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THE MARINE RECORD. The Marine Record. . - Published every Thursday, at 144 Superior Street, 4 (Leader Building,) CLEVELAND, O. BRANCH OFFICE, Cxuicaao, 1115., - - - 252South Water St. THOMAS WILLIAMS, Associate Editor. \rvinc B, SmitH. Capt. JoHN SWAINSON, Proprietors. SUBSCRIPTION. One copy, one year, postage paid, 3 a fh One copy, one year. to foreign countries, 5 ‘ ¢ Invariably in advance. ADVERTISING. Rates given on application, Se en eee ee eee THE MARINE RECORD can be found for sale by the following agents and news dealers: AMHERSTBURG, ONT.—George Taylor. ASHTABULA HARBOR, 0.—0, O. Large, 0. M. Kohne. ASHLAND, WIS.—Post Office News Stand. BUFFALO, N. Y.—Miss McCabe, Blk st-; W- H. Boyd, 60 Main st. CHICAGO, ILLS.—Thomas Williams, 252 South Water street. L. P, Ballin, 33 West Randolph street. CLEVELAND, 0.—Cleveland News Co , 118 Wood street; G. F. Bow- man, corner Pearl and Detroit street; R. A. Castner, 254 Detroit street E.J. 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Haller, Water street. 43- Subscribers and others are respectfully invited touse the columns of THE MARINE KEOURD for the discu-sion of pertinent topics and a!1 matters relating to the welfare of the Lake Marine. N.B.—We do not ho!d ourselves responsible in any way for the views expressed by our correspondents. Contributions must in every ¢:se be accompanied by the full name and address of the writer, and be at this office not later than Wednesday morning. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland as second class mail matter. ALL MAIL MATTER Pertaining to the Editorial and Business Departments of THE Martner Recorp should be addressed, “SMITH & SWAINSON, 148 SUPERIOR ST, CLEVELAND, OHIO.” CLEVELAND, O., JANUARY 7, 1892. Tur master of the schooner Seaman isa veritable hard weather mariner and seems to care not for the bird singing in his “bye the wind” part of it, for years we have chronicled hls penchant for mid winter navigation and our Chicago correspondent notes that the schooner will clear from that port this week for Sheboygan, Wis. where the captain intends to repair his nets ready for the spring fishing. Duncan Buchanan smacks loudly of Bonnie Scotland and it is just such a subject that we would expect to gang awa looking for ice on Lake Mich- igan in mid-winter and vowing that he didna ken it waur sic gran weether. —_ OEE oe ea In the annual report of the Lighthouse Board to Secre- tary Foster, attention is called to the poor pay of the em- ployes of the lighthouse service, and an increase of sal- aries is strongly recommended. It is rightfully conten- ded that unless this is done the best employes are likely to resign and turn their attention to more remunerative pursuits. The class of men required for light-keepers are men of the best moral character, thoroughly reliable in their capacity, possessed of all their senses, economical, sober, courageous and eminently trustworthy, such men are vaJuable servants and as such deserve the apprecia- tion of their employers, and the country is well able to worthily acknowledge these traits of character in its em- ployes. _— nD oe ee UNDERWRITING by American firms is fast being dis- counted by the more wealthy corporations of other nations and the only preventive or alternative to offset this state of affairs would seem to be in the consolidation -of a number of marine insurance offices under one regime. At is well to call the attention of our people to the neces. sity of being able to insure each other in time of trouble, as the Commissioner of Navigation tritely says in his last annual report to the Senate. “It is as necessary to have marine underwriting of our own as a commerce of our own, or shipping of our own. Marine insur- ance is a facility and power for the command of trade, needful in peace, but essential in war. The underwriting of our enemy is not to be thought of; that of a rival should never be depended on.” Even with the inferences which may be drawn from this statement we rather ex- pect that vessel owners, merchants and shippers will con- tinue to place their risks in foreign hands, judging, that previous to a national or commercial rupture due warn- ing would be given them in which to transfer all risks or business placed abroad. It is somewhat questionable if commercial security is thoroughly obtained by placing marine risks abroad but until American underwriters combat the foreign policies by a consolidation cf finances jt is difficult to see a way out of the corner that they are now being chased into. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE LAKES. On the opening of nayigation 1892, those masters who are desirous of adding to the present knowledge of the physical geography of the Great Lakes will be given a chance to contribute to the specific and general informa- tion so far obtained. The marine officer appointed by the Weather Bureau with headquarters at Cleveland, will issae chartlets divided into sections or squares in which may be marked the regular observations, such as the direction and force of the wind, state of weather, baro meter readings, ordinary characteristics and phenomena where found to exist, prevailing currents will no doubt also be dealt with and arrangements made for determin- ing the set and drift of same, both on the surface and as under-currents. If properly ruled log books had been kept on board of each vessel during the past decade, much reliable and useful information would have been already at hand for compilation, but, we are sorry to say that no such records are available, as wherever kept they have only been writ ten in diary form for the masters private use, nor do they contain that data which would be required in the forma- tion of a pilot or wind and current chart. Yet, it is only from the observations of masters and pilots that we can learn anything about the exclusive territory over which they travel for the greater portion of th® year, and if simpler means of observing and more ready means of gathering information than scientists practice are adopted, these observations properly systematized would form so broad a feature that the physical geography of the Great Lakes might soon be determined. It may be asked what specific value this knowledge would be to the merchant marine of the lakes and how would it benefit commerce? the reply to this question would re- quire more space than we can afford at this time, yet, we may say that the direction and force of gales, the fore- casting of dense fogs and the time of their continuance, the distance and direction which a vessel may be driven out of her course through at present unknown currents, a vast saving of life and property through the intelligent forecasting of wind curvatures, and the probable action of storms after they strike the lakes, the characteristics of certain coast lines as they relate to the changes in winds and weather during divisions of the season’s, as also of mid. lake features which are at present very cloudy, all of these and much more might be made ap- parent through observations duly recorded by the men traversing these localities, and they would form a valu- able adjunct to the particulars gained by the weather workers ashore, who, while judging from the telegraphed reports, the readings of the several self recording meas- ures, arbitrary divisions of cloud forms, ete., to assist in their local forecasting, are at present unable to reach a solitary observation from the vast area covered by the waters of the lakes. eS ae Se T0 ESTABLISH A UNITED STATES MARINE BOARD. The present several disconnected bureaux scattered throughout the Treasury Department, and dealing in a conglomerated manner with the mercantile marine, or at least a portion of it, has, we hope, about run its race, and any change made with even the slightest degree of intelligence, will surely work to better advantage than under the present constituted regime, The foregoing is widely and most candidly admitted, aud the bill introduced by Mr. Frye to establish a marine board for the advancement of the interests of the mer- cantile marine, deals with the question in perhaps the best form now attainable. The new board, according to the bill in the hands of the committee on commerce is still kept in the Treasury Department, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, one of whose assistants is to be appointed ex- officio chairman of the board, with the chairman of the lighthouse board, the supervising inspector general of steam vessels, the supervising surgeon’ general of the marine hospital service, the general superintend the coast and geodetic survey, the commissioner of gation, the chief hydrographer of the navy, and the g eral superintendent of the life saving service to form the board. ves In the event of the passage of the act, the board | convene within the next sixty days for the purpose of presenting to Congress any changes in existing laws, or the enactment of new ones that in their judgment may be necessary for the benefit and improvement of the — merchant marine of the United States. . In the formation of this marine board it does not follow that the several departments over which the members of the board now preside, are to be merged into and under the new board; such is not according to the reading of _ the bill, whatever the ultimate object may be, yet, it is certain that the board once formed, theinspection service would soon become enlarged and merged ic the burean — of navigation, which in turn would more properly be classed a merchant marine bureau, as its functions are entirely those of a maritime—commercial nature, pe Be Taken as a whole, it is questionable if the present in- spection service is not one of the most unsatisfactory, narrow and arbitrary departments in the service of the country. Steamers only are inspected, while the sailing tonnage is entirely ignored, and this rules not only in hulls and equipment, but throughout the licensed officers of the merchant marine, who, on application before a perhaps unqualified official, are pronounced capable of handling or navigating a steamer, and as regards a sail- ing ship where more skill is actually required, a barber's clerk may take command in so far as national or official cognizance is taken of his requirements. The Great Lakes, under the legal ruling of being inland seas, are mismanaged in the same way, and if a license cannot be procured from one inspector, another will be found to issne it, and as there is no distinct code of qualifications, it has hitherto been in many districts a matter of how the licensing officer felt impressed, sometimes refusing a license to a generally worthy candidate, and at others, af issuing it to one who was totally incompetent even to shape a course on the chart, and it is quite possible that in some districts a majority of the latter cases prevailed, while the former were choked off with the pompous as- sertion that if they were not satisfied they might appeal — to the supervisor of the district within thirty days. Of course the appeal is seldom or never made. And thesame rule exists on the coast in so great a degree that the can- didate is virtually licensed on the recommendation that he may bring before the examiner, and not, upon his technical qualification, at least the former overleaps the latter entirely. It is no wonder then that the inspection service, in so far as it relates to asurveillance of United States tonnage, the licensing of the officers in charge of same, as well as in their capacity of wreck commission- ers should be regarded as a somewhat lame department. Tf licenses are to be issued, let them be for sail as well as steam, inspect all tonnage under the flag, and give us properly qualifled examiners. Then perhaps the calling may be elevated to that standard where the American youth may regard a command as an honor worthy of livy- ing and fighting for, and not as it is today, coverel by a license secured in the easiest possible way, and ignored entirely, where most necessary—viz: in the sailing ton- nage of the country. EEE Oe A LIFE SAVING SU'ATION AT WHITE FISH POINT. White Fish Point on Lake Superior, is one of the most important headlands on the chain of lakes. The adjoin- ing coast is one of the most exposed shores on the Jakes, and yet there is no life saving station at this point, al- though the many strandings in that vicinity shows the necessity for the establishing of a station there. If we = read aright the estimates asked for by the heads of de- partments, Superintendent S. I. Kimball has neglected to advise Congress of the needs of such a station, as no estimate of the cost, or request for an appropriation is — embodied in the report, notwithstanding the frequent and strongly worded petitions for such asafe guard tolife and ~ property. It is surely the duty of heads of departments to keep well advised of the needs of their particular ser-— vice, or are numerously signed petitions to sway the will and influence of intelligence even against the competent dictates of an experience skilled in the requirements of the service. Petitions in these days are undoubtedly acted upon with a modicum of discrimination, and it well that they should be, yet, we venture to affirm that every vesselman that navigates Lake Superior would — sign a petition to Congress for the establishment of a Ii! saving station at White Fish Point, though with thislo felt want in sight, the superintendent of the service: pletely ignores the location, nor even asks for auth to transfer a less important outfit to this dangero so that economy of administration may not even gued in defense of the apparent neglect. x There growing feeling that more practical men are req inspectors and superintendents, to advise their cl