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_... NOVEMBER 29, I900. FAREWELL OF COL. JARED A. SMITH. The farewell reception given by the Chamber of Com- merce and other prominent citizens of Cleveland to Col. Jared A. Smith, who for nine years has been United States engineer at this'port, was a well deserved compliment to --anable and faithful officer, whose sérvices to Cleveland, ~and to the whole of the lake district under his supervision, » have been greater than those of any of ‘his predecessors. Col. Smith came here nine years ago under trying and discouraging circumstances. Cleveland harbor affairs were ‘ina very unsatisfactory condition and the engineer’s office -.: here stood discredited as a consequence of the’ court-mar- _- tial which made the vacancy Col. Smith was assigned to fill. His first step at once restored confidence in the office. He ‘announced his intention to attend strictly to the duties of his position, with no other purpose than to conserve the in- terests of the government on the one hand, and advance those of the port and the navigation and commerce of the district on the other. In the latter the strictest impartiality would be observed, while all requests and suggestions would be courteously received and considered, with regard ‘atall times to the general interest and his obligations to the government, How well he has carried out that program during his nine years of service here was shown by the unaminous and hearty approval. of the Chamber of Commerce meeting on Monday night and the general regret at his removal to an- other post of duty. The harbor itself is the best testimony '- tohis engineering skill, his indefatigable energy, his devo- ~ tion to duty, and his anxious care for the advancement of ~ the commercial and navigation interests of the district un- oder his charge. The plans he made are not yet all carried ~“out, but they have the approval of his superiors, and his "successor, Col. Mansfield, is in hearty sympathy with them. Col. Jared A. Smith found the engineer’s office here in a condition of disorder, inefficiency, or worse; he has evolved system out of disorder and brought the office toa high de- » gree of efficiency. He found the harbor neglected and the government work decaying; he has made a new harbor, ‘with work in progress for its extension, and everything that - has been done or is projected is on a permanent basis. The best that can be’ wished for his new post of duty is that he may be as useful to it as he has been to Cleveland. Col. Mansfield the new United States engineer in charge, could have no higher recommendation tothe district than his expressed approval of all that Col. Smith has done and his promise to work along the same lines.—Cleveland Plain Dealer. : THE FIRST SHIP OF THE BRITISH NAVY. The first ship,. properly. speaking of the British Navy, known as the Great Harry, was built by King Henry VII. at acost of £14,000, and was burned at Woolwich, through accident, in 1553. By his prerogative, and at his own ex- _ pense, he laid the foundation and settled the constitution of the present royal navy. An Admiralty and Navy Office _were constituted and commissioners were appointed by him; regular salaries were settled not only for the admirals and vice-admirals, but for his captains also and seamen, and the sea service at that time became a distinct and regular pro- fession. Henry it was, too, who founded the Deptford, _ Woolwich, and Portsmouth Dockyards and the Trinity- -House. _ Having entered into a league against France, Henry fitted ‘Out a fleet, under the command of Sir Edward Howard, ‘Lord High Admiral. In the engagement which took place between the French and British fleets in August, 1512, the _ Regent, a ship of 1,000 tons, which was at that time the “largest vessel in the British Navy, was burned, and, to replace : it, the Great Harry, or, as it was also known, the Henry - Grace de Dieu, was built in 1515. The vessel appeared to be of about 1,000 tons burden, and was manned by.349 sol- diers, 30I mariners, and 50 gunners. She had four masts _and port-holes on both decks and in other parts. Before the time of her construction the cannon were placed above deck and on the prow or poop. One Decharges, a French builder, * at Brest, is said to haveinvented port-holes, In a list of the : apriteh Navy, as it stood on January 5, 1548, the Great Harry \said to have carried 19 brass and 103 iron pieces of ord- nee. The name of the ship is supposed to. have been i Changed in the reign of Edward VI. to The Edward, which, on August 26, 1552, was reported to be still ‘‘in good case to Serve,” and was ordered ‘‘to be grounded and calked once a ayeet to keep it tight.” No subsequent notice of the ship has been met with in the British naval annals.—From Cassier’s Magazine for December. ae Ei é 3 THE ‘MARINE RECORD. ‘BRITISH SHIPPING. H. KE. Moss & Co., Liverpool, sum up the British ship- ping condition as follows: Since the issue of our last semi-annual Steamship Circular, we are pleased to be able to report that our anticipations as to the prosperity of the shipping trade have been more than amply realized, for the present year has been, without a doubt, a record year, and shipowriers’ have reason to look back upon i900 with feelings of gratitude. : The successful termination of the war in South Africa has released from our Government service a latge amount of tonnage, all of which has been absorbed in other directions, without the great depression in freights which many antici- pated. This in itself is the most healthy sign we could hope for, and if, as is expected, the Chinese difficulties are soon settled, and commerce once more resumes its normal course in South Africa and China, to say nothing of the very great expansion of trade in all other directions, we venture to ex- press an opinion that for some time to come shipowners may look forward to a continued run of prosperity. There will be occasional set backs, as may be naturally expected, but taking the present indications as a whole, and the demand existing for steamers, especially on time charter, and for periods ex- tending in many instances over some years, we think there is nothing to be alarmed at in the near future, although freights may not rule as high as they have recently been. The cost of shipbuilding has continued to advance by leaps and bounds, until now we may say it is at least 4o per cent. above the price of four year ago. Within the last twelve months the advatice has been quite ro per cent. Nearly all the builders, with few exceptions, have orders ‘on hand to last them until the end of 1901; indeed, several well-known firms are full up until even a later date. Such being the case, we do not look forward to any very serious declension in the cost of construction for some time; and when there are any indications, the rush of orders for new tonnage may be so great that those builders then open will be again quickly filled up, and many owners who are waiting for the long- expected opportunity of placing cheap contracts may have to wait on for some time longer, as they seem to forget the increase of population throughout the world, and the nec- essary expansion of trade. The demand for tonnage, both new and second-hand, has been unprecedented. New steamers approaching comple- tion have been sold at very great profits, and enormous sums have been realized by those fortunate owners who had the courage to place their contracts ahead. The demand for ‘second-hand tonnage is equally great. Large numbers of steamers have changed hands for both British and foreign account, especially for Germany and Spain, which latter conntry has recently become one of our principal customers. The profits realized on such sales have been very large, in some instances approaching 30 to 4o per cent. upon the ori- ginal cost, and the demand for all kinds of tonnage is as great as ever, the supply beiug quite inadequate. OO OOS LLOYD’S WRECK RETURNS. Lloyd’s returns, giving the number, tonnage, and nation- ality of vessels lost, etc., during the quarter ending June 30, gives details in regard to 37 steam vessels, totaling 87,602 gross tons, and of too sailing vessels, equaling in all 54,487 tons. In regard to the percentage of their steam tonnage lost, the French were the heaviest losers, their 6 vessels of 13,858 tons representing 1.32 per cent. of their total steam- ship gross capacity. Austria, Denmark, and Spain are for- tunate enough to have no entry in this list, in which the lightest loss stands to the credit of America, the two steam- ers, together equal to 568 tons, lost by that nation represent- ing but .o6 per cent. of the steam tonnage flying the Stars and Stripes. Though the 29 British steamers of 44,786 tons represent slightly more than half of the entire losses given in these lists, they amount to only .39 per cent. of our enor- mous steam tonnage. Of all the steamers lost 26, of 45,736 tons, are entered as ‘‘Wrecked,’’ while 2 only come under the terrible designation of ‘‘Missing.” Nine steamers owe their loss to collision, while 12 others were broken up. With their sailing ships the Dutch were most fortunate, as they had no losses to record; and next to them were our Colonial brethren, whose 3 ships of 1,076 tons mean a loss of .28 per cent. of their sailing tonnage. The largest loss, pro rata, occurred amongst Danish ships, the figures being 9 ships of 3,013 tons, or 2.82 per cent. of all Denmark’s sail tonnage. Austria was the next most unfortunate, for though her loss was but 1 ship of 568 tons, it accounted for 1.99 per cent. of her total sailing tonnage. Of the sailers lost 43 per cent. were wrecked, 16.per cent..were abandoned at sea, and 15 per cent. reported as missing. : 2 eS ae AN ORE UNLOADER. | - eet _ Three ore unloaders, the only ones built are now complete upon the Carnegie docks at Coneaut harbor. Next season it is expected that they will be at work and with the recent improvements which have been made to them they will probably prove a great success. Nearly two years ago work on the machine of this kind was begun on Carnegie’s docks. The inventor is George H Hulett of. Akron,O. Mr, Hulett went to Conneaut and superintended its construction. When the first one was com= pleted and tried it was seen that some changes and improve- ments were necessary, now all three, in an improved form, are ready to be placed in operation at the beginning of the season Igor. : The total weight of each one of the automatic unloaders is 400 tons. The great ‘‘clam shell’’ bucket which reaches in after the ore will grasp and raise ten ton at one time. The average amount lifted by the ordinary ore buckets of’ the past have been about one ton a lift, and these one ton buckets have to be filled by a force of shovelers in the hold of the vessel. a dened, The ‘‘clam shell’’ is attached to a revolving pending leg. After being lowered to the ore in the vessel, this great shovel is operated by hydraulic power. When full itis raised above the vessel and carried to a point over the stock piles or over a car and dumped by opening the bucket. It is estimated that this machine can take out from go. to 95 per cent. of a vessel’s cargo. This, of course, does away with the work of many men. It requires but six men to op- erate one of these machines, All three of the machines.can work in a vessel at the same time. Each one it is expected, will be able to take out 300 tons of ore’per hour, ‘When this speed can be attained the unloading of one of the largest vessels will require but a few hours. or oa NOTICE TO MARINERS. DOMINION OF CANADA—ONTARIO, Oe Rock REPORTED IN NorTH CHANNEL LOCATED.—The neighborhood of Robertson rock, north of Clapperton island, North channelof lake Huron where asmall rock was reported by the lightkeeeper at Clapperton Island, was examined by Mr. W. J. Stewart, of the Canadian Hydrographic Survey, on the 20th October. The rock reported by Mr. Baker proved to be the southeastern extremity of the ridge of which Robertson rock is the shoalest head, and is shown’on the Admiralty charts. Da When the red spar buoy, marking Robertson rock, is placed on the opening of navigation next year, it will be removed to thesoutheast extremity of this ridge, which is the point of the shoal nearest to the channel. OFFICE OF THE LIGHT HousE INSPECTOR, ELEVENTH DISTRICT, DETROIT, MicH., Nov. 28, 1900: Notice is hereby given that the Stannard Rock’ Light- Station, Lake Superior, was closed November 26, 1900...” The light and fog-signal will not be in operation.again until the opening of navigation, rgor. Licut-Housk EsTABLISHMENT, Notice is hereby given that the additional gas buoy which was placed in the 20 ft. dredged channel, Lake St. Clair, Mich., to mark the edge of the channel opposite the wreck of the steam barge Martha, has this day been discontinued. By order of the Light-House Board. J. C. Winson, Commander, U. S. Navy. Inspector 11th Light-House District. OFFICE OF THE LIGHT-HOUSE BOARD, WASHINGTON, D. C., November 27, 1990,’ CHICAGO OUTER BREAKWATER (N. W. END) LiGH?- STATION.—Notice is hereby given that on or about Decem- ber 8, 1900, the light will be changed from fixed white to fixed red, at this station, on the northwesterly end of the outer breakwater, Chicago harbor. No other change will be made. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, } WIND PoInt (RACINE Point) LIiGHT-STATION.—Notice is hereby given that on or about December 8, Igoo, a siren operated by compressed air will be established at this sta- tion, on Wind Point, westerly side of Lake Michigan, to sound, during thick or foggy weather, blasts of 3 seconds’ duration separated by silent intervals of 27 seconds, thus: Silent Silent Blast interval Blast interval 3, sec. 27.8ec. 3.8ec, 27 sec. The fog signal building is a buff brick structure located about 160 feet northeasterly from the light-tower. On the same date the 1o-inch steam whistle heretofore sounded at this station during thick or foggy weather will be discontinued. Attention is invited to the differences between the charac- teristics of the new and the old signal. By order of the Light-House Board. FRANCIS J. HIGGINSON, Rear-Admiral, U.S. Navy, Chairman.