stations in the tenth district, which includes Lake Huron and Superior. He says that everything is in first-class order and that from this time on there will be especial vigilance.. He has given such orders because of the fact that high freights have brought into service on the lakes every old tub able to float in smooth water, and if any of these are caught out in the November gales they will break up to a certainty. A num- ber of guns for shooting lines to vessels have been put in the stations to replace those whose range has fallen below the standard, by reason of long service. It takes over 300 miles of driving by buckboard or carriage to make one ‘tour of inspection to the seventeen stations of the tenth district. About a month ago the steamer W. P. Ketcham ran into and sank the schooner Typo and, as a result of the collision, two deaths occurred. Within the next few days, Attorney Ralph Holbrook, Esq., Toledo, will bring suit in the United States District Court for damages. He will represent rela- tives of one of the men whose lives were lost on Lake Michi- gan and the action will be filed against the owners of the Ketcham, which belonged to the Chicago Transit Co.,'and was sold last Friday to Capt. Dunham, of Chicago, for $50,000. Considerable interest is being aroused in legal» circles over the affair, as it is the first suit of its kind to be brought in many years. it isa usual occurrence to. collect damages for accidents and collisions occurring on the high sea, but the custom has not been enforced in this country. At arecent test the: Under the English common daw, — -