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THE MARINE RECORD. ee es a eee BITUARY OF A PIONEER LAKE NAVIGATOR. o ; "CAPT. A. W. ROSMAN. } em. Captain A. W. Rosman, one of Chicago’s oldest resi- _ dents, died of heart disease at his home, 869 Sawyer _ Avenue,son Saturday morning, November 26th. For over fifty years Capt. Rossman had followed the lake raffic with remarkable success asacommander. In the days of the old Northern Transportation Co. he was its fleet commander for twenty years, and later had for many seasons commanded vessels belonging to the Goodrich Transportation Co., plying between Chicago, Grand Haven and Muskegon. Five weeks before his _ death he became very ill, but insisted upon running his _ steamship, the Atlanta, into Grand Haven, though he required the support of two of his men while standing on the bridge giving his last orders. é ‘The funeral services of Capt. Rosman were held at his residence on Monday, November 28th, at two o’clock. Numbers of beautiful floral offerings were sent by his former business associates, and many white haired sailors were present to honor his memory. Dr. H. W. Thomas ‘delivered an eloquent funeral oration in which he touch- ingly referred to Capt. Rosman’s quiet, useful life and the devotion to his calling which enabled one to say of him that.in over half a century of command he had never lostacraft. The Linden male quartette rendered “Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep” and the hymn “Lead, Kindly Light,” and after the prayer and bene- diction by Dr. Thomas, the remains were conveyed to Rosehill cemetery, where they were interred in the family lot. The pall-bearers were Col. S. N. Randolph, John Sin- gleton, W. S. Canwright, Dr. G. H. Bassett, Cuthbert ‘McArthur and Audrew Pearson. Capt. Rosman leaves awife and daughter, Mrs. Frank Hamilton, of Traverse City, Mich. The following is a list of the vessels he sailed: 1838 and 1839, schooner Jacob A. Barker; 1840, schooner Indiana; 1841, schooner Nic Biddle; 1842 and 1843, schooner John F. Porter; 1844 and 1845, brig Illinois; 1846 and 1847, brig Europe; 1848, steamer Chautau- qua; 1849, steamer General Wayne; 1850, steamer Great Western; 1851 to 1857, propeller Lady of the Lake; 1857 to 1863, propeller Buckeye; 1863 and 1864, propeller Maine; 1866, propeller Brooklyn; 1867, propellers Young America and Oswegatchie; 1872 and 1873, propeller City of Toledo; 1880, schooner S. B. Pomeroy; 1882, steamer Corona; 1883 to 1891, propeller Menominee; 1891 and _ 1892, steamer Atlanta. 2 While seldom speaking of himself, Capt. Rosman had given some few incidents of his early life to those at his fireside. He said: “I came to the lakes whena boy on the Erie canal, as passenger on the Denmark from Lockport to Buffalo and shipped as cook on the Morning Star, a vessel of thirty tons. Was capsized, clung to the keel until the schooner Post Boy took us off; decided to be a sailor. In 1834 was on the Elisha Whittlesy, a topsail schooner. Capt. Blair carried apples, cider and fruit trees from Ashtabula to Detroit first trip in the spring, then lumber, and towed rafts of Spars, etc., to what is now Port Huron. There were light-houses on Lake Erie, but none on the upper lakes, ‘save on Thunder Bay Island, Bois Blanc and Rock Island. At Waugashonce Capt. Keith kept a light-ship where now stands a light-house, resting apparently on the water. Detroit wasa small place and had nota ‘paved street. All provisions came from the Canada side, brought over by fishermen. Their songs in the early morning were the signal of their coming. The first ferry boat across the Detroit river was the Argo, two logs squared for her bottom. The St. Clair flats were entirely unimproved, and there was hardly nine feet of water, we used to go around the north channel; the course was staked out, but no attempt was made to go over at night, In 1835 shipped on the "schooner Maringo, to run between Detroit and Chicago, Capt. Dingley. Capt. Steve B. Grummond was one of us. He has since been mayor of Detroit and is a shipowner in that city, the first land we made on Lake Michigan was where Waukegan now stands. Captain sent me to the foremast head to keepa sharp lookout for the ‘‘block house” (old Fort Dearborn), of Chicago. We came to an anchor at the mouth of the creek; there was no har- bor and we went ashore in a small boat. Later that year : the government dredging enabled vessels drawing four feet of water to getin. There were a few small houses mear where Rush Street bridge is now. The fort and John Kinzie’s residence were the most prominent build- ings. There wasasmall grocery at the forks of the _ river and a little place containing general merchandise; © pavements, no bridge, only two floats, one on the ain river, the other on the south branch. Even in 1854 there were ferries at State and Rush streets, and in 1842 Mark Beaubien owned a ferry. Mails were brought Milwaukee by stage, taking ten days to two weeks. engers came from Buffalo by stage and I paid ty-five cents tosend a letter containing ten dollars that city. We carried provisions of all sorts, and their household goods moving west we « NaF a loaded and discharged by means ofa scow. Lard and pork that came up the Illinois river was brought to Chicago in wagons and we took it to Buffalo. St. Joseph was much larger than Chicago. Grand Haven was the only harbor on the lake. There was a warehouse and several small buildings there. No Muskegon, no Manis- tee, no Ludington. The timber line was unbroken. We touched at Pike’s creek, now Kenosha, Root river, now Racine, and Nanarina, now Green Bay, to land per- sons who were looking up places to settle. When we were sent ashore to get wood for the cook’s fire, we were cautioned by the captain to gather drift wood from the beach, as wild animals would devour us should we enter the woods. At Mackinaw the fort was occupied by American sol- diers, the fur company was at its best and its ware- houses filled with wealth. Will Brewster was agent and lived at Detroit ; the old Mission was inhabited mostly by Indians; Senator Ferry was interested in the work that year. Here was where the Indians received their pay- ments from the government and many thousands came from all quarters, even from the Missouri, they were given blankets, arms and cash, the latter we brought up on the ‘“‘Maringo,” half dollars packed in boxes like axes. ‘Traders flocked from all points to sell to the In- dians, so in the end they went away as poor as they came, save a few trinkets. Captain Dingley died” that falland I went into the Marshal Ney with Captain Humphrey. At Buffalo, late in November, we hada heavy gale; the flats were submerged, we left for De- troit, got a south-wester, ran under Erie Peninsula with ten other vessels ; wind came from north-east, we ran out; we knew nothing of the north passage, were run- ning under double reefed foresail ; it was snowing hard; CAPT. A. W. ROSMAN. we made a light at 4a. m, put the two reefed mainsail and the bonnet off the jib, hauled her head to the light which turned out to be Point au Pelee Island light, in- stead of Marblehead light. By this mistake we reached Detroit safely ; the other vessels froze in the ice at the head of Lake Erie. The Austerlitz went ashore off Sleeping Bear Point; the crew attempted to walk to Grand Haven on the beach, several died and were buried in the snow, the others reached Grand Rapids and went by stage to Detroit. David Ewing was mate and pilot. The next spring we visited the wreck, got out a barrel of flour which had been under the water all winter. Not five pounds were damaged. When on the schooner Indiana in 1840, Col. R. M. Hough, the builder of the Union stock yards at Chicago, and the first president of the Chicago & Pacific railroad, sailed with me before the mast all summer, Spring of 1844 I took the brig Illinois. She was a big vessel for those days, carried studding sails alow and aloft, a top gallant studding sail, had two mates, six sailors, cook and cabin boy, and carried 7,000 bushels of wheat. Spring of 1851 went into the propeller Lady of the Lake at Ogdensburg, N. Y., my Clerk Z. M. Hall went to Boston to solicit freight and advertise the new line. He secured some business and all freight was carried by the Lady of the Lake. Dean Richmond, John P. Chopin and myseif were her owners. Later they sold out to Chamberlain and Crawford.who later added a score of boats as increase of business demanded, and thus was formed the Northern Transportation Company, whose propellers ran between Ogdensburg and Chicago for over twenty years.” ‘ signal of another without right. - TWO NEW YACHTS. The Davis Boat & Oar Co., of Detroit, have closed contracts to build two steam yachts this winter at their works at Wyandotte, one for George S. Davis, of Parke, Davis & Co., and another one for Michael Cudahy, the millionaire pork and beef packer of Chicago. The Davis yacht, upon which work has already been com- menced, will be 108 feet over all, 90 feet on the water line and 17 foot beam. She will be fitted with a Robin- son water-tube boiler and a compound engine. Her cabins are to be finished in a rich style, and she will compare favorably at every point with other fast steam yachts. The cost of this yacht will be $21,000. ¥ The Cudahy yacht, for which the contract was but F recently closed, will be one of the finest pleasure crafts z afloat on fresh water. Her cost will be $40,000. She will be 118 feet long and 17 feet beam, with a Robinson water-tube boiler and a triple expansion engine. The finishing of the cabins is to be in mahogany, and the fittings and furnishings throughout will be on a most elaborate scale. The yacht will not only be rich in style and finish, but very fast, and superior to anything now at Chicago. Both yachts will be completed early next season. $$ 0 <a> +p FOR THE ADOPTION OF A LAKE CLASSIFICATION SOCIETY. The meeting of the general marine insurance agents, owners and builders, held in Detroit, last Saturday, to deliberate on the adoption of a new system of survey and classification for iron and steel steamers, etc., resulted in the formation of a representative committee of underwriters’ agents who will report at a future meeting rules of classification that are expected to suit all interests. Shipbuilders were in attendance, with the notable ex- ception of the Globe Iron Works Co., though owners were sparsely represented, the president of the Lake Carriers’ Association considering that it was not within his province to appoint a committee to represent the association at the conference, so that it was essentially an underwriters’ meeting. Mr. E. Platt Stratton, chief engineer of the American Shipmasters’ Association, of New York, sought the adoption of ‘‘The Record of American and Foreign Shipping,’ and Capt. Herriman, chief of the lake marine department of the Bureau Veritas, desired to introduce their rules,,but no decided action was taken. The new system drawn up by Mr. Joseph R. Oldham, at the request of influential builders, owners and manag- ing owners, was not dwelt upon, though likely some- thing more will be heard of this departure at, if not be- fore, the annual meeting of the Lake Carriers’ Associa- tion, which takes place early next month. The commit- tee appointed by the underwriters to reach a basis of agreement are Messrs. Sandrock, of Buffalo, Stone, of Detroit, and David Vance, of Milwaukee. $a + + AN IMPORTANT MINING TRANSFER. The Schlesinger brothers of Milwaukee have bought the Aragon mine at Norway, Mich., from the Aragon Mining company, represented by Angus Smith, for $1,000,000. The formal transfer will take place in a few days. A small portion of the purchase price will be paid in cash and the remainder will come out of the product of the mine. . It is the largest mine discovered in the Menominee district in ten years or more. The mine worked out 166,- 000 tons of ore this year and about 200,000 last year, and now produces three grades of ore, all of a superior quality. EE ae TO PROTECT HOUSE FLAGS. At the request of the leading yacht clubs and also on behalf of. the principal steamship companies. a bill will be presented to Congress, providing for the reg- istry of yachting and shipping flags or symbols in the Bureau of Navigation of the Treasury Department, on payment of a fee of $2 and imposing a penalty of im- prisonment for not more than one year or a fine not exceeding $1,000 upon any one who uses or imitates the house flag or what is known on the Lakes as the private Ne A SPECIAL contract does not take away the character of a common carrier, such as a railroad, steamship, or express company, for, notwithstanding the express stip- ulations of such a contract, certain obligations imposed by public policy remain. One of these is to carry safely so far as care and diligence will enable the carrier to doso. The common law has indeed been relaxed so as to permit acommon carrier to limit his liability, but this change in the law does not go to the extent of allowing a carrier to contract for a complete exemption from lia- bility, nor does it go to the extent of changing the rule that, when the failure to carry is affirmatively sho the burden of showing exemption from the du obligations imposed by law rests upon the carr rule that the presumption is against the car: where he has full charge sndicasiony of ‘th in harmony with the doctrines sustained by of cases, a line beginning far back in t common law, and continuing unb: