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AUGUST I5, I9OI. THE MARINE RECORD. 7 i i ; ‘ fight stationed on the lakes ought to make a semblance of preserving law and order and especially in telling wreckers the difference between mine and thine. The ownership of flotsam, jetsam or lagan is seldom abandoned or repudiated in protected waters. They must be great wreckers, regular Cornish—West— Indian—St. Lawrence sea robbers around East Tawas if the report is correct that comes through here. Covetous hands were laid on the outfit of the Baltimore but they were actu- ally quicker at their job on the foundered schooner Thos. P. Sheldon: The revenue cutters, instead of ‘trying to umpire a Lake Michigan yacht race, or acting as local patrol boats on matters entirely out of their. province, should get around to wrecks occasionally and try to uphold the majesty of the law, or at least look out for the property of citizens whose payment of taxes makes possible their sinecure positions. The Revenue Cutter Service doesn’t cut very much of a fig- ure on the lakes. “Alas, poor Yorick,’’ but I suppose it is, as To Day, one of Detroit’s best daily newspapers says it is, maritime terms have changed. To Day very pertinently remarks that sail- ors, as arule, do not like to buckle down to study, nor to acquire a new nautical vocabulary, but they find that mari- time terms and methods have changed materially since the oldest of them used to ‘‘splice the main brace.’’ Machinery has displaced sail power to such an extent that a sailor rarely has to go aloft. And on warships no one ever now hears the order to ‘‘run out the studding sail boom,” or ‘‘lay aloft and lose the ‘topgallantsail.’ ’’ nor is the title of ‘‘captain of the top’’ as common as of old. Bowlines, reef points and many other terms are becoming unknown to the seadogs. And now another change is threatened. ‘The sea term of ‘‘star- board’? and ‘‘port,’’ familiar to landsmen as well as seamen, are to be displaced in the near future by the terms ‘“‘right’’ and “‘left.”’ If the ehanges of old fashioned terms and con- ditions on shipboard are to go on it may not be‘long before mariners will drop ‘‘deck”’ and ‘“‘gangway’’ and ‘‘fo’castle”’ and ‘“‘cabin’’ for more modern names. Ah! soit goes; screw propellers will no doubt soon become coffee mills and side- wheels marine churns, bulwarks may be turned into fences, while ports and gangways be known as lesser and greater gates, etc. Even compass terms are threatened. OO Oe DULUTH-SUPERIOR. Special Correspondence to the Marine Record. The head of the lakes is receiving more attention from the U. S. Revenue Service than ever before, also from the Steamboat Inspection Department. Knowing this, people still insist upon taking chances, and the latest scapegoat is the owner of the tug Lyric, charged with not keeping her inspection license up to date. Mr. Witt, her owner, may find reasonable grounds for the temporary violation and securea remission of the penalty. The screw is applied here and there in a spasmodic sort of a way, and wherever and whenever the fit seems to take the government officers. It goes without saying that marine people should be very careful when they find a district marked out and attacked for slight technical violations of the spirit of the law. The minor claims, such as for lost baggage, etc., through the burning of the small passenger steamer Bon Voyage, on Lake Superior, last May, are being settled as promptly as possible through the owner’s attorneys, Messrs. Davis, Hol- lister & Hicks. As to the responsibility for the loss of life the government inspectors of steamboats have not yet ren- dered their decision. They are still looking the matter up and are being assisted by the inspectors at other districts. Their investigation so far has been exhaustive and they insist that they will not cease their work until they are sat- - isfied that they have probed the case to the very bottom, that is, obtained all the evidence regarding the casualty. The best possible evidence of the vessel being burned is her charred hull, but inspectors are chary of charging incompe- tence on the part of men whom they have certificated themselves. ‘ A BOTTLE which was recently found floating in Tampa Bay, Florida, contains a bit of paper with this message: ‘‘Lost off Havana harbor, steamer Crescent, April, 1899.’’ This was signed by three names, purporting to be the names of three seamen on board the vessel. The steamer Crescent was wrecked somewhere between the harbor of Havana and Colorado Reefs about the time mentioned. If this bottle came from where it purports to have come it establishes the existence of a cross current in the Gulf. The fine is $500, but probably CHICAGO. Special Corresponaence to The Marine Record. The freight rate on grain from New York to Liverpool or Glasgow is now quoted at 2 cents. This time last year it was over 7 cents, and 4 cents is a low average. The grain movement from Chicago and Fort William to Georgian Bay promises to be very brisk this fall. The Can- ada-Atlantic Line will likely add to its tonnage by charter- ing ahead and for more than single trips. The steamer John Craig, with coal, grounded on LaSalle street tunnel on Monday night and was released after two hours towing, etc. The steamer Arthur Orr was held above the tunnel, and the Syracuse at Clark street until the jam was cleared up. Mr. Keefe, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, will leave here next week for New York, where he will take a boat for London. Mr. Keefe goes abroad as a representative of the association, of which he is the head, the aim being to form such an organization among the dock workmen of England and the continent. Orders for about 12,000 tons.of steel in plates and shapes were placed for shipbuilding purposes this week. Contracts are yet being figured on for some more new tonnage, two steel steamers is the addition to the lists of the American Ship Building Co., and two more are looked for if berths can be arranged and early delivery for next season assured. Strike or no strike, shipbuilding contracts are being regu-° larly placed just the same. This week an order for five more large cargo steamers has been placed with the Ameri- can Ship Building Co., and it is safe to assume that delivery of material was guaranteed before structural contracts were signed. Three boats booked ahead will be transferred to the new contractors, so that material for two boats was probably all that needed to be figured on. Shipments of grain from Chicago and South Chicago last week aggregated 2,130,000 bushels, of which 1,264,000 bushels were wheat. There was a decrease of 225,000 bushels from the previous week. The feature was the increase in the movement to Canadian ports of 723,000 bushels, the total shipments being 915,000 bushels, the largest of the season. It was due to there being a fleet of ocean steamers at Mon- treal that had to have grain, and it was sent there as fast as boats could be secured. Theshipments to Buffalo were 998,- ooo bushels, a decrease of 63,000 bushels. Shipments to Ogdensburg were 148,000 bushels. Contrary to the indica- tions expressed a couple of months ago, there has been a surplus of Atlantic tonnage at Montreal ready to accept a low ocean rate of freight on bulk cargoes for immediate loading. The twin-screw passenger steamer North West, which was due here on Tuesday afternoon, did not arrive until 4 0’clock Wednesday afternoon, being twenty-six hours overdue on the trip up. The officials of the line here stated that the boat was eighteen hours late in leaving Buffalo, on account of. repairs being made to her propeller. The extra eight hours lost on the trip was probably due to her boilers, which have caused considerable trouble on both the boats. There were many inquiries made by friends of the passengers aboard over the non-arrival of the steamer, although it was felt certain that no serious trouble could have occurred to the big fast liner. Itis perhaps about time that the representative in this country of the Belleville type of water tube boilers took another look over the steam generators of the North West and North Land. Mr. Coryell has always blamed the firemen, but even the best of lake firemen can’t work well unless they are given a fair show. The Railway and Engineering Review is pleased to let the promoters of the Chicago-Atlantic line of steamers down easily in stating that ‘‘Chicago’s carreer as a seaport has been even briefer than we anticipated. The four vessels built to ply between Chicago and European ports are to be put into the lake carrying trade. The reason is stated to be exces- sive rates of insurance charged through Lloyd’s. The officers claim that these rates are prohibitory and that they are not warranted by conditions.’’ As amatter of fact, the officers were novices, though, like the boy at his prayers, “they thought they knew all about it.’”’ The RECORD gave their manager about three months to learn something about the trade, and he has been middling apt at his lesson, but how he blinded agents and brokers, shippers and consignees, is a poser, by his gabble I suppose, but then he must have whistled a little too, as he paid for a good deal of it, and is not through yet. The London, Liverpool and Hamburg agents will need to snicker when offered cargo on direct through bills of lading, still, I notice advertisements yet in foreign shipping: papers. CANADIAN REGISTRATION OF FOREIGN-BUILT SHIPS. Canada’s right to tax foreign-built ships is the real issue involved in the case of the Algoma Central Ry. Co. vs. the Crown which is. now before the Exchequer Court, and, doubtless, whichever way judgment is given the case will be appealed to the Judicial Posie’ of the Imperial Privy Council. The A. C. K. Co. veoniaats the right of the Dominion Government to tax the United States steamer Minnie M. under the following circumstances. After purchasing the © steamer the company applied to the British consul in Chicago, who in accordance with the British merchants shipping act issued to the vessel a conditional British regis- ter good for six months within which time the vessel would have to apply {toa British port fora permanent register. When application was accordingly made at Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for such certificate of British registry, the col- lector of customs before issuing the certificate exacted duty to the amount of $3,500 on the vessel. This he did under ~ section 409 of the customs tariff, which reads: ‘Ships and other vessels built in any foreign country, whether steam or sailing vessels, on application for Canadian register on the fair market value of the hull, rigging and all appurtenances, except machinery, 10%, ad valorem; on the boilers, steem engines and other machinery, 25% ad valorem.”’ The application made by the owners of the Minnie M. was for a ‘‘British’’ register, in a British port, and they con-. tend not only that it could not be refused in view of the pro-. visional register granted by the British consul in Chicago, but that its issue in a British port could not legally be made. conditional upon the payment of a duty or tax. Of course the contention of the customs department is that the gov- ernment has the constitutional right to tax any foreign arti-, cle coming into the country for use. But the fact remains that had the Minnie M., after receiving her temporary reg- ister at Chicago, been sailed to Liverpool she would have | been granted a permanent British register there without fee; with that certificate of register, constituting her a British ship, the vessel could not be hindered from engaging, in the coasting trade in Canada just as if she had been built and registered in this country, Asa matter of fact there is no such thing as a ‘‘Canadian’’ register; and the customs tariff act would perhaps be better worded if it read, ‘‘on applica- tion for registry as British ships in Canada.’? However, under the tariff as it stands duty has for years been charged under conditions similar to those under which the Minnie M. was taxed, and the validity of the tax had never been called in question until the owners of the Minnie M. put up. the contention that it is in contravention of the Imperial registration policy. or oo Collision—Steamer and Tow—Tug and. Tow Drifting —: The tug Chase had taken out a tow from the south side of a pier at Communipaw by a line, and, when 150 or 200 feet beyond the*end, stopped to make the tow’ fast'to her ” side. The action of the tide carried both vessels -north- ward some 150 or .200 feet, and about opposite the center . cf the adjoining slip, which was 300 feet wide. While in that position, the steamer Newark, coming down the river, and desiring to enter the slip, signaled, but received no answer. She made a second signal, and then slowed, but | did not reverse nor change her course until within 200 feet of the tow, and came into collision with it. Held, that both steamer and tug were in fault for the collision—the for- mer, for not reversing sooner, when her signals were not answered, or changing her course, which she might have’ done by going nearer the piers, and still entered her slip;' and the tug, for failing to keep a lookout at the stern while , the vessels were being drifted in that direction, and for not giving attention to arid answering the signals of the steam- the duty of care to avoid collision being as imperative in her situation as though she were actually being navigat-: ed. The Senator D. C. Chase, 108 Fed. Rep. (U. S.) tro. ED EE Foteign Seamen—Complaint of Insufficient Food—Juris- diction Declined—A number of British seamen who shipped in England on a British vessel for a voyage to the United States and return made repeated complaint of the insufficiency of the food furnished. On arriving at .New York a partial examination of the matter was made by the. British consul on the oral complaint of the men, and he directed that a written complaint be filed, and that a thor- ough examination be made thereon. The men filed no such complaint, but left the ship, and brought suit in a court of admiralty to recover their wages. Held, that in the absence of proof of oppression or gross hardship, or that they would not be accorded a fair and impartial hearing by the consul in accordance with British shipping act, the court should decline jurisdiction. The Heathcraig, 108 Fed. Rep. (U.'S.) 419.