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ig as en nea parmion e a——— THE MARINE RECORD. . Correspondence. B@ We do not hold ourselves responsible in any way for the views or opinions expressed by our correspondents. It is our desire that all sides of any question affecting the interests or welfare of the Inke marine should be fairly represented in THE MARINE RECORD. THE COURSE ACROSS THE PACIFIC, AsuvraBuLa, O., March 22, 1892. Editor of The Marine Record. Enclosed you will find a colution to Mr. Frietsch problem published in your issue of March 10th on Mereator sailing. The eteamer Westover left San Francisco, Lat. 37° 48” N., Long. 122° 26’ W., on the 2ist of February, 1889, at 3 hours 16 min. p. m. local mean time, with orders to take the short- est route for Jeddo, Lat, 35° 40’ N., Long. 140° 0” B. On March Sth at 10 hrs. 45 min, a. m. local mean time, a steamer arrives in San Francisco and reports that she has signaled the Westover on the 28th of February 6 hrs. 30 min. p- m., apparent ships time, in Long. 151° 12’ W., and, after their meeting had steered a true course by Mercators chart until arrival. : T have endeavored to solve the problem and submit results, TE not correct to the .001, it will answer all practical purposes in navigation, I will answer as far as the steamer Westover is concerned. The reporting steamer bas arrived at San Francisco all O. K. The true course steered by the steamer Westover until meet- ing the reporting steamer, as per Mercator, was S. 88° 26’ W., course to be corrected for variation should have been changed every 15. Ihave taken the average 13° 40’ E., per Barlow tables. Subtract from 88°.26’ leaves 74° 46’ corrected mag- netic course steered by the Westover. Rate of speed eight knots per hour, nearly, time 7 days 1 hoyr 20 min., distance 1,862 miles to Long. 151° 12’ and Lat. 37° 11’ when spoken by reporting steamer. The Westover should continue to steer 8. 74° 46’ W., until reaching 170° E., then it would be ne- cessary to make a correction for variation to 12° E., as aver- age for the last 30° of Long. to be sailed. Course from 170° E. to Jeddo 8 76° 46’ W. and should be due at Jeddo’March ~ 17th a. m. nearly, apparent time. T have allowed 6 hrs. 30 min. for Long. Actual time in making the time from San Francisco to Jeddo 24 days 3 hrs. 30 min. Average speed eight knots per hour. Steamer, spoke Westover, Long. 151° 12/, Lat. 37° 11’, Westover should be steering 74° 46’ W., making’ about eight knots an hour. I have used Barlow’s tables of variation. BEGINNER. EP: oe SHORT HANDED CREWS IN THE ENGINE ROOMS OF LAKE STEAMERS. New York, March 21, 1892. Euitor of the Marine Record. We published an article in The Engineer, New York, Feb- rnary 20th, 1892, concerning short hauded crews in the engine rooms of lake steamers, which was accompanied by an illus- tration of a twin screw, triple expansion engine, and in the article we stated that it was one man’s work on the lakes to attend to this mass of machinery. A paper published in your city expends two pages of ite space in endeavoring to show that the article was incorrect in statement and in the illustration. It seems necessary to explain that the illustration is merely typical of the machine to be looked after, and that it makes no particular difference whether the picture showed a 36// eylinder or a 70’’ cylinder. As to the matter of short handed crews in lake engine rooms, permit me to call your attention aud that of your readers, to the following statement made at the National Convention of the,Marine Engineers Association in January, 1891:— SHORT-HANDED CREWS IN ENGINE ROOMS, Delegate Thomas ¥'. Dowd, (Chicago, No- 4), obtained the floor, and af- ter stating briefly his pleasure at being able to meet the Supervising In spectors unofficially, plunged directly into facts affecting engineers in his district. Bro- Dowd stated that one of the greatest disabilities they experienced was want of adequate force in the engine-rooms of lake vyes- sels. Ten years ego, steam vessels of 450 10500 tons carried two engin- evrsand two'firemen. To-day there are vessels of three and four times that tonnage which have no larger crews. Steamers of 1,500 tons capa- city go round the lakes with only four men to man the engines. Brother Dowd depicted graphically the evils which resulted from this and the injury it was to the vessel-owner’s property; he further said that they had fully represented this matter to the Supervising Inspectors but had been met with the assertion that these last were powerless to act. This statement was not satisfactory to the engineers, who saw that the deck department of lake vessels had an ample force, and that no restrictions were laid upon it; it was only in the engineers’ department that vessels were short handed. Brother Dowd presented his case carefully, without animus or prejudics and made a marked impression.—The Engineer, New York, February 14, 1891. We will only add to this that nowhere in the article written by us is it stated that there was no steamer on the lakes that did not have help enough. Also, let us say that the paper, or issue, containing that article was in great demand on the lakes and sample copies were repeatedly requested, and favorably commented upon. If the statemeris made by us were incor- rect it is a little curious that this should be the case. Since the date in question, January, 1891, the same com- plaint has been made as to short handed crews on lake steam- ers, but if those who run the steamers are satisfied, and there is really no cause for dissatisfaction in this respect, itis cer- tainly superflous in us to ask for any addition, and in future we shall not allude to the matter. We are always glad to receive criticism from persons who understand the subject they attempt to criticise, but it is 2 waste of time to try to answer the penny-a-liner, or average man, who by the chances of life, or his misfortune, has ob- tained control of a printing press. E@nerr P., Watson & Son, Publishers The Engineer, N. Y. —$—$—$—$—$—$——— re oe THE DIFFERENCE IN DRAFT. In determining the difference in draft of a vessel, when proceeding from fresh or partially fresh water to salt water or vice versa. A sample of the water should be reduced to a tem— perature of 62° Fabr., and should then be tested for salinity by standard instrument. The standard specific gravity of sea water isl.026 at that temperatnre. For all practical purposes it may be taken that a vessel pro- _ceeding from river water into sea water rises }-inch per each |. foot of her mean draft, but should it be necessary at any time to make a close calculation, the rise in sea water will be the entire (displacement, X .026, calculated in its equivalent in inches at the load water line. Many examples of actual ships have been worked out, of which tne fcllowinz is one:— A ship when joaded to a mean draft of 20 feet has, in salt water, a displacement of 2,643 tons, her displacement at the load line per inch at this draft is 13.6 tons. It is required to know what difference of draft there will be betwee n river and sea water, 20 feet at }-inch per foot = 5 inches. 2,643 tons X .026 = 68.7 tons. 68.7 + 13.6 =6 inches. The above system is 4 most reliable one, and is duly author- ized by the marine department of the British Government, who we believe are somewhat hypercritical on the subject of displacement, load line, ete. . $n + SUPPLY OF GRAIN AT LAKE PORTS. The following table shows the visible supply of grain Sat- urday, March 5th, 1892, as compiled by George F. Stone, secretary of the Chicago Board of Trade:— - Wheat Corn Oats Rye Barle. LaBtoreiat bush. bush. bush bei iach Buffalo....] 1,836,000 36,000 | 33,000 307,000 do affoat.| 151,000 Aaonnees Bab ms Chicago....| 9,539,701 | 1,620,284 | 882,172 | 5 do afloat..| 997,067 501,338 | 14,960 Detroit....| 592,900 13,800 | 33,800 27,200 do afloat..).......0.---- 25,668 Duluth.....| 8,927,267 aban do afloat..| 400,703 +6 Milwaukee] 341,135 230,908 do afloat..| . oe 2 Oswego... 25, Toledo,....| 1,488,223 Toronto...| 154,000 143,000 PORTAGE LAKE CANALS. Owing to the representations made to the Secretary of War by Senator Stockbridge with the concurrence of Mr, Stephenson, and others, the objectionable features of the order closing the Portage Lake canals to the lumbermen have been stricken out. Under certain restrictions, which are reasonable and not objected to, rafts of logs can now be passed through these can- als at the convenience of their owners to their destinations. Secretary Elkins after having had his attention brought to the matter saw at once that shonld his former order stand, the in- terests of lumbermen would be seriously interferred with with- out any need or reason, hence without loss of time such structions were conveyed to the Superintendent having such matters in charge as to relieve him from restricting the use of these waters in a way which would prove injurious to one of our most important industries. The lumbermen wil!, no doubt remember their indebteduess to Mr. Stockbridge and the other gentlemen assisting him for their zeal and promptness in se- curing for them rights which it would have cost them heavily to surrender, o_O A M. E. B. A. No. 96. The marine engineers of Houghton, Mich. have organized a Marine Engineers’ Beneficiary Association, which is to be known as Houghton Lodge No. 96. The society is a strong one in the United States, lodges being organized in nearly all lake and sea-coast ports. The officers of the new lodge are as follows: Past pres., Edwin W. Curry, pres., Joseph Green- lief; vice pres., Moses Hebert; rec. and fin, sec., W. E. Geary; cor. sec. and treas,, Edwin W. Curry; chaplain, Charles Fisch- er; doorkeeper, Peter Gaguon; conductor, Géorge W. Allie; trustees, T'elesphor Brasseau, Cyril Carpenter and Emil Sea- gens, eo + Tue following lighthouse keepers have been appointed: Wesley A. Smith, assi stant, South Manitou; Francis Jocker, keeper, Huron Island; William Pinkerton, keeper, Raspberry Island; John McCarty, first assistant, Jacob F. Smith, second assistant, Gray’s Reef, ‘The Lighthouse Board has decided to establish two additional lights on April 15, one at Two Har- bors and the other at Seul Choix Point; and also to re-establish the light at St. Joseph’s Pier, which was put out on account of the formation of a bar in front of the harbor. This bar has now disappeared. in- , 7 GRAIN STORAGE. Special to the Marine Record. F The Duluth Imperial Mill Co. has received bids from falo for the building of its second big four warehouse on ‘Tifft farm property. It has now a capacity of 50,000 b there and the new house will double this, It intends to’ two more warehouses of the same sizein the near fu which will give it a storage space of 200,000 barrels, coverit a floor space of at least 250,000 square feet. This mill is ting to be one of the great institutions of the country, and its expects to'soon be able to buy its wheat at its own count 'y elevators, ship in its own vessels to Buffalo and store in it own warehouses at Buffalo, Toledo, New York and elsewhe Siuce my last letter we have had the most severe storm e known at the head of the lake, on Wednesday the wind blew fifty-eight miles an hour and it was accompanied by snow and cold. Ice was broken and forced toward the south shore, leaving a free passage down the north shore, Cold weathe has succeeded, however, and the ice is heavier than a week ago. The general hope is that navigation may open early, | especially as early spring will be greatly needed by the farm-— ers of Minnesota and Dakota, who Lave done little of their plowing and must do it very early or be obliged to forego it entirely. If they do forego early plowing the amount of — wheat cargoes Duluth will be able to furnish in 1893 and the fall of 1892 will be extremely limited. The first ice breaking — has already been done, the Record of the Inman fleet brenk- ing out several other boats of the line. te Wheat and flour in store here this week shows the following — Bushels. 34 t figures:— No, 1hardinstore...... No. 1 Northern in store. No. 2 Northern in store. No grade in store... Other grades in store.. Total in store .... Total Tacrease during the week. In store ayearago.. Barley in store.... Flaxseed in store and afloat. Flour in store ......-.--- Flour produced in week. . The large quantity of flour in store is because of the fact that railway shipments from Minneapolis haye begun, It is expected that by the opening of navigation there will be over 300,000 barrels in store, and the totalflour business of the year is expected to be considerably in excess of last year, des- pite the fact that the ‘‘Soo”’ road is to make a desperate effort to pull traffic via Gladstone and its new whaleback package freighters. Wheat receipts are expected to be much larger soon, in fact. have already picked up, and fully 15,000,000 bushels are likely to be in store by the opening of navigation. The Lake Superior Elevator Co, has been in the market lately for a large quantity of wheat and has bought in fully 500,000 bushels. The Board of Trade has made elevators B and ( of the Lake Superior Co. private houses, and will probably be aske to do the same for one of the Great Northern houses. This will probably increase receipts of low grade wheat here ani may exercise a good deal of influence on the market. The Keystone Lumber Co., of Ashland, has had its tug Keystone here all winter refitting. The tug was launched last — year at Buffalo, and is one of the best boats on Lake Superior, — but was hurried into service long before her upper works were finished. In a week or two the boat will be in excellent order. — She will be in charge of Capt. Cobum, who formerly owned the Paige, and will tow for the owners, as well as bring Duluth some 14,000,000 feet of logs from the south € Log towing in general will be far in excess of any previou oF year, EW. D h Tue World’s Fair Transportation and Accommodation of Michigan has filed articles of incorporation. The cal stock is $10,000, all of which is paid in. The object of the pany is to carry people to and from Chicago during the Co bian Exposition, provide them with hotel fare while tl take them to the exposition and other points of interest, 8U them with all kinds of necessary information and oth provide everything necessary a la Cook’s tourists and all for a stipulated consideration to be paid in adyance. stock-holders are all prominent young business men. Every mariner trading to Lake Ontario from t Lakes, is acquainted with Edward Murphy, mai dealer at Pt, Dalhousie, and will be pleased to learn th iness is prospering in the hands of their old friend, now taken into partnership Frank Scott, and been local agent for the St. Catherines Grimsby and 1 ‘ gation Co. The new firm of Murphy & Scott wishes for their continued suecess and pras| ity earned andbacked by the important f long period of 15 years, Mr. Murphy never had a any one of hismany business friends or through the water-ways of the Great | :