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42 THE MARINE RECORD. DECEMBER 20, I900, Truscott VAPOR MARINE MOTORS. HIGH GRADE PLEASURE CRAFT. TRUSCOTT BOAT MFG. CO. ST. JOSEPH, MICH. SEND & STAMPS FOR CATALOG. lighting. Pintsch Gas Lighted Buoys. Adopted by the English, German, French, Russian, Italian and United States Light-House Departments for channel and harbor Over 1,000 gas buoys and gas beacons in service. Burn Continuously from 80 to 365 days and nights without attention, and can be seen a distance of six miles... ... ... Controlled by THE SAFETY CAR HEATING AND LIGHTING CO. 160 Broadway, New York City. BATES BROS. PROVISION MERCHANTS ®8SMIPPERS OF “P LARD, SAUSAGE ,ETC PHONE VESSEL 43.44845 ELK STREET MARKET sco © SURFALO.RM = -Sotaas Cleveland Telephone, Glen. 87 F. CHAS. R. DITTRICK, SUBMARINE DIVER “7110 a1 Everton Street, Day or Night Calls ‘ GLENVILLE, 0. Answered Promptly. THE —~~_ 4 Bliss LIQUID (iri) COMPASS Made in seven sizes by JOHN BLISS & CO.,. 128 Front Street, New York, sensitive, accurate and durable. and is extremely steady. pass ever made in this or any country. For sale by ship chandlers generally. is finely finished Moves quickly Is the best Liquid Com< SEA LIGHTS THAT LIVE. Almost everyone who has ventured on the never surfeited sea must have noticed the occasional brilliant displays of phosphorescent light afforded by minute living creatures on its surface. The wake is not infrequently defined as clearly in this way as though the ship herself were a huge lump of phosphorus, driven through a yielding body possessing a definite amount of friction. In asteamship, more especially, the globe-trotter has many an opportunity of witnessing such a never-to-be-forgotten exhibition of the workings of nature. Every sea that breaks on board occasionally appears as though it were 4 cascade bearing innumerable miniature electric lights and each wave crest.is distincly indicated by the phos- phorescent glow, due to the presence thereon of countless tiny sea creatures. As Shelley sang: ‘While the surf, like a chaos of stars, like a rout Of death flames, like whirlpools of fire flowing iron, With slendor and terror the black ship environ, Or like sulphur-flakes hurled.from a mine of pale fire In fountains spurt over it.”’ Allowing a little for poetic license, or what Jack would term ‘‘coming up,’’Shelley’s description of a phosphores- cent sea is not so very far removed from sober fact. That celebrated American shipmaster, Capt. S. Samuels, who brought the Dreadnaught from Sandy Hook to Queenstown in nine days and fifteen hours, thus making the sailing ship record, has given, 1n his autobiography, a vivid word picture of his experience at Java. Men-of-war boats towed out to sea the good ship then commanded by Capt. Samuels. One hundred voices kept tune, while as many oars kept time. The oarsseemed to dip into molten silver, and as they rose myriads of diamonds appeared to drop from them. To en- hance the enchantment of the scene, the many sharks which abound in those waters. darted hither and thither, leaving streaks in their wake which were only comparable to forked lightning. In those days there was time for a full apprecia- tion of the romance of the sea. Sir Wyville Thompson, during the cruise of H. M.S. Challenger, found it quite an easy matter, when off the Cape Verdes, to read the smallest print in his cabin solely by the light emitted by the tiny sea creatures churned up by the ship. Her wake was simply a blaze of phosphorescence. At Pabellon de Pica, on the west coast of South America, some very luminous sea surface dis- plays are experienced by vessels at anchor id the bay. Dur- ing the day the surface water alongside appeared to be of a dirty purple color, although quite colorless in a glass. Every night for quite a week, without intermission, the sea surface was so brilliantly phosphorescent that the time could readily be determined by its aid from a watch, and the ship’s names on their sterns were plainly visible to passing boats. Turn- ing now to another partof the world, a reference to a log book shows a precisely similar result. Not far from Shang- hai the sea surface was extremely phosphorescent; the light was vivid enough to permit of moderate print being read in the flashes, although the night was otherwise very dark. Outside of Aden bay a species of luminous vapor appeared to linger tremulously on the sea surface. The belt was about 300 yardsin length, and connected with very luminous water to the eastward. Probably this semblance of vapor may be rightly attributed to an optical illusion, and the cause sought for among the luminous little creatures of the sea surface directly beneath. At times the sea surface is like a vast heaving mass of metal at white heat, rather than an abiding place for tens of thousands of tiny points of light. If any- thing, this form of lumiousity is the more awe-inspiring. Off the entrance to the Persian Gulf the sea suddenly became smooth. In one short hour the whole ho- rizon seemed gorgeously illuminated. Shortly afterwards, the vessel entered a large area of water of most dazzling bril- liancy; the sea was exactiy similar to quicksilver and the propeller churned up water which looked like milk. A bucket of water drawn from over the side seemed quite clear, but some placed in a bottle plainly indicated the presence of countless animalculae. Just eastward of Socotra a similiar experience is not uncommon. Off there a steamship com- manded by Capt. J. McKirdy, R. N. R., now marine super- intendent of the Shaw, Savill & Albion Co., ran into a large patch of water which looked as white as milk. Although the night was dark a vessel’s starboard light of green would have been difficult to pick up under itsinfluence. Half way between Socotra and Colombo a sailing ship had the.sea sur- face suddenly assume a milk white appearance at night, without asparkle. Next night the curious creatures again made themselves similarly manifest: She seemed to be sailing through an extensive meadow covered witha spotless sheet of snow. Within’an interval of a few hours, over one hundred flying fish came on board and were picked up by the crew. Apparently the ocean area thus affected was an approximate square of four degrees side. Occasionally the sea is phosphorescent, while at the extremities of masts and yards are examples of electric discharge known as corpo- sants. Some years ago the Wisconsin, when near Sandy Hook experienced a terrible thunderstorm. At each mast- head and. yardarm there flickered a corposant of remarkable splendor, and all around, as far asthe eye could reach, the sea appeared to be a million dimples of liquid, shining silver. Not infrequently, if a tumblerful of luminous water be kept in a dark room for some hours and apparently phosphores- cent properties have departed from it, they can be renewed with less effect by agitating the water with the fingers. Sailors are seldom provided with microscopes or Latin dic- tionaries. Hence it is worse than affectation, it is a down- right fraud on a confiding public, to boldly rush into print with a detailed descriptiou of the appearance and family of the tiny sea creatures which give rise either to the display of myriads of points of light, or to the even more effective glow like molten metal. Onone occasion, when the ship’s wake looked like liquid fire, the sea was found to contain some substances about three inches long, of oblong shape, and re- sembling the electric light in color. This occured a little to the northeast of RioJaneiro. When near St. Paul’s Island the sea was luminous in patches and a bucket of water drawn from over the side readily revealed the cause thereof. Sever- al strips of blubber-like substance, eight inches in length, and having a central canal from end to end, were well in evidence. On taking these particular people of the deep sea into a dark room they made itso vividly illuminated that the time by a small clock could be clearly determined with- out the aid of any other light. Some suppose there are not animalculae present where the color of old ocean is blue, and consequently phosphorescence cannot then exist. Others believe that a phosphorescent display is the forerunner of a storm. Asa matter of fact, blue water is luminous, and fine weather frequently follows a display. Any description nearer than this is out of place except in a treatise by a scientist of repute.—Syren and Shipping. ‘ rr EASTERN FREIGHT REPORT. Messrs. Funch, Edye & Co., New York, report the con- dition of the eastern freight market as follows: The declining tendency in grain freights to which we re- ferred in our preceding report, whilst moderately affecting prompt tonnage, has become quite acute in respect to re- moter steamers and we have to-day to report the charter of a large boat for early January loading, at 2s. 104d. to picked ports. Unless owners in the near future begin to withhold their tonnage from the market we fear that still lower rates will be established, since the inquiry, as customary at this time of the year, is far from active, and business will largely depend on the amount of concessions obtainable on new trades. A few charters for cotton have been effected from Savan- nah, as anticipated, but very little further enquiry prevails. The demand from the.Gulfis likewise inactive and fixtures unlikely to continue unless at concessions in rates;° whilst we can report some fixtures for timber, we are looking for some still further decline in owners’ figures as the only means of broadening the business. Business in sail tonnage has again been very limited, doubtless in consequence of the small available supply of vessels and owners firm ideas, a position which particularly applies to long voyage ships. Otherwise we find nothing of interests to refer to. CCC POS GRAND HARBOR American Association of Masters and Pilots of Steam Vessels will convene in Washington, D.C, Monday, January 21st, 1901, 10 oclock a. m. Howewtter for the officers and representative will be Riggs House, op- posits Treasury Department.