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10 ESTABLISHED 1878. Published Every Thu:sday by THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Incorporated. C. E. RUSKIN, : Z . % CAPT. JOHN SWAINSON,~— - = g CLEVELAND, CHICAGO, Western Reserve Building. Royal Insurance Building. SUBSCRIPTION. One Copy, one year, postage paid, - - One Copy, one year, to foreign countries, - = Invariably in advance. ADVERTISING. Rates given on application. All communications should be addressed to the Cleveland office, THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Western Reserve Building, Cleveland, O. Manager. Editor $2.00 $3.00 Entered at Cleveland Postoffice as second-class mail matter. No attention is paid to anonymous communications, but the wishes of contributors as to the use of their names will be scrupulously ' regarded. CLEVELAND, O., JULY 12, 1900. ICE BREAKING. There was built last year in the shipyards of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., England, an ice-breaking steamer for the Russian government, designed by Vice- Admiral Makaroff, and her business is to be to keep some of the principal ports of the Baltic open during the winter. Admiral Makaroff first met the ice in the Baltic. It was drift ice, apparently about five feet thick, and judging by the report of Mr. Gulston, of Newcastle, who accompanied Admiral Makaroff on his voyage, there seems not to have been the slightest difficulty in getting the Ermack through this obstruction, as she went comparatively easy at nine. knots, the engines working slowly. The worst piece of ice which was encountered was estimated at twenty-five feet thick, and the ship went nearly through this formidable ob- struction before she was brought up byit. Accurate meas- urements were taken as soon as possible and the report reads that the field ice was five feet in thickness, the pack on top was ‘nine feet, and there was ice below the field amounting to eleven feet, so far as could be measured, but there may have been more, as there was no means of meas- uring further below the bottom of the field. It was evident that a large mass of ice had been washed off a shoal and frozen on the field. The worst field ice that they had much of was apparently four feet thick, with s: ow on top of it. The snow seems to be the greatest impediment to the ves- sel’s progress, as the designers of the ship had always been led to expect. Mr. Gulston reports that twelve inches of snow was a serious impediment, and eighteén inches almost blocks her. This is, of course, on the top of thick field ice. There was apparently no difficulty in starting, although the ship had become fast in the ice. Ice anchors were put out and the vessel was warped backwards, after which she started without.difficulty. One of the most satisfactory fea- tures was that she steered so well, as Mr. Gulston said, ‘In any way, at any time, in any ice.” This has never been the case with any ice-breakers that have previously been built, and is no doubt due largely to the form of the ship, for there is no flat place on her side, either vertically or horizontally, so that unless absolutely frozen in solid she can be given some movement, and can thus be worked loose by her own propellers and by ice anchors laid‘out. Some maneuvering trials were made in ice of about two feet to three feet in thickness when the turning circle was found to be about six hundred feet, and there was appar- ently very little difference in which direction the ship was turned. The effect of the bow propeller was most marked, and it seems practically to be that if the bow propeller is stopped the ship stops, too. Drift ice was passed through, and appeared to offer prac- tically no impediment; pieces described as quite two to three acres in extent were pushed aside, the ship moving through quite easily. Pack ice with eighteen inches of snow on top seems to haye been the greatest difficulty. THE MARINE RECORD. LAKE ERIE FISHERIES. The Fishing Gazette, published at New York, has the fol- lowing to say concerning the fisheries of Lake Erie: The first fishing done on Lake Erie was with hook and line, and, of course, was many years ago, although in the forties, during certain seasons of the year, quite large quan- tities of fish were taken with hook and line and sold com- mercially. At this time also flourished the seine fishing, no pound nets being thought of or introduced in Lake Erie un- til latein the fifties. The seine fishermen were obliged to choose their grounds opposite sand beaches and in compar- atively shallow water. The gill netting that was done in Lake Erie at this time, or between 1840 and even up to the seventies, was nearly all what is termed large mesh or white- fish gill netting, and nearly all of the boats that operated this class of net at that time did so with sailboats, the ma- jority of them hailing from what was then Barcelona, N. Y., and the Barcelona whitefish had a wide reputation for being the finest in the market. These sailboat fishermen were ac- customed to follow the whitefish from one end of the lake to the other, and often brought their boats from New York State to the islands at the west end of Lake Erie, operating their nets on the reefs and in shallow portions of the lake. Another important source of supply was the Detroit river seine fisheries. These fisheries flourished until the pound nets became numerous in Lake Erie, or until about 1870. The seine fisheries of Detroit river produced large quantities of whitefish, which whitefish were on their way through De- troit river to Lake St. Clair, which was their spawning grounds. It was customary at that time to build pens or in- cl sed places surrounded by piling, and having a platform over which the seines were drawn and the whitefish emptied alive into the pens. The whitefish were then kept in these pens for late fall and winter use. This was previous to any effort being made to freeze or store fish artificially. A lim- ited amount of this kind of fishing is still done in Detroit river. During the sixties and seventies pound nets multiplied very rapidly in Lake Erie, and this style of fishing produced for the market enormous quantities of whitefish, the catch of this variety reeching its height in the early eighties, after which the whitefish declined, and instead came heavy catches of herring in this same kind of net. The pound net fisheries catch all varieties, usually having the runs of the various kinds at different times, and at one time they produced large quantities of sturgeon. The pound net fishing was very attractive, and the number of fisheries increased to such an extent as to deplete the quantity of better varieties of fish contained in the lake. About 1880 the small mesh or herring gill net fisheries be- gan to be operated, and they. steadily increased in size, com- ing all the time in strong competition with the pound net fisheries, and ultimately, toa great extent, displaced them in the production of such varieties as ciscoes or herring, perch and pike. t About 1890 the catch of: ciscoes or herring began to de- cline with the pound net fisheries and to increase with the gill net fisheries, until at the present time the greater por- tion of ciscoes or herring are taken with gill nets, and the investment in tugs, boats, nets and appliances operating and handling the small mesh or herring gill net is far greater than the investment in the pound net fisheries. ° While the pound net fisheries were at their zenith enor- mous catches were taken at certain times of the year and at short intervals, and the question with the fishermen and dealers at that time was the storage and saving of the fish until they could be marketed. This induced the erection of large freezing and cold storage plants. These have been added to, until at the present time the fishermen and pack- ers on Lake Erie have cold storage capacity for something like 6,000 tons of fish. The gill net fishing operated by tugs has changed condi- tions, so that while we do not have the enormous and spas- modic catches that were formerly taken by the pound net fisheries the aggregate catch for the year of such varieties as herring or ciscoes, pike and perch is really greater than ever before. The propagation of whitefish carried on by the state and government has very materially incréased the supply of these fish in Lake Erie, and for several years the catch of whitefish has been quite improved, although during the period from 1885 to 1895 whitefish were very scarce in this lake, the overfishing having very much depleted the supply. : The introduction of the tug fishing or small mesh herring gill nets has also tended to distribute the business more JULY 12, 19Cc0. widely along the shore of the lake, and instead of being concentrated at one or two points, as was the case when the fish were nearly all taken with pound nets, we now have no less than twelve important distributing points on the south shore of Lake Erie alone. Fishing in Canadian waters, or on the north shore of Lake Erie, is still confined almost entirely to the pound net system, but that is restricted and controlled by the laws of Canada so as to avoid excessive or overfishing, and the grounds are still very valuable. Gill netting is not practiced to any great extent on the Canadian side of the lake, probably on account of the lack of suitable facilities for handling the fish and the lack of . distributing market. ———— rr or ee” EARLY NAVIGATION ON LAKE SUPER OR. Capt. John Parker, Ontonagon, Mich., who is 78 years old claims to be the only surviving lake captain who. was master of a vessel on Lake Superior as far back as 1847. He was on the Mississsippi in 1844, running between St. Louis and New Orleans, went on the Great Lakes in ’46, portaged around the “Soo” before the government had dug a canal, shot the rapids, was overturned and three men drowned, and in his career has explored every nook and corner of the Great Lakes. Capt. John Parker left Milwaukee with Capt. Calvin Ripley in the spring of 1846 on the propeller Genesee Chief for Mackinac, then took the steamer Franklin (Capt. Benjamin), for the ‘‘Soo,’? where Capt. Ripley had left the schooner Fur Trader, which he had hauled over the portage iu 1845. ‘The season of 1846,’’ says Capt. Parker, ‘‘we ran between the ‘‘Soo’’ and upper lake ports. In 1847 Capt. Ripley left me in charge to carry stone for the first light-house on Lake Su- perior on Whitefish Point. The next light-house was built on Manitou island, off Point Keweenaw. The next was at Cop- per harbor. In 1847 there was no light-house on Lake Su- perior, as the light-house on Whitefish Point was finished in 1848. ‘ “Martin Beaser and myself bought the Fur Traderin the fall of 1849. She was lost in Ragle Harbor in 1852. In the spring of 1853 I bought the schooner George W. Ford in company with the Minnesota Copper Co., and James Burten- shaw of Ontonagon. 1 hauled her over the portage at the “Soo? and traded between the ‘‘Soo” and upper lake ports. ‘Fhe Ford was lost at Eagle Harbor in 1870, “In the meantime I sailed the propeller Gen. Taylor in 59 and ’60, the Mineral Rock and Burlington in ’60and ’61. In the fall (or winter) of 1860 the Burlington landed at La Pointe on Dec. 8, with E. F. Prince and his winter supplies. I went down to Ontonagon and laid up the Burlington on Dec. 9 and took her below to Detroit inthe spring of 186r. I then sailed the George W. Ford until she was lost in 1870. “Tn 1850 the ‘‘Soo’’ canal was opened. The steamer Illinois was the first boat through on the way up, andthe North Star next. The George W. Ford was the first vessel locked through 6n the way down, with a load of copper from the Minnesota mine. “T located in Ontonagon in 1848, and built the first frame house there. The Iumber was cut by Irving Leihy on Bad river and was taken to La Pointe on battous. From there I took it to Ontonagon on the Fur Trader. Ontonagon has been my home since that time. I landed the first barrel of freight at Carp River (now Marquette) for the Jackson iron mine in 1848 with the Fur Trader. ‘Tn 1846 the Fur Trader landed an exploring party on Minnesota Point, at the mouth of the St. Louis river (now Duluth and West Superior) in charge of Capt. Peck. It was there I met Mr. Bungo, a full-blooded negro, who said he was the first white man settled in Superior. “The following boats were in commission on Lake Su- perior in 1846: “Schooner Whitefish, owned by the Hudson Bay Co., Capt. Lampshire. Traded principally on the north shore for the Hudson Bay Co. “Steamer Julia Palmer, Capt. Wood. ‘‘Propeller Independence, Capt. Avery. . “Schooner Uncle Tom, Capt. John Stanard (run the rapids at the ‘‘Soo’’ in 1847. “Schooner Swallow, Capt. Redmond Ry der. ‘Schooner Merchant, Capt. Moore, (lost in 1847. ) ‘Schooner Fur Trader, Capt. Calvin Ripley. “Schooner Chippewa, Capt. Tom Clark. “Schooner Napoleon, Capt. Stewart. “Schooner Siscawit, Capt. Barney. “Sloop Argyle, Capt. Joy (owner. ) ‘Schooner Algonquin, Capt. John Kay, Sr. ‘‘There were other boats on Lake Superior before 1846, but I give this list simply to show what vessels were doing business at that date.’’