The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

ee Se “IRVING B. SMITH. “Marine Record, ESTABLISHED 1878. 4 Published every’ Thursday, at 144 Superior Street (Leader Building,) CLEV' ELAND, O. : - Proprietors. CAPT. JOHN SWAINSON. BRANCH OFFICE, jarcaGo ILL, - - - 35 Franklin St. THOMAS WILLIAMS, Associate Editor. Be ea ON: “One copy, one year, postage paid, : : : - ‘One copy, one year, to foreign countries, - . ry Invariably in advance. ADVERTISING. Rates given on application. CLEVELAND, O., OCTOBER 27, 1892. SSS THE plans of General O. M. Poe, Corps of Engineers U.S. A., for the twenty-foot channel, has been endorsed by the Washington authorities, and bids on proposals for the various portions of the work will soon be advertised for. It is to be hoped that firms engaged in this class of work on the lakes have “taken time by the forelock,” and increased their facilities for dredging, towing and scow work, a THE coasting trade of the United States has always been reserved for the vessels of the national flag, and haying now grown to be far more extensive and valuable than that of any other country, it is not probable that it will ever be exchanged for what any nation can give us in kind, not even the boon which the Dominion might be pleased to offer, viz.: the right of free transportation through the Welland and St. Lawrence system of canals. a As we go to press the sympathy of this and other nations is extended to President Narrison in his sad bereavement. The London Times says. “The death of Mrs. Harrison is an event of more than ordinary importance, inasmuch as her husband’s suc- cess may in a very large degree be ascribed to her. Wide in her culture, catholic in her ideas and tastes, she broadened her circle of friends with advancing years Her death will cause genuine, wide-spread sorrow.” The United States is poorer to-day in the loss of a woman and all that the word implies. ———————————EE Iy glancing over the registers of the several classifica tion societies doing business in the United States in the surveying and rating of tonnage, we find that about 90 per cent. of the American vessels engaged in the Atlantic trade have been built under the rules and inspection of the “Record of American and Foreign Shipping,” pub- lished by the American Shipmasters’ Association, of New York. The rules of this well-known class register, besides meeting with tne unqualified endorsement of the Boards of Underwriters of New York, Boston and San Francisco, have met with the approval of a Board of United States Naval Experts, appointed by the Navy Department to pass upon them, and the rating is there- fore accepted with confidence by merchants and under- writers throughout the world. rr ee 5 It has again been suggested that a committee of vessel owners and underwriters’ agents be called upon to place the valuation on lake tonnage in the future. The advo- cates of such a measure shozld remember that a classifi- cation register, to be worth anything, must be compiled from a strictiy disinterested, reliable and competent souree orstandpoint. Owners, underwriters and builders are interested parties; the inference is therefore clear and has evidently been made tolerably clear to those in the business, by the influences which have been brought to bear in the past. A registerto merit the support of all interests should have at least one of the attributes which history tells us belonged to Ceesar’s wife, and no “infloo- ences” now or ever, should exist in the classification of iron, steel, composite or wooden lake built ships. a Is it not time that a national suug harbor for aged and incapacitated seamen of the United States mercantile marine was established? According to a report of the surgeon general of the United States hospital corps, many cases arise where seamen are turned away to apply for admission to private charitable institutions. A snug harbor for the reception of seamen, in the inclusive term, that is, all men who have earned their living by sailing for a number of years under the stars and stripes, is urgently called for. It would be a humane provision for a worthy class and tend greatly to improve the morale of American seamen of all grades. The legislator who champions this cause in Congress and brings it to a suc- cessful issue, would merit and receive the heartfelt grat- itude of as noble a class of men as breathe God’s air. THE MARINE RECORD. APPRENTICES IN THE MERCANTILE MARINE. When the Hon. Jarvis Patten was Commissioner of Navigation he recommended a system of apprenticeship to be established in pursuance of which American mer- chant vessels engaged in the foreign trade might receive a certain fixed sum trom the government for the support and instruction of apprentices carried on board for a stated term of years. Such a system would do much to improve the average standard of American seamen and repay the national expense in affording an available corps of seafaring men who could be relied upon in case of emergency to help mann the navy. The seaman is proverbially loyal to the flag under which he sails, and American ships, being accustomed to pay higher wages and to give better food than those of other countries, have an advantage in respect to the selec- tion of good crews; but the steady falling otf of native American seamen is cause for regret, if not for alarm. The business of the mariner does not offer sv much en- couragement as it formerly did under the flag, and in order to induce American lads to follow the sea for a pro- fession, some inducement might be offered with great advantage to the merchant service as well as a national provision for trained seamen. The failure to secure American crews, or even an arbi- trary per centage of same, is positively felt at all ports, except those on the chain of lakes, yet, the circumstances are such, that we can never expect the lakes to furnish a very large quota of men or boys forthe over sea trade. The services are highly dissimilar, and a degree of in- competency would exist if the dual capacity of lake and sea were enforced restrictions. In the forthcoming re- port of the present Commissioner of Navigation, we trust that this feature of the American merchant marine will be ably dealt with, and such measures recommended as will tend to induce shipowners to employ a liberal number of apprentices, say at the rate of three for every 1,000 tons register. Such a measure, if made voluntary, and carrying with it certain annual privileges, would go far to create a nucleus of seamen having more superior educational and professional requirements than has ever been obtained hitherto. Granted that there is now a lack of native seamen, and that the United States intend in the near future to have at least some vessels in the oversea trade, with the possi- biity of these reaching in a few years to a respectable merchant marine, the query arises, how are these ships to be manned if our youths evince no more inclination to enter the profession in the future than they have in the past? The interrogatory admits of only one answer, and that is, to show them there is “something in it,” honor or ducats, or both. The apprentice once placed on board of a ship should not then be abandoned, but regarded as a ward of the nation, whose future was tantamount to that of a special commercial agent under the most favorable auspices of the flag. To ensure the subject being worthy of this position, high scholastic attainments, coupled with superior technical ability and skill should be ex- acted, and more avenues for advancement thrown open to the ambitious youth. The apprentice system was in yogue and popular during the early years of British supremacy on the ocean. Results proved the wisdom of the measure, for in later years sixty-five per cent. of their masters and officers in the merchant service had been re- cruited from the ranks of former apprentices, not from among the seamen, but the apprentices, who began life with the intention of eventually reaching a command, or other like honorable position in or connected with the service, and it is an open question with us at this time whether fully ninety per cent. of the men now carrying on the floating commerce of Britain have not been brought up or served under the apprenticeship system in their vessels. A fresh impetus was given this special feature when iron sailing ships were introduced, and as the American-built wooden ships began to decline, the ranks of the progressing English mercantile marine were wisely packed with the bright,brawny,educated and ambi- tious youth of the times, so that when the steam age set in, ample talent was at hand to make masters and officers in the new field of transportation by steam. Here, how- ever, the United States now stands on an equality with any other maritime nation. The apprenticeship system has not been entered into to any extent by the owners of steamships, and the decline of sailing tonnage will no doubt cut off a fruitful source for recruiting the ranks of deck officers. It would, therefore, seem that the op- portunity had now presented itself to the United States to enter vigorously upon the apprenticeship system for steam vessels, not only as it relates to deck officers, but also in the engine-room department. The superior at- tainments of either branch cannot be solely acquired by actual service afloat, and the time taken on shore t2 arrange and perfect the experience gained afloat would be equally well spent by the aspirants for honors in both departments, although there is every indication that there will be no lack of engine room artificers while their ranks can be recruited from the numerous high class engine works on shore, yet, there is no reason why ma- early training aboard ship, as well as the deck officers. Many vessels have as good men in the forecastle or stokehold as they have on the bridge or in the engine- room, yet they frequently remain there, apparently con- tented to accomplish their mission in life in the lower sphere, simply because no higher standard was set by or for them during their initial training. The oppo- site, however, is markedly the case, in so far as the ap- prenticeship system is concerned, and it behooves those who stand watch and ward over the best interests of the United States mercantile marine, to so order their influ- ence, as to obtain for the country the best possible stand- ard of efficiency m the present and future regime of our floating commerce, in which properly trained apprentices can be made and are a very important figure. a RECORD~BREAKING CARGOES ON THE LAKES. Some one has said, somewhere, at some time, that the readers of marine journals, like the readers of other journals, want, the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and those who are in a qualified position to enunciate truths ought to let them rip at such time as they would do the most good, not that it is necessary to inculeate religious apothegms, “holy joe” doctrines, or “sky pilot” morals, although the truth is at all times per- tinent, yet, whether it is proper and appropriate at all times, is another question, the discussion of which we will not enter upon at this time. To come back to our caption of record-breaking, carry- ing cargoes on the lakes, the hard truth may be pointed out at this time most properly because the unsteady fall weather has now fairly set in, and undue punishment on a hull issure to be felt either sooner or later. About three years ago, a friendly and laudable spirit of rivalry regarding carrying capacity and speed, originated among the owners of the modern high-classed freight steamers, and every pound of freight as well as every foot of ad- * vantage was taken out of the handsome and powerful structures, then and now put afloat. This of course, was an excellent feature, as the trimming of cargoes, prompt despatch in port, close and car ful navigation, the smooth and perfect running of machinery demanded thereby, brought thefindustry of freight transportation to the very acme of economical administration, although, it was quite noticeable that the older shipowners were go- ing along in the quiet tenor of their way without trying to set the lakes on fire by frictional resistance on the out- side of their hulls, or yet gaining an enviable notoriety through the columns of the press for squeezing a few tons or bushels more into their hulls than previous- ly recorded. The speed and big cargo record has, however, been car- ried perhaps a notch too far, inasmuch, as all other facts have been lost sight of, until sister ships were actually expected to show a difference in effectiveness and capa- bility in breaking the record by the carriage of a tew more hundred bushels of grain, or the delivery of a lit- tle larger quantity of iron ore in a single cargo on a stated draught of water. As we have shown in the foregoing, such results, how- ever desirable they may be to attain under the above conditions, from a pecuniary point of view, can only be accomplished bya curtailment in some manner of the amount of weight of material used in the construction. It should require no abstruse arguments to establish in the average reader’s mind that one ship will carry just as much cargo on the same draught of water as another, provided they are both built on the same dimensions and of the same model and weight ; therefore, it is obvious that to “ break the record” by carrying more weight of cargo in one ship than another of like dimensions on a fixed draught of water, can only be accomplished in one way, and that is by reducing the size and thickness of the scantlings and plates of which the ship is composed. These facts should be seriously considered by all en- gaged in commerce on the lakes, for it is the ambition of every master to carry all the cargo possible, and the ques- tion seems pertinent to ask,if any of our lake vessels have been carrying cargoes to such an. extent that the hulls are in any way weakened to combat without cargo the tempestuous seas experienced during the fall storms ? Since the existence of the competition spoken of, the largest carrier has received the greatest credit, and in the effort to obtain the credit, it is hard to say what may have been sacrificed or overlooked in other respects. To quote a previous sentence of ours, “the builder con- structs, the Owner sails, and the underwriter insures, each for their own special “rake off ”,at least, whatever policy may be adopted as a means to justify the end, the earning capacity or net gain is the prime factor and bare truth of the raison d'etre in each case. é Another teature necessarily depending upon ‘ break- ing the record” is the fact that lake built iron and steel ships have notin all cases been built under arbitrary rues based upon maritime experience, hence, each build- er may have taken ,unto himself ,rules which might be departed from, on special occasions, whereby the car- — }