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) Ghe Marine Record. A Journal devoted to Commerce, Navigation and Science, Published Weekly BY ALANSON WILCOX, Editor & Proprietor, aT CLEVELAND, OHIO. Office No. 2, South Water Street. TERMS: $2.00 per Annum. INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE, AGENTS ARE WANTED IN EVERY PORT. ADVERTISING RATES. Ten cents per line solid Nonpariel measurement. Twelve lines of Nonpariel set solid make one inch, Twenty cents per line for reading notices, solid tiinion measurement, Articles, letters and queries on all subjects are solici- d. ewiths Editor as‘umes no responsibility for the opinions of correspondents. To insure notice, contributors must give name and address, and write on one side of the paper only. THE MARINE RECORD has an Agent in every port on the Lakes and Rivers, and will consequently circu- late more or less in all of them. Asa medium for advertising it has no superior, as it circulates among a class of people that can be reached in no other way.. — EDITORIAL NOTES. Tue Star Route farce has ended. The de- fendants, though not convicted are disgraced * men, and the verdict is not a vindication. ‘TE steambarge J.S. Fay with her consort the D. P. Rhodes reports passing through 200 miles of ice on the recent up trip. Some of the cakes were 30 feet thick and the mate ot the Fay thinks there will be ice on the north shore al] summer, Tere has been a great'deal of complaint of the measurement of grain at Kingston. Inmany instances the shortage has eaten up the entire freight. Lately improvement has been noticed in this respect, and some cargoes have overrun. Why this difference? Tue largest steel sailing ship afloat was launched last year at Belfast, Ireland. It registers 2,220 tons and has been named the Garfield, after our lamented president. It is employed in the Australia and California trade by the managers of the White Star Line. By the Michigan papers we see that a del- egation from the legislature of that State is likely to make an excursion to Lake Superi- or thissummer. ‘The details are to be set- tled by the members trom the Upper Pen- insula. The idea is to provide for an in- spection of the iron and copper disirict and a visit to all the principal towns. A VALUABLE smoke consumer has been in- vented by Mr. W. A. Foster of Cincinnati. It is said that smoke cannot exist when his device is attached and itis represented as being entirely applicable to any furnace under a steam boiler on shore or sea. The result of tests about to be made will be looked for with interest. FREIGHTS seein to be in abundance at all the principal ports on the lakes. ‘The de- mand for vessels continues and _ better rates are being obtained. P. t. now generaly means above former rates. Grain, ore, lum- ber, coal and general merchandise are offered in sufficient quantities to make the coming season a profitable one to yessel owners. Tur Chicago papers are loudly clamoring for the appointment of a tea inspector at that point, claiming that Chicago is the sec- ond city in the Union in the amount of tea imported, and that the largest imperting house in the union is located there. We cannot see why they may not have an in- spector and not be obliged to send samples to New York for inspection. Derrorr is making preparation for an art exhibition next September and October. A building tor this purpose is being constructed similar to the “centenial art annex.” Some very fine collections from Michigan and other states are promised for that accasion. Such exhibitions show the progressive taste and culture of our western civilization and should be encouraged, Pulsometer Steam Pump Company of 84 John street New York. One says: “It uses so little fuel we use it all day long witha barrel and a half of coal.” An other says: “It will pump more water with the least amount of Steam than any pump I ever saw and it costs nothing for repairs.’”” AMERICAN built ships are the best in the world. As to superiority in strength and seaworthiness they are unequaled among the ships of all nations, A wrecking regis- ter would show our ships to be better manned and managed than those of Great Britain. There is too much carelessness and utter disregard of human life in the management of the British marine, as is) shown by the collisions, disasters and losses reported, Wer may mention as an evidence of the popularity of the patent metallic life rafts of H- C. and J. H. Calkins, that during the past month they have supplied with rafts the Anchor, Guion, Red Star, Hamburg, North German, Lloyd, Rotterdam, Monarch and State Lines, all plying between New York and Furope. ‘They have also sold ratts to| numerous lines plying on the Hudson and East rivers, and have received an order from the Detroit and Cleveland Steam Navigation Company for two rafts for their new steamer City of Mackinaw. FLORIDA SHIP CANAL. The Florida Ship Canal and Transit Com- pany held a meeting in New York, presided over by Hon. Jno. C. Brown, of ‘Tennessee, Highly encouraging reports were made by various committees, and the feeling of suc- cess in the enterprise is very marked, Charles. P. Stone, the engineer, was present. He stated that he had examined fully into, the reports of previous engineers and enter- tained no doubt of the teasibility of con- structing a tide water ship canal across the Peninsula of Florida. He siso stated that his assistant engineer, R. Hill, is already on the ground in Florida, and that the actval work of survey would begin immediately. ‘The survey will be completed in about six weeks and as soon as the exact route ot. the canal is determined upon the contract will be let and the work be pushed with all pos- sible vigor. It is thought the work will be- gin by September next. Goneral Stone has had large experience in Egypt, in connec- tion with the Suez canal. Leading capital- ists of this country and Englard are eager to furnish the funds required for the con- struction of the canal. It is well understood here that the canal will have the backing and friendship of the great Texas and Ar- kansas system of roads, with the connections ramifying throughout the Southwest, and extending through to the Pacific. General Stone expects to be in Florida in two weeks. LAKE ERIE WATER SPOUT. One of the grandest sights that has ever been seen on Lake Erie was witnessed-re- cently a little southeast of Turtle light. 'The heavens were overcast with heavy clouds and a squall suddenly sprang up of con- siderable energy. The waters of the lake were lashed so that chop seas ensued. Amidst the bubblng of the waters and the casting of the spray high into the air a most remarkable phenomenon appeared. At three different points within half an hour the water was seen to take a whirling mo- tion and was swiftly sucked up, appearing like the light smoke from the stack of a steamer, increasing in volume like thread being wound round a bobbin, until it reached seemingly aquarter of a mile high. As it lengthened out it took the shape of a| j cornucopia, with large apex anda thread | like base. The three spouts were carried | along with great force, rotating rapidly, until | they struck the clouds and disappeared. The men on the tug Farragut say that while they had frequently seen waterspouts on | both fresh and salt water, the ones here des- cribed had marked peculiarities, differing widely from any they had ever seen, They | were awe-inspiring in the extreme, and had a weird appearance that carried des- truction in their path. This has been a remarkable year for cyclones that have hurled desolation and destruction, and one long to be remembered for wonderful phen- Many letters are received speaking in higest praise of the New Pulsometer of the omena in nature, and not the least strange were the spray-clouds on Lake Erie. ' AMERICAN BUILT SHIPS. A reporter of a Philadelphia paper says: “Captain Joseph Steele, a sturdy, ruddy American mariner, who has spent many years of his life in the Chinese trade, was found yesterday at his residenee on South Broad street. He said he had been recently in Great Britain, examining the shipbuild- ing yards in the interest of an American trading tirm. ‘I was sent over,’ he said, ‘to Scotland, by the Oceanic Steamship Com- pany, to charter vessels for the trade be- tween San Francisco and the Sandwich Islands. ‘he vessels we wanted were pecul- iar, for while they were to have a speed of not less than twelve knots an hour; they were not to be more than 2,300 tons dead weight capacity. his high rate of speed, compared with the comparative smallness of the capacity, is rendered nesessary by the limited depth of water on the Sandwich Islands bars. ‘here are no ships to-day in Great Britain that have that speed and that tonnage and I found there were only twen- ty five ships there that were capable of steaming over fourteen knots, and that the ships of ‘about the capacity that we wanted were only able to do from nine to ten knots. Failing to find the kind of ships we wanted, I was instructed to go to the principal ship building firms and get estimates for: three new ships. I accordingly visited John El- der & Co.’s famous shipbuilding yard on the Clyde, ‘Thomson’s yard on the Clyde, Inglis & Co.’s yard near Glasgow, and Harlan & Woolf's establishment in Belfast. All these yards had built well-known Atlantic ocean steamers. I got their estimates anc returned with them. to the United States. Here I went to our principal shipbuilding firms and got estimates from them also. After exam- ing the home and: foreign estimates care- fully, the Oveanic Company directors ie- solved to have the steamers they wanted built in this country, where they would be able to run under the American flag. Well, we finally decided to give the contract toa Philadelphia firm, at an increased cost over the English estimates of only about $40,000 on each steamer. ‘he directors argued that this difference of cost would be compensated for by the superiority of Ameriean Work- mansnip and material. Each of our steam- ers will cost half a million dollars.” “What did you think ot shipbuilding in England?” “‘My experience was that the work turned out in Belfast was as fine as any in the world. and that the Clyde-built engines were su- perior to the hulls of Clyde-built steamers. The large majority ot the ships turned out in England were of the ‘tramp’ class—very interior indeed; of no account, I might say. That is why we couldn’t find any steamers that would suit us, and why we had to look at home for the fulfilment of our require- ments. Two of our ships, the Mariposa (or Buterfly) and the Alameda (or Fortress), are now nearly ready, and the third is already in frame on the stocks. * * * * * * * Captain. Steele, who is superintending the building ef the Oceanic Company’s steam- ers, showed great pride in his ships, and told the reporter ashe was about to leave him that nobody need have any fears of the futureof American shipbuilding when ships like these were being turned out, superior in many respects to the very best boats built on the other side of the Atlantic.’ STEAMER PEBCY SWAIN. Stillwater, Minnesota, Gazette: The new steamer Percy Swain, built by D. M. Swain, of our city, of which we made mention re- cently, has proved a success far beyond the expectation of her owner. Mr. Swain has had much to contend with in this new fea- ture of machinery, only one or two of our steamboat men giving him any encourage- ment, but he has gone straight ahead, and | the day is not far distant when his improye- ments will be recognized by all, In our article recently a few mistatements were made and the following wil! be more comprehensive and correct. revolutions of her wheel a minute. ‘The en- gines are of the compressed plan, with sey- eral new features. One isa high pressure engine, 12 inch by six feet stroke. The other is alow pressure engine with a 24 inch by six foot stroke, With 120 pounds of steam, she makes 29 | | the high pressure engine in the usual man- ner, Its exhaust steam supplies the low pressure engine with about nine pounds of steam. ‘I'he steam is condensed and a vacu- um is obtained of about twelve pounds, This nine pounds of steam and twelve pounds of vacuum on the 24 inch engine developes the same power as the high , pres- sure engine. ‘Thus the consumption of steam is one-half of the ordinary two high pressure engines, which makes a saving of one-half the expense of fuel, which amounts to many hundred dollars every season. She is also provided with heater, condenser, air pumps, and feed water pumps, worked by an independent engine. ‘Phe whole machinery is so arranged that itcan be manipulated as easy as ihe ordi- nary steamboat machinery. MACKINAC, Nature and the hand of man never com- bined to better advantage, than’ when they fashioned the Mackinaw of to-day. The beautiful little island, with its ‘traditions, its many romantic and historical associations, some extending way back into the: dim reminiscences of days Jong since gon, by others still within the remembrance of honored actors of the present age of life, lies within the Straits of the same name, but a few miles from the main land, and is easily ° accessible to either the Northern or Southern’ Peninsulas. It is the most picturesque of any on the lakes, and here nature displays all her grandure. Indian tradition makes this island the home of the Giant fairies, hence it was regarded with awe by that race, by whom it was called Moe-che-ne-mock-e- nung. The French name of the early settlers was Michilimackinac. Picture after picture has been drawn, extolling the beauties of the turreted castles, the walled-in cities and fair fields, hills, rugged mountains and peaceful valleys of ancient and foreign climes.. Songs have been sung, and great minds have spoken in their praise; but not inferior to them all is Mackinac—with her “Lover's Leap” around which circles 4 pretty story of maiden’s fidelity ; the “Arched Rovk” a great natural wonder; the Devil’s “Punch Bowl,” a wierd appellation to a singular freak of Nature; the “Giant’s Stairway,” “Pontiac’s Lookout,” the “Chimney Rock,’’ the whitened walls of old Fort Mackinac on the hillside, built by the English in 1780, with the original block houses still standing intact; the Soldier’s Cemetery carrying one back a century anda halt, when some of those lying there were true men and brave defenders; the remains of old Fort Holmes, the “Parade Ground.’ the building of the old Fur Company, some of them nearly a century old; the quiet little village, beautiful because of its quietness—-all these and much moré make her the peer of any resort in the world. The settlement of Mackinac was com- menced in 1764, a year after the massacre at Old Mackinaw. In 1793 it was surrendered to the American governmen:; taken by the British i+ 1812, but restored by the treaty of Ghent two years later. It lies 728 feet above the level of the Ocean, is 350 miles North from Chicago, about 300 from Detroit, and 99 miles from Sault Ste. Marie by steamboat route. The mean annual temperature is 41 degrees fah. A portion of the Islard has been set aside by Act of Congress, to be known as the “Mackinac National Park.” Within easy access to the Island are various points of interest. Among them St. Ignace, the seat of the labors of Father Marquette; Old Fort Mackinaw, celebrated as the scenc of the dreadful Indian massacre jin 1763. “Spectacle Reef,” on which the Government has erected a very tine light- house. Cheboygan, (Indian Cha-boai-gan ) flourishing lumbering center—Dunean City, one mile from Cheboygan, is extensively engaged in lumbering, many million feet being cut annually. $0 UNION STEAMBOAT LINE, This line is composed of seventeen vessels in all, fifteen steamers and two of the larg- est schooners on the lakes. Four of the vessels make Lake Superior ports, stopping at all important points to Duluth , The line Coes a general freight and passenger busi- hess and is about twenty years old, The H, J. Jewett, of this line, is said to be the fastest boat on fresh water, making Chicago from Buffalo in’ 68 hours. She ig built in compartments and in regular ocean Steam is used on | style.