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¥ MARCH I5, 1900. Heys ah Sa THE MARINE RECORD. é *, 5 4 ee nana 4.4! : -BUFFALO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. __ The Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Co., has given to the Bertram Co., of Toronto the contract for a new steamer tor Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence. She will be named the Kingston. Representative Alexander’s bill, to establish light and fog stations to mark the main southern entrance of the new breakwater at this port, passed the House this week. It fixes the limit of cost at $45,000. , Organizers of an independent tug company, to give compe- tition to the Great Lakes Towing Co., are believed to be making satisfactory progress, and it is intimated that Joseph A. Sweeney will be president and general manager. In the action of Henry J. Davis against the Huron Trans- portation Co., a verdict of no cause of action was returned by the jury on Tuesday. Davis wanted $4,818.44 for a schooner which-was lost in Lake Huron while in charge of one of the defendant’s tugs. Capt. Charles Maytham, of the Maytham tug line, has voluntarily raised the pay of the captains of the fleet from $100 to $120 a month, and of the engineers from $85 to $105 amonth. This action is most favorably commented upon by the marine men of the water front. Stewart Murray has resigned from his position of general freight and passenger agent of the Northern Steamship Co. He has been in the lake transportation business for thirty- four.years. For twenty-one years he was with the Anchor Line, and since 1892 with the Northern Steamship Co. The steamer Ed Smith No. 1, which was bought last fall by the lumber firm of White, Rider & Frost of Tonawanda, wiil tow the barges G. H. Warmington and Edward Kelley in the lumber trade this season. The Ed Smith No. 2 will again tow the Connelly barges—Connelly Brothers, Ogarita and F, B. Gardner. The gardner will dry-dock for an entire overhauling. Unless present plans are killed by some unforseen con- tingency, there will soon be established between Buffalo and Chicago a line of modern and luxurious passenger steamers. Such a service has been the pet scheme of Capt. Gordon of the Great Lakes Steamship Co. for several years, but not _ until within the past year have any definite steps for its establishment been taken. Leaders of the strike at the Union Dry-Dock yards state that until their demand for an increase in wages is acceded to the strike will continue. They report that the Brother- hood of Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders has agreed that none of the members, at any of the ports on the Great Lakes, shall assist in repairing any boats sent from Buffalo for that purpose. Also that Canadian members of the order refuse to come to Buffalo to work in the dry-dock yards or to handle any work sent from Buffalo. Also that the Union Transit Co. has six boats here with boilers all cut apart, and cannot have the boats made serviceable again until the strike is over. Representative Alexander has introduced into the House a bill which provides for limiting the length of hawsers be- tween vessels towing and being towed, and to limit the width of tows of vessels abreast, within any of the inland waters of the United States under the provisions of the United States statutes approved Februay 19, 1895. Any ves- sel towing or being towed that violates the regulations of the bill is to be liable to a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $250, one-half to go to the informer. Arrest and seizure is to be made in the same manner and by the same procedure as apply to seizure and arrest for violations of the revenue laws of the United States. : Drake & Maytham announce the following appointments of masters to their line, which now numbers eighteen steamers: Chili, James Gibson; Gratwick (steel), Joseph Hulligan; Maytham, L. B. Cummings; Vega, A. Oldorff; America, Robert Gibson; Brazil, John H. Smith; Lack- awana, Frank Weinheimer; Scranton, James H. Greene; Vulcan, John Smith; J. W. Moore, Richard Neville; City of Berlin, John Buie; Case, J. W. Peterson; Russia, John D. Green; Cuba, Robert Young; Alcona, W. T. Sutherland. Schooners, H. W. Sage, John M. McLaughlin; Alta, Louis McNamara. Barges Tyrone and Antrim not appointed. The vessels of the line will be painted uniformly black with white upperworks and will carry a white band around their stacks to distinguish them from others. Fitting out will begin April 1. “Tt is to be hoped that nothing will now interfere with Congress making the appropriation this session for the establishment of a marine hospital building at Buffalo this year,’ said a vessel owner, this week. ‘‘Anyone who watches the trend of marine business will have observed _ that Buffalo’s advantageous location at the foot of deep- water navigation on the lakes, and her unexcelled facilities for distribution by rail, are attracting a large proportion of the ore trade. This means a continually increasing marine traffic at this port, and an increasing number of sailors who may require treatment at the marine hospital. It will bea year, perhaps two years, before the marine hospital build- ing could be ready for occupancy, even if the appropriation is passed at this time. In two years it is possible that the demand on hospital service from the water front may be sufficiently great to require accommodation equal to two or three wards in the Sisters’ hospital.” DETROIT. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. Last week the Menominee River Lumber Co. sold the 1900 season’s cut of box lumber to the Enterprise Box & Lumber Co., Milwaukee. Capt. Jos. Dalton visited Milwaukee and closed the deal. The cut will amount to several million feet. Ben Trudell, who has been for four years in the life-saving service, latterly as assistant keeper, has received a commis- sion as keeper of the station at Grand Marais, Mich., and has gone there. The new building put up by the govern- ment at a cost of $5,000 will be opened for the first time this season. Two steel passenger vessels, 470 feet over all, 50 feet beam, costing {1,000,000 each and having accommodations for 1,000 passengers, will ply between Buffalo, Mackinaw and Chicago. Work will begin on the vessels in the South Chicago shipyards and they will be launched in May, rgor, in time for the Pan-American exposition in Buffalo. The names of the vessels will be the Great Eastern and Great Western. The Barry Line will run its steamers north as far as Me- nominee this season. The boats will make regular trips along the west shore of Lake Michigan and Green Bay. This week a deal was closed whereby the: Barry line boats will land at the Hart Steamboat Co.’s docks in Sturgeon Bay. It is expected the boats will land at Penberthy, Cook & Co.’s docks in Menominee. The new line will run one boat a week until business warrants an increase. The craft will be the State of Michigan. Arguments were commenced at Grand Rapids last week before Federal Judge Severnsin the case of the United States versus the Lake Superior Ship Canal, Railway & Iron Co. The Government sues to recover certain land grants made to this concern in 1848 to aid it in building a ship canal across Keweenaw peninsula, The lands have since become valuable, containing vast deposite of iron and. mineral, which the government is not permitted to deed away. The lands in question are estimated to be worth from $7,000,000 to $20, 000;000, ‘ The Pankratz Lumber Co. have closed a contract with Rie- boldt & Wolter, for the construction of two more scows to be added to their fleet. This will make four scows the com- pany will own the coming season, to be used in freighting both lumber and stone, the tug Pankratz and their new pur- chase, the Duncan City, to tow the same. The new scows will be the same size, dimensions 150x34, the same as the Geo. Dewey. They will be constructed of Georgia pine, and are to be completed some time in June. Duluth will not lose its hydrographic office. The friends of the office were alarmed for a few days, and it really has looked as if the office must be abolished on account of the small appropriation which is proposed for the support of this branch of the Navy Department. Congressman Morris was appealed to by the friends of the Duluth hydrographic office and other members of the Minnesota delegation in Congress were asked to endeavor to prevent its abolishment. The Du- luth Chamber of Commerce passed strong resolutions urging that the hydrographic office be protected and continued. Vessel men and others wired to Minnesota Senators and Representatives and asked them to act in its behalf. At Congressman Morris’ request, Senator Davis went before the Senate Appropriation Committee on Naval Affairs and asked that the bill for the maintenance of the Hydrographic Bu- reau be so modified that Duluth can maintain its office. Sen- ator Davis was successful. The report that the lumber cut of Georgian Bay this winter will reach 473,000,000 feet is attracting a good deal of atten- tion, especially as the largest previous amount has been not more than 300,000,000 feet. The largest producer is Mid- land, with 60,000,000 feet, with Victoria Harbor down for 50,000,000 feet, and Bying inlet third with 40,000,000 feet. This last is all due to the operations of the Holland & Emery Lumber Co., of Buffalo, which now for the first time brings its cut to full proportions. While the company has solda good part of this cut for Canadian consumption, not a little of it will come here for sale. There is a report of the char- acter of a single lumber tow in the trade at a lump sum, but no trip rate has been made yet. Vessel brokers state that they are authorized to write lumber cargo insurance at last season’s rates. The lumber rate by lake is not fixed yet. Vessel agents are asking $3 on pine from Duluth and $2.50 from Georgian Bay. There are reports of more than $3 being paid from Duluth to Ohio on pine. As it looks now $3 will be the top figure from Duluth to Ashland. The conference to decide on the grain contract for the port of Buffalo for this year will open here on Wednesday. It is expected that the first day’s session will be largely pre- liminary. It may be that the meeting will not end before the latter part of the week, and it is the hope to be able to settle all matters touching the grain elevation before this conference is over. Just what will be done is, of course, a matter of conjecture. At any rate the conference is not to be held without representatives of the grain handlers being here, and President Keefe, of the Longshoremen’s associa- tion has been notified that, in case he cannot get to the meeting, he will be communicated with by long distance telephone before anything is done toward settling the ques- tion. Some of the individual vessel owners not on the com- mittee are equally positive with the longshoremen that no contract will be made with the grain handlers themselves, but that it will be elevated this year under the supervision of a contractor, this system to give way to the elevator owners handling their own grain hereafter. ‘line, and when, in 1858, the:two boats passed under a com- I always like to hear nice words about Mr. Carter. Every time that I go into his office he is willing and courteous enough to tell me anything I want to know. I didn’t goto him this week for this item, but I found that Tuesday, Feb ruary 27, was the sixty-eighth milestone in the life of Mr. David Carter, of Detroit, general manager of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co, Mr. Carter, who is a man of un- usual vigor for one of his years, spent the day in his office as usual, receiving many personal visitors and teléphonic congratulations from his friends in the city. Mr. Carter — will celebrate the forty-eighth anniversary of his service with the D. & C, Co. in April next. In April, 1852, he ac- _ cepted a position as purser on the steamer Forest City, owned by John Owen and Ira Davis. The Forest City and St. Louis, then owned by Eber Ward, had pooled issues and _ controlled the route between Detroit and Cleveland. The ~ line was commonly spoken of as the Detroit and Cleveland mon ownership, the name became recognized, although the _ company was not incorporated as the Detroit & Cleveland until 1868. In 1861 Mr. Carter was made agent for the line in Detroit and occupiei that position until he became gen- ~ eral manager twenty years after. The first boat of the line, _ the : orest City, cost $44,500, and was considered a palace. The last boat, the City of Detroit, cost $350,000, and would cost to-day $400,000. It is due, to a great extent, to Mr. Carter’s excellent executive ability, his happy selection of - subordinates and his faculty for making personal and busi-. ness friends that the line has become one of the strongest __ transportation companies on the Great Lakes, and so widely known and so highly famed throughout the country. THE GREAT RUSSIAN DREDGE ‘‘VOLGA.’’ (A CORRECTION, ) To the Editor of the Marine Record: Will you permit me to make correction of account of the © great Russian dredge Volga, designed by my son, Lindon W. Bates, given by Consul W. R. Holloway at St. Peters- burg, in your paper of the 8th. Beta is the name of the ~ high powered, multiple suction hydraulic dredge designed and built by Mr. Bates for the United States Government for use on the Mississippi. Volga is the name of the great ~ Russian dredge designed as a great improvement on the Beta. It was ihe Beta that was to dredge 1,600 cubic yards | an hour, with a premium of half the dredge’s cost if it should deliver 2,400 cubic yards an hour. This large bonus was ~ easily won simply because great power and efficient machinery were skillfully used. The government engineers were surprised at the success attained. The performance of the Beta ranged from 4,500 to 7,000 cubic yards an hour, according to whether the work was in gravel, clay, sand or silt. The Volga uses eight 20-inch suction pipes and puts the ‘‘spoil’”’ at any distance required from the place of opera- tion. She also uses eight propellor wheels} driven by elec- trical machinery, and thus can keep herself up to her work and move about when necessary. Pec Your readers wishing more information about this master- piece of machinery, will find it in Hngineering, Dec. 15 to 29, 1899. Wm. W. BATES. oO eo STEAMBOAT OFFICERS APPOINTED FOR THE SEASON OF 1900. Wo. Durac, Mt. Clemens, Mich.—Str. F. R. Buell, Capt. D. McKinzie; Eng. John Deihl. Canisteo, Capt. C. W. — Woodgrift; Eng. C. E. Sylvester. A. Westorn, Capt. B. F. Ogden; Eng. Ed. Cottrell. C. A. Street, Capt. W. J. Lynp; Eng. Frank Thomas. Barge J. Godfrey, Capt. J. B. Lozen. J. B. Lozen, Capt. ————. A. Stewart, Capt. Noah Fur- ton. Eleanor, Capt. Frank Dubay. Jennette, Capt. Richard Moore, Elvina, Capt. Frank Laforge. Fulton, Capt. Eli Furton, W. B. Ogden, Capt. Eli Pettier, S. B. Pomeroy, Capt. W. H. Campau. OO ss Se ae eee THE saving of life at sea is continually being recognized by those nations whose subjects are saved as an interna- - tional act of heroism which, when these governments are notified of the facts, present a fitting testimonial to the life- cae Hy saver through the proper authorites at Washington—an in- “Oh ternational courtesy and appreciation of services rendered by one nation’s citizens to those ofanother. This sentiment should go further, however, and extend to such service rend- ered by our mariners to their brother mariners. To bring this about it would only be necessary for Congress to set aside a fund for the purchase of life-saving medals of differ- ent grades, as the service rendered might warrant, to be presented to American mariners who had been instrumental vile in saving life at sea, whether American or foreign. While ton this act might not be the means of saving any more lives, it would certainly give those who had saved life the assurance that their services were appreciated by a grateful nation. We are confident that the Hon. Wm. P. Frye, of the Sen- ate, who has spent his best years in the interests of Ameri- can ships and American sailors, would advocate such a bill in the Senate. There is no doubt that the senior New York | Congressman, the Hon. Amos J. Cummings, who has ever ‘4 been the stanch friend of the navy, the merchant marine and the pilots, would champion such a bill in the House. If they will take up the matter we are confident that the meas- ure will meet no opposition, so that the future life-savers of this class may be able to give over to the safe-keeping of father, mother, sister, brother, wife, or sweetheart, proof of their having saveda fellow man froma watery grave—.New York Marine Journal. t