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5 Tn (@) ‘DEVOTED. ay “VOL, VIL. NO. 4. CLEVELAND. "on JANUARY 4; 1885 AROUND THE LAKES. CLEVELAND. Ships were first copper-bottomed in 1788. The propeller Luella Worthington will get a new boiler this winter. It is not yet known who will build it. Captain B. Inman, of the propeller Ka- gota has arrived at‘his home in Port Huron, He reports a very good season. Captain Robert Greenhalgh’s tug Wors- wick sunk at her dock last week, caused probably by the oakum working out. Commissioner Patten says jthat on June 30, 1884, our sea-going marine numbered 6,636 vessels with a tonnage of 8,700,404. It is said that the pleasure-boat asaocia- tions of Lake Erie are already preparing plans for a grand carnival at Kelleys Island, to take place after the July regatta. United States Commissioner Ear] Bill had .a:- hearing this week in the case of the schoon- er Thomas Gawn vs. the propeller Saginaw Valley, with a view of ascertaining the amount of damage sustained by the schooner, The steamyacht Irene, built by Champ- ness, for Messrs. ‘Teasdale and McBeth, is getting her finishing touches, and will be ready to start by rail for Jacksonville, Fla,, on Monday. She is a handsome craft. Mr. H. D. Coflinberry, president of the Globe Shipbuilding Co., who has been, with his family, to San Francisco and other Pa- cific coast ports for rest and recreation, re- turned home last week. He visited the New Orleans exposition on the return trip. An ice gorge threatened the river prov- erty again this week, the water being with- in a few inches of the street level. Street Commissioner Bueltner, with a force of men, avertéd the damages. Give us an iron ice breaker and fire tug. When both elements get at the work of destruction the pockets begin to bleed. Mayor S. B. Grummond, of Detroit, has commenced éuit against the city of Cleve- land, in the common pleas court, for dam ages sustained by the steamer Atlantic ina eollision with the Viaduct draw, October 14, 1883, The damage is set at $850, and the suit is based on the alleged carelessness of the Viaduct engineer. FRANKFORT, Special to the Marine Record. The staunch little propeller I. M. Weston, came up trom Manistee to day bringing freight and passengers. She left this even- ing. On the 24th the Geo. D. Sandfort made a revenue trip to Manistee and return. South Manistee Island light closed down on December 12th. Captain Geo. Waters, new tug is progres- sing finely at the shipyard, ‘Tugs Hall and Slyfield are now in winter quarters. Snow is about 14 inches deep. 0. BY OGDENSBURG, Repairs are being made on the propeller Haskell, at George Hail’s marine railway. They are only temporary, but in the spring a new track and a new carriage will be added to the railway by which the Haskell can be taken ont and put in condition for next sea- son’s work, TOLEDO, A. W. Colton, manager of the Wabash line of steamers, has received word that the propeller Morley, ashore at Grand Marais is broken in twos ‘The lake has been so rough that she could not be boarded and it {8 not likely that the underwriters will save anys thing éxtept her machinery, 92.00 Pax Annum SineLe Copixe 5 Cante CHICAGO. Special to the Marine Record. Steady rain on Saturday and Sunday last caused the ice inthe river to thaw rapidly and flow out into the lake; the river is now nearly clear of ice. The Vessel Owners ‘lowing Association, will hold their annual meeting on ‘Tuesday the 13th, January at 10 a. m. The tug T. TI. Mortord got a new Tarrant wheel and went out of Miller Brothers dry- dock on Saturday. The tug Admiral towed the echooner R, B. Hayes, to Miller Brothers shipyard on Saturday, where she was placed in drydock, The schooner Mystic, has been sold to Captain John Wylie. Consideration $3,500. The drydocks at this port are filled and the work upon the various crafts in dock is being proceeded with rapidly this week in consequence of the mild weather, last week very little could be done because of the severity of the weather. ' The steambarge C. W. Moore of Savgatuck, Mich., has been sold to Hart Brothers of Green Bay, consideration $12,000 she will be converted into a passenger and freight boat and will run between Green Bay and Manistique. The propeller R. P. Ranney is receiving a through calking inside and out. The steambarge Albert Soper, Captain J. Hogan is having her pilot house and texas moved forward and nine feet cut off her cabin. These alterations will increase her earrying capacity and enable her to carry 50,000 feet more lumber. We are greatly pleased to know that Cap- tain C. Baker of the schooner Thomas Hume is ina fair way for recovery, he has been suffering greatly fora month past froma severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism. The following petition is receiving a large number of signatures at this port: To the [linois delegation in Congress, We the undersigned vessel owners and merchants in the shipping trade on the great lakes of the northwest, present to you the following petition : For the last two years Congress has so re- duced the appropriation for the signal ser- vice that it seems evident they fail to realize the benefits to the public derived from the weather predictions, storm warnings ete, The shipping intereat has been greatly bene fited by these report», and especially so by the storm warnings given at the different lake stations. Great losses have been pre- vented and no doubt many lives were saved by these timely warnings. It is said by the chief signal officer in his annual report that “The abandonment of stations rendered unavoidable by lack of funds necessarily interfers with weather predictions” This seems reasonable. It also stands to reason that with a large appropriation and conse- quent nicreased facilities, greater accuracy ean be attained, ‘This being the case the in- crease asked for dwindles into insignificance when coinpared with the result. We there- fore urge you to use your greatest endeavors to have an increased appropriation made for the next fiscal year, Some hours after J. 8S.Dunham’s tug TT, | Morford went out of dock it was discovered her wheel would not work; his diver went down to examine the stern bearing, which is lignumvitae, thinking that it had become swollen but it was found allright, It was then discovered the water in her stern pipe around the shaft had become frozen so hard that the shaft would not work until steam was injecteded through the stuffing box. She is now doing duty at the waterworks crib. The Goodrich steamer DePere arrived Monday at 4 p. m. with a full load of mer- chandise from west side lake ports. Captain Stine reports that he encountered lots of ice which caused considerable inconvenience. The DePere unloaded and took her de. parture at 8 a.m, Tuesday. She will go as far as Lilly Bay below Sturgeon Bay canal this trip. T. W. MILWAUKEE. Captain Thomas Davidson of Milwaukee has been awarded the contract for repairing the United States revenue steamer Andrew Johnson. His bid was $17,775. KINGSTON, One of the M. 'T. Co’s barges was launched at Portsmouth recently. It got stuck on the ways and is now frozen in. It may re- main at Portsmouth all winter. Captain Wm. Skellen had a narrow escape from a watery grave by breaking through the ice about a hundred yards from shore at Peterson’s ferry. He was rescued by Henry Rathbun, Judge Price gave judgment in the tri angular case of Donnelly v. Ross and Do- minion Salvage & Wrecking Co. vs. Ross for salvage service performed on the Conqueror last fall. The petition of Donnelly has been dismissed with coste, and the Wrecking Com- pany has been awarded $1,500. An appeal to the Supreme conrt is probable. The tug Seymour has arrived at Ports- mouth with five barges to be laid up. All the K. & M. Co’s barges are wintering there. The sidewheel steamer, which will be placed on the Gananoque-Clayton route next seuson, Will be about the size of the steamer Hero,-after the model of the St. Lawrence, and capable of running’ fourteen miles an hour. A justly indignant captain, writing to the Kingston News, says: Having received a masters certificate last spring on the pay- ment of four dollare, I wish to enquire what benefit is derived by masters and mates who hold certificates on these inland waters, [ have known severnl cases where men have sailed steamers during the season, that held no certificates, and I have also noticed that several collistone, one with loss of life and several total loss of vessels, have occurred, but [have not heard of any investi- gation having been held, inquiring into the cause of those disasters. If it was only for the purpose of getting four dollars out of masters of vessels that could poorly afford it, L am of the opinion the sooner the money is returned the better, The steamer Pierpont has gone into win- ter quarters, The following craft are in winter quarters at Gananoque; steamers Prince Arthur, Rothsay, steambarge Nile, barge Bedford, steamer Deseronto and schooner B. W. Folger. Captain Gaskin has returned from a trip west, His mission was to buy oak with which to carry on the M.'T. Co.’s repairs this winter, He reports that he has secured a large quantity, sufficient for the amount of work to be done, and consequently is pre- pared to engage, say, 126 men during the winter, . PETROIT. Special to the Marine kevord. December 29—There is but little of inter- est at the present time in this immediate lo- cality, and there is a dullnes such as has been rarely recorded at this period of the season at Detroit. A quietus prevails at all the shipyaids and nothing worthy of men- tion is going on, while last season the scene was far different, and at each yard frames were up and the construction of large steam- ers well under way, with a large force of ‘en employed. At the present time. at the Detroit Drydock the propeller Oconto isin dock having her recent damages righted, oc- cassioned by ice on entering Lake St. Clair from the canal. Had she reached Detroit with the aceident omitted, her trip would probably have been an unusually profftable one, but the result will show far difterent, and it would have been better had she laid upearlier. Yet the past records show up that at the close of each season there is some craft that is desirous of making just one more trip to make the season’s earnings balance more froperly, and as a conse- quence, they get caught, to say nothing of the hardships many of them undergo. There is also the schooner ‘“homs.. '*, Sheldon, in the Detroit drydock having damages re- paired from her mishap near the close of the season on Middle Island, Lake Huron. Her damages were estimated at $1,500 on the hull, which the public are given to under- stand was the sum total of her misfortunes, Her bill for repairs will exceed that amount, but who is the party that rescued the vessel and what will that eum reach, and to this query you can be safe in placing the figures at three times the above sum. This is what must be done each and every season in esti- mating the losses to our lake shipping. Ag I have heretofore recounted in sséh matter, and now repeat, that a steamer or veagel may strand on Fighting Island, in the De« troit river, and rest there possibly two or three days, is rescued without the least damage and afterward calls at Detroit. The vaptain is asked as to the results, and in- forms the reporter there were no damages, “But how much does it cost the vessel to get released?” “Oh, a8 to that, it will not vary far trom $500 or $1,000.” Now, here ia the whole thing in a nutshell and substantiates my method of forming estimates of losses eaoh and every year. I noticied in a To- ronto paper a few days since a marine state- ment giving the entire losses on hull and cargo at $600,000. Now I choose to show that individual a better hand than that and can affirm it beyond contradiction. I claim that there were 884 disasters on the lakeg during the season of 1884, resulting in losses on bull and eargo to the amount of $1,676,- 300, and the figures are above, rather than below, that sum, for no losses have been taken into consideration below $100. But I will return to my yarn. As above stated, only the two vessels I have mentioned are in the Detroit Drydock, and it requires but little more than a corporal’s guard to attend to their wants, when they will be released, and as for other work beyond this, Mr, Coule, one ot the foremen, stated yesterday he knew of none. At the Springwells drydock the City of Detroit had some repairg made, and is out again. The steambarge Tecumseh is at pres - ent there undergoing | repairs of damages [Continued on Hh page) \ ( M ay nen) ‘ / eT, A \ \