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I Re ee ee ae . en ecg Pret ee FEBRUARY I, 1900. BUFFALO. ”™ Special Correspondence to The ° arine Record. _ Grand Lodge of the Shipmasters’ Association went into annual session on Tuesday, Grand President Henry Leisk, of Milwaukee, presiding. There are nine lodges in the as- sociation, each of which sent one or two delegates. On Thursday night a ball will be given in Ellicott Square Club rooms, The committee appointed to decide upon a grain contractor for next season has not yet decided when it will meet in Buffalo. One of its members, A. B. Wolvin, of Duluth, was in Buffalo a day or two ago, but nothing was done. Capt, Edward Smith of this city, secretary of the committee, says it may not meet for two or three weeks. Meanwhile, all sides are anxiously waiting to see the outcome. The Union Transit Co. announce appointments this week as follows: Steamer J. M. Nicol, Capt. William McLean, engineer George EK. Tretheway ; Eber Ward, Capt. John L. McIntosh, engineer James Countryman; Avon, Capt. Nor- man McGuire, engineer Joseph Jamieson; W. H. Stevens, Capt. Alex. Clark, engineer J. E. McSweeney; Portage, Capt. John Tyrney, engineer George W. Haig ; James Fiske, Jr., Capt. John Pearson, Engineer. Capt. J. Donovan, Oswego, is rebuilding the schooner John R. Noves and giving her new frames forward, new floor, ceiling, deck frames and decks, rail, stringers, stanchions, plank-sheer and new cabin. ‘The Noyes has been well kept up, handled carefully and is one of the best vessels of her size and class to-day. She is still on her first letter in Inland Lloyd’s Register, and it is expected that the rebuild which she is now undergoing will keep her there. There is no doubt bnt that the labor troubles here last season in grain discharging is having some effect on the port as regards next season’s shipments. A broker stated to me yesterday that some Chicago interests feel that grain should be consigned to any other port than Buffalo, especially as the status of the grain discharging question is even yet in such an unsatisfactory condition. It is probable that the Welland caual trade will be worked as actively as possible when grain shipments begin. Capt. Marcus M. Drake addressed the meeting of the Grand Lodge of the Shipmasters’ Association on the opening of itsannual meeting here on Tuesday. On Wednesday a _Tesolution was adopted asking the government to erect a light-house on Passage Island, Lake Superior. The motion for its adoption was made by Capt. Hubbard, of Chicago. The committee on resolutions introduced a measure appealing from a decision of Supervising Inspector-General Dumont that the sounding of two whistles when the engine already. was backing meant to stop backing and go ahead. It had already been interpreted to continue backing and increase speed. The shipmasters’ committee recommended that two whistles back whenever and wherever sounded. The Courier said on Monday: ‘‘There was considerable weather ‘in the air’ yesterday. Forecaster Cuthbertson said it was coming, asearly as Saturday morning, although Chief Moore, of the Weather Bureau, did not order up the cold wave signals until yesterday morning. And so, in view of all the unkind things said about Mr. Cuthbertson during a year, in the way of kicking on the kind of weather that -comes when he says it will, as well as being ruffled when he says it will be fair, and straightway there is rain, it is cer- tainly to his credit that he cast about and encountered this cold wave twenty-four hours before his superior thought it was worth signaling.’” This might lead some people to think that Cuthbertson could do better in Washington than he is doing here. At a meeting of the Trustees of the Merchants’ Exchange held on Monday, January 22d, Junius S. Smith was re-ap- pointed weighmaster for the current year. The price for weighing grain is twelve cents per thousand bushels. Mr. Smith’s resume of last season’s work is summed up as fol- lows: Icy lakes in April; grain shovelers’ trouble in May and June, with later effect; enormous use of tonnage for ore; unsettled and uncertain ocean freights; a car famine; and utterly inadequate canal facilities, combined to reduce’ the receipts of grain, etc., at Buffalo by about thirty per cent as compared with 1898. The average shortage was a peck per 1,000 bushels. About two hundred scale tests were made, and checks kept on the work of the elevators at load- ing points, as well as here. W. J. ConNERS, head of the Montreal elevator syndicate, was born 42 years ago in Toronto. His father, P. Conners, was educated at St. Michael’s College, Toronto, in the early forties and was afterwards a mail agent on a line of steamers running between Toronto and Montreal. W. J. acquired a seafaring taste on Lake Ontario ; sailed on the Great Lakes for a number of years; was employd on the docks in Buffalo ; was a stevedore and developed into a contractor and ship- owner ; employs during the season of navigation in Buffalo, Chicago, Milwaukee and Gladstone, Mich., about 6,000 men; owns two newspapers in Buffalo, the Courier and the En- quirer : is well known among lake shipping men ; is regard- ed as a shrewd man of business and good at making a bar- gain ; likes to get fair play and to give it; commands lots of money, but never advises other people to invest capital where he will not invest his own; thinks the Harbor Commission- ‘ers wanted to drive a hard bargain, but has tremendous faith - in the elevator project for Montreal.—Montreal Herald. In the annual statement of the President and Board of ‘Managers to the Lake Carriers’ Association the matter of a _ marine humane society was brought up. The association THE MARINE RECORD. thought favorable of the project and referred the matter to the executive committee, which shall act and decide upon it. The society is to secure a suitable recognition for per- sons who have endangered their lives in saving those of others. The attention of the association was called to the fact that the Great Lakes have but a poor showing in life- saving medals, not because there has been no acts of heroism here, but because the cases haye not been urged on the proper officials. The association promised its aid in securing some reforms in the matter. President Firth out- lined the manner in which the work could be carried on. The Shipmasters’ Association as well as the Marine Engineers’ Society and the Harbors of Masters and Pilots ought to have taken up such a measure long ago. The engineer of the Sacremento was entitled to a vote of thanks last season and would have been recognized by the Treasury Department if the matter had been brought to its attention, as the RECORD suggested at the time, but as usual what is everyone’s busi- ness is no one’s. Humane societies for dumb animals are established and supported in each lake city but no one cares about ameliorating the condition, or encouraging special in- dividual acts of kindness, pluck, heroism or bravery, per- petrated by lake-farers. By and by no one will care about even getting wet socks to save a life, much less either ship, cargo or property. NN CLEVELAND. Special Correspondence to the Marine Record : Capt. L. S. Sullivan, Toledo, owner of the independent tug line at that port, was here on business this week. A block of coal was chartered this week for Manitowoc at the 60 cent rate, the same figure is offered to Sheboygan, but there seems to be no rush to charter. There has been considerable ice formed off the harbor this week and some difficulty has been experienced at the water works crib through néedle ice preventing a free flow. The marine engineers affiliated with the M. E. B. A. will hold their annual ball in the Chamber of Commerce hall next Tuesday evening. A large and select attendance is al- ready assured. Capt. W. A. Collier will resign his office of grand secre- tary of the Shipmasters’ Association owing to a pressure of business in other directions. Capt. Collier is manager of the Great Lakes Towing Co. Cleveland has done fairly well in shipping hands for naval service during the past few weeks. Since the office was opened here, 200 men and boys have been sent to the coast. The shipping officers have now been ordered to NeW Or- leans. The Masters’ and Pilots’ Association will hold an open meeting and asmoker on Monday, February, 13. The asso- ciation has been holding regular weekly meetings for some time. 1t.was decided to have one social session upon the above date. There has been some inquiry in a quiet way for lumber carriers here this week and the rate of $3 per M feet was talked of. It is not known that any charters were made on this basis, shippers and brokers are still wide apart on fig- ures for future charters, The Canada-Atlantic line has chartered the steamer Kear- sarge, Capt. Robt. McDowell, for the season, at a lump sum of about $80,000. The Kearsarge has been managed in the office of Pickands, Mather & Co., under the title of the Interlake Transportation Co, Mr. Alex R. Sinclair, vessel agent, Duluth, left this port on Tuesday en route for home. In calling upon those inter- ested in lake marine affairs, Mr. Sinclair finds that the best possible hopes are entertained for a prosperous coming sea- son right up to the close of navigation. The Iron Trade Review publishes a supplement this week showing the Lake Superior iron ore shipments, for the past 44 years. Imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flat- tery, so the Iron Trade Review will be flattered by other journals reproducing their supplement at a later date, or, such has been the case each year, hitherto. With the exception of four Welland canal-sized steamers, two of which are building for the American Steamship Co., one for Mr. W. C. Rhodes and one for Capt. Thos. Wilson, all the steamers that are being built at the lake shipyards are large carriers. The four vessels named are the only new boats that are anywhere near as small as the 3,000-ton class. Colonel Smith, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., in charge of the conservancy and improvement of rivers and harbors within this district, is a firm believer in stone and concrete for piers and breakwaters, as opposed to pile driving and tim- ber work, especially on the question of superstructures is the Colonel convinced that the more durable and sightly ma- terial is also the most economical in the long run. I once heard it mentioned that in the down East district which the Colonel had charge of before being detailed to Cleveland he was known among a clique of professional and army engineers as a “‘concrete crank.’’ The classing of steamers so as to grade engineers’ pay don’t meet with their approval, nor does the publication of the wages card each season. The terms oy which masters are engaged are not made known and engineers expect the same consideration. As was stated to me the other day, ‘‘the engineer runs one end of the boat and the master the other, and the less friction or conflict there is between the two chiefs the better it is all’round. The master has his place, and that’s on deck; the engineer has charge of the engine.”’ Another engineer said that he was tired of seeing discrim- _ inations made between the ends of a boat and he hoped to- see the matter settled once for all. Be At the annual meeting held at this port last week the man- — * agers of the Great Lakes Towing Company decided to make — the nutnber of men employed or their tugs uniform and ~ hereafter all the harbor tugs, large and small, will have four men, a master, engineer and two men to fire and handle the ~ lines. Another step involves the establishment of a sort of | civil service rules or co-operation plan on the tugs: The managers decided that hereafter a man once in the service — of the company is always to be considered in the same serv- ice unless he should happen to fall under the ban and be discharged for some misdemeanor. There will be no hiring of men, therefore, after they have been once employed and their services prove satisfactory. It has been decided also — to give a bonus to employes who retain their positions ~ throughout the season. Masters are to receive $50, engin- eers $40, and firemen and linemen. $25. The company will. operate Ioo tugs the coming season, and if the crews remain with their respective boats the bonus money will amount to ~ $14,000. This seems a large amount to cull out of the net earnings of the towing fleet, but the principle has been found a good one. The tug owners might have gone a step further and made the bonus progressive after the first year, The master and engineer by placing their bonus money together couldn’t own the tug then under fifty years and by that time zerial power will be dominant. DETROIT. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. * Capt. Alex. J. McKay will no doubt be elected grand presi- dent of the Shipmasters’ Association, at the annual meeting now being held in Buffalo. Harvey D. Goulder, Esq., Cleveland, is here this week, as counsel in the Lansdowne-Morley collision case. Frank Masten, Hsq., of the firm of Goulder, Houlding & Masten is also here. Since the cold snap set in, ice about half a foot thick has formed in the river between Detroit and Windsor, but as yet the ferry boats are making their regular 10-minute trips. The only difficulty thus far experienced has been in reaching the docks. On either side of the river there is a good deal - of broken ice wedged against the landings. : A couple of attorneys got a sorter ‘‘jammed in a bight” » here this week. It appears that they are the counselina case. that had been set for trial at the present term of court. ‘One of them moved for a continuance until the April term and said he could not possibly tak- it up earlier because his wit- nesses are all lumbermen away in the north woods and will not come out until navigation opens in the spring. The other rejoined that he could not possibly take the case up after navigation opens, because all his witnesses are sailors; and will then be away on the lakes, and scattered from Og- densburg to Duluth. , oro COLLINGWOOD, ONT. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. J. & T. Charlton, lumber merchants of Tonawanda, have bought the old Christy, Kerr & Co. mill to the west of the harbor and will immediately put in new machinery, They intend to be ready for this season’s cut and will employ 150 men. This mill has been in disuse for along time. This indicates the boom in the lumber industry, and the effect of the duty placed on logs for export. The new steel shipyards are rushing their arrangements, buying machinery and getting ready for an early start. The company has engaged an expert designer with a large ex- perience, and also experienced men for managers of the dif- ferent departments. There will be a busy season at this end of the lakes this year, and outside people are already locat- ing at this point as work is expected to be plentiful. The Ontario Department of Fisheries contemplates in- creasing the license payable by each fishing tug in use in provincial waters from $25 to $50. There are about eighty tugs that would be affected by the increase, and most of these are in operation in Georgian Bay, Lake Huron and Lake Superior. Originally the Dominion Department of Fisheries exacted a fee of $50 in respect of fishing tugs, but for some reason or other the amount was reduced to $25. Now that the Province has jurisdiction in such matters it contemplates reverting to the higher figure. OO OO Congressman Minor is a standard authority on all ques- — tions pertaining to marine matters on Lake Michigan and Green Bay, and his colleagues refer all questions of that character to him for solution.—The Advocate, Sturgeon Bay. OS oe Last week it was reported that J. J. Hill, president of the Great Northern R. R. Co., would place four steamers, of large cargo carrying capacity, in the Pacific trade ont of a Puget Sound port. This week the item is sent out from Chicago that within the next five years the steamships to be operated between points on the North Pacific coast and the Orient, in connection with the Great Northern railroad, will number 25. The vessels to be among the largest in ocean service, and to have a speed of 12 to 14 knots an hour. At present, eight of them, either arein course of construction or contracted for, and as soon as they leave the shipwright’s hands they will be pressed into the new service. The trade developed on Puget Sound will be, in a measure, tributary to the lakes, and the Great Northern R. R. will handle an enormous transcontinental trade bound west.