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ON RIVER “Navicatiox—Tows Merr- —Dury or Tow Steminc Tipe to Sror. District Court Southern District of New York. o large tows were approaching each other at night upper part of the Hudson River, where the chan- 1 narrow. It was evident that by keeping on aol have to pass at a place opposite what is called ‘Stone Light, just above Van Wier Point, where there } F curve in the river and some rocks; the river above Light is straight. Held, that it was the duty of the ding tow, which was coming against the tide, to " in the straight reach above the Light, and not, by keeping on, attempt to pass in the narrow and crooked . eieaniel opposite the Light; and for such attempt, the descending tow was:infault for the collision which en- sued between the tows. Brown, J. Personat Inyurms—Fau, mto Hatcu—DEFECTIVE COVER. U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York. Owing to the warping of their supports in hot weather, the hatch covers of a ship did not fit tightly over the hatch, which fact was unknown to the libellant, ‘who had recently shipped as a sailor on the ship. In consequence of such warping, as libellant was assisting in putting the covers on the hatch, which he had been ordered to do, one of the covers slipped, causing libel- lant to fall into the hold. Held, that the ship was liable for his injuries} which the court fixed at $750. Brown, J. Warrack—NavicaBLE Srream—Duty oF WHARF- : INGER—RIVER BED. U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York. ’ The owner of a wharf in a public navigable stream some one hundred and fifty feet wide is not required to care for the bed of the stream beyond the spot at the) end of the wharf whereovessels, against whom wharf- age is charged, are accustomed to moor. Where a boat ‘moored at high water nearly in the middle of a stream, outside of three other boats at. such. wharf, without di- rections from the wharfinger, paying no wharfage, and! es ae being liable to pay any, and the person in charge, of her ascertained some time after her arrival and be-! fore the tide fell, that the bottom was uneven, and knew _ that he would be aground at low water; and at low water the boat did take the bottom and received injury. Held, that the vessel took the risk of injury arising from the nature of the bottom, and could not recover for her dam- age. “Brown, J. tis? _ WHARVES ON TIDE LANDS. “In the absence of legislation or usage, the common law rule would govern the rights of the upland propri-, etor, and by that law the title to tide lands is in the state. The state has the right to dispose of them in ‘such manner as she might deem proper, as is frequently done in various ways, and whereby large areas are reclaimed and occupied by cities, and are put to public and private uses, state control and ownership therein being supreme, subject only to the paramount right of navigation and commerce. The whole question is for the state to determine for itself; it can say to what) extent it will preserve its rights of ownership in them, | or confer them on others. An upland owner on tidal) "waters has no rights, as against the state or its, grantees, to extend wharves in front of his land, or to | any private or exclusive rights whatever in the tide) lands, except as he has derived them from the statute. The Oregon statute, which authorizes riparian owners on navigable rivers, within the corporate limits of any incorporated town, to construct wharves in front of their land, is not a grant of the tide land; and where the license therein given is not exercised before a grant of the tide land, no license thereunder exists. Bowlby y. Shively, Supreme Court of Oregon, 30 Pac. Rep. 154, ’ ee GOOD WORDS FOR “THE RECORD.” ‘THE Marine RECORD has a new dress of type and its carrying capacity is considerably increased by the addi- tion of four pages in the shape of a handsome coyer.— Cleveland Leader, i ; 53 STURGEON Bay, Wis., Sept. 16, 1892. ‘To The Marine Record, I am more than pleased with THe MARINE RECORD and think it should be on file in every office connected with . the lake marine, as it is without doubt the best paper devoted to the marine interests of the Great Lakes that is published on the continent. I wish you continued an prosperity. A. N. Drier, ‘Superintendent Sturgeon Bay, and Lake Michigan Ship Canal Harbor Company. — ‘Tue Marine ReEcorD, of Cleveland, turned out last week considerably improved in its already good appear- ance. The size of the publication has been increased to sixteen pages, not including the cream colored covers, which have been added. 1t is practically now a twenty page paper, after beginning ten years ago as a four page sheet. This rapid development can be attributed only to its editor’s indefatigable knack of gaining the inter- ested attention of marine men on both sides of the line andkeepingit. Beside its advance in size and presenta- THE° MARINE RECORD. on its readers a fine photogravure production of a night view of the new passenger steamer Chicora, whose namesake is owned here by the Niagara Navigation Company. The original is a painting by Mr. Howard Sprague which was made expressly for THE MARINE REcorD.— The Globe, Toronto, Ont, ee THE BERING SEA CASE. ‘The second phase of the Bering Sea arbitration has been passed, and closed with the exchange of cases between the agents of the principals. The preparation of the original case for the United States has largely engaged the attention of Secretary Foster. It embodies the most minute historical collection of all the facts con- nected with the Russian ownership of Alaska, so far as they bear upon the question of maritime jurisdiction in Bering Sea, and control of the seal fisheries. There is also an exhaustive analysis of the correspondence early in the present century upon the government of Great Britain and Russia touching the question of jurisdic- tion; a recital of the Russian ukase, reserving the waters of Bering Sea for the exclusive use of Russian fishermen and sealers, and a strong argument to show that the entire right of jurisdiction asserted by Russia was acquired by the United States under the terms of the treaty of cession negotiated by Secretary Seward in 1867. All the ammunition is not exhausted. Yet it may safely be assumed that the representatives of the Unit- ed States have reserved sufficient material to enable them to make a strong counter case. This will be the next or third phase of the arbitration. Senator Morgan the only one of the two United States arbitrators now in this country, has been supplied with a copy of the British case, and the representatives of the United States Goy- ernment have already begun to scrutinize the documents with a view to preparing the counter case, or reply, as it may be termed, and this latter work is likely to occupy their attention for many weeks. AUGUST TRAFFIC THROUGH THE ST. MARY’S FALLS CANAL. { Freight passing through the St. Mary’s Falls canal during the month of August was again greater in the aggregate than during August of any previous year in the history of ‘the canal. The total was 1,772,731 net tons, of which 1,300,341 tons was eastbound and 472,390: tons westbound. The traffic was divided as follows: Eastbound. Westbound. eatin 414,448 tons. 760,860 bbls 175 bbls. Sosa 12,850 bu. 343,498 bu. 3,121,253 bu. Building stone. 6,535 tons. Copper 8,062 tons, Manufactured iron ........ Iron ore..... , 958,774 tons. Iron, pig. 10,488 tons, PS Spies So Nerang ie bores cf 73,607 M ft. .. 300 toms. ......: 17,342 tons. 41,507 tons. 4,253 4,491 As compared with July the most important differences are a decrease of 127,555 tons of coal, an increase of 26,068 tons of iron ore, and a decrease of 1,435,532 bushels of wheat. OS ee AN OPEN PORT FOR WINTER TRAFFIC. The attempt last winter to run boats into St. Joseph, Mich., was nearly a failure owing to a sandbar off the mouth of the harbor. A substantial appropriation was obtained from the last Congress for the improvement of this harbor, and the government dredge has already began to remove the bar at present existing there. With sufficient depth of water the Chicora, Fountain City, and several other well known Lake Michigan steamers will be kept running all through next winter. CANADIAN STEAMERS PAYING TOLL AT THE “soo.” The amount of tolls paid for freight vessels passing through Ste. Mary’s Falls Canal for the twenty-four hours ending Monday night were as follows: Steamer Monarch, from Sarnia to Fort William, 408 tons, $81.60; steamer Manitoba, Owen Sound to Port Arthur, 392 tons, $78.75; steamer Athabasca, Port Arthur to Owen Sound, 1,403 tons, $280.61. ‘The steamer Rosedale recorded the heaviest contribution so far by paying tolls to the amount of $347.60 for 1,738 tons of wheat, Fort William to Kingston. <A question arose relative to paying tolls on freight destined to Manitoba which is landed at Du- luth. but Deputy Collector Carleton referred pursers of boats to a ruling of Secretary Spauldidg on that point. “That freight destined to Ganadian ports, even if landed at American ports and then sent by rail, was liable to tolls. bility, with its last issue, THe Marine Recorp bestowed | ‘suance of the act of Congress approved March 3, Postmaster General Wanamaker has opened under the Department dated May 25, 1892, issued in p entitled, ‘An act to provide for ocean mail between the United States and foreign ports, an promote commerce. "’ ‘Postmaster General Wanamaker in an interview stat-— ed that he was highly gratified with the bids. The pro- — posals of the International Navigation Company (Inman Line,) will require four or five new ships of the finest type, necessitating an outlay of from $8,000,000. to a $10,000,000, and the service proposed is not only first class, but doubly first class, because it contemplates what has never before been done, that is, a line from an _ American port carrying mails and passengers not only | bis to a British port but to a French port also. Southamp- ton and Boulogne or Hayre will be the ports of call. ‘The offer of a line from Buenos Ayres is also gratify- : ing. The company bidding state that they can start the first steamer by the end of the present month, and this would be the first steamer under an American flag to be sighted regularly on the river Platte. As the Ar- gentine country is now quarantined against British and German ports, it would be an opportune time to send out American products. Service is also offered for Brazilian ports upon a fixed schedule or shorter time than the present slower and irregular service. however,” said the Postmaster General, “‘that no bids were received for service from Newport News or Mobile. From the earnest demand on the Postoffice Department to include Southern ports in the advertisement it was expected that lines would be projected from Baltimore, Richmond and Mobile. see es wnt PROPOSALS. $ U. 8S. ENGINEER OFFICE, Duluth, Minn.. Augu-t 19, 1892.—Sealed proposals — for constructing a breakwater at Ashland,Wis- consin, will be received at this office until — 12 m., September 27, 1892, and then publicly — opened. Specifications, blank forms, and all available information will be furnished on application to this office. W. L. “ISK, Cap- tain, Corps of Engineers. U. S. ENGINEER OFFICE, Duluth, 5 Minn., August 16, 1892.—Sealed_ paoposals, for constructing a breakwater at Agate Bay, — Minn., will be received at this office until” 12 m., September 27, 1892, and then publicly opened. Specifications, blank forms, and all available information will be furnished on application to this office. W. L. FISK, Cap- tain, Corps of. Engineers. U. S. ENGINEER OFFICE, GRAND Rapids, September 10, 1892. Sealed propo- sals for dredging in Frankfort Harbor, Michi- yan, will be received at this office until noon of Tuesday, September 20, 1892, and 3 then publicly opened. Specifications, blank * forms and all available information will be i furnished on application to this office. Wm. Luptow, Major of Engineers, Bvt. Lieut. Col. U.S. A. Sept. 15. UNITED STATES ENGINEER OF- "? fice, 34 West Congress street, D troit, Mich,, — September 8, 1892. Sealed proposals for fur- nishing by the hour 1 dredge, 1 tug, and 2 dump scows, for use at Detroit River, Mich., will be received at this office until 2 p, m October 8, 1892, and then publicly opened. Specifications, blauk forms, and all available information will be furnished on application to this office. O. M. Pox, Colonel, Corps of Engineers, ete. 9-15-10-6 U. 8. ENGINEER OFFICE, HICKOX BUILDING, 185 Euclid Avenue, Cleveleod, Ohio, August 15, 1892, Sealed proposals for dredging in straight channel through Maumee Bay, for Toledo Harbor, Ohio, will be re- ceived at this office until 2 o’clock p. m. of Thursday, September 15, 1892, and then pub- licly opened. Specifications, blank forms, and all available information will be furnished on application to this office. JARED A. SmiTH, Lieut. Col, Corps of Engineers,U.S.A. 9-1-15 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, WASH- ington, D. C., September 3, 1892. Sealed pro- pores for constructing a steam propeller, to e named Wm. Windom, for the United States Revenue Cutter Service, will be received at this departmert until 2 o’clock p. m. Wednes- day, October 5, 1892. Bids must be in accord- ance with the instructions on page 5 of the specifications, and be addrowei to the Secre- tary of the Treasury, and indorsed on the envelope, ‘‘Proposals for construction of steam propellers for United States Revenne Cutter Service.’’ Specifications for the work will be furnished to parties desiring to submit bids upon application to this department, The right is reserved to reject any or all bids, and to waive defects, it deemed for the inter- _ est of the government so to do. CHARLES Fosrer, Secretary. Bi, “Tt is very much to be regretted, —