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‘eh fw ste ley Tov, ESTABLISHED 1878. > «(MMi [Pssusuneaanss VOL. XXIII, No. 38. CLEVELAND---SEPTEMBER 20, 1900---CHICAGO. $2.00 Per Year. 5c. Single Copy ‘LAKE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION. To consider and take action upon all general questions relating to the navigation and carrying business of the Great Lakes, maintain necessary shipping offices and in general to protect the common interests of Lake Car- riers, and improve the character of the service rendered to the public. PRESIDENT. W. C. FARRINGTON, Buffalo. 1ST VICE-PRESIDENT EU Cart. J. G. KEITH, ‘Chicago. SECRETARY. CHARLES H. KEEP, Buffalo. TREASURER. GEORGE P. McKay, Cleveland. COUNSEL. HARVEY D. GoULDER, Cleveland. EXECUTIVE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE. JAMES CorRIGAN, Chairman, Cleveland. COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION. Grsson I. Doueias, Chairman, Buffalo. COMMITTEE ON AIDS TO NAVIGATION. GrorGE P. McKay, Chairman, Cleveland. OCEAN WRECK STATISTICS FOR 1899. The statistical summary of vessels totally lost, con- demned, etc., now published by Lloyd’s Register, shows that, during 1899, the gross reduction in the effective mer- cantile marine of the world amounted to 996 vessels of 783,- 508 tons, excluding all vessels of less than 1ootons. Of this total, 330 vessels of 469,621 tons were steamers, and 666 of 313,887 tons were sailing vessels. As regards steamers, the present return exceeds the average of the preceding eight years by 57 vessels and 124,730 tons; as regards sailing vessels it is below the average by 169 vessels and 68,579 tons. Similarly, the figures relating to steam-tonnage owned in the United Kingdom are above the average, while those relating to sailing vessels are below. The excess in the case of steamers follows upon the great increase during recent years in the amount of steam tonnage afloat, and is partly attributable also to the amount of tonnage broken up, con- demned, etc. Apart from cases which come within this latter category, the United Kingdom ‘steam tonnage lost during 1899 exceeds the average of the preceding eight years by about 32,000 tons, while the tonnage owned has increased since 1891 by nearly three million tons. The summary exhibits interesting data as to the relative frequency of the different kinds of casualty, etc., which con- clude the existence of vessels. Stranding and kindred cas- ualties which are comprised under the term ‘‘wrecked,’”’ are much the most prolific cause of disaster. To such casualties are attributed 39 per cent. of the losses of steamers and 44 per cent. of the losses of sailing vessels. The next most frequent termination of a vessel’s career is by condemnation, dismantling, etc.; about 21 per cent. of the vessels removed from the merchant fleets of the world are accounted for in this manner. Of the remaining causes of loss, collison is the most general for steamers (12 percent.); while, for sail- ing vessels, the categories of missing (11 per cent.) and abandoned (io per cent.) rank next in order of frequency. Cases of abandoned, foundered, and missing vessels may perhaps be regarded as frequently more or less similar in the circumstances of loss: If these be taken collectively, they _ comprehend 22 per cent. of the losses of steamers and 26 per cent. of the losses of sailing vessels. ' The return has been compiled by Lloyd’s Register in such a manner as to enable a comparison to be made between the percentages of loss suffered by each of the principal mer- chant navies in the world. Great as the absolute annual _ loss of vessels belonging to the United Kingdom appears to be, it is seen to form a very moderate percentage of the mer- cantile marine of the country, and to compare favorably with the losses sustained by other leading maritime coun- tries. The merchant navies which exceed a total of 1,000,000 tons are those of the United Kingdom, the British Colonies, the United States of America, France, Germany, and Nor- way. Of these countries, the United Kingdom shows the smallest percentage of loss, viz.: 2.59 per cent. of the vessels owned; Germany follows with 2.8 per cent.; and Norway is the highest with 5.93 per cent. As regards steamers, while the percentage for the United Kingdom stands at 2.24, the average of the percentages of loss for the other five countries is 2.68. For sailing vessels, the other five countries show an average percentage of 5.88 as compared with 3.75 per cent. for the United Kingdom. The percentages given at the end of the preceding para- graph suggest that steamers have a much greater immunity from disaster than have sailing vessels. This inference is sustained if the losses suffered by the remaining merchant fleets of Europe be also taken into account. While the losses of steamers amount only to 2.24 per cent. of the num- ber and 2.38 per cent. of the tonnage owned, the losses of. sailing vessels reach 5.38 per cent. of the number and 4.66 per cent. of the tonnage. OS VESSELS OWNED. Steam Vessels Owned, according to Lloyd’s Register Book, Flag. 1899-1900. Tons No. Net. Gross. sys United Kingdom] 6,920] 6,819,148 | 11,086,241 paaen Colonies ........ 917 380,626 633,006 United States............. *605 512,572 759;750 Austro-Hungarian ........ 203, 213,215 344,685 Danish etches 360 236,705 403,339 Dutch scree ee os 263 265,063 389,253 BrenChis ia 55% cchince ds tire ste 639] 516,016 997,235 Gers ati ie, scictelaw cece oats 1,133] 1,216,521 1,946,732 Wtaliants Aen dN age sorts 282 280,611 445,565 INORWEPTAR ic foes fewe ee « 779 451,449 737,412 RiUsSian 3 esses ok es wads 456 245,751 392,985 OPANISH wigs esis oi eke s 438 345,661 537,840 Swedish sin cecrd visit gi es 642 238,292 380,572 *Excluding lake vessels. OO So BRITISH SHIPS MUST BELONG WHOLLY TO BRITISH CITIZENS. A correspondent writes the Journal of Commerce, of New York, as follows: ‘‘A married woman (a native of Great Britain, as is also her husband,) buys shares in a vessel under the British flag. Her husband subsequently be_ comes an American citizen, which naturalization, of course, made his wife a citizen of the United States. Can the wife, in order to retain her ownership of the vessel, renounce al- legiance to the United States and again become an English subject, or is she enforced to be of the same citizenship as her husband, and consequently be compelled to dispose of her interest in the vessel? Under the above circumstances what is the legal status of the vessel?’ The reply was as follows: ‘It is expressly provided by law in Great Britain that ‘‘a married woman shall be deemed to be a subject of the State of which her husband is for the time being a sub- ject,’? and no provision is made for granting naturalization to a married woman. It is provided by the British Shipping Act of 1894 that a ship shall not be deemed to be a British ship unless owned wholly by those who are citizens of Great Britain by birth or naturalization. Ifa ship assumes the national character when it is owned in whole or in part by any person not qualified to own a British ship, the ship is subject to forfeiture.”’ CAPT. A. B. DAVIS. The ship owners and. ship masters of the Great Lakes have great regard for Capt. A. B. Davis of the United States revenue cutter service, wha is in charge of the St. Mary’s river patrol. He has met with them at their annual conven- tions and has always shown a willingness to do what is best for the navigation interests in all matters coming under his jurisdiction. Capt. Davis has spent practically his entire life aboard ship. He was born in Philadelphia, and his first voyage at sea as a sailor was in 1849 on the ship Emily, own- ed and commanded by his father. He made two voyages to the West Indies in the Emily, after which he joined the clip- per ship Montauk, bound to China. The Montauk touched at Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land and Sidney, Australia. At the latter place Capt. Davis left the ship, remaining in Sidney fora while. He returned to the United States in the American whaler Levi Starbuck of Nantucket. The passage home was long and tedious. Off Valparaiso, while ina boat trying to capture a whale, he was capsized and remained on the bottom of the boat nearly three hours before being res- cued. At the age of twenty-one he commanded a bark call- ed the Gov. Von Oxholm, a very fine vessel built in Phila- delphia. He remained in the merchant. service, command- ing other vessels, until the civil war broke out, when on Aug. 31, 1861, he was commissioned first lieutenant in the United States revenue cutter service, and was promoted to captain in the same service in July, 1864. Capt. Davis has commanded quite a number of cutters and has been sta- tioned at almost every seaport on the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. He has also served on the Pacific coast. In 1861 he was ordered to Milwaukee to command the revenue cutter Andrew Johnson; in 1885 he was de- tached and sent to New York to take the revenue cutter Bear to San Francisco, and return to Milwaukee in_ 1888, again assuming command of the Johnson, Capt. Davis was placed in charge of the Gresham when she was placed in commission afew years ago. This vessel was ordered to the Atlantic coast to participate in the Spanish war. He took her as faras Cleveland, when he was detached, as” he was considerd too old to take part in the war. Then he was given command of the Fessenden, stationed at Detroit. Capt. Davis’ supervision of navigation in the St. Mary’s river extends back to 1896, when the regulations of the Treasury Department were first promulgated. His vessel at present is the revenue cutter Morrill. a or ONE of the largest cargoes of iron ore ever brought to Philadelphia was entered at the custom house last Saturday by the agents of the Danish steamship Canadia, from Wa- bana, the shipment consisting of over 6,500 tons of the New- foundland product. The cargo is consigned to furnaces along the line of the Reading & Lehigh Valley Railroads, and will be discharged at the Port Richmond piers. The ore comes from the Northern part of Newfoundland, known as Belle Island. Several vessels are engaged in bringing the ore, which is from newly discovered mines, to Philadel- phia. It will require 325 cars to carry away the cargo, and there will be ten trains. OD Oe THE British admiralty is about to arrange for a series of trials of artificial fuel, the two varieties being Welsh bitumi- nous coal residum bound with pitch or tar, and the other a mixture of anthracite coal and highly bituminous matters with tar made up into blocks of 22 pounds each. Both pro- duce intense volumes of black smoke. It is said, however, that a process has been worked out at Swansea for making smokeless anthracite briquettes, and that plant is about to be put down for turning out half a million tons a year.