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MARINE LAW. EVERY VESSEL A PART OF THE TERRITORY TO WHICH 8HE BELONGS, A recently reported decision of the Su- preme Court at Washington gives an exten- sion to the operation of the laws of a State over vessels owned by her citizens, but sail- ing on the high seas, which will become in- teresting and important in many respects, Che particular case arose under the New York pilot laws, which, as our readers know, authorize a pilot to board an incoming ves- sel and tender his services; and to recover a certain compensation even though his sery- ices are declined, and the shipmaster brings the ship in himself. Several other States with ocean harbors have similar lawe. ‘The general understanding in the subordinate courts has been that laws ot this kiad “have no extra-territorial operation ;” and = that they can only be deemed obligatory within acertain limited distance from shore, such, as may be deemed within the jurisdiction of the State. ‘There have been several discus- sions as to what this distance ought to be, but no definite rule has been established.. The decision of the Supreme Court is that any discussion as to limits of distance is un- important; thata State law of this kind travels vith the vessel and operates where- ever a pilot from the State meets her, even though it should be—as in this instance it was-—fifty miles out.at sen. A vessel at sea is considered as a part of the territory to which she belongs when at home. . She car- vies with her the rights and jurisdiction of her locality. On the high seas a New York pilot has the same right to demand employ-' ment from a New York vessel, and the same Jegal consequences follow a refusal, as if pilot boat and vessel were within the har- Dor. The jurisdiction of a local sovereign over a vessel and those belonging to her is, according to the law of nations, the same in the home port and upon the high seas... Un der our Constitution the like jurisdiction of a State is simply subject to the commercial laws of Congress and the laws declaring erimes upon the high seas. : The, decision goes far to decide a recent eontroversy of much gfeater@nterest to the general public than are pilotage questions; viz., the right to recover damages where a passenger on board a ship at sea, is hurt or killed by negligence or fault of the master or mariners. Until the legistures interfered, the courts used to hold that ifa passenger injured by negligence of the carrier’s serv- ants died of his injuries, there was no re- dress to be had for his family; for the man’s lawsuit, so the courts considered, died ‘when the man did. ‘This view was not sat isfactory to the traveling public, and in modern times Parliament passed a law— commonly called, from its authorship, Lord Campbell's Act—saving alive an injured person’s right of action, notwithstanding his death, for the benefit of his widow, chil- dren, etc. Many of our States have passed similar laws. But it has always been under- stood that any rights of this description were dependent on rome express statute, and eould not be carried any further than the statute expressly authorized. For example: California has one. of these laws. A Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong took passage upon the steamer Eastport, owned in California, for San Francisco. On the voyage the vessel struck a rock, and the crew and passengers took to the boats. ‘These were so carelessly managed that the lady was drowned. The husband then brought suit for damages, in the United States circuit court, but invoking the California law. But the judge said that that law could not operate out ot Cali- fornia; if it could then other States and countries could pass laws on the same sub- ject, likewise operating everywhere, and there would soon be conflict and confusion without remedy. ‘The idea seems not to have occurred to him that the law might be considered as operating on board a Cali- fonia veasel, where no other law could haye the same claim to come, and thus all confu- sion might be avoided. ‘l'bis idea did sug- gest itself to the New York court of appeals, in a case decided in the same year (1879) with the California case. Apparently the judges had not, in either decision, heard of the other one. In the New York case a steamer set sail from New York City tor Galveston, Texas, carrying, contrary to law, a great quantity of petroleum. While at sea a fire broke out; it reached the petroleum which made such a conflagration that one man on board, at least, was burned to death. The court of appeals said that his widow could recover damages under the New York law or the subject, for although that law could not run into other States, and would not have aided her suit if her husband’s death had occurred in ‘Texas, for instance, where there was, or might be, a law on the subject, yet it did not accompany a New York ship on her voyage through public waters over which no municipal laws exist, Every ves- sel is, while on the high seas, constructively a part of the territory of the nation to which she belongs; and its laws are operative on board of her. In the case of an American ship, whatever takes place on board during the voynge is governed, if the subject is within the United States authority, by Fed- eral law, it itis within State authority, then by the law of the Stute from which the ves- sel hails. It is obvious that the Supreme Court de- cision in the pilotage case sustains the New York and overthrows the California view. It, in effect, establishes the liability of ship- owners to pay damages for the death of a person caused on the high seas by any act or neglect of the master or crew which would expose the owners to a lawsuit if the disaster had occurred within the State to which the ship belonged, a point, as is plain, of great ‘importance. GENERAL NEWS. Canadian lumbermen are asking for a bounty on manufactured lumber ‘sent to the United States. r The largest pumps to be driven by wind- mills ever made-'n this country have just been shipped to. Brazil by A. J. Corcoran, the manulacturer. i Mrs. Louis Green, of Tonawanda, whose eyes were recently operated upon, removed the bandages on Monday morning and is able to go about and do her work. She has been totally blind for ten years or more. The steamer Coptic, which sailed from San Francisco for Hong Kong ‘Thursday, carried away nearly 1,200 Chinamen. Of thie number 900 were provided with return certificates. - Eleven trading schooners with armed men recently drove off the American guardship Leon at the island of ‘I'julenij, one of the Aleutian groups, and took possession. There were some Japanese among the invaders. The Russian Government has bought from the Swan Electric Light Company, for the price of $500,000 the exclusive right to use the inventions of that company in Russia as well as the right to sell the lampsin that country. i A private dispatch received at Chicago announced that Peter Ostram, first officer of the schooner L. W. Perry, had died suddenly on board the vessel at Mil- waukee, and that the doctors pronounce it a case of Asiatic cholera. Mr. Ostram was well known and has numerous friends along the lake. A letter passed through the Richmond, Va., postoffice Wednesday with a two-cent Confederate stamp affixed, and the postoffice officials did not detect the fraud. ‘The Con- federate stamps were similar to the new two- cent letter stump in color and design, and if many of them are in existence they may cause considerable annoyance. Patrick Fitzgibbons has exhibited a model of his patent steel boller which he claims is greatly superior in strength and durability to any boiler now in use. The one exhibited at the Chicago exposition took the first premium. The present model is to be sent to the president of the Erie railroad, who saw the model at Chicago and wished to in- spect it further. Mr. Fitzgibbons has been offered a large sum for his patent but is not ready tosell. An important ruling of the ‘Treasury De- partment is that the tonnage of sternwheel steam vessels, a8 re-measured by the Custom authorities, will not comprise any space that is not enclosed. This will reduce the ton- nage and inspection fees of boat owners materially. By enclosed space is meant that which is surrounded on all sides by walls, and as all our boats are open on the boiler and cabin decks, the Customs tonnage will only really be the space inthe hull. The Sultan of Turkey is defeated ina suit brought against the Providence ‘tool Com- THE MARINE RECORD. pany. designed to recover the value of about 50,000 rifles -manutactured on the order of the ‘Turkish Government, but never de- livered, on account of some alleged failure in payment. ‘The case was argued before Judge Blatchford, of the United . States Court, in June last. Upon an application for an injunction to compel the company to fulfill its contract, and to probibit it from disposing of the rifles to any one else, the in- junction was denied and the restraning order was vacated, A pumber of new tug boats will be con- structed during the coming winter for work at Chicago next season. ‘I'he Vessel Owners ‘rowing Company at present contemplate building three new tug boats of the same size as the tugs ‘Taylor and Hood, which were built three years ago. One of the boats will be furnished with the engine and boiler of the tug Van Schaick, and the other two will be fitted anew throughout. It ia in- tended to construct a lighter engine and boiler for the hull of the Van Schaick. Ut is believed that by doing this the boat will be in better condition than ever before, At present she is used altogether for harbor towing, being too heavy for outside work. FLYING DIAMONDs. Captain Donohue, the customs officer at ‘Ogdensburg has unearthed the most exten- sive suheme for smuggling that has ever been brought to the notice of the Goyern- ment autborities. ‘The discovery was purely accidental, but the thorough» manner in which the details of the case were afterward ferreted out reflects great credit on the federal officers. On Wednesday afternoon, September 5th, J. H. Clavering, a young farmer, living near Rensselaer Falls, some eighteen miles from Ogdensburg, brought into Captain Donohue’s oftice a stall pack- age of diamonds secured ina quill. He also brought with him.a pigeon filled with bird- shot. ‘The diamonds and the pigeen he laid upon the captain’s desk, and he explained that he had shot the bird that morning. On examining his prize the young man found attached to the lett leg a small roll, securely tied with silk. Investigation showed this to be the large part of a turkey’s feather filled | with glittering stones. ‘l'bese he believed were d:amonde, and, hastily putting up his plow and team, he hurried to town, told his story to the chief of police, and was directed to the customs officer. After fruitiess eftorts'in other directions, Captain “Donohue placed a watch on all trains leaving for Canada, and onthe 23d instant his watchfulness was rewarded by the finding of a wicker basket containing four of the homing pigeons. The basket was addressed to B. k. Harmon, Kempville, Canada, and the charges upon it were pre- paied. ‘Iwo detectives were dispatched on the train with instructions to follow up Har- mon, learn the nature.of his business, and secure evidence againet him, but the smug- glere had become alarmed and fled. A. vigilant search by trained’ woodmen was next ordered. William Cowan, by the merest accident, as he admite, came upon the hiding place for which he had been. search- ing. He had paddled down the Oswegatchie river in a boat, aud about the middle of De Kalb county struck a marshy ditch that led toward Beaver creek. Poling his way through the tanyled weeds and grasses, and wading part of the distance, his patience was reward- ed by the rustle of wings and a soft cooing. Parting the reeds he saw within a number of pigeons. He felt his task to be practically accomplished, and wading to firmer ground, soon came upon three dove cotes securely fastened in the branches of as many dead trees. A rude log cabin in the center of the clearing was the only sign of human habitation. premises convinced Cowan that the smug- glers had taken alarm from the failure ot the captured pigeons to return. Returning to Ogdensburg, Cowan laid the result of his work before Captain Donohue, and that official determined to lay the matter before the Secretary of the Treasury at Washing- ton, and a statement embodying the facts as herein given was prepared for transmission to Secretary Folger. {tis believed that the frauds have been carried on for the past two years, a8 the pigeons, in order to be thor- oughly trained to return home, must be raised on the premises. ‘I'he scheme as un- derstood, was to dispatch about once every week or ten days a covey of twelve or fifteen pigeons loaded with diamonds, ‘Vhe precious stones were accurately described and a rec- ord of their shipment and reception care- fully kept. It is estimated that the total amount smuggled is between $700,000 and $800,000, and the loss to the Government at ten per cent. of this amount—the present duty on diamonds.— Port Huron Times. — — MARINE FATALITIES, So many singular disasters befall sailors that shipwreck and suffering at sea must bear a peculiarly terrible character in order to become memorable. [t is for this reason, perhaps, that the list of notable shipwrecks is exceedingly short. Marine fatalities are 80 frequent that a brief annual enumeration ‘Thorough investigation of the | of them alone would fill out many pages, and therefore for the loss of a vessel Lo pass into history, the dissster requires xc- companiments quite outside the usual mel- ancholy features. ‘he present age has enor- mously increased the number of ships which have been wrecked, and of crews which have lamentably perished; yet, despite the hundreds of vessels gone to their account since the date of the destruction of the Prin- cess Alice on the ‘Thames, it it. difficult to recall a single shipwreck which has tuken place between that period and the present time, the story of which bids fair to survive the present generation. ‘'he Medusa, the Amazon, the Kent, the Birkenhead—these und some others are well remembered names; every marine collection includes them, and their story has been told over and over again. The reason is plain enough; such heroism as the Birkenhead illustrates, such suffering as we find in the Medusa and the Kent, will always successfully appeal to the heart; and the fascination, oppressive as it often grew, is perennial. But why are other shipwrecks passed‘over? Why should not the dreadful narrative describing the Cimbria have as fixed a place in history as that of the foundering of the Royal George? Why should not the wreck of the Navarre prove as memorable as that of the Dodliag- ton East Indiaman? Be the reason what it may, there can be no questiun that our fores fathers used to be wrecked in such a pic- turesque and original way that many of their marine disasters might have been the invention of a brain like Edgar Poe’s. We have grown more prosaic, and on the whole more dreadful. In earlier times, if a ship capsized, the survivors would climb upon her bilge and there live for days upon the weeds and barnazles adhering to her, In this age a versel goes down in a few mo- ments, and most often the greater portion of her people sink with her. Formerly ocean incident was of a most romantic character Lonely islands abounded, also coral lands. beautiful with fruits and flowers and green with savannahs, where lovely female sav- ages sported in the silver water. Then ‘there were terrible experiences along with a great deal of gold-dust to be picked up on the African shores; there were likewise many surprising monsters to be encountered in the deep, so that peril in the days gone by was decidedly poetical. Now we are re- duced to the coarse and dull prose of. collis- ion, overloading and bad stowage. The dusky, tropical Hebes have dived out of | sight in their shining seas ; the lonely islands. have governors, prisons, and hotels; there are no more undiscovered countries left; and when disasier overtakes the seuman the circumstance usually proves to be one of pure hard suffering, ynsanctified by. any ray of that. golden light of romance whose radi- ance gilds so many of the earlier stories. Perhaps‘this is one reason most of the dread- ful shipwrecks which have occurred of late years have dropped so speedily out of the public memory.-—— London Telegraph. STATISTICS OF EXPORTS. The Bureau of Statistics at Washington, D. C., has issued an advance statement of the exports of domestic provisions, tallow. and dairy products during the month of August, a8 reported by the various customs districts in the United States. The returns made to Collector Hartsuff show that the exports in this district. greatly exceed those of the Detroit district. We append the sta- tistivs of the Huron and Detroit districts: Detroit Dist. month of the previous year. The total value of exports reported in the Huron district for August for the eight months ended August 31 was $4,390,222, an incrense of $2,280,195 over the same period in 1882; while the value of the exports re- ported in the Detroit district for the eight months ended August 31 was $79,433, an in- crease over the same period of 1881 of $39,- 882. Excess of the Huron district over the Detroit district for the eight months ended August 31, $4,310,789, The Huron district exports are exceeded only by the districts of New York, Boston and Philadelphia.— Port Huron Times. THE MECHANISM OF MAN. Man is nothing more than a fine piece of mechanism and as such he must expect to get out of order oceasionally. Especially is this the case in the spring time, when like the clogged works ot a watch, he should un- dergo a thorough internal cleaning. 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