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THE MARINE RECORD. ll EeEeeae=S=S ee —————————————— MARINE LAW. Prepared Expressly for the Marine Record. MARITIME LOANS, Although thie subject may not be as im- portant in conjunction with our lake com- merce as ic is in connection with that upon the ocean on account of the facilities which are presented at every port for communica- tion with vessel owners by means of tele- graph, still it is not without interest. Fre- quently the master of the vessel is the own- er and it may be that all his available eapi- tal is locked up in the vessel and it may be the cargo; in such a case, in case of accident or misfortune the vessel or cargo will be se- eurity upon which a loan must be negotiated. As will appear hereafter, such a loan may be made by the master, whether owner or not, By maritime loans is meant loans with the ship or cargo us security. ‘The power to make these. loans rests either in the owner- shipof the vessel or in the necessity of the ease. Binding the ship or cargo in this way ie termed hypothecation, which term con- veys much -the same meaning as the word mortgage is applied to other species of prop- erty. ‘hese loans are divided into two gen- eral classes, bottomry and respondentia bonds. When the ship is hypotheeated, the contract is called a bottomry bond on account of the ship, to Zthe bottom plank, being pledged as security; when the cargo is pledged the contract is styled respondentia as the cargo must respond as security. Courts of Admiralty ‘have always upheld these contracts with a strong hand where they have been entered into bona fide and without any suspicion of fraud. It is.a self- evident proposition that the owner would have the right to pledge the ship and freight for any lawful purpose, and a little thovght will convince any’ intelligent person of the necessity for some such provision as this by means of which the master may. raise funds to prosecute the voyage when ina foreign port,or when the owner can furnish n> other means of raising the same, after the boat and freightage comes the cargo itself, which must respond as security. ‘The bond is usually conditioned upon the safe arrival of the ship, and as the lender takes not only the risk of his interest, but of his principal also, it will be seen that the Joan.is in the nature of an. insurance as well as of a mort- gage. The lender takes the risk of the ‘‘Per- ils of the sea,”’ for this reason the principles of law relating to usury do not apply, and in- terest is limited to no especial rate. Any rate that the parties may agree upon which is not exorbitant can be collected. In determ- ining what would be an exhorbitant-rate all the circumstances of the voyage and the risks to be run will be taken into congidera- tion by the courts. If the vessel arrived safe, the owner as well as the property pledged is bound to repay the loan together with the maritime interest, but if the vessel is lost or wrecked except by the negligence or fault of the owner, master or mariners: the lender an look only to the remains. A bottomry bond cannot be given by the mas- ter for a preexisting debt. The lien which the sailors have for their wages takes prece- dence over any bottomry bond, and their wages cannot be hypothecated. In case of tle necessity for a second hypothecation |. Auring the same yoyage, instead of the first hypotheeation taking precedence of the sec- ond, sa mortgage would, the order is re- versed and the last takes precedence over ihe first, for the reason that if the last had not been made the whole security of the first Jender would have been Jost. The bottomry bond also supercedes a former insurance, a former mortgage, or any other lien except for seamen’s wages. ‘The authorities are not agreed as to whether a lender upon a bot- tomry bond is liable to a contribution in case ot a jettison, but the better opinion seems to be that he would be, on the same principle that a later hypothecation takes precedence over a previous one or over a mortgage. In case of a respondentia bond, if the ship is lost and the cargo can be saved and forward- ed by another ship, the owners are person- ally responsible on the bond. In all cases after the risk has ended by the safe arrival maritime interest ceases as itis only allowed as a compensation for the risk, and the ordi- nary legal rate commences on the accumu- Jated principal and Snterest, on the princi- ple that after money is due it diawe interest at the legal rate until paid. If no rate of in- terest has been stipulated in the bond only the legal rate can be collected as the law can supply no rate higher than that. As was stated at the beginning, this subject is not so applicable to lake commerce and to the present time as formerly, still it is of inter- est, and continues its principles of useful service. ‘The great extension of commerce and the immense capital. invested in it, to- gether witb the almost universal employ- ment of insurance tends also to lessen the cases wherein hypothecation becomes neces- sary. ‘his may be marked as one of the milestonesin the great march of progress for which commerce has done so much. GENERAL NEWS. A telegram from Washington says: .'The board of life-saving appliances will meet at Buffalo September 3d. : One hundred thousand people have at- tended the Louisville Exposition since the opening. ‘This does not include attaches who enter through the gate. . Orders were issued at the ‘Nreasury De- partment August 15th, for the opening of all the life-saving stations on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts onthe Ist of September next, Lake Michingan is gradually “chewing up” Racine, Wis., already having made marked encroachments on her ground. An injunction should be got out in the shape of a stone wall, In September a cable will be Iuid between the life-saving station at Brigantine Beach, New Jersey, and the mainland, and the sta- tions immediately above and below the Brig- antine Beach station will be connected with it by telegraph. , A company of San Francisco capitalists are at Port ‘Townsend, Washington Territo- ry, negotiating for land, and making ar- rangements for. building «> saw mill and shipyard in that place. ‘he works, which are to be finished Inside of six months, will cost $300.000. 7 A decision by the Treasury Department was recived in Chicago which seems to ad- mit that Canadian barge lines may enter the ‘American coasting trades on. the lukes. American vessel owners will make vigorous opposition. ‘The new tunnel on the Delaware, Lacka- wanna & Western railroad, near Nicholeon, begun nearly a year ago, has been substan- tially completed, and the first train passed through it last week. The tunnel is 2,177 feet in length, 16 feet wide and 21 feet high. An opinion by: Solicitor Raynor, of the Treasury Department, gives steamboat men and tug men great joy. It is to the eftect that an appeal from a local board of steam- boat inspectors is a stay of sentence, until the supervising inspector hears the case. A scientific voyage round the world is to be undertaken by the Swedish frigate Van- adis. ‘he expedition will be absent about eighteen months, and is to include the Duke of Gotland, King Oscar’s youngest son, and several eminent Swedish eavants. Advices from Winnipeg are to the eflect that the general success of the grain harvest for Manitoba is now beyonda doubt. A very bountiful crop of wheat will be reaped, with the general yield over an average. The average acreage sown in the province shows an increase of 54 per cent over 1882, The Oswego Palladium says that “ta new ‘Maid of the Mist’ will be launched on the American side of Niagara river at Saspen- sion Bridge before the first week in Septem- ber, and on September Gth the steamboat with colors flying will run through the rap- ids to Lewiston. Work on the boat was be- gun Saturday at the water’s edge, a few rods above the railway bridge.” An Arabic manuscript dating trom the latter half of the fourteenth century (1365) conveys the curious intormation that the merchant vessels trading at that time in the Indian ocean carried four divers, whose du- ties were solely to discover and stop leaks in the hull of the craft below the water line. Sound of the trickling water indicated the points of danger, The Mexican Navigation Company re- cently sent an agent to England to buy two steamers for their New Orleans line. ‘The agent has failed to purchase the steamers and the government has extended the time for the commencement of the operation un- til the steamers can be built. he Lamoul- apas, the first steamer of the Trans-atlantic Line, is expected to arrive at Vera Cruz in October, ‘Iwo steamers will be put on the line early next year. Merchants hope the Alexandria Line will continue to ply be- tween Mexicvn ports, New Orleans, and New York. | J. B. Gardner, a wealthy citizen of Bos- ton, recently deceased, provided in bis will that a Jarge sum of money, bonds, and other securities, aggregating in value $931,600, should be turned over to the United States ‘Treasury to, be used in helping to pay the national debt. The bequest has been re- ceived at the ‘Treasury department and placed to the credit of “patriotic donations.” STEAM AND SAIL. From the Maritime Register. It is predicted that the sailing ship will go out forever with the nineteenth century. ‘Ten years ago it was declared that steam was to be the only motor used iti propelling ships. But startling developments in the field ot electrivity have lead to the belief that steam may be displaced by evena cheaper and) more powerful motor, — ‘The Succession of surprices, however, in steam and electric machinery, has quite settled the fate of sil apparently, and he is looked up- on as a fossil who still clings with any per- tinacity to the idea that sail asa propelling power for vessela is not doomed. It is com- fortable to sail with the current, especially when it seeins particularly smooth and safe. There is certainly a broad basis upon which to-ba-e these strong assertions concerning the class of vessels which will be used in the future, And the spirit of the'age is entirely in tavor of everything which appears to give speed and, as it were, annihilate time and space. But there are some oostacles -in the way of the accomplishment of this prophesy concerning sailing ships'and it would be well to ascertvin if these do promise to mod- ify the conditions so confidently set torth. The struggle-is not now for the supremacy of steam or sail, for the formér has sueceed- ed,and as far as the latter is concerned it will hereafter be lowest in the class. ‘There is no struggle between steam and some st- perior agency, for nothing superior has as yet been discovered; or rather been thor- ougily tested and found practicable. | It is simply «a question whether steam. can drive out sail entirely. A cursory glance at the water carrying trade of the world would at once lead to the belief that it not only ean, but that itis rapidly doing so, But a closer glance shows that while it is confining the use of sail into smaller and smaller limits a final extinction is not ‘at all probable. There’ will come a point beyond which steam can- not go in competition and at which sail will hold its own. This point has not yet been reached, but it is not faraway. ‘I'he beliet. however, that the steamer is to be the only carrier, has led to an enormous overproduc- tion of that class of vessel, with the conse- quent result that large numbers of them earn no profit. Fiervely competing among them. selves the sailing ship had to go to the wall. But now it is tound that in certain trades sailing ships have more than held their own even against such odds, and are making money. ‘They share in any cheapness in cost of building, and in some trades their lesser cost enables them to compete with steamers, This difference in cost: will always exist and it will be tound sufficient for a long time to come to give the sailing ship an advantage over all other classes as a carrier. The rail- way has not driven the steamboat out of trade. The canal boat is not yet a relie of the past. These vessels hold their owa sim- ply because they make the element of cheap- hess in the question of. transportation enter so largely iu their favor that profit is found in using them. In certain trades, with cer- tain classes of goods, this element ef cheap transportation is so vital a factor that time may be sacrificed) with impunity and the transportation given to that vessel which cau carry cheapest. ‘That vessel in many instances must perforce be sail. But now another factor is creeping in which makes the predicted annihilation of sail further removed than ever. ‘This is an old plan being put into practice again. The question of the profitable employment of steam as an auxiliary power in propelling sailing ships is again attracting attention, Attempts in this direction have not been successful. This was specially owing to the drawbacks attendant upon a class of machin- ery of which little was really known, the cost of which was large and the construction of which was clumsy. Disgusted with these few experiments attention was turned al- most wholly to making improvements in vessels with steam power alone. ‘I'hese im- provements have naturally extended inves- tigation into wider and wider fields and by consequence have taken in the old matter of auxiliary steamers again. The mistakes of past years have been studied in order to lead to new discoveries, Of late strides have been made and some of the best mechanical minds are giving the subject of auxillary steamers closer study. It is main- tained that sail vessels with auxiliary steam power Can be run at a slight increase in ex- pense over sailing vessels. A propeller screw adapted to this class of vessel has been invented and the cost of fitting out a sailing vessel] with auxiliary engines is not great. Experiments have already been made in this country with this class of vessel with, years great | we are told, success, An auxiliary steam bark is now being built on the Pacific coast, and from indications more of this class will be builtin the near future. A large four- masted fron ship Jaunched on the Clyde this year has been titted up with two auxiliary screw propellers, one on each side amidshipa,. The propellers are driven by the engine on deck, and they drive the ship at the rate of about three miles an hour. All these ex- periments are being closely watched, as there is an increasing class favoring the idea of the combination of steam and sail, and if success is at all probable, the next great change iu shipbuilding will be with the aux- iliary steam vessel. It will be admirably adapted tor long voyages, and this combina- tion of wind and steam—one supplementin the other—promises to give the cheapest ind of an. ocean carrier. It is undoubtedly the ideal combination of motors and it offers so many advantages, at once the cheapness of cost and working of the sailing ship with the continued progress attendant upon steam that it will be strange if mechanical genius does not succeed in giving to the world this much desired class of vessel, STANLEY’S WORK IN AFRICA. From the Inter Ocean. ‘There-have been many rumors ag to what Stanley was doing and would be able to do n Africa, but all have been of an uneatis- factory or sensational character. When he went to Africa as the representative of the African Internation Agsociation in 1879, Stamey himself gave to his work the air of mystery. The infomation that he was en- gaged in building x turnpike from below the cataracts on the Congo to the upper‘naviga- ble waters was grudgingly given, and it was not until Jate in 1880 that anything answer- ing to official reports was submitted in re- gard to his operations. By December, 1880, Stanley had carried his turnpike and ‘incidental improvements to Isangila, 52 miles from Viva, or 162 miles from the mouth of the Congo. ‘The third station Manyanga,- was reached in May, 1881, and here Stanley fell ill. When he re- covered he found that the site selected for his fourth station had been occupied by De Brazza in the interest of France. His pro- test .was ignored, and for a time eerious trouble threatened, but finally the fourth station was established on the opposite shore, at Leopoldville, 230 miles from Vivi. At this point he launched a steamyacht and established the fifth station at the con fluence of the Counge with the Congo, 100 miles above Leopokiville. He carried his explorations 300 miles further, and thus opened the way to the interior. De Brazza, it should be understood, worked over to the Congo from the Ogeve river, which had been the route of French expeditions 10 the interior of Central Africa. In 1880 he discovered that the Alima river, which approached the Ogeve, was s tribu- tary of the Congo. He went down the Ali- | na to the Congo, and with the purpose to forestall Stanley in his- Congo scheme, ob- tained a concession of the territory 1ronting for nine miles on the river, atthe point where Stanley had planned to have his turn- pike terminate. He explored and claimed for the French the country between the Qgeve and the Congo, and the French Gov- ernment approved his scheme for a protec- torate. So matters rested when both De Brazza and Stanley visited Europe. De Brazza met with an enthusiastic reception in France, while Stanley received countenanee and supporé both in Belgium and England, and indirectly in Germany. De Brazza returned to his field of operations, but it was reported that Stanley would not return. lt was even stated that, fearing that France would re- sort to force to maintain De Brazzu’s posi- tion, the International Association had de- cide to keep the aggressive Stanley out of Africa for some months. It now appears that Stanley went at once to the Congo country and set about over- coming the influence of French diplomacy . He entered also into negotiations with the Portugese, who claim the mouth of the riv- er, and with the Dutch e&tablishment at Borna, eighty miles from the coast. He has, so the English correspondents report, recon-; ciled the natives, and won them over from De Brazza, so that he is now practically in control of the Congo route for 250 miles above De Brazza’s post, and from that point to the coast. or An improved dredging machine has been patented by Messrs. Larence A. Jonnson and Nels KE, Johnson, of Portland, Oregon, which consists of one or more spurred cylinders for breaking and loosening the bed of shallow rivers or streams, and with a propeller screw for agitating the water and causing the loosened sand, mud, ete., to be carried off by. the current. The machine is very sim- ple in its construction, and not likely to get 0 1t of order by use. ITCHING PILES—SYMPTOMS AND CURE, The symptoms are moisture like perspira- tion, intense itching, particularly at night after getting warm in bed; seems as if pin worms were crawling in and about the ree- tum; the private parts are often affected, Swayne’s Ointment is a pleasant, sure cure, Also for all skin diseases,