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MAy 3, Igoo. THE MARINE RECORD. Senet DETROIT. Special Correspondence to The Marw.e Record. The steamer Atlantic has been libeled this week for the sum of about $150, A hearing in the case will be held next Tuesday. To facilitate the marine postal service, vessel captains are requested to blow as a signal for the mail boat when she is not.in sight, and at night one long, one short, and one long blast of the whistle. The barge Filer, in tow of the steamer Oscoda, water- logged on Lake Huron Monday: She has a cargo of lumber for Tonawanda, The Thunder Bay life-savers went out from Alpena and rendered assistance which allowed the Filer to proceed on her way. The hightest courtin Ontario has declared that the Ontario government had the right to prohibit the export of logs cut within the provine and to compel the manufacture of such _ logs into lumber within Ontario. The Michigan lumbermen will appeal to the privy council. Lieut. Byron L. Reed, of the United States revenue cutter service, who was last summer transferred from this district to the Charleston station, has returned to his old post and is again on duty aboard the Fessenden. The latter is under- going some slight repairs at the drydock. The new. Wisconsin Central bridge over the Chicago river is several feet narrower between abutments than was ordered and the steamer Amazonas is tied up below the bridge until the abutment can be reconstructed. There is a 42-foot pass- age, and the Amazonas has 44 feet width of beam. The steamer Tampico, built and hailing from Toledo, has this week been granted official numbers from Washington, also signal letters. Her gross tonnage is 2,133 and net 1,451. The Tampico has been built by the Craig Ship Building Co. for coast service and will probably go through the canal late in the fall. Bids for the deepening of the lower portion of the Detroit river to a depth of 21 feet, were opened in the office of Col. Lydecker, Corps of Engineers, in the Jones building, and three sections of the work went to Buffalo contractors, the remaining three being captured by Detroit, Toledo and Mil- waukee bidders. Word was received by John C. Shaw, Esq., local attorney for the Northern Steamship Company, that a libel had been filed before United States District Judge Coxe, of the Buffalo dis‘rict, by the Bessemer Steamship Company against the Northern Steamship Company for $30,0co. The beginning of the suit is the outcome of a collision in the ‘‘Soo”’ river, some distance below the canal, on November 28, 1899, between the North Star, of the Northern line, and the Sir William Siemens. The launching of the Ravenscraig, the first steel ship ever built at Port Huron, was marked by elaborate ceremonies this week. Ten thousand people were in attendance, the city schools being closed in honor of the event. The new boat was christened by Miss Morton, daughter of Capt. Ed. Mor- ton, the managing owner of the line operating the steamer, known as the Volunteer Transit Company. Immediately after the launching the flags on the boat were placed at half- mast, in respect to the memory of the president of the com- pany, Capt. Thos. Wilson, who died recently. As yet no measurements of the water at the Lime Kiln Cross- ing have been made, and it is possible that several days will elapse before this is done. Many vessel men are of the opinion that a depreciable effect will be found to have been produced by the Chicago drainage canal. Nothing can be said definitely, and even, though a lower level should be found this spring than last year it would not necessarily be due to the drainage canal, but might come from less rain or other causes. Still, it is considered that during the season a shrinkage will become evident, and in the season even a few inches will cause much loss to the carrying capacity of vessels. The Oades yards are busy and 70 men are kept jumping to get a number of jobs completed on quick contracts. The Brush yacht, the Sea Fox, is receiving new boilers; the Hall dredge is being entirely rebuilt, and the Starkey Dredging Co. outfit, consisting of tugs, dredge and scows, are being practically rebuilt. The steamer Leighton is receiving new forward works and a general overhauling. The steam yacht Alma C., owned by Capt. McAlpine, is receiving new plank- ing and sheathing, and the steam yacht Lillie is being rebuilt with new spar poles to replace the old fashioned upper construction. The tug Oneida has been rebuilt from the water line and will be under steam Monday. Deputy Sheriff Fenwick went out to the water works Tues- day morning to sell the crack sail yacht Sultana, at auction, to satisfy an attachment put upon her by her captain and his crew last December for back wages. The career of the Sultana has been exciting. Built at the Wyandotte shipyard at a cost of $7,200, she was sailed by the Ketchams with great success, becoming the champion yacht on the lakes. Then came Edmund Pierce, of Indianapolis, Ind., with a wad of money and an inclination for a good time. He bought the Sultana for $2,500 and spent last summer on her with his crew. The crew wasted their time because they got no pay. So libels were issued in both the United States and the Wayne Circuit Courts, and the graceful yacht was ordered to be sold to satisfy the debts of her owner. The libels amount to $1,500, and as the highest bid was only $800 the sale was postponed for two weeks, when Cleveland and Toledo yachtsmen expect to be present. TOLEDO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. The new steamer Tampico, constructed at this port was launched on Tuesday in the presence of a multitude. Carlin and Warner are making excellent progress in the new Ironville docks ; $15,000 worth of work is to be done on improvements there. A fire in the boiler room of the tug Saugatuck caused a damage of $700. Itisinsured. The tug Andrews was dam- aged about $1,000, insured for $500. ; The Maumee river has been dredged to a navigable depth at Ford’s Glass Works, Toledo, and the river will now be deepened behind the Ohio Central wharves. ; J. N. Dewey & Co., will soon have work commenced on a new tug at Monroe, Mich. She will be 75 to 80 feet long, and will be made as good as any of her size on the lakes. The barge Iron City, owned by the Hamtramck Navigation Co., of Detroit, which was sent to the Atlantic coast last fall, has been purchased by Capt. M. Nagle and will be brought back to the lakes in a few days. Toledo estimates that over a million ahd a quarter tons of coal will be shipped out of the port this season for the lakes, The channel leading to the city having been straightened, there is little danger of grounding. The government dredge Maumee this morning finished the work of cutting a channel 50 feet wide, 15 feet deep and 800 yards long from the river to the foot of Monroe street. The dredge has done quick work and did it well. The tug R. Porter Lee that was owned by Thacher & Shir- ley and which was sunk.decks-to in Swan creek for a length of time, and which, after being raised, was taken to Monroe, sank there a day or two ago. She will be raised as soon as possible. William T. Blunt, United States Engineer, completed a new channel connecting the. Maumee river and Swan creek, at Toledo, the old channel having‘been reclaimed by the exten- tion of the dock line. The new waterway is 50 feet wide at the bottom and has sloping sides. The average depth is 15 feet and the length is about 800 feet, more or less. The new cut will admit of the passage of every craft that has hereto- fore had business on Swan creek. Capt. Charles Farr, superintendent of the Bethel boat at the foot of Monroe street, said today that he hoped to get a good hull and fit it up as a comfortable home for sailors. The present craft is not suited for the kind of outfit he would like. He will have a reading room, bath room, work shop and other conveniences in the new craft. Meals will be served in the boat. He will ask vessel captains to assist him in the enterprise. Harbor No. 43, Masters and Pilots, has passed a resolution thanking Congressman Southard for his effort in trying to have Toledo a point for the inspection of ‘1ulls and boilers. The government is now compelled to pay the expenses of in- spectors who have to come here frequently from Cleveland. It would be a matter of economy for the government to have inspectors here, and it would -be a great convenience to owners of craft, as the delay, in waiting.for the Cleveland men would be avoided. Capt. John Dunselth, who owns two tugs, says that under a law of this kind which Congressman Southard expects to have enacted, Mr. E. D. Lock would be acceptable to all marine men, as he is an engineer, and thor- oughly capable. The owners of marine craft said yesterday that The Blade had done a good work in calling attention to the fact that inspectors should be appointed with residence in Toledo. on ior oe BUFFALO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. Theodore H. Meyer has been elected vice president and Thomas B. French secretary and treasurer of the Union Transit line. Buffalo marine engineers have called their strike off on the agreement of the line companies to pay the scale of wages adopted at the close of last season. John Madigan, of Buffalo, has purchased a third interest in the steamer Baldwin and consort Carpenter from Capt. Kelley, of Saginaw. The price paid was $10,000. John Fitzpatrick, of Buffalo, has just chartered the Pere Marquette steamer F. & P. M. No. 5, with a capacity of 100,000 bushels of grain, for $15,000 for the season, The schooner lron City has been purchased by Buffalo parties through Hall & Root, and will be brought back from the coast when navigation opens. Terms are private. Capt. Winslow W. Greisser, who for the past several years has been stationed at Fort Niagara, has been appointed to succeed Capt. Williams as keeper of the Buffalo life-saving station. It has come to such a pass in Buffalo harbor that improve- ments are absolutely necessary to prevent a discrimination against the port in favor of Erie and: other Lake Erie cities. The board of councilmen, at a recent meeting, attended by a delegation of Buffalo vesselmen and others directly con- nected with the marine interests, were told that the vast amount of tonnage coming into Buffalo was due to her favorable situation, but the poor harbor facilities were liable to drive tonnage to Erie. Erie is now the only port on’ the lakes that has not the Maytham tug service, but Capt. Maytham is about ready to send a tug there. He has sent three tugs to Chicago and united with the Chicago Towing Co., which has four tugs in his line at Duluth and is sending two more. What is termed the Western Elevator Association, and known as the Buffalo elevators’ pool, has been reorganized upon the same basis as that of last season. This assures the — half cent rate. The officers and committee were re-elected. Two elevators, the Kellogg and Watson, have not yet joined ‘the association. William E. Fitzgerald, of Milwaukee, and James C. Wal- lace, of Cleveland, members of the American Ship Building Co., were here this week inspecting the Buffalo Dry Dock Co.’s plant, recently purchased by the company they repre- sent. The American Ship Building Co. intends materially enlarging the plant purchased and to greatly increase its capacity. Considerable machinery will be transferred from the Wheeler yard at Bay City to the local plant. Probably no changes will be made in the local management. There is but little change this season in hull insurance” rates. On AI steel vessels the rate is"4% per cent.; on AI wooden vessels 534 per cent.; on A1}4 wooden boats 6 per cent.; on Ar sailing vessels, 634 per cent.; on AI sailing vessels, 7% percent. On all A2 vessels there is absolutely no change. The last named have their own special form of insurance policy. On all the other classes the policy spec- ifies ‘‘one-third new for old.’? As usual, the policies are made out for the entire year, covering fire, collision or sink- ing damage while laid up in winter. oro oo CLEVELAND. Special Correspondence to the Marine Record. It is now announced that the first boat of the C. & B line ‘for Buffalo will leave next Monday night. M. A. Bradley, of Cleveland, will manage the Lackawan- na-Green Bay line steamers Badger State and Empire State. The American Ship Building Co. will re-build the docks of the Buffalo Dry Dock Co., recently acquired, making them 600 feet in length. The schooner R. Hallaran in tow of the Drake, from Two _ Harbors to Conneaut, was abandoned in a sinking condition on Wednesday, eight miles from Stannard Rock. The Cleveland-Toledo line steamer State of Ohio cleared Tuesday forenoon for Toledo, from where she sailed Wed- nesday night, opening the nightly service between these two cities. Harvard, Yale, Princeton and three other famous colleges in the United States are to have their names on the six large steel vessels being built for the Carnegie interests on the lakes. It is said that a likelihood exists of some 20 steel vessels of the Welland canal size being built by A. B. Wolvin and his associates. A vessel company called the Hamilton & Fort Williara Navigation Co. has contracted for two. Ashtabula had received four ore cargoes this season by Friday. The first to arrive was the steamer Jim Sheriffs. and consort Mowatt. They have the credit of bringing the first ore to Ashtabula in 1900. The steamer German arrived Friday morning and the steamer V. Swain. Last year the first arrival at Ashtabula was eight days later. In 1899 the La Salle brought in the first ore cargo on May 5 and was followed on May 6 by the Oscar T. Flint and Geo. W. Roby. Although the Cuyahoga Boiler Works, John Maher, pro- prietor, at 139 West River street, has been established but a few months, a very satisfactory share of repair work has been completed, among which we may mention repairs to the steamers Pioneer, Pontiac, Kaliyuga, Onoko, Rube Richards, Ohio, Desmond, Inter-Ocean, Dan Kunz, Mentor, and tugs Owens, Delta, L. P. Smith and Marinette, Bach- man Bros. dredge. Mr. Maher manufactures stationary, marine and locomotive boilers. ; ror or or NIAGARA RIVER—Buoyvs MARKING DREDGED CHANNEL ABOVE CavuGA ISLAND.—On the opening of navigation, 1900, six 16-foot spar buoys will be established to mark the recently dredged channel across the reef above Cayuga island and below the Edgewater ferry landing, Niagara river, New York. These buoys will be numbered from 1 to 6, inclusive, 3 black and 3 red, marking the ends and sides of the dredged channel and will be named first buoy, second buoy, third buoy, etc. The channel marked by these buoys is straight and across a reef of rock. It is 150 feet wide for its entire length of about 1,000 feet. ‘The depth in this dredged chan- nel is 12f eet. There is loose rock on the sides over which there is only 6 to 8 feet of water. Vessels drawing over Io feet of water should not attempt to use the channel. OO OO A MARK of the growing prestige of the marine hospital service is seen in the order that has been issued from Wash- ington ordering all commissioned officers of the service to have their uniforms made in conformity tothe regular army officers’ uniforms after May 1. When the army marine corps was established the army ard navy both refused to share with it their style and uniform, but of late the worth of the marine hospital service has become more and more apparent, and as the standard of excellence of the officers equals even that maintained in the medical corps of the army and navy, the army has at last taken it as a compliment to have the hospital officers wear the regulation uniforms,